Modern information technology-based Librarian jobs for LIS graduates: a content analysis of job advertisements

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Department of Knowledge and Information Science Faculty of Education and Psychological Sciences Azarbaijan Shahid Madani University, Tabriz

2 Faculty of Information Sciences and Knowledge Studies Tehran University, Tehran

Abstract

Objective: This study examines the impact of information technologies on new library and information science job opportunities and the content analysis of LIS job advertisements.
Methodology: The approach of the current research is qualitative and its methodology is content analysis. In a purposeful sampling, 276 published job advertisements from USA and Canada in first 6 month of 2013 in indeed.com job searching website were selected and analyzed.
Findings: 95 new jobs detected from 276 job advertisements related to positions of information technology areas.
Findings showed that totally, four job types of “Systems librarian”, “Metadata librarian”, “E-Resources Librarian” and “Web librarian” were gained three quarters of job advertisements. In 71 percent job advertisements, it was nescessary for the applicants to have a master degree (Library Science, Information Science, Library and Information Science) or an equivalent degree accredited by American Library Association (ALA).
The analysis of syllabus approved by “Ministry of Science, Research and Technology” for educating librarian shows that only 18 credits of the syllabus are IT Competency-based.
Keywords: Web Librarian, Systems Librarian, Curriculum, Job Advertisments, Job Market

Keywords