International Outreach Services at Illinois State Fire Academy Library

Purpose: The poster is to discuss the International Outreach Services at the Illinois Fire Service Institute (IFSI) Library in six areas: Chinese Librarians Scholarly Exchange Program (CLSEP), Visiting Scholar Program, fire services training programs, Zoom activities, research collaboration, and delegation visits from and to other countries.



Description: The CLSEP has been running successfully for 15 years (2005-2019), and 423 librarians from 145 organizations participated in the program. Since 2005, the library has received 144 visiting scholars in LIS, Fire Service, and Emergency Management from 80 institutes in China, Brazil, Netherlands, and South Korea. Since 2005, the library has supported IFSI to deliver 5 training programs and trained 193 first responders in China and at IFSI as well as 2 firefighters from South Korea and 1 fire investigator from Brazil. Since April 2020, the library has organized 23 online activities via Zoom with a total of 507 participants throughout the Pandemic. The library has collaborated with research institutes and published two special issues and a book and coordinated IFSI research collaboration in fire emergency services with China. Since 2006, 35 delegations from China have visited IFSI and IFSI colleagues have been invited to China, Europe, and Southeast Asia, and visited 33 cities in China.


Methodology: Data has been collected and analyzed through surveys from participants, interviews, and observations.


Results/Outcomes: The IFSI Library’s International Outreach Services have built a viable global community of 762 individuals, consisting of 423 librarians, 144 scholars, 195 first responders from 186 organizations that include libraries, universities, research institutes, and fire organizations as programs continue growing. CLSEP has become a well-recognized program in China and one of the largest international librarians training programs in the U.S. Strong partnerships have been developed to support the program, including the university libraries on the East Coast, Midwest, West Coast, and public libraries in the U.S. Most of the librarian participants got promoted after studying in CLSEP. The Visiting Scholar Program has contributed to the scholars’ research and professional careers by furthering close research collaborations. The training in fire emergency services has enhanced local responders’ practices with successful responses.