A Changing Library and the Master Degree

In the article The Academic Librarian Labor Market and the Role of the Master of Library Science Degree: 1975 through 2005, that is soon to be published in The Journal of Academic Librarianship, the authors (Grimes & Grimes) conclude that the MLS degree, for hiring academic libraries, might be losing some of its importance: “The proportion of job advertisements listing the MLS degree as a requirement was significantly less in 2005 than the proportion reported from 1975 through 2000.” Academic libraries are broadening their horizons when it comes to getting the right personnel:

when libraries require workers with highly specialized skills in areas such as systems and special collections, the MLS degree is less likely to be considered essential. It is important to note that as information technology continues to advance, it is likely that employing libraries will seek to hire more professionals with highly specialized skills, further reducing the relative demand for those librarians who only hold a traditional MLS degree.

According to the article the MLS degree still has importance for hiring in some areas though; them being to perform “core functions” in Public Services, Technical Services and Administration. As a student of Library and Information Science in Umeå, Sweden I can’t help to wonder if the situation is the same here. Though I guess it is hard to compare the libraries in USA to those in Sweden and I guess that the same goes with comparing the American MLS degree to the Swedish MLIS degree. Still I think that the article might be an interesting read for all interested in the future of libraries and the workforce that make it tick.

On the Webpage of DIK (Dokumentation, Information, Kultur) you can find the result of a small survey aimed at Library Heads regarding how they think when recruiting new librarians. Among other things it presents that seven out of ten Library Heads thinks that the applicant should have an academic degree. Five out of ten says that the level of the degree is of less importance, and only three out of ten thinks that it is important that the applicant has a master degree (sv. magisterexamen). Some of the people that have commented on the article that is presenting the survey, writes that – if they had the economy to hire new workers – it is not certain that the applicant has to have a library-related degree. These comment are of course not part of the survey in any way but they reveal an attitude that is clearly shown in the first article (Grimes & Grimes, 2008); that a newly educated MLIS or MLS has to compete with people coming from different educational backgrounds for a job that traditionally been reserved for him or her.

References:

1. Marybeth F. Grimes and Paul W. Grimes, “The Academic Librarian Labor Market and the Role of the Master of Library Science Degree: 1975 through 2005,” The Journal of Academic Librarianship In Press, Corrected Proof, doi:10.1016/j.acalib.2008.05.023
2. DIK Webbpage, “Så tänker cheferna när de rekryterar – Minienkät till bibliotekschefer” (2008-06-03): http://www.dik.se/www/dik/dikwebny.nsf/DIKDefaultDesignUNIDPreview/C18C2B882C5C46D3C1257459003D3AE3

~ by headcleaner on July 9, 2008.