Abstract
Several career paths are open to law graduates. Many of them pursue careers in other fields without giving a thought to law librarianship. The fact that majority of law students do not consider law librarianship as a career option is undesirable for the future of law librarianship. The future of law librarianship profession may depend on awareness. The study therefore examined the influence of awareness on the career choice of law librarianship among law students in South-West, Nigeria. The study employed the survey research design. The population for the study was 2,945 undergraduate law students in the in the 12 purposively selected universities that run the approved undergraduate law program up to 500 level in South-West, Nigeria. Krejcie and Morgan’s formula was used to select the sample size of 597. The instrument for data collection was a validated questionnaire. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients for the constructs ranged from .80 to .89. The return rate was 94%. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics. The result showed that awareness of law librarianship significantly influenced law students’ choice of law librarianship as a career. The study also revealed that law students were slightly aware of law librarianship as a choice of career. Results indicated that the inclination to pursue a career in law librarianship was based on altruistic consideration.
Highlights
Career choice involves decision making about the profession or occupation one chooses to pursue
Based on the main objective to investigate the influence of awareness of law librarianship and environmental factors on law librarianship as career choice among law students in South-West Nigeria, the following research questions are raised: Research Question 1: What is the level of awareness of law librarianship as a career choice among law students in South-West Nigeria? Research Question 2: What is the inclination of law students in South-West Nigeria toward law librarianship as a career choice?
The following hypothesis for the study were formulated and tested at .05 level of significance: Hypothesis 1 (H1): Awareness of law librarianship has no significant influence on the choice of law librarianship as career among law students in South-West Nigeria
Summary
Career choice involves decision making about the profession or occupation one chooses to pursue. Altruistic considerations in career decision making are prevalent in egalitarian professions, such as librarianship, that allow individuals to help society They include opportunities to work closely with people and to influence others, as well as the ability to contribute to society. Awareness of careers includes having a knowledge and understanding of the world of work; the difference between jobs, occupations, and careers; and having knowledge of a wide range of local, regional, national, and global career pathways and opportunities while giving consideration to economic, cultural influences, and the impact of stereotypes on career choice (Kolbert, Williams, Morgan, Crothers, & Hughes, 2016). Can the fact that law librarianship is not considered as a career option by law students be a result of the level of awareness of law students?
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