It’s Staturday!
Although the survey is and will remain open at
http://tinyurl.com/hiringlibschoolsurvey,
responses do seem to be petering out, and as it is such an auspicious day for this sort of thing, we are happy to present to you:
Results!
There have been 263 responses, as of the morning of 8/16/2013. Here are some graph-based representations of them. Please be advised this is not science, and you shouldn’t try to extrapolate these trends to the world at large. Be a dear and also forgive the cut off labels on the charts – this is how Google forms deals with verbosity.
Do library schools teach candidates the job skills you are looking for in potential hires?
| Yes | 21 | 8% |
| No | 32 | 12% |
| Depends on the school/Depends on the candidate | 187 | 72% |
| You can’t teach the job skills I need in library school | 5 | 2% |
| Other | 16 | 6% |
Should library students focus on learning theory or gaining practical skills? (Where 5 is practice, 1 is theory and 3 means “both equally”)
| 1 (theory) | 2 | 1% |
| 2 | 24 | 9% |
| 3 (both equally) | 125 | 48% |
| 4 | 83 | 32% |
| 5 (practice) | 26 | 10% |
What coursework do you think all (or most) MLS/MLIS holders should take, regardless of focus?
| Reference |
206 |
78% |
| Collection Management |
190 |
72% |
| Project Management |
168 |
64% |
| Library Management |
161 |
61% |
| Soft Skills |
155 |
59% |
| Research Methods |
154 |
59% |
| Web Design/Usability |
152 |
58% |
| Cataloging |
148 |
56% |
| Instruction |
143 |
54% |
| Field Work/Internships |
143 |
54% |
| Outreach |
130 |
49% |
| Marketing |
129 |
49% |
| Budgeting/Accounting |
123 |
47% |
| Digital Collections |
118 |
45% |
| Information Behavior |
109 |
41% |
| Readers’ Advisory |
98 |
37% |
| Grant Writing |
94 |
36% |
| Programming (Events) |
89 |
34% |
| Metadata |
84 |
32% |
| Services to Special Populations |
67 |
25% |
| History of Books/Libraries |
60 |
23% |
| Other |
38 |
14% |
| Programming (Coding) |
33 |
13% |
| Archives |
23 |
9% |
| Vocabulary Design |
22 |
8% |
| Portfolio/ePortfolio |
15 |
6% |
When deciding who to hire out of a pool of candidates, do you value skills gained through coursework and skills gained through practice differently? (Example: a candidate who took an instructional design class vs. a candidate who taught library instruction sessions.)
| Yes–I value skills gained through
a student job more highly |
125 | 48% |
| Yes–I value skills gained through
coursework more highly |
4 | 2% |
| No preference–as long as they have
the skill, I don’t care how they got it |
107 | 41% |
| Other | 27 | 10% |
Which of the following experiences should library students have upon graduating?
| Internship or practicum |
202 |
77% |
| Library work experience |
195 |
74% |
| Professional organization involvement |
102 |
39% |
| Other presentation |
58 |
22% |
| Teaching assistant/Other Instructional Experience |
57 |
22% |
| Student organization involvement |
48 |
18% |
| Other |
36 |
14% |
| Conference presentation |
28 |
11% |
| Other publication |
11 |
4% |
| Scholarly publication |
10 |
4% |
Where are you?
| Northeastern US |
45 |
17% |
| Midwestern US |
68 |
26% |
| Southern US |
61 |
23% |
| Western US |
59 |
23% |
| Canada |
10 |
4% |
| UK |
6 |
2% |
| Australia/New Zealand |
5 |
2% |
| Other |
6 |
2% |
Where are you?
| Urban area |
94 |
36% |
| Suburban area |
51 |
19% |
| City/town |
87 |
33% |
| Rural area |
26 |
10% |
| Other |
4 |
2% |
What type of institution do you hire for?
| Academic Library |
121 |
47% |
| Public Library |
112 |
43% |
| School Library |
5 |
2% |
| Special Library |
14 |
5% |
| Archives |
0 |
0% |
| Other |
8 |
3% |
How many staff members are at your library/organization?
| 0-10 |
42 |
16% |
| 10-50 |
107 |
41% |
| 50-100 |
50 |
19% |
| 100-200 |
26 |
10% |
| 200+ |
35 |
13% |
Are you a librarian?
| Yes |
248 |
95% |
| No |
3 |
1% |
| It’s complicated |
11 |
4% |
Are you now or have you ever been:
| A hiring manager (you are hiring people that you will directly or indirectly supervise) |
203 |
45% |
| A member of a hiring or search committee |
220 |
49% |
| Human resources |
12 |
3% |
| Other |
14 |
3% |
Would you like to have information about you or your organization shared ?
| No, I prefer to remain anonymous |
232 |
89% |
| Yes, and I’ll give you my email address on the next page |
30 |
11% |
Hiring Librarians 
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It is very disappointing to see special collections and archives so underrepresented in this survey, when library school is the only place to get training for them.
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Hi Nancy,
Thanks for your comment. I haven’t yet shared the survey on any of the archives listservs – I’ll admit I wasn’t certain how they’d be received, because there’s a definite librarian bias, mostly born of my own ignorance of archives. However, I will work on getting the link out this week. I’d also be much obliged if you’d share it with any of your connections who hire archivists. The survey link is of course, http://tinyurl.com/hiringlibschoolsurvey
Best,
Emily
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Thank you, Emily, for conducting this survey. It is really useful, both for faculty members and students in SLIS programs. Many thanks!
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You’re very welcome! Thanks for checking it out. I’ve been reading the responses and thinking of you every time somebody mentions instruction skills!
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Believe me, I’m paying close attention to both the instruction responses as well as the reference ones! 🙂
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I appreciate the information in this survey, very timely for me as I embark on furthering my studies. I will certainly rethink the Master programme i was thinking of enrolling in to include these key skills. It would have been helpful to have included the most courses and degrees that are most benefit to the new library professionals. Many thanks for a sterling job.
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