Abstract
Distance Education (DE) is playing an increasingly central role in the education and training of librarians. Despite its growing importance, there is little research into the reaction of library employers to these programs and their new graduates. For this study, a questionnaire survey was conducted with 202 libraries that posted job advertisements to the LIBJOBS mailing list for an entry-level or low-level professional librarian position. The survey leads to several observations. First, despite the fact that distance programs have greatly increased over the last decade, the impact of DE on the professional librarians'job market is still relatively insignificant. Second, a large majority of library employers do not differentiate between distance and traditional graduates. Nonetheless, some library employers are concerned about the quality of DE programs and the limited opportunities to develop social and communication skills. Finally, many library employers believe that practical library experience should be an essential part of DE programs.
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