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Why Library and Information Science? The Results of a Career Survey of MLIS Students Along with Implications for Reference Librarians and Recruitment
Abstract
Hearing why the librarians of tomorrow chose the library profession is vital, because understanding their motivations provides librarians with a glimpse of the future as well as ways to improve that future for the profession. This article therefore seeks to communicate the career motivations of MLIS students by reporting the results of a survey conducted at the University of Alabama's School of Library and Information Studies. Library administrators and others responsible for hiring information professionals will want to hear the library students' reasons for entering the field, their salary expectations, geographic preferences, perceptions of the job market, and interest in various subfields. However, all librarians should seek to learn more about students' career motivations and professional interests so that they can recruit more people to the profession and accommodate the needs of new colleagues. By using the survey results as a springboard, we propose several recruitment strategies with an emphasis on the key role of reference librarians in future campaigns. We also recommend that RUSA sponsor annual surveys similar to our own questionnaire so that the profession can adopt an informed approach to the recruitment dilemma.
... Additionally, increased educational diversity in MLIS programs leads to diverse perspectives in LIS as a profession, resulting in growth in the development of LIS practice and research (Clarke & Kim, 2018). Coupled with the aging or "graying" of the LIS field (Ard, 2006;Kuruppu, 2006;Level & Blair, 2006;Pellack, 2006;Taylor et al., 2011) and overall concerns about librarian recruitment (Beck & Callison, 2006), there are not enough qualified candidates applying to positions well-suited to MLIS graduates with science backgrounds, such as science librarianship (Sterner, 2020;Walker, 2011). It is difficult to know the situation in Canada, as an analysis of Canadian MLIS educational backgrounds has only ...
... In general, career decisions for undergraduate students are motivated by demographic, social, environmental, and cultural factors (Thomas et al., 2023). However, many prospective LIS professionals enter an MLIS program as a second or even third career (Ard, 2006;Beck & Callison, 2006;Dukic, 2019) and for many it is not their first choice for a graduate program (Ho et al., 2018). In particular, Taylor et al. (2011) found that over half of MLIS students decided on LIS after completing their first degree, and a third made the call more than five years after completing their first degree. ...
... Overall, the majority of science librarians feel that having a science background is important (Beck & Callison, 2006;Lo et al., 2015;Sterner, 2020), but having an MLIS is more important (Eells, 2006;Kuruppu, 2006). Having subject-specific knowledge in science librarianship is beneficial to the librarian as well as to their colleagues without a science background as they can assist in providing discipline-specific context and information (Raszewski, 2011 ence librarians with a science background will start on the same footing with clientele in terms of scientific values, vocabulary, and methodology, have more confidence asking questions in reference interviews, and be more effective and efficient in researching in the field (Ard et al, 2006;Hallmark & Lembo, 2003). There is also significant evidence that science librarianship has and will continue to change to incorporate or divide into new roles, such as data services librarians, to accommodate increasing research support in terms of data visualization, data analysis, systematic reviews, research collaboration, scientific writing, and communication (ACRL, 2022;Ard, 2006;Bishop et al., 2021;Bishop et al., 2023;Clarke & Kim, 2018;Dali & Caidi, 2016;Dennie, 2014;Kuruppu, 2006;Smith, 2006;Sterner, 2020). ...
This critical literature review identifies the motivations of students entering the Library and Information Studies/Science (LIS) profession and associated Master’s (MLIS) programs, the current knowledge of students and librarians with science backgrounds in LIS fields, and the intersections of these two areas into recruitment research for LIS professionals with science backgrounds. A critical literature review was conducted, with clearly relevant literature included. In general, incoming MLIS students tend to be in the process of changing careers, and they are motivated to pursue LIS due to a combination of intrinsic and extrinsic factors related to their individual contexts. While educational diversity benefits the entire discipline and workforce, science librarianship specifically benefits from having MLIS graduates with science backgrounds. It is expected that the increased complexity and data services focus of science librarianship may also be well served by those with science backgrounds. Recruitment suggestions for increasing the representation of students with science backgrounds in MLIS programs tend to be mere concepts or substantial program investments, without many practical recommendations or real-life examples. Notably, there is a gap in investigations for the Canadian context, and so an exploratory investigation of the motivations and aspirations of students in Canadian MLIS programs, beyond the literature review presented here, should be conducted in the future with a specific focus on identifying and investigating the population of students coming into these programs with science education backgrounds.
... Decisions made by students to join librarianship were influenced by either internal values or innumerable external forces such as a stable working environment, job security, opportunity for intellectual development, room for career advancement and career change (Lo et al., 2015). Ard et al. (2006), Hallam & Partridge (2005) and Lo et al. (2015) both found the job market as one of the factors that highly motivate students at the University of Alabama School of Library and Information Studies for choosing librarianship as a career. When compared to other programs, they see librarianship as a profession with a wider job opportunity. ...
... This can be attributed to the scarcity of librarians particularly in developing countries, which has created a lot of librarianship vacancies. These findings relate to that of Hallam & Partridge (2005), Ard et al. (2006) and Lo et al. (2015) who also found job opportunity and job security as among the major factors motivating many students to join the LIS program. Many students feel that, by studying the LIS program they may directly be employed after graduation, but also some of them feel that by being librarians alone they have a wide chance of being employed when compared to other professionals. ...
... Librarianship is a field with a core aim of helping people (Lo et al., 2015); therefore it was expected to be the leading motivating factor. These findings are contrary to that of Houdyshell, Robles & Yi (1999), Gordon & Nesbitt's (1999), Hallam & Partridge (2005), Moniarou-Papaconstantinou et al. (2010), Ard et al. (2006), Lo et al. (2015) and Taylor et al. (2010) who both found desire of helping people and love for books as the leading factors influencing majority of the students to join LIS program. This shows that, the majority of the students have the passion of helping people from other professions but also, they feel that working in the library will give them enough time to read books of their choice. ...
... Decisions made by students to join librarianship were influenced by either internal values or innumerable external forces such as a stable working environment, job security, opportunity for intellectual development, room for career advancement and career change (Lo et al., 2015). Ard et al. (2006), Hallam & Partridge (2005) and Lo et al. (2015) both found the job market as one of the factors that highly motivate students at the University of Alabama School of Library and Information Studies for choosing librarianship as a career. When compared to other programs, they see librarianship as a profession with a wider job opportunity. ...
... This can be attributed to the scarcity of librarians particularly in developing countries, which has created a lot of librarianship vacancies. These findings relate to that of Hallam & Partridge (2005), Ard et al. (2006) and Lo et al. (2015) who also found job opportunity and job security as among the major factors motivating many students to join the LIS program. Many students feel that, by studying the LIS program they may directly be employed after graduation, but also some of them feel that by being librarians alone they have a wide chance of being employed when compared to other professionals. ...
... Librarianship is a field with a core aim of helping people (Lo et al., 2015); therefore it was expected to be the leading motivating factor. These findings are contrary to that of Houdyshell, Robles & Yi (1999), Gordon & Nesbitt's (1999), Hallam & Partridge (2005), Moniarou-Papaconstantinou et al. (2010), Ard et al. (2006), Lo et al. (2015) and Taylor et al. (2010) who both found desire of helping people and love for books as the leading factors influencing majority of the students to join LIS program. This shows that, the majority of the students have the passion of helping people from other professions but also, they feel that working in the library will give them enough time to read books of their choice. ...
This study examined factors influencing the choice of librarianship as a career among students in Tanzania. A quantitative research approach, the descriptive survey study design, was adopted for this study. Data was collected using online questionnaires. Microsoft Office Excel 2010 was used in analyzing quantitative data. The findings of this study showed that the majority of the students were not aware of the librarianship career path until they joined the library and information science program. The findings of the study further revealed job opportunities, personal interest, and desire for helping people among the factors influencing students to join librarianship. Moreover, the study findings showed that negative perceptions towards librarianship, nature of its work, and lack of appreciation from the employers and clients were the factors that discouraged many of the students from joining librarianship. In general, the study concluded that the majority of the students chose librarianship as the last option after being denied from other professions. Accordingly, the study recommends more means of making students aware of librarianship as a career path; for example, mentors and teachers are trusted by students and can help promote awareness about librarianship careers. Additionally, employers and clients are advised to better appreciate the efforts devoted by librarians as a whole.
... In new era they can act as a guardian of digital information and digital services (Bilawar and Jadhav 2015). Many of them may serve on search committees at some point (Ard et al. 2006); therefore hiring skilled and interested librarians is essential in order to carry out the above mentioned responsibilities. ...
... Interest, educational talent and scientific ability are among the most important factors in choosing a field of study; these factors prevent problems such as changing field of study, academic failure, drop-outs and student dissatisfaction that show up as a feeling of frustration and lack of motivation (Enayati Novinfar et al. 2013). Understanding the reasons that attract people to the field as well as expectations about such issues as salaries will help library administrators make strategic choices about staffing and retention (Ard et al. 2006). ...
