PART STUDY OF PERCEPTION OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS IN THE LIBRARY COMMUNITY: OPINION (AS) EMPLOYERS (AS) AND GRADUATES (AS) SCHOOL LIBRARY, DOCUMENTATION AND INFORMATION FOR THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

This article provides a brief description of some general aspects of self-evaluation process conducted in the School of Library, Documentation and Information from the National University of Costa Rica, to obtain accreditation from the career of Library and Documentation in 2005 and to achieve re-accreditation in 2009.The objective consists in a comparison between the two evaluation processes from the point of view of two specific sectors, employers and graduates, and presents the views provided by each of them as a partial analysis of the social impact assessment of educational programs in the community librarianship as a first input to raise awareness of the importance of these studies in the institutional and national level.

Current situation and perspectives of school libraries in Costa Rica

Costa Rica is a small country located in Central America, with an area of 51,100 square kilometers and a population of 2,192,410 inhabitants. The highest percentage of national budget, 26.73%, is dedicated to education. There are currently 360 kindergarten, schools and 317 colleges 3001, considering the different modes: academic, technical, agricultural, industrial, craft and art. These figures mean a huge effort for Costa Rican society is worth now the question what the country looks so large an investment? and what role school libraries are doing in achieving the goals of Education of Costa Rica? I believe unequivocally that those who lead us today reciprocated school libraries, we encourage the same spirit that is well expressed in the famous document UNESCO1. "Learning to Be".