The study presents detailed data about academic library hiring plans for MLS/MLIS grads and for information technology specialists (without a specific library science degree) for the upcoming year; it also presents this data for the past year. In addition, the study offers the opinion of 96 library directors, provosts and deans about how they view the quality of graduate library programs and what skill areas they feel current grads excel and in which areas they are lacking. The study also details those skill areas which today’s academic library leadership finds difficult to find in the current library labor market. In addition to detailed data on plans to hire MLS/MLIS grads, the study provides specific data on the recent past and future plans to hire information technology specialists without a library science degree.
Just a few of this report’s many findings are that:
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All of the institutions hiring three or more MLS grads in the past year were MA/PHD granting institutions or research universities.
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Poor writing and communication skills were some of the most often cited deficiencies noted in today’s library science MLS grads.
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Colleges with more than 10,000 enrolled students hired more than 3x as many information technology specialists in the past year than did smaller colleges.
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Research universities in the sample hired a mean of 1.4 information technology specialists in the past year.
Data in the report is broken out by many criteria, including enrollment size, tuition, public/private status and type/Carnegie class of the institutions as well as age and work title of the personal survey participants.