LIS Students Research Articles

Building community-oriented knowledges

This article focuses on specific strategies faculty and staff can use to create knowledge-oriented graduates. This means that we want our students and alumni to understand how their policies, procedures, and daily practice impact all the people in their community. We posit that taking a student-centered approach, advocating for social justice issues, and offering service-learning experiences creates socially just, community-based, and praxis-informed alumni. It adheres to the Knowledge School tenet of “practitioner-informed” by offering practical strategies for those who work with LIS students.

Information Provision and the Carceral State: Race and Reference beyond the Idea of the “Underserved”

ABSTRACTThis article addresses an approach to library services for people who are incarcerated that meets the situated information needs and desires of people within jails and prisons. By creating a flow of information between LIS students and individuals who are incarcerated through a Reference by Mail program, resources available to incarcerated people are increased while students engage in a humanizing and self-reflexive project, with the understanding that the regulation of information within jails and prisons has lasting effects for the life chances of incarcerated people.

Problems in Utilizing LIS Resources: A Perspective of LIS Students

A multitude of content is generated by library and information science professionals. On the other hand LIS students struggle to find content which meets curricular needs. It becomes important to understand the issues being faced by LIS students while consulting their required documents. Similarly it is also important to understand the various factors that motivate LIS students to select any document for meeting their academic needs. The aim of this paper is to examine the issues faced by LIS students while consulting books and journals and to identify the factors which motivate them for selecting any document. The present study is a survey-based work in which the data was collected using a structured questionnaire. The result of the study revealed some major issues faced by LIS students while consulting books and journals and factors motivating selection of documents for study.

Bridging the Differences Between IT and LIS in Management Education

With the reduced number of free-standing library schools, one common model places IT students and LIS students within the same unit. Doing so raises questions about how to teach management. IT students will most likely work in revenue generating organizations while most libraries have assured continuing funding. IT organizations normally provide less job security but also offer greater economic opportunities. Librarians have less risk of being fired, but salary gains are more limited. IT students seeking a master’s degree usually need technical competencies for admission while LIS students get admitted from all disciplines without any prior courses in library science. LIS students with a liberal arts degree are better prepared for the complexities of management. Most MLIS librarians will have management responsibilities. IT students may not. Finally, IT is disproportionately male while LIS is a female profession. The column concludes with some ways to provide adequate management education to both groups.

The art and science of securing a job in an academic library: Landing your first, or next, position

While there are countless numbers of books, articles, webinars, forums, and courses that provide helpful tips, tricks and strategies to successfully navigate the academic job search and interview process, they may only slightly improve a candidate’s chance of successfully landing a job. This article, based on the author’s experiences, focuses on five factors that can make a significant difference in improving an LIS student or recent LIS graduate’s odds of success in landing a job in a research library. A study found that factors such as prior academic library experience (including practicums), professional service/committee work, and a record of publications can significantly increase or decrease the odds of getting a job after graduation. Brian Kenney suggests that LIS candidates can significantly increase their chances of landing a job by being willing to relocate and by effectively marketing themselves.

Computer Programming for Librarians: A Study of Job Postings for Library Technologists

The rapid changes in technology used in the library and cultural heritage sectors can make it difficult for early career librarians and LIS students interested in library technology positions to know what skills will be most beneficial to their job search. In this study, 492 librarian and archivist job postings from the Code4Libs Jobs website from between 2008 and 2018 were collected and analyzed to find which programming technologies are most in demand overall and which are most requested for specific types of jobs and specific types of employers, including changes over time. The results provide a glimpse of programming languages and technologies that are widely useful in the field of library technology today, as well as those that are growing in use.

Philanthropic partnership at the University of Iowa: Providing complimentary ACRL membership to LIS students

The strength of ACRL comes from its membership. Nevertheless, ACRL and other membership-based professional organizations face many challenges in terms of recruiting and retaining members. Of course, membership and involvement in ACRL contributes to an individual’s career success. But academic and research libraries also benefit when their employees are engaged in their professional associations. Membership and participation in professional associations provides valuable mentoring and professional development opportunities. This is true at every stage of one’s career, but it is particularly critical to help new professionals understand the value of these activities. Many would agree that graduate school is the perfect time to introduce students to their future professional associations, yet membership often remains out of reach financially for many students.