... (1999) cited in Ard et al. (2006) in their study asked librarians if they had a chance to choose librarianship again, would they select it again. They found that out of 500 respondents, 415 said they would certainly choose it again and also 52 librarians mentioned they probably selected it again; these findings indicate the high degree of job satisfaction. ...
The purpose of the present research is to study the attitudes of LIS students towards their field and career future. Current applied and quantitative study used survey method. Data collection instrument was a modified questionnaire based on prior studies. The reliability analysis of the questionnaire was carried out using Cronbach's Alpha. Population of the study was graduate and undergraduate LIS students in Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University. In order to answer the research questions, descriptive and parametric statistical tests (Indepent-t, Anova and Pearson) were applied based on demographic variables. SPSS 20 was used to analyze the data and Excel was used to draw the graphs. Based on findings, the highest agreement among students was about the endangerment of career future by the recruitment of non-specialized individuals in this profession; while the lowest agreement was about the positive view of people about this field. There was a positive and a significant association between Attitudes towards Field & Career Future (ATFS&CF) and GPA. It could be concluded that students with higher GPA have more optimistic opinion about ATFS & CF. Respondents worried about their career future as well as the employment of graduates of other fields in this profession.
... In the "Future of Academic/Research Librarians: A Period of Transition-To What?," Larry Hardesty (2002) reported that competitive salaries were not high on the list of why professionals choose librarianship as a career. Research by Ard et al. (2006) and Winston (2001) revealed similar findings. Other research on job satisfaction for librarians supports these findings (St. ...
... A 2006 survey of MLIS students at the University of Alabama's School of Library and Information Studies found that only 2% listed the profession as a goal since high school. Eightynine percent of those surveyed first decided to enter the profession during or after attending college and 31% did not decide until five or more years after graduating (Ard et. al. 2006). Findings such as this have a direct impact on when (K-12, undergraduate, graduate level) and whom (undergraduates, library support staff) the profession focuses its recruitment efforts. Moen (1988) reports that more than half (52.7%) of those responding had previous experience working in a library, and almost 88% of those reported the ...
... Moen (1988) reports that more than half (52.7%) of those responding had previous experience working in a library, and almost 88% of those reported their work experience in libraries was a contributing factor to choosing librarianship as a career. Ard et al. (2006) found that although approximately 50% worked in libraries before entering library school, only 31% of those reported their previous experience working in libraries had a strong impact on their decision to enroll in library school. ...
At the 2006 ALA Midwinter Meeting in San Antonio, Texas, the ACRL Board of Directors
outlined the focus of a white paper using the 2002 ACRL White Paper, Recruitment, Retention
& Restructuring: Human Resources in Academic Libraries as a guide. The proposed white paper would focus primarily on “workforce diversity, with an emphasis on the recruitment, retention, and advancement of groups traditionally underrepresented in the academic library workforce.”
The Board also specified that the white paper should:
• discuss efforts to promote, develop, and foster workforces that are representative of a
diverse population, and
• address the development of a climate in the workplace that supports and encourages
advancement
... For most people, it is seen as the last resort for career considerations. To Ard et al., (2006), many youth consider librarians to lack the glamour as other profession. This perhaps could be that students have less exposure in career counseling in librarianship. ...
... There are still a considerable number of people who still consider librarianship as a career choice. Amongst such reasons are; because of the love for books and reading, the desire to serve people, for intellectual development, easy to get a job and to develop work experience of paraprofessionals (cited in Husain, 2011; Olawanle and Abayomi, 2010;Isa and Nwalo, 2008;Ard et al., 2006;Farley-Larmour, 2000). ...
... To Ard et al., (2006), many youth consider librarians to lack the glamour as other professions. It could be that students have less exposure in career counseling in librarianship. ...
... For most people, it is seen as the last resort for career considerations. To Ard et al., (2006), many youth consider librarians to lack the glamour as other profession. This perhaps could be that students have less exposure in career counseling in librarianship. ...
... There are still a considerable number of people who still consider librarianship as a career choice. Amongst such reasons are; because of the love for books and reading, the desire to serve people, for intellectual development, easy to get a job and to develop work experience of paraprofessionals (cited in Husain, 2011; Olawanle and Abayomi, 2010;Isa and Nwalo, 2008;Ard et al., 2006;Farley-Larmour, 2000). ...
... To Ard et al., (2006), many youth consider librarians to lack the glamour as other professions. It could be that students have less exposure in career counseling in librarianship. ...
Though academic libraries are pillars to the effective implementation of academic programmes, librarians seem not to receive the recognition that befits them from some users, due to misconceptions about their academic status, knowledge and expertise. Meanwhile, these misconceptions, if not corrected, could affect the decision of users to seek for assistance and as a result, prevent them from the right information.
This makes it imperative to assess the perception of library users of the University of Cape Coast have librarians in the contemporary information dispensation. Through the Descriptive Research Design, 171 respondents were engaged in a questionnaire analyzed using the IBM SPSS v21. The results reveal that even though a greater proportion of respondents are aware of librarianship as a profession, they lack understanding of what the profession entails and how it compares with other professions. Also, much as respondents understand the roles of librarians as information experts, they believe that librarians’ level of training does not match up to the current information dispensation. As such, a majority of respondents suggests that they would rather rely on a friend than seek the services of a librarian to address an information need. It is therefore incumbent on information professionals to be innovative, assertive and dedicated. Also, managers of libraries should institute user-centred/demand driven innovations; whilst the Ghana Library Association should work concertedly to improve the image of the profession and build the capacity of professionals by way of in-service training, seminars, conferences and workshops.
... People who most often influenced respondents to choose librarianship were close family members or other librarians they knew. Ard et al. (2006) found that among MLIS students from the University of Alabama major factors were interest in library work, wish to provide service, previous working experience in a library, poor job market in their original occupation and a need for change. Financial compensations, professional and social prestige were less important. ...
... Studies of people's careers in librarianship indicate there is an increasing number of second-career librarians coming from various occupational areas (Ard et al., 2006;Hines and Baker, 2008;Noh, 2010). Relatively high interest in LIS as a second-career profession may be partly explained by the interdisciplinary nature of this profession, offering to career changers opportunities to apply their skills and knowledge from previous occupations to the information environment (Lambert and Newman, 2012). ...
... Regarding preferred specialization areas inside the LIS profession, studies show that MLIS graduates prefer to work in academic and public libraries (Ard et al., 2006;Lambert and Newman, 2012;Lo et al., 2015;Moran et al., 2010;Taylor et al., 2010). There is also a growing interest in special librarianship and archival work as well as the new technology-based subfields, such as information organization and discovery, digital libraries and metadata (Ard et al., 2006;Lo et al., 2015;Taylor et al., 2010). ...
The study explores how different occupational backgrounds of Master’s students in LIS shape their motivation to choose a career in the library profession. The research is conducted on full-time employed Master’s students from Hong Kong. The research method applied is survey, and data were collected with an online questionnaire. The study reveals that students with library jobs significantly differ from students employed elsewhere with respect to motivation to pursue a career in LIS. While library-employed students place more value on extrinsic motivating factors, students employed in other fields value intrinsic factors as well. Regarding the future developments in the LIS profession, students from both groups agree that the application of information technologies, service orientation, academic research, marketing activities and teaching are all important.
... The pursuit of LIS as a career choice has been researched at different levels: looking at the general LIS student population (Van House, 1988;McClenney, 1989;Gordon & Nesbeitt, 1999;Ard et al., 2006) and focusing on ethnic minority groups (Davis-Kendrick, 2009;Hussey, 2006). Obvious reasons, such as being a library user, a love of reading, and liking the profession are commonly identified as motivations for selecting LIS as a career (Van House, 1988;Ard et al., 2006;Hussey, 2006). ...
... The pursuit of LIS as a career choice has been researched at different levels: looking at the general LIS student population (Van House, 1988;McClenney, 1989;Gordon & Nesbeitt, 1999;Ard et al., 2006) and focusing on ethnic minority groups (Davis-Kendrick, 2009;Hussey, 2006). Obvious reasons, such as being a library user, a love of reading, and liking the profession are commonly identified as motivations for selecting LIS as a career (Van House, 1988;Ard et al., 2006;Hussey, 2006). However, library work experience and influential librarians and/or mentors have also been stated as the driving motivation to pursue the MLIS (Ard et al., 2006;Hussey, 2006). ...
... Obvious reasons, such as being a library user, a love of reading, and liking the profession are commonly identified as motivations for selecting LIS as a career (Van House, 1988;Ard et al., 2006;Hussey, 2006). However, library work experience and influential librarians and/or mentors have also been stated as the driving motivation to pursue the MLIS (Ard et al., 2006;Hussey, 2006). Professional LIS staff members have the ability to positively influence staff and student workers and recruit excellent candidates into LIS professions. ...
