Academic Librarianship Without the Degree: Examining the Characteristics and Motivations of Academic Library Professionals

Abstract

Studies exploring librarians' backgrounds and career motivations frequently focus on all types of librarians or on students seeking degrees in librarianship. Investigating particular subsets of librarians is a field ripe for study. Here, we employed a survey of 193 academic library professionals, who are defined as those employed in professional positions in academic libraries but not possessing a graduate degree in librarianship. We found prior work in an academic library is a substantial motivating factor for entry into the field, as is also the case for traditional academic librarians who choose to attain a graduate degree in library science prior to obtaining a position in the library. The data also suggests that there are two main streams of entry for academic library professionals: those who are hired into functional positions that do not require a graduate degree in librarianship and those who hold paraprofessional titles that have taken on professional-level work. Finally, we found a majority of academic library professionals have no intention of, and do not see the value in, pursuing a graduate degree in librarianship.