Student Conceptions of Group Work: Visual Research into LIS Student Group Work Using the Draw-and-Write Technique

The use of collaborative pedagogies is a well-respected and common feature of higher education, and the ability to work well in a team is a desirable graduate and professional attribute. However, t...

Valuing studies in higher education: Symbolic means and strategies of students negotiating their position in the library and information science field

The library and information science field attempts to legitimize its position in higher education, in a ‘culture of uncertainty’, where boundaries are fluid. The position of LIS in the hierarchical classification of academic subjects is influenced by the changes in both the field of higher education and in the information environment, creating expectations for the emergence of new fields of study, research and professional practices. The purpose of this paper is to examine how LIS students position themselves in their field of study and the resources they use in processes of meaning-making. Data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with students from the three LIS departments operating in Greece at the undergraduate level. The results showed that the academic knowledge content of the object, the assignment of scientific characteristics to it, the signifier of the book, the form of professional practice and, above all, technology are the most prominent resources among those that most young people utilized in their effort to negotiate the symbolic class (i.e. the dominant cultural categories which give meaning to the social world).

Servant leadership theory in practice: North America’s leading public libraries

This study aims to understand the current North American public library directors’ views and perceptions of successful library leadership in the 21st century. It was carried out based around a series of semi-structured interviews with 10 top-level directors of public libraries in the United States and Canada, which were published in the book World’s Leading National, Public, Monastery and Royal Library Directors: Leadership, Management: Future of Libraries. The data collection method for this study consisted of narrative analysis of the 10 interviews utilizing Robert Greenleaf’s servant leadership theory, which highlights the leader’s desire to serve others first and foremost. With the current trends of increased globalization, digitization, and cultural diversity, among others, public libraries need to have leadership focused on creating shared-power environments encouraging collaboration. Analysis of these interviews showed that many of the directors’ responses were quite similar to the concepts discussed in servant leadership. The library directors, through their leadership philosophies, benefited in boosting team cohesion, fostering collaboration, increasing creativity, and promoting morality-centered self-reflection amongst leaders, thereby helping their libraries gain and maintain competitive advantage, and improving the overall ethical culture of their organizations. The results of this study would be of interest to library professionals interested in management as well as LIS students who want to understand how library directors view successful traits of library leadership.

The determinants of library and information science undergraduate students’ first impression of university library websites

This study examined determinants of library and information science undergraduate students’ first impression with the university library websites. A total enumeration method was used to involve 54 year 4 undergraduate students of Library and Information Science from two selected universities. Undergraduate Students’ Determinants of First Impression with University Library Websites Questionnaire was used to gather data. The results obtained demonstrate that there is significant correlation between LIS students’ Perception of Website quality, Website interactivity, Website aesthetic perception, Website prototypicality, and Website satisfaction with first impression toward the university library website. The five independent variables (Website quality, Website interactivity, Website aesthetic perception, Website prototypicality, and Website satisfaction) jointly (as indicated by the R-square value) explained or predicted 66% of the variation in LIS students’ first impression towards university library website. Aesthetic perception of library website contributed most to the prediction of LIS students’ first impression towards library website, followed in declining order of strength by library website interactivity, library website satisfaction, and library website quality. However, prototypicality though correlated with first impression, its contribution is not significant. Notable limitation of this study is that, data was collected from undergraduate students in only two universities focusing only Library and Information Science students. The results call for formidable efforts to improve the users experience on the web, because the first impression counts. This study has implications for the users patronizing the university library websites. The results show that Aesthetic perception of library website contributed mostly to the prediction of LIS students’ first impression towards university library website, followed by library website interactivity. These findings may not be applicable to other university library websites but this depend on the experience of the users.