Individuals enter graduate programs for a variety of reasons, many have a mentor to help guide or focus interest in a program or specialization. This is particularly important for masters programs in library and information science, an interdisciplinary degree that combines theoretical and practical components to educate information professionals for work in a technologically oriented and knowledge-based society. MLIS students at Institutions X, Y, and Z were surveyed in 2013 about professional identity, LIS experience and mentoring. From the 365 responses, fewer than 40% of respondents had a mentor, however, more than 70% of participants worked in an LIS environment as staff members, student workers, pages, and volunteers prior to entering a program. This implies that either staff are not mentoring student workers or that the students do perceive their interactions with fellow library staff as mentoring. Formalizing a mentoring relationship through learning outcomes may provide a deeper understanding of the profession and identify future MLIS students.
... According to another study conducted by Alansari (2011) on academic, public and special librarianship, it was found almost half of the respondents reported that they just 'drifted into the profession', while other respondents chose the LIS profession because of their interest in books and reading and generally considered LIS work to be interesting and attractive. Ard et al. (2006) conducted a survey of MLIS students at the University of Alabama to explore their motivations in choosing a career in LIS. They focused on students' views of the job market and their preferred areas of LIS work after graduation. ...
... About five years later, Taylor et al. (2010) conducted a follow-up study on MLIS students at the same university (University of Alabama) using the same questionnaire. In addition to confirming the findings from the Ard et al. (2006) study, the Taylor et al. (2010) results indicated a further diversity amongst the MLIS students' educational and career backgrounds, and highlighted that the 'love' for library work was also the major motivating factor amongst the students in choosing LIS. In fact, a large number of the respondents had previously worked in libraries before starting their MLIS degrees. ...
... The motives given by career changers are many and varied, but the majority of reasons are overwhelmingly intrinsic, as most participants expressed their desire to provide services to others (Ard et al., 2006). As Houdyshell et al. (1999:21) eloquently puts it: 'Most people who chose to enter the profession did so primarily, because of a genuine appreciation for the pursuit of knowledge and information and for helping others to pursue the same'. ...
The pathway to a career in the Library and Information Science field is rarely straightforward and unidirectional, but is often multi-faceted, with many circuitous detours along the way. There has been an increasing number of second-career in LIS emerging from many other non-LIS-related professions over the years. Many of these newcomers have made significant contributions to the LIS profession as they transfer their years of professional experiences, expertise, knowledge and skills from their former careers into the field. The purpose of this paper is to understand the perceptions and perspectives of the LIS students, and the various factors that influenced these midlife graduate students to consider switching from their current occupations to LIS as a second career.
... Anderson investigated how autistic students describe their experiences in the academic library, as well as barriers they face, while utilizing the library and its resources (2016). It was determined that students use their academic library similarly to their neurotypical peers -while also using the library as an escape from overwhelming sensory environments on other parts of campus (Anderson 2016;Ard et al. 2006). The concept of the academic library as sensory escape was recently corroborated in a portion of a study by Sarrett (2017). ...
... Various librarians describe entering the profession because of a familiarity and level of comfort with libraries, from the public library in childhood to their own college library experiences (Ard et al. 2006;Van House 1988). Unsurprisingly, this phenomenon is also true for autistic librarians -that they are often drawn to the profession from previous positive experiences with reading, learning, and exploring interests at the library (Anderson 2016). ...
Persons with autism spectrum disorder are a growing population and important to library and information science research and employment in libraries. Including them in all stages of research about the neurodivergent experience is valuable, and their input and participation is increasingly used in technology research, particularly usability studies. Neurodiverse persons also have unique abilities that align with a wide array of information professions and accommodations can be made that allow them to thrive in the workplace. It is critical that meaningful involvement of autistic individuals is a component of making policy at all levels.
... Dali and Caidi (2016) found that those who were aware of LIS jobs preferred to work in libraries, archives and records management centers, academia, and non-traditional library settings (such as government institutions, private organizations, research institutions, and other non-library occupations). Ard et al. (2006) surveyed LIS students to understand their reasons for choosing LIS as a career. Their results revealed that the main reason was that they were optimistic about future employment opportunities. ...
... It is also not clear what influences and motivates them to study towards a LIS qualification. Students are future LIS professionals whose attitudes towards the field should be known for recruitment purposes and to understand the motivation behind the selection of LIS programs (Ard et al. 2006;Cherry et al. 2011;Mugot 2012). This study address these concerns. ...
Library and Information Science (LIS) has gone through many changes over the past two decades. These changes have had an impact on the youth who want to study LIS. Lack of knowledge about LIS and its career opportunities makes it difficult for young people to consider studying towards a LIS qualification. Literature reveals that most LIS students end up in the program accidentally and without knowledge of the content. This study investigated students’ perceptions regarding LIS, the reasons for enrolling, and motivating factors that make students study LIS. The study was informed by the Circumscription and Compromise theory. To answer the research questions, a survey was conducted in three LIS schools in South Africa. A questionnaire was sent to first and final year students, and 165 responded. The findings indicate that before they enrolled, many students had a slight idea of what LIS programs were and prepared them to be. The students’ decision to study LIS was mainly influenced by information brochures, followed by relatives, teachers, friends, and parents. Most of the students decided to study LIS when they were already accepted to enroll at university but did not choose LIS as their first-choice program of study. The availability of job opportunities and a stable LIS work environment are the main factors that motivated students to continue to study LIS. Students also indicated that they were satisfied with LIS and would recommend it to others to study. The study concludes that LIS is a compromise field of study because students did not initially want to study it. Interestingly, after enrolment, they became satisfied and motivated to continue with the program. Public awareness campaigns, especially in high schools, are encouraged to sensitize people about LIS.
... A common top reason given for choosing librarianship is the desire to help people (Davis, 2007;Davis-Kendrick, 2009). Ard et al. (2006) surveyed 96 MLIS students and found the job functions of librarianship to be the major incentive for choosing the profession. The second-ranked motivation was another person's recommendation. ...
... • The arguments against faculty status for librarians include additional pressure and the belief that tenure and faculty status are unimportant. • Cites one study that found librarians' tenure 'could partially predict the quality of an institution (Meyer, 1999); and another which found the opposite (Bolger & Smith, 2006) Ard et al. (2006) Survey of 96 MLIS students • Found the job functions of librarianship to be the major incentive for choosing the profession. The second-ranked motivation was another person's recommendation. ...
A survey concerning perceptions of academic librarians was conducted at a large, 4-year university with three populations: librarians, faculty, and undergraduate students. The high response rate and the use of an instrument based on previous studies offers the possibility of longitudinal comparison and the identification of relationships between groups within perceptions of librarians. Subsequent papers will present results from the three surveys and offer analysis across the three groups. The literature review focused on research studies of perceptions of librarians. Subsequent papers will present results from the three surveys and offer analysis across the three groups. The literature review focused on research studies of U.S. and Canadian academic libraries since 2000 with relevance to these major research questions: perceptions about what librarians know (expertise and skills), what librarians do (role and duties), and what librarians are like (motivations and affective behaviours). Librarians’ perceptions of themselves as critically important yet underappreciated seem to have persisted, perhaps because they are the only group to see the university-wide scope of their jobs, whereas, non-librarian faculty and students have a more limited views of the profession. In contrast to previous studies, recent literature suggests that course-integrated information literacy (IL) instruction has increased the visibility of librarians as educators to both faculty and students. The influence of popular media on students’ perceptions seems less powerful, opening the door wider for library marketing and branding programs.
... Changes in the labour market, discontent with previous career and poor first career choice have been found to be contributing factors people go into librarianship (Bello 1996;Deeming and Chelin, 2001;Lo et al. 2016). Poor job market for originally preferred professions, need for a change, working experience in a library, personal interests and the delight of helping others via providing information services have been found to be the reasons some people opt for the library profession (Ard et al., 2006;Lo et al, 2015;Moniarou-Papaconstantinou, Tsatsaroni, Katsis, and Koulaidis, 2010). In another research, the employment stability of the library work, job security, and library environment devoted to knowledge pursuits and the opportunities for skills and knowledge transfer have been found to be the reasons some people choose to become librarians (Lo et al. 2016). ...
... The quest to try something new drove some into librarianship after developing apathy in teaching. This complements the findings that the need for change is a reason for the switch in career (Ard et al., 2006). However, some of the respondents see librarianship as not different from the teaching profession, in that there is teaching element in library work, as a result, every librarian is a teacher. ...
This paper explores the reason teachers choose to go into librarianship when leaving the teaching profession from Sub-Saharan Africa. Snowball sampling method was used to locate seventeen (17) participants for this study in Ghana. Mixed methods were used for data collection; questionnaire (open-ended questions) and interview. The data was analyzed using the thematic analysis technique. The study found the following as reasons teacher choose librarianship when leaving the teaching profession: Better Salaries and Remunerations, Relatedness of librarianship to teaching, Love for books, Employment Space and scope of opportunities for librarians. By the findings, this study corroborates researches on second-career librarianship especially from the teaching background. It throws more light on the push factors why teachers practise librarianship.
