Pursuing Academic Librarianship

Pathways to Librarian Positions

Authors

  • Aubrey Iglesias New Mexico State University https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6160-0099
  • Louisa Mahama New Mexico State University (Former student -- has since graduated with an M.S. in Applied Statistics from New Mexico State University), College of Business: Department of Economics, Applied Statistics, and International Business
  • Charlotte Gard New Mexico State University, College of Business: Department of Economics, Applied Statistics, and International Business

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to support library and information science students and recent graduates considering academic librarianship by helping them strategize their career preparation and job search endeavors based on recent graduates’ experiences. We accomplished this by employing a nationwide survey to quantify demographic characteristics, experiences during LIS studies, pre-professional experiences, aspects of the job search, and information about first librarian positions of recent graduates in the United States seeking positions as academic librarians. This article focuses on the survey respondents who obtained a librarian position in a non-academic or academic library, and the results reflect the overall, predominantly white, cisgender female survey population. We explore whether there are statistically significant differences in the backgrounds and experiences of respondents that distinguish between the pathways to librarian positions. Results show few differences among survey respondents who obtained a non-academic librarian position – those who went on to obtain an academic librarian position and those who did not. On the other hand, several statistically significant differences were observed among survey respondents who obtained an academic librarian position – those whose first librarian position was in an academic library and those who obtained an academic librarian position after having first worked as a librarian in a non-academic library. Several differences include the age of respondents, conference participation, pre-professional employment in a public, school, or special library, as well as when respondents started applying for librarian positions. The average amount of time needed to obtain a first librarian position by position pathway is significantly different for both non-academic librarian and academic librarian positions. Free-text responses from the final survey item organized by position pathway additionally underscore the current, highly competitive academic librarianship job market while providing insight into the strategies and circumstances that resulted in respondents obtaining academic librarian positions.

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Published

2024-07-24

Issue

Vol. 14 No. 1 (2024)

Section

Articles

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