Departing from the conception of research as a springboard to a good quality teaching, and from the fact that research constitutes an elected subject in the approved curricula for Mercosul's Library Studies courses, this paper analyses, from an historical point of view, the research conceptions developed during the Mercosul Meetings of the Library Studies' Program Administrators and Teachers _Encontros de Diretores e Docentes de Biblioteconomia (Porto Alegre, 1996; Buenos Aires, 1997; Santiago do Chile, 1998; Montevidéu, 2000; and Assunção, 2001). Such conceptions may be taken as subsidies for designing research policies for the Mercosul Library Studies undergraduate program. Therefore, besides the theoretical analysis of research articulated with teaching practices (especially in Library Studies education), this paper analyses the very development of the discussions related to the curriculum area 6 _Research-, that took place during the mentioned events.
undergraduate program; research policies; curriculum; Library Studies; Mercosul