... Holders of postgraduate certificates in LIS are qualified to work in all these capacities. Looking purposely at the areas of LIS work where postgraduates are likely to have fast career advancement, research findings reflects that most LIS postgraduates desire working in academic and public libraries (Ard et al., 2006). For proficiently trained and competent library professionals, librarianship offers a promising career. ...
This study investigated Library and Information Science (LIS) postgraduate students' use of institutional repositories for career advancement in Universities in South-South, Nigeria. Descriptive research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 123 postgraduate students of LIS in Universities in South-South Nigerian. The study adopted total enumeration sampling technique. Questionnaire was used for data collection. The data collected were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. Pearson's Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMCC) was used to test the hypothesis at a 0.05 level of significance. The criterion mean for the research questions was placed at 2.50. The study found that the LIS postgraduate students in Universities in South-South Nigeria use institutional repositories for speech and address writing, preparation of conference papers, and conservation of intellectual resources. The extent of use of institutional repositories for career advancement by the students is low. The extent of career advancement of LIS postgraduate students in the various areas of librarianship is low. The challenges faced by the students in their career advancement include inappropriateness of courses taught to the requirements of job market, insufficient ICT content in the courses, and insufficient teaching facilities for proper training of LIS postgraduates. The hypothesis tested found a significant relationship between the use of institutional repositories and career advancement of LIS postgraduate students in Universities in South-South, Nigeria. The study recommended that the students should inculcate the use of institutional repositories for their career advancement.
... In a similar vein, Croatian librarians gave their occupations a positive review, according to a study by Dukic and Dukic (2014), however they had lower levels of satisfaction with their social standing, pay, working conditions, and opportunities for professional growth. Ard et al. (2006) study found that almost 90% of respondents chose to pursue an LIS career during or after college. About 31 percent did not consider LIS as career until five or more years after college. ...
Career counselling and career information are dynamic vehicles that drive students towards career pathways and self-development. Uninterrupted career counselling and career information in librarianship will result in an upturn in the number of career choices in the profession. The objective of the study was to investigate the effect of career counselling and career information on career choice in librarianship among postgraduate students in library and information science schools in Southwestern Nigeria. A descriptive research design of correlational type was adopted for the study. The hypothesis was tested at 0.05 level of significance. The population of the study covered one hundred and sixty one (161) master's degree students of the library and information science programme in the 2019/2020 academic year in the Southwestern Nigeria. A total of 161 copies of questionnaire were administered personally by the researchers to the respondents, and 157 were retrieved and found satisfactory for the study. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used for data analysis, and the results obtained were presented in frequency and percentage, pie chart, and bar chart. The study discovered that the students were not interested in the librarianship profession at the first degree level, but they developed a passion for the profession later in life. The study recommended that librarians use all media types (television, radio, newspapers, web pages, and social media channels, among others) to create awareness and promote their profession.
... Librarians' attitudes differ from person to person, which are often based on individual background, level of education, environment, skills and experience amongst other factors (Tella & Odunola 2020;Omehia, 2018). Ard et al. (2006) noted some factors that could affect the health of a library; quantity and quality of the staff. Staff here represent the librarian and other people working in the library who create the level of morale and the caliber of service. ...
The study investigated the influence of librarians' attitudes on users' patronage in private university libraries in Lagos State, Nigeria. Survey design was used for the study. The study population comprised 5,616 undergraduates in five selected private university libraries in Lagos State, Nigeria. The sample size of 365 was determined using Research Advisor’s Table. Multi-stage sampling technique was used to select the participants and questionnaire was used to collect data. The collected data was analyzed using frequency, percentages, mean, standard deviation, and simple linear regression analysis was used to test the hypothesis. The findings of the study revealed that three dimensions of librarians’ job attitude measured; interpersonal relationship (M=3.28), professionalism (M=3.16), and perception and image (M=2.97) were all highly rated by the respondents. The study further revealed that the librarians’ attitudes significantly influenced library patronage of undergraduates in private university libraries in Lagos State, Nigeria (R2= 0.034, β = 0.185, t(300) = 3.263, p < 0.05). The study concluded that librarians’ attitudes had a significant influence on library patronage in private university libraries in Lagos State. Based on the outcome of the study, it is recommended that the librarians should increase their self-confidence by being proactive and strive to be in the forefront of university activities in order to gain more visibility and launder the image of their profession.
... the students in the LIS field, previous authors used the survey to illuminate the students' interest and career choices. The numbers of the studies have conducted on the related topics out them only selected are being used to get an idea about the skills and competencies of future professionals. The present study up to some extent inspired by the Ard, Clemons, Morgan, et. al. (2006) in which they conducted a career survey on MLIS students for finding the skills of reference librarians jobs. Mathews & Pardue (2009) compared traditional library skills such as reference, catalog, and interlibrary loan, etc. with emerging nontraditional skills like project management holding computers system and web design in 100 rando ...
Our learning, understanding and knowledge incessantly develops with collective participation,
discussion, conversations about the content and active interactions with likeminded and opposers
which culminates fruitful results for knowledge generation. Such healthy practice creates new
knowledge and ways for its application for societal development and thus helps in professional
growth and development.
A conference is a social platform for knowledge creation, application and viable solutions for the
professional practitioners as the whole gamut reflects in two ways as inside the conference
educational sessions the knowledge cascade flows from experts to the participants and outside the
periphery open environment helps in better learning and understanding the new professional changes
and challenges. Hence, a conference in real terms is a learning ground for:
Educational opportunities for professional excellence;
Learning and cope with technological advancements for effective services;
Networking with peers and Experts;
Encounter new vendors and suppliers in the field;
Position yourself as an expert;
Opportunities for recreation too.
The dawn of technological advancements, new challenges and changes to cope up for effective and
best services, workmanship and professional excellence to remain the trustworthy advisors and
service orienteers to deal with upcoming concepts, issues, technological changes, impediments and
opportunities demands that we professionals have to recast our role and prove our competence and
mettle for users' satisfaction.
To address the professional needs and effectively deal with professional challenges, the Delhi Library
Association, Delhi and Satija Research Foundation for Library and Information Science are jointly
organizing this International Conference as 3rd DLA-SRFLIS Summit 2019.
The main theme of 3rdDLA- SRFLIS Summit-2019 is “Digital Age Strategies in Information
Management for Sustainable Librarianship” with sub themes as Innovative Library Services and
Users‟ Expectations, Content Management and Access to Information in Digital Age, Innovations in
LIS Education and Research, Role of Libraries for Sustainable Future and Best Practices and Metrics
Studies. These earmarked areas vary aptly justify the new issues and impediments facing by present
day libraries and library professionals.
To outreach the professionals for gaining skills and competencies through dialogue and discussions,
the organizers have not left any stone untouched and widely used the social media tools such as LIS
Links, library soup, allconferencealert.com, library(dot)com, Linkedin, Facebook and Whatsapp
groups and also other means for wider promotion and publicity. The effective impact is very much
visible with excellent response from library professionals throughout the country and abroad who
keenly forwarded their research papers and showed extreme happiness to be a part of this mega event.
Further, the Editorial committee faced arduous task by selecting the most significant papers exploring
the latest trends and developments of libraries and professional challenges and conducted the
plagiarism checking of the selected papers through URKUND and TURNITIN softwares. This
exercise shows that after prudent peer review, out of more than 100 papers forwarded by LIS
professionals only sixty eight exclusive qualitative research papers are selected for publication and
presentation. The papers comprehensively cover the diverse realms of Innovative Library Services,
Artificial Intelligence, Information Technology, Mobile and Smart Technology, LIS Education,
Metric studies, Library & Information Science and its allied fields.
This conference intends to provide a forum for discussion and exchange of ideas and knowledge on
the main theme as well as the various sub-themes. The main objectives of the conference are to:
Develop a clear understanding on the role of IT, Management Science and LIS Professionals
in Knowledge Innovation and Knowledge Management.
Discuss, debate and develop strategies to manage information systems and libraries in web
environment.
Identify and share „Best Practices‟ developed and adopted by various libraries and
information systems.
Increase the expertise and provide the best possible platform by educating students and
attracting new researchers
The volume has been organized in five sections around the Conference‟s main theme. The papers are
organized accordingly with title alphabetically arranged.
Section one on Innovative Library Services and Users Expectation includes twenty papers on
various sub-themes. These papers cover various issues like Library Services, Analysis of Service
Quality Using SERVQUAL Scale, Artificial Intelligent, Smart and Mobile Technologies, Literacy
Skills, Digital Library Initiatives, Web based Library Services and Web Accessibility, etc.
Section two on Content Management and Access to Information in Digital Age includes seven
papers covering Collection and Services Management in Special Libraries, Impact of E-Resources on
E-Learning, Content Creation Using ZOOMLA, Preservation of Digital Contents and Organisation of
Graphic Materials.