Graduate LIS Students' Attitude Toward University Libraries and Personnel

ABSTRACTThis is an attitudinal survey that profiles Kuwait University Library and Information Science (KULIS) students' attitudes concerning Kuwait University's (KU's) libraries. It uses the phenomenological approach to analyze respondents' data regarding confidence in their skills and the effect on attitude toward KU's resources. It furthermore explores the attitudes of KU staff and the level of assistance offered to KULIS students. The results show that most of the respondents visited the library to access electronic resources. Some respondents disagreed that the staff had treated the KULIS suspiciously, yet a majority disagreed that the KU library staff was professionally trained to help KULIS students. Several respondents strongly agreed that they were confident in their searching skills. The results of the survey are used to recommend curriculum changes and ways to improve library and other academic support services at academic institutions generally.

Educational Use of Mobile Devices: A Survey of Mobile Devices Use by Library and Information Science Students in Central Universities of Uttar Pradesh, India

This paper is an attempt to find out the usage of mobile devices by LIS students for academic purpose in Central universities in Uttar Pradesh state in India. The findings of the study reveal that male students out number female students in mobile device use. Not significant numbers of students are using mobile devices for accessing academic information. Mobile devices are less used for accessing subscribed library resources. Poor network coverage and high charging data plans are the two most common problems faced by LIS students. The findings of the study will guide LIS students and research scholars in effective use of mobile devices for academic purpose and help mobile manufactures, university authorities, librarians in exploring mobile devices adoption and usage at the university.

A Study on the Recognition of LIS Students about Public Library’s Subject Special Services and Subject Special Librarian

A Study on the Recognition of LIS Students about Public Library’s Subject Special Services and Subject Special Librarian

How a cycle of information literacy assessment and instruction stimulates attitudes and motivations of LIS students: A competency-based case study

The main goal of this study is better understanding of LIS students’ affective and effective status with regard to a range of basic information literacy competencies, through their attitudes – belief in importance (BI), motivations – self/efficacy (SE) and actual levels of knowledge and skills (KS). In order to check to what extent specific pedagogical intervention may result in an improvement, a cycle of combined instruction and assessment was implemented with the following steps: (1) pre-test on affective and actual values concerning information literacy competencies; (2) information literacy instruction on ‘content analysis’ subject; (3) post-test replicating the same questionnaires (ILHUMASS and EVALCI). Various statistical methods such as paired sample tests, factor analysis and correlations were used for data analysis. Some significant relationships between students’ attitudes, motivations and actual levels of knowledge and skills are confirmed, but not in all competencies. Instruction has greater impact on students’ self-efficacy (SE) and lower on belief-in-importance (BI). Latent structures at pre- and post-instruction remain stable in SE and vary considerably in BI. In sum, instruction/assessment experience has been relevant for LIS students’ motivations (SE), ant to a lesser extent for their attitudes (BI). Thus, both information literacy dimensions should be approached separately, with higher emphasis on BI. Though limited to a group of LIS students from one institution, a new research path towards better understanding of the relationships between their affective and actual values on information literacy competencies is suggested. Through the combination of paradigms on both information literacy frameworks and information literacy competencies, outstanding results on the relationships between LIS students’ affective and actual status concerning information literacy competencies are delivered.

Understanding the document selection rationale of Library and Information Science students

Purpose The study investigates the document selection rationale of library and information science students to satisfy their academic needs. Design/methodology/approach The descriptive survey design was used for the study using questionnaire as the data collection instrument. The collected data is analysed by frequency distribution and presented using charts and tables. Findings The results of the study reveal the preferences of LIS students and hints what they want from LIS literature. Majority of students prefer books in comparison to journal articles as reading material. The survey revealed a high preference towards books written by authors from national origin than international authors. Similarly, students prefer books published by the national publishers than the international publishers. The findings further suggest that the affiliation of the author is a major factor as the student prefer books written by authors from central universities more to authors belonging to state universities or authors from industry. Further, students seem to be more impressed towards the books written by LIS academics than the books written by practising librarians. Research limitations/implications One limitation of the study is that it was conducted in India taking the case of LIS students from only two universities. To generalise the impact, similar studies should be replicated by taking a larger sample to gain a complete perspective of LIS students. Practical implications The findings of the study have both theoretical and practical implications. The theoretical understanding of the behaviour of LIS students will help faculty members to understand the selection rationale of students. The practical aspect of this study is that the findings will help the acquisition librarians to take informed decisions in collection building for LIS collection in their libraries Originality/value Most of the studies available in LIS literature related to reading preferences, study the general aspects such as frequency of library visit, the favourite place of reading, the purpose of library visit, gender wise distribution of library visit, and time spent in the library. There are very few studies investigating the document selection rationale of LIS students.

