Creating Tomorrow’s Technologists Contrasting Information Technology Curriculum in North American Library and Information Science Graduate Programs against Code4lib Job Listings

• Published in: Journal of education for library and information science Vol. 56; no. 3; pp. 198 - 212
• Main Author: Maceli, Monica
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: North York Association for Library and Information Science Education 01.07.2015; University of Toronto Press
• Subjects: Architecture; Archives & records; College Curriculum; Core curriculum; Design; Educational Practices; Educational Technology; Employment; Foreign Countries; Graduate Study; Information professionals; Information Technology; Integrated library systems-ILS; Internet resources; Job requirements; Job Skills; Librarians; Library and information science; Library associations; Library collections; Library Education; Metadata; North America; Occupational Information; Popularity; Professions; Public access; Qualitative Research; Recruitment; Research Papers; Science; Science Curriculum; Students; Studies; Teachers; Technology education; Text analysis; Web site design; Web Sites; North America
• ISSN: 0748-5786; 2328-2967; 2328-2967
• DOI: 10.12783/issn.2328-2967/56/3/3

This research study explores technology-related course offerings in ALA-accredited library and information science (LIS) graduate programs in North America. These data are juxtaposed against a text analysis of several thousand LIS-specific technology job listings from the Code4lib jobs website. Starting in 2003, as a popular library technology mailing list, Code4lib has since expanded to an annual conference in the United States and a job-posting website. The study found that database and web design/development topics continued to dominate course offerings with diverse sub-topics covered. Strong growth was noted in the area of user experience but a lack of related jobs for librarians was identified. Analysis of the job listings revealed common technology-centric librarian and non-librarian job titles, as well as frequently correlated requirements for technology skillsets relating to the popular foci of web design/development and metadata. Finally, this study presents a series of suggestions for LIS educators in order that they continue to keep curriculum aligned with current technology employment requirements.