Section three on Innovation in LIS Education and Research - include twelve papers on various sub-
themes as Web-based Information Seeking Behaviour, Implementation of KOHA, MOOCS:
SWAYAM, Open Access Initiatives, Research and Reference Management Tools, Blended and
Digital Learning,
Section four on Role of Libraries for Sustainable Future and Best Practices include ten papers on
various sub-themes. These papers deal with Internet of Things (IOT), Government Libraries, RFID
Technology, Marketing of Library Products and Services, Librarianship and Use of Internet.
Section five on Metric Studies include nineteen papers on Scientometric, Almetrics, Research
Productivity of Institutions, Author Collaborations Mapping of Science, Research Trends in different
discipline, Study of Web of Science and SCOPUS databases and Website analysis.
The Two extended Abstracts on Mobile Library and Plagiarism Issue has also been published..
The Editorial Board is sincerely thankful to the faculty and research scholars of Department of
Library and Information Science, University of Delhi, namely Mr. Divyanshu Gupta, Ms. Sapna, Mr.
Manir Uddin Ansari and others. We are also thankful to Emeritus Prof. MP Satija, Department of
Library and Information Science, Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU), Amritsar and Prof. CP
Vashishta, Patron, Delhi Library Association for necessary inputs and as a source of inspiration.
Further, Editorial Board acknowledges with profound gratitude, the immense efforts of the
contributors on new contemporary issues on the topic and hope that the ideas generated in these
papers would be a source of information, knowledge and reference for the future research,
conference, workshops, seminars and academics deliberations. We hope that the conference
deliberations will help in enrichment of information and knowledge and provide imminent practical
training to LIS professionals in true spirit.
... To meet the objectives and research questions of the study, a structured survey questionnaire was used for data collection. A structured survey questionnaire was utilized in many of the earlier studies (Ard et al., 2006;Hime, 2013;Lo et al., 2015). A structured, self-administered survey questionnaire was designed using Google form as an online survey primarily for reaching as many respondents as possible for the geographically dispersed targeted respondents. ...
Across all libraries in Bhutan, the development of infrastructures, collections, and professional capacity has been partially neglected resulting in a lack of well-provisioned and responsive services. The advent of modern libraries in Bhutan is relatively new, thus limiting its contribution to achieving the goals of respective parent organizations, in turn, the national goals.
This study examined the roles of Bhutanese libraries and librarians, library collaboration mechanisms, challenges and opportunities. Convenience sampling was adopted for this study, and we used a structured online survey questionnaire for data collection from 180 librarians across the country. The results revealed that the main roles of libraries were providing access to information and services, managing resources and supporting learning. Collection developments have evolved from a few scripture collections to scholarly journals and e-resources. Bhutanese library management systems advanced from basic arrangements to card catalogs to Online Public Access Catalogue (OPAC). Currently, libraries are transitioning toward web-based integrated library systems using Koha, particularly in academic libraries. Most of the libraries are operated by Library Assistants without prior training or library-related academic qualifications. Administrative assistant, housemaster and examination committee member roles were assigned as ancillary roles for librarians. As a result, for some, the main library role became obsolete. Inter-library collaborations are limited, and professional experiences and best practices are rarely shared. Lack of professional development and funding are the key challenges. This study also demonstrated the need for a national strategic library development plan that prioritizes investment in ICT-based infrastructure, services, and digital resources for netizens.
... The results of a study by Bighdeli and Abam (2003) showed that the majority of librarianship students have selected this field without interest or previous knowledge. According to Ard et al. (2006), only two percent of high-school students in the United States consider librarianship as a goal to continue their education. In this regard, changes in the curriculum to better mirror the needs of the labor market, the creation of new job opportunities, and the introduction of new specializations at the master's level, including clinical librarianship (to support evidence-based medicine) and research librarianship (to support systematic reviews), can help improve interest and motivation among students. ...
This study aims to identify the most important barriers in medical library and information sciences (medical LIS) education in Iran and to present suitable solutions to remove these barriers. In this qualitative study, data were gathered from semi-structured interviews with 18 medical LIS PhD students and then analyzed using a qualitative content analysis approach. Educational barriers in medical LIS divided into four categories: curriculum barriers, department and faculty member barriers, official education and professional needs barriers, and student and graduate barriers. Medical LIS education requires major changes, including changes in the current curriculum, quality evaluation of educational groups and faculty members, matching curriculum with current stakeholder needs, as well as addressing motivational and employment barriers for graduates.
... There are many motivational factors behind choosing a career in LIS. Individual satisfaction (Walker & Calvert, 2016), a combination of personal and professional goals (Simon & Taylor, 2011), personal will (R & S, 2018), influence and inspiration of parents, teachers, peer and librarians (Sayekti & Usiono, 2020;Singh & Chander, 2013), socioeconomic status of the family (Osa-Edoh & Alutu, 2011), attracted by specific functions of librarianship and love of library works , job satisfaction and stable work environment (Sibiya & Shongwe, 2021), future employment opportunities (Alansari, 2011;Ard et al., 2006), attractive nature of information work (Moniarou-Papaconstantinou et al., 2015), dissatisfaction with previous studies or employment (Agyemang, 2019;Lo et al., 2017), last resort (Issa & Nwalo, 2008) are some of the motivational factors according to the previous studies. ...
The study examines the determinants to choose librarianship as a career among the library science students of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam. Having a career in the library is shaped by a number of internal and external factors. The main objectives of the study are to identify the motivational factors to choose librarianship as a career and to find out the level of perception on LIS as a career. The Questionnaire is the instrument to collect the data and the data has been collected from the 128 LIS students of the academic year 2020-21. The study reveals that there is the domination of females to be enrolled in the LIS course. Personal interest is the most determining factor and they need to be close to books and knowledge. The participants of the study demand that the reputation of LIS as a career is to be introduced well in the school and college curriculum.
... A survey conducted by Ard et al (2006) at the University of Alabama found that 89% of students had decided to pursue their graduate degree in LIS while they were in college and 34% indicated that their decision was influenced by an individual such as a mentor, professor, coworker or friend. Only 3% of students indicated that LIS was the profession of their dreams. ...
... Interestingly, students underestimated their expected salaries. Later on, a career survey of LIS students from the University of Alabama by Ard, et al. (2006) reported that most of the students had decided to pursue their degree in LIS while in college and main motivation for their choice was their idea of getting an interesting job. Findings revealed that LIS was not a preferred choice of the students as only 3% considered information profession as their lifelong dream. ...
The aim of the paper is to explore the student’s perceptions about the reasons of joining the Master’s degree program in Information Management (MIM). It also seeks their insights regarding the quality of academic and professional aspects of the program along with the recommendations for further improvements. The quantitative research design, based on a self-administered survey was employed. The population of the study was consisted of MIM students from sessions (2018-2020 & 2019-2021) at the Institute of Information Management, University of Punjab. The questionnaire was designed using Google Form and distributed online through WhatsApp and Facebook groups among all 113 students enrolled in the program during July and August 2020. We got 105 filled responses which were analyzed using SPSS (version 24). The findings revealed that the mostly students were pursuing this program taking it as an interesting choice of career and were highly satisfied with academic and professional quality of the program. The results also showed the students’ future goals were typical one, which was to seek employment in the same field after completion of the degree. The students recommended that more practical work and technological courses should be added in the curriculum to make them well prepared for future information market.
... On the other hand, a number of studies explicitly ask LIS students about their career aspirations and motivations for undertaking a degree. The findings of these studies suggested that future of this profession rests largely on the success of attracting better people into the profession (Ard, Clemmons, Morgan, Sessions, Spencer, Tidwell, & West, 2006;Hallam & Partridge, 2005;Lo, Dukic, Chiu, Ikeuchi, Liu, Lu, 2015;Lo, Chiu, Dukic, Cho, Liu, 2016;Simon & Taylor, 2011;Taylor, Perry, Barton, & Spencer, 2010). How to attract better people into profession is another big question. ...
This paper examines the issue and challenges of enticing promising students in library and information science (LIS) education in Pakistan. It also identifies the practical strategies in this regard by exploring the perceptions of faculty members. A questionnaire sent to heads of departments and semi-structured interviews with faculty were employed to collect data. The findings of the study identify social, physical, procedural, and behavioral hindrances to attracting brilliant students. The study revealed a need for fundamental changes by expanding intellectual jurisdiction, restructuring academic offerings, redesigning curriculum contents and revamping social image of the profession and professionals. The findings of the study may lead to better understanding of the phenomenon in Pakistan and other countries with a similar context.
... As a result, the individual may not perform well and may be unable to achieve the organization's goal (Barrick & Zimmerman, 2005). In the past decades, academics described reference in many dimensions and claimed that reference might be a factor in the selection and particular recruitment process(e.g., Ard et al., 2006;Barrick & Zimmerman, 2005;Bhatla, 2011;Finkin & Dau-Schmidt, 2009;Muxika, Borja, & Bald, 2007). Similarly, Moran and Morgan (2013) have described that reference is a problem in candidate's selection. ...