Freelance Librarianship: A Source of Income for Unemployed Library and Information Science Graduates

There is no doubt that information brokering is an emerging profession in Nigeria and other African countries. There is a need for LIS students to develop various ways to become job creators, rather than job seekers, which can be achieved via entrepreneurship. This study discovers how libraries and library and information science graduates can become entrepreneurs in through its service delivery and will also suggest possible recommendations that will help Libraries and information science graduates become entrepreneurs in through its service delivery by revealing the statistical trend of unemployment from 2006-2016, and gives a light on how library and information science can be linked to entrepreneurship. The study also buttresses some opportunities for library and information science graduates in the area of business and entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Conclusively, the study provides prerequisites needed by librarians before freelancing. Recommendations based on universities and librarian’s variables were made on how to create employment for graduates in Nigeria. The study also identified some limitations that can be worked upon in the future.

Is Management the “Tower of Babel” for Library and Information Science Programs?

ABSTRACTGiven the explosive growth of digital collections and the digital transformation of services in libraries, the need for management education in library and information science programs has grown. However, I contend in this article that confusion abounds like the “Tower of Babel” for LIS programs to accomplish this goal. A one size fits all approach does not work. Instead, management theory and principles need to be LIS-centric in accord with present day needs and conceptions. Management education also needs to be linked with scientific rigor to practice to meet the needs and expectations of LIS students. Rather than delivering management education that speaks the language of business, the content needs to resonate with the conditions for managing in the LIS context and to be supportive of the values of the LIS field. The article provides examples from research on management and innovation in libraries and other information-rich contexts. It also illustrates the types of issues that management education in LIS programs should address to deepen our understanding of the essential principles needed to manage information and knowledge.

Use of Mobile Devices by Library and Information Science Students in Central Universities of Uttar Pradesh

<p>This paper provides an insight of actual use of mobile devices by into LIS students’ in everyday life and their perceptions regarding the usefulness and effectiveness of mobile phones for academic purpose in Central universities in Uttar Pradesh state, India. The findings of the study reveal that most of the respondents use mobile devices daily for more than 3 hours. Smart phone is the most used mobile device. Respondents use productivity tools on their mobile device for creating documents. Gmail app, Whatsapp, google app, adobe reader and PDF viewer are the most frequently used mobile apps. Most of the respondents access Library Website through their mobile device and only 1.96% are accessing e-books from their mobile device. Major barriers found are: use of mobile devices for academic learning in the poor network coverage, high charging data plans, slow load time and lack of Internet speed. The findings of the study will not only guide LIS students in effective use of mobile devices for academic purposes, but will also help mobile manufactures, university authorities, librarians in exploring mobile devices adoption and usage <br />among the respondents.</p>

Assessing UNC-Greensboro’s Reference Interns Program: Enhancing the employability of LIS students

For decades libraries have been highly dependent on student interns to provide reference and other library services. In recent years, the roles and responsibilities of reference librarians have undergone significant changes. With the emergence of technology and development of virtual communication channels, reference service is no longer limited to a single physical space. In many academic libraries, the reference desk is either staffed by highly trained paraprofessionals or by student workers. In other instances, the reference desk has been dissolved or merged with other service points such as circulation or access services. Some libraries have moved to a system where patrons are referred to subject librarians or liaisons when specialized expertise and in-depth research techniques are required.