Despite demonstrated credentials, vast subject expertise, and knowledge of foreign languages and cultures, immigrants educated in schools of library and information science (LIS) in Eastern Europe (EE) and the former Soviet Union (FSU) face numerous challenges when trying to gain work as professional librarians in Canada. We introduce a model for retraining EE-and FSU-educated librarians to expedite their entry into professional librarianship in Canada without their having to undertake the formal requirements of a host-country graduate LIS degree. Taking into account and building upon their existing foreign-earned degrees, this retraining program will result in an ALA-accredited LIS degree that will allow foreign-educated immigrant librarians to compete on a level playing field with domestically educated librarians, thus eliminating discrimination based on what one labor economist calls the "national origin of an individual's human capital". © 2007 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

Library and information science education Librarians Bridging education immigrants LIS Retraining programs Career adjustment Continuing education multiculturalism Soviet union Eastern Europe Knowledge economy Canada

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