Hiring is likely a more critical process for an organization, which might be possible through distinct procedures. Simultaneously, employee selection process has vital importance in which organizations adopt numerous methods and techniques to assess the dynamic individual. Many researchers have claimed that there are diverse factors that affect the employee selection process. Despite, this study investigates the effect of prejudice and references on the employee selection process within the context of banking sector in Pakistan. To this end, primary data were collected through questionnaire distribution among 400 human resource managers of all levels, that is, top, middle and first-line managers within the period of October 2015 to May 2016. Subsequently, 310 surveys were acquired for final analysis that indicates 78 per cent accuracy in the response rate. Furthermore, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and analytic hierarchy process (AHP) techniques were applied to research findings using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS. 20.0). It is revealed that prejudice (P) and reference (R) have a significant correlation on the employee selection process. However, the levels of intensity are quite different in each sub-attribute as thereafter demonstrated hierarchically. Finally, our research proposes few future studies for the research scholars and practitioners.
... Ard 5 , et al. opines an ample of suggestions have been made for enticing newcomers in the library profession, such as awareness of the library profession to inspiring students, youth and paraprofessionals to choose librarianship as a career, directing job starved disciplines for selecting a competent professionals, forming LIS career information portals, working on LIS professional recognition and academic requirements. There are many studies available on the job satisfaction of library professional using a variety of operational, theoretical and methodological frameworks. ...
The paper deals with the job satisfaction of the library and information professionals working in government and the private sector libraries in the Fiji. The study was carried out in relation to what is the happiness level of working with their co-workers and how much they are satisfied with their wages and job securities. Library professionals have experienced ignoble and asymmetrical salary payments, lacks of proper housing, inadequate facilities in libraries, low social status given to them and limited opportunities for professional development in Fiji. The main purpose of this study is to find out the major factors affecting career choices, level of job satisfaction, and perceptions of the general image of library professionals in Fiji. This article explores, how much satisfaction of these library professionals, derive from their chosen career and examine the degree of dissatisfaction or areas of discontent among then. Results show that the female professionals are more satisfied from their job as compared to males. Library professionals who are much experienced are possess a proportionately high level of job satisfaction as compared to other age groups. Whereas, those professionals are between ages of 28-35, having a comparatively ignoble level of job satisfaction, compared to another age group of professionals. Unmarried professionals possess a comparatively ignoble level of job satisfaction as compared to married or widow and separated hold comparatively high job satisfaction.
... The field of LIS is growing increasingly interdisciplinary not only on account of diverse areas of research and faculty expertise, but also owing to diverse educational and professional backgrounds of master's students who enter respective programs (e.g., Ard et al., 2006;Weech & Pluzhenskaia, 2005). While LIS research is flourishing tremendously due to interdisciplinary cross-pollination, it is less clear how LIS education makes most out of the vast and rich intellectual and professional capital that students bring with them to the program. ...
This article makes a case for the inclusion of creative writing in Library & Information Science (LIS) courses. Using an example of the course on reading practices and audiences, it shows how creative writing can contribute to the development of creativity, critical thinking, ability for self-direction and independent learning—all the necessary skills for future leaders in the field of LIS. It presents a unique professor–student perspective on creative writing assignments and focuses on two case studies: the role of creative writing in validating students’ personal experiences and previous educational background; and the importance of creative writing in fostering a skill of meaningful and engaging storytelling. It also analyzes several possible concerns related to the incorporation of creative writing in LIS courses, with a particular emphasis on the rigorous but flexible evaluation methods of students’ creative work. The article will be of interest to LIS educators and LIS students, who, it is hoped, would become more involved in the direction of their graduate education.
... A survey conducted by Ard et al (2006) at the University of Alabama found that 89% of students had decided to pursue their graduate degree in LIS while they were in college and 34% indicated that their decision was influenced by an individual such as a mentor, professor, coworker or friend. Only 3% of students indicated that LIS was the profession of their dreams. ...
Library and Information Science (LIS) is a discipline in flux, therefore LIS education has been in transformation for quite a long time. It is a time for change and there is no doubt that change requires making strategic decisions across the discipline and LIS education is not an exception. Strategic decisions are to be taken based on data collected from related stakeholders. The aim of this paper is to explore student perceptions of LIS profession and LIS programs, as well as their motivations for enrolling in these programs, their career plans and expectations. Survey by questionnaire was conducted among final year undergraduate students at. The data was collected from 69 questionnaires. Some similarities as well as differences were detected between the two student groups. Students from both countries believe that LIS profession plays an important role in the society (and will remain so in future) but that it does not enjoy high public status and is not financially rewarding. Students are generally satisfied with their choice of profession (although for a significant number of students LIS degree was not their first choice), the majority would recommend it to their friends and they are quite optimistic about employment opportunities. Dissatisfaction with their LIS program lies in most cases in insufficient amount of IT courses and practical training. Almost half of the Turkish students had some LIS related work experience prior to embarking on their studies unlike Croatian students. Two words (information and libraries) that first come to majority of students' mind when they think of LIS profession were the same for both group. Both groups of respondents agreed that LIS profession is interdisciplinary and disagreed that it is a female profession.
... Questions about library work experience could give insight into its impact on IL. Working in a library is often cited as an motivation to enroll in an LIS graduate program (Ard et al., 2006;Kim, Chiu, Sin, & Robbins, 2007;Taylor, Perry, Barton, & Spencer, 2010). Data could substantiate or refute the assumption that students with library work experience may score higher in both self-efficacy and demonstrated IL skills than students with no history of working in a library. ...
Objective – This cross-sectional, descriptive study seeks to address a gap in knowledge of both information literacy (IL) self-efficacy and IL skills of students entering Louisiana State University’s Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program.
Methods – An online survey testing both IL self-efficacy and skills was administered through Qualtrics. The online survey instrument used items from existing instruments (Beile, 2007; Michalak & Rysavy, 2016) and was distributed to two cohorts of incoming students; the first cohort entered the MLIS program in fall 2017, and the second entered in spring 2018.
Results – Data varied between cohorts and between survey instruments for both IL self-efficacy and skills; however, bivariate analysis of data indicated a moderate positive correlation between overall IL self-efficacy and demonstrated IL skill scores in both fall 2017 and spring 2018 cohorts.
Conclusion – The study indicates a need for a larger, multi-institutional study using a rigorously validated instrument to gather data and make generalizable inferences about the IL self-efficacy and skills of incoming LIS graduate students.
... This paper focuses on the legal environment in which consultancy may be operated, the challenges of consulting business as well as provides suggestions on how to calculate the consultancy fee. Career opportunities for library and information professionals and how to hire the right consultant are replete in the literature (Holt, 1984, Afolabi, 1994, Cohen and Cohen, 2003, Ard, 2006, Wiegand, 2012, Khwaja, 2017) and will not be discussed in this paper. ...
Roadaccidentisverycommonnowadaysduetobadroadsandsomeotherfactorssuchasintakeofalcohol,overspeedandinexperienceofthedrivers.Themainobjectiveofthisprojectistoanalyzethetrendsinrelationtoanumberofpeoplesurvived,injuredandcategoryofpeopleinvolved(eitheryouthsoradults).ThisstudyusesdecisiontreeindataminingcouplewithdataanalysiswhichwascarriedoutwithSPSS.Thisstudywilldefinitelyassisttheroadusersandgovernmenttomeasurethetrendsofaccidentswithinthegivenperiod.
... Whittle and Murdoch -Eaton (2005) studied the skills of university graduates and reached to this conclusion that graduates must possess skills such as the use of information and communication technology, planning and organizational skills such as responsibility, and communication skills such as lecturing, report writing and human relationships. Ard et al (2006) sought to communicate the career motivations of MLIS students by reporting the results of a survey conducted at the University of Alabama's School of Library and Information Studies. By using the survey results as a springboard, we propose several recruitment strategies with an emphasis on the key role of reference librarians in future campaigns. ...
... Among the few studies to include MLIS students' perceptions, Baruchson-Arbib and Mendelovitz (2004) examined students' opinions on the library profession, and Frey et al. (2004) investigated students' satisfaction with a recently launched online MLIS program. Additionally, Ard et al. (2006) studied the various motivations for MLIS students who were entering into the profession. With the exception of Moniz's (2009) paper on the use of case study teaching in MLIS administration courses, there is a paucity of research examining student attitudes toward specific curricular topics or courses. ...
INTRODUCTION Professional discourse concerning scholarly communication (SC) suggests a broad consensus that this is a burgeoning functional area in academic libraries. The transformed research lifecycle and the corresponding changes in copyright applications, publishing models, and open access policies have generated unprecedented opportunities for innovative library engagement with the academy and its researchers. Accordingly, the roles for librarians have shifted to accommodate new responsibilities. Previous research on SC librarianship is mainly focused on the provision of services, administrative structures, and the analysis of relevant job descriptions. Little has been written regarding the implications of SC on the preparation of new library professionals, and no research has been produced on the relative perspectives of library students. METHOD The author surveyed MLIS students who were completing semester-long courses on SC at three universities to elicit their perceptions of that subject matter in terms of their library education and career pathways. RESULTS All respondents qualified SC as interesting and important subject matter, and a majority indicated relevance to their professional pursuits. Student perspectives are given on the viability of SC librarianship and the perceived bearing of this specialty area in different types of libraries. DISCUSSION Survey data suggests a possible correlation between SC courses and relative career appeal. The data may warrant attention among MLIS curriculum planners, given the academy’s recognition of the need for SC specialists. CONCLUSION The transformed research lifecycle necessitates new professional competencies for library practitioners. Implications for library education are discussed, and areas for future research are proposed.
... Whittle and Murdoch -Eaton (2005) studied the skills of university graduates and reached to this conclusion that graduates must possess skills such as the use of information and communication technology, planning and organizational skills such as responsibility, and communication skills such as lecturing, report writing and human relationships. Ard et al (2006) sought to communicate the career motivations of MLIS students by reporting the results of a survey conducted at the University of Alabama's School of Library and Information Studies. By using the survey results as a springboard, we propose several recruitment strategies with an emphasis on the key role of reference librarians in future campaigns. ...
The study aimed to examine the effect of MLIS degree on graduates in Iran from different dimensions. The study examined the effects of MLIS on scientific progress, the development of subject expertise, employment, individual characteristics, skills and capabilities, and scientific activities of Iran's graduates. The study was a descriptive-survey and researcher-made questionnaire is used for data collection. The overall effect average of degree of MLIS on Iranian graduates was equal to 3/25. The findings showed that the average effect of MLIS degree associated with each studied factors on the graduates in the country were: Scientific progress (3/13), development of subject expertise (3/27), employment (3/27), individual characteristics (2/75), skills and capabilities (3/48), scientific activities (3/57(. Discussion: Based on the results, the effect of MLIS degree on Iranian graduates was more than moderate. Generally, it can be concluded that MLIS courses at universities in the country, can increase the value of a master's degree of graduates at an acceptable level, but is not perfect; it seems that the authorities should increase their efforts to promote the value of a master's degree in graduates. https://arxiv.org/pdf/1611.03786 . https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/libphilprac/1812/
... Many of the previous studies discussed have used a structured questionnaire (Ard et al., 2006; Bello, 1996) to investigate the topic. Similarly, for this study a structured , self-administered online questionnaire was considered appropriate as an effective tool for gaining access to geographically dispersed communities. ...
This study examined the career and learning motivation of students studying a Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) degree programs at universities located in four different countries, namely the University of Hong Kong, National Taiwan Normal University, Peking University, and the University of Copenhagen. The MLIS students from these four universities were invited to take part in a self-completion online questionnaire survey, and 200 responses were collected in total. We discovered that their prior working experience in the library had an impact on their decision to pursue the MLIS program. We also categorized the career and learning motivation factors of MLIS learners into intrinsic and extrinsic factors, and discovered that the participants were motivated by both intrinsic and extrinsic factors to pursue their graduate studies in the Library and Information Science (LIS) field. We found that intrinsic factors influenced the students of University of Copenhagen significantly more than the other student groups, and this could be explained by Hofstede’s cultural dimensions. Our findings can assist with the formulation of development strategies for MLIS programs through a review of the LIS curriculum and help MLIS programs in different countries attract more people to pursue a career in LIS.
... The Library Workforce Survey 2005 1 shows that, in the UK, there are not nearly enough people to fill the roles of those who will be retiring in the next few years. Ard et al (2006) These statistics indicate that the profession is suffering worldwide with a problem in recruiting young people. ...
Records management/Information management is a common term in many organizations nowadays. Records Management is an organizational function committed to the management of records in an organization throughout its life cycle, from the time of creation to its eventual disposal. These include identifying, securing, storing, classifying, retrieving, tracking and destroying or archiving records. As noted in ISO 15489-1 standard, records management is the field of management in an organization tasked with the role of ensuring systematic and efficient control of all the records processes. The advent of ‘the information society’ has drastically changed things. An information society is a concept referring to a society based on information and knowledge. Although laws and regulations regarding records and recordkeeping may still be the same, information technology has an enormous impact on the way organizations and people communicate and carry out their business and as a consequence on how they document their activities. The roles of records management have undergone a tremendous transformation which has in some instances led to a mismatch between the learning institutions and the records management labour market. The contextual set-up of the study was Moi University, Kenyatta University, and 5 online job listing sites in Kenya. The study employed convergent parallel mixed methods research design. Qualitative and quantitative data was collected simultaneously using online questionnaires and key informant interviews. The research sample was 56 comprising of 2 key informants from the records management departments of Moi University and Kenyatta University and 54 alumni graduates of records management from the two universities who were selected using snowball sampling, and 20 records management job adverts. Data was analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences and Atlas.ti and presented in tables, diagrams, and graphs. The research revealed that there has been a significant shift in the roles of records professionals in Kenya over years. While other roles and responsibilities have become redundant, new roles are emerging for records professionals. These changes can be attributed to various factors including the increased relevance of records management in organizations, the evolution in ICT, legislation and the demographics of modern employees. The research further revealed that there is minimal consultation in curriculum review which makes it harder for the Kenyan records professional to adapt to the work environment.
Library and information science (LIS) as a discipline is constantly changing in line with the trends of the profession, so in order to ensure LIS curriculum in higher education addresses the needs of contemporary stakeholders, evidence-based evaluation and improvement is needed. Student satisfaction has become an important factor in considering the success of the institution of higher education. The studies on student motivation for enrolling in LIS programs are many, but papers on student perception of satisfaction with their LIS study programs are rarer. This paper focuses on the efforts of ensuring curriculum quality of the LIS program at the graduate level of study at the Department of Information Sciences of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Osijek, Croatia. The main aim of the study was to determine how satisfied the students are with the quality of their study program and to identify its strengths and weaknesses. The study was carried out by anonymous online survey in which the students were asked to rate their satisfaction with the study program and the obtained professional and lifelong learning competences. Findings of the study are relevant for the revision of the LIS study program at the Osijek Department. This study can also have larger implications for LIS education trends globally, for it has confirmed some of the results from international studies.
Objectives
There is a lack of information about what Master of Library Science students are looking for in graduate employment positions in a library. Little is known about how students select graduate employment positions to apply for and what they understand about the tasks in position descriptions. This study sought to answer the questions: what factors are important for students in deciding about graduate employment in a library, and what do graduate students understand about graduate employment jobs in health sciences libraries?
Methods
A think-aloud protocol was used. Participants read four graduate employment position descriptions and answered semi-structured interview questions about desire to apply for the positions and interest in health sciences librarianship.
Results
Eighteen participants completed interviews. Interviews were coded anonymously and independently by the authors using grounded theory. Results report on responses to position characteristics; interest in job projects; decision to apply; and interest in health sciences.
Conclusion
Graduate employment position descriptions can be improved to be more attractive to students by providing flexible work arrangements and allowing students to select projects that align with career aspirations. Many students are not exposed to health sciences librarianship during their program, once exposed, interest levels increased.
Recruitment initiatives at San José State University date back over a decade. SJSU and local librarians and faculty from the School of Library and Information Science and local libraries have been partnering with professional organizations by sponsoring recruitment fairs, ice cream socials and other gatherings at SJSU and in the broader communities to recruit individuals to attend library school. This paper provides a review of the literature regarding recruitment and retention of students of color in library schools. Also included is a review of the factors that lead to the decision to become a librarian. It provides a description of the IMLS Librarians for Tomorrow Program at San José State University. Challenges and recommendations for future study followed.
In an increasingly globalized world, social justice issues dominate the news. Libraries are often viewed as places where social justice ideals are upheld and promoted. This paper uses a content analysis methodology of 10 North American library and information science program websites to discover how social justice education is marketed to potential students through an examination of open access course descriptions, mission statements, and core learning objectives where available. Findings indicate that social justice is embedded in library and information science programs, but there are limited opportunities for prospective students to seek out these courses due to a lack of open access course descriptions and mission statements and shortage of integration in required courses. If library and information science educators want to attract future librarians with strong social justice agendas, then the promotional materials will need to be more explicit in regards to how these programs can aid students in building a social justice mindset.
This article presents an overview of the popular rankings (US News and World Report, QS World Rankings) of U.S.-based library and information science (LIS) education programs and the shortcomings of each ranking. It calls for a new, more objective ranking of LIS programs that will more accurately assess quality and sustainability of these programs and provide more relevant information for future students in choosing a program. The uniqueness of the library and information professions is discussed as an impetus for producing more useful rankings and providing open data on student costs and outcomes in LIS programs. Statistics comparing relationships between the major LIS school rankings and factors identified from the literature as important for LIS student college choice are presented. New criteria for the creation of more representative rankings of LIS programs is presented.
This is an attitudinal survey that profiles Kuwait University Library and Information Science (KULIS) students' attitudes concerning Kuwait University's (KU's) libraries. It uses the phenomenological approach to analyze respondents' data regarding confidence in their skills and the effect on attitude toward KU's resources. It furthermore explores the attitudes of KU staff and the level of assistance offered to KULIS students. The results show that most of the respondents visited the library to access electronic resources. Some respondents disagreed that the staff had treated the KULIS suspiciously, yet a majority disagreed that the KU library staff was professionally trained to help KULIS students. Several respondents strongly agreed that they were confident in their searching skills. The results of the survey are used to recommend curriculum changes and ways to improve library and other academic support services at academic institutions generally.
Public services (PS) and technical services (TS) librarians play equally crucial roles in providing library services to meet user needs to support institutional goals. For PS and TS librarians to develop effective workplace collaborations, both groups must have a better understanding of the other side’s perspectives, values, and concerns. This paper sought to learn how librarians in the two areas currently perceive and/or stereotype each other. The authors conducted a survey on cross perceptions of public and technical services academic librarians. The study tested and confirmed assumptions that previous papers have made about the negative perceptions of TS librarians held by PS librarians. Analysis of survey results, however, found that TS respondents expected to be viewed more negatively than was evidenced by the PS responses. Nonetheless, both PS and TS respondents recognized and agreed on the important role that library technical services play within the larger context.
Our paper presents the results of a survey of MLIS students' motivations for choosing a library career, as well as their outlook on the job market, preferences for various subfields, and dreams about the future. In 2004 several researchers conducted a survey of MLIS students at the University of Alabama's School of Library and Information Studies and reported the results in a 2006 RUSQ article. In a field of constant change, it is essential that a new study is conducted to glean current motivations for pursuing a MLIS degree. New technologies, economic issues, and other factors could affect a new generation of librarians' mindsets. Therefore we replicated the earlier survey, added some new questions, and compared our results. This article describes the results of the current survey. It shows that myriad reasons motivate students to pursue the MLIS, and librarians who have an interest in their new colleagues will find this paper of interest. We also suggest some practical steps that reference librarians (as well as human resource officers and library school administrators) can follow to recruit new librarians. This paper is based on a poster presented at the Alabama Library Association conference (ALLA), April 10, 2009, in Auburn, Alabama.
Studies exploring librarians' backgrounds and motivations frequently focus on all librarian-types or on students seeking a degree in librarianship. Investigating particular subsets of librarians is a field ripe for study. Here, we employed a survey of 1872 academic librarians who obtained a graduate degree in librarianship to examine their undergraduate education and their general career paths leading them to academic librarianship. The study found that over two-thirds of respondents sought a librarianship degree more than one year after obtaining their undergraduate degree. A large majority spent time in the workforce before seeking a librarianship degree, with exposure to work in a library or contact with a librarian remaining a major influence on the decision to enter the field.
University libraries provide support for institutions to achieve their objectives. To realise these objectives, universities allocate considerable funds for the library’s development and provision of needed resources that support teaching/research activities. This is for the simple reason that a university’s excellence is synonymous with the effectiveness of its library services. Hence, there is a need for continuous training and retraining for retention of librarians who manage the libraries to achieve the university’s objectives. Of the few on-the-job training models, mentoring as a Continuing Professional Development programme for librarians in a university library has often been overlooked. This study surveys the uses of mentoring in knowledge transfer for cataloguing, managerial, and research skills development for cataloguers in Nigerian academic libraries. The findings show that mentoring as a tool for knowledge transfer influences cataloguers and their skills development. The result indicates that mentoring in knowledge transfer has a moderate to strong correlation with skills development, and it improves catalouers’ proficiency and overall development.
Muroran Institute of Technology has been conducting investigations on students' awareness of career design by taking questionnaire with bachelor course students. In this study, data collected from questionnaire is analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA) for inspecting the transition of students' awareness. It is difficult to observe the awareness transition from a dynamic point of view by applying PCA in traditional methods because of different principal components are used to project data, thus a new way to use PCA is proposed. The both methods are conducted and compared through a case study in order to highlight the effectiveness of the proposed method.
Is there such thing as a ‘typical’ career path for art librarians? This article presents the results of a survey of art librarians’ motivations for selecting the profession, and also their educational backgrounds, current employment and professional experiences, and presents advice for graduate students and prospective librarians. A questionnaire was sent to six email discussion groups related to art librarianship, from which 280 responses were received from across the world. The results indicate that art librarians typically work in academic settings, chose the field of art librarianship while already employed in libraries, have an educational background in the arts at the undergraduate and/or graduate level, and selected librarianship primarily because they were attracted to the duties and work settings of the job. This study includes advice from current librarians for graduate students seeking employment as art librarians in today’s challenging job market.
The allocation of staff: time to the reference desk is one of the mast important library personnel issues. Staffing level decisions should be based upon the workload at a particular time. If the reference desk keeps records about the amount and type of assistance provided to patrons by time of day, then it is possible to statistically analyze the time-of-day usage to discover periods of significantly light and heavy usage. Here we provide an example of how statistics can be applied to make these decisions.
This study investigated library school students' decisions to enter librarianship in the context of economic and organizational behavior theories of career choice, which stress the importance of people's preferences, their expectations about the probability of having their preferences met, and the accuracy of their expectations. This study identified students' reasons for choosing librarianship and assessed the accuracy of their expectations about starting salaries and placement. It also compared reasons and expectations between students who had been working in libraries with those who had not, and between those who preferred library versus nonlibrary work. Finally, it investigated possible differences between male and female library school students that may relate to later differences in employment outcomes and satisfaction. The data are from a self-administered survey of four years of University of California, Berkeley, MLS students.
This study examines the results of a questionnaire given to all Indiana University School of Library and Information Science students over a three-year period to examine why they chose librarianship as a career. Earlier recruitment and career choice studies in the literature are examined in relation to the results of the questionnaire. This study's findings reaffirm that students' choice of librarianship is most often based on personal contact by librarians. Other school specific factors such as geographic proximity and reputation are also discussed. Implications for recruitment of diverse and qualified applicants to library schools, based on these findings, are suggested.
One of our diversity-related goals is to broaden the number of perspectives represented in academic library decision-making, administration, and library services. The research conducted in library and information science, as well as that conducted in numerous other disciplines, provides a basis for identifying those factors that have an impact on the decisions of individuals to choose a particular profession and/or professional specialty. This information should inform our recruitment strategies, as we identify approaches that will prove effective in increasing the number of minority academic librarians, and thus help to achieve our goals related to diversity.
In earlier studies, we demonstrated that intratumoral infusions of alloreactive cytotoxic T lymphocytes (aCTL), sensitized to the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) antigens of the host, effectively retarded the intracranial growth of Fischer 9L gliosarcoma. We further demonstrated that continuous in vitro exposure to gamma-interferon (gammaIFN) upregulates MHC on 9L gliosarcoma cells and that they were better targets of anti-Fischer aCTL. We hypothesized that the efficacy of cellular therapy with aCTL could be further improved by in situ transduction of the tumor with retroviral vectors coding for gammaIFN, which would generate continuous secretion of the cytokine and maintain upregulated MHC expression by the tumor cells. 9L gliosarcoma and Herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (tk) transductants of those cells were transduced with a retrovirus carrying the murine gammaIFN gene. By limiting dilution, clones of these cells, designated 9Lgamma 7, 9Lgamma tk8, and 9Lgamma tk10, which produced similar levels of gammaIFN (383-411 ng gammaIFN/10(6) cells/24 h) were isolated. The production of gammaIFN by one clone, 9Lgamma 7, was stable when monitored over 6 weeks in vitro. The clones also demonstrated upregulated MHC class I expression, and the tk-transduced clones maintained their sensitivity to ganciclovir. Compared to the wildtype cells, 9Lgamma 7 had approximate 6- and 1.5-fold increases in the relative antigen densities of MHC I and II, respectively. Addition of exogenous gammaIFN to 9Lgamma 7 cultures did not significantly increase the MHC expression. In cytotoxicity assays, 9Lgamma 7 cells, or 9Lgamma 7 incubated with exogenous gammaIFN, were better targets of aCTL than the parental 9L cells. The growth rate of 9Lgamma-transduced cells was decreased compared to the wildtype cells both in vitro and in vivo. Proliferation studies with transwell plated 9L, 9Lgamma 7, and 9Lgamma tk10 cells in various combinations revealed that the secreted cytokine itself caused a decrease in proliferation. However, the transduced cells exhibited a much reduced growth rate, which likely was a consequence of redirected metabolic activity of the cells. In vivo growth of the 9L and 9Lgamma 7 tumors in rat brains given identical inoculums similarly demonstrated significantly reduced 9Lgamma 7 tumor volumes at various timepoints, indicative of slower growth of the gammaIFN-producing tumors.