Lis

As universities and colleges across the United States grapple with the best way to proceed with fall terms given the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, American Library Association–accredited library science programs are providing a variety of options to their students. Some are going fully online while others are offering hybrid courses with online and in-person components.

As the field increasingly expands to include work with a wide range of physical and electronic materials, resources, and data, the question “What is a librarian?” does not have an easy answer. Prerequisites for any librarian job include curiosity and a desire to help expand others’ knowledge. But a satisfying library career may take many forms.

The importance of diversity and inclusion in librarianship is a common topic in LIS pedagogy today. Not long ago, that was far from the norm. However, in 1967 the University of Maryland’s School of Library and Information Sciences (SLIS) offered a comprehensive program that focused on topics designed to better serve the disadvantaged. It included an experimental library, High John, created and facilitated by SLIS in a predominately African American community named Fairmount Heights.

Recognizing the immense achievements of librarians in a variety of disciplines is worthy of a big annual shout-out — and that is exactly what Library Journal’s Movers & Shakers program is all about.

Guidance from those who have been there can help prospective students as they consider librarianship and choose a library science program.

Simmons University School of Library and Information Science has partnered with seven academic health sciences and research libraries and science publisher Elsevier to establish the Research Data Management Librarian Academy (RDMLA), a free online professional development program. RDMLA launched on October 7.

LJ's 2019 Placements & Salaries survey looked at grads entering the LIS field for their second careers and the kind of education or experience they were bringing to their new roles.

LJ's 2019 Placements & Salaries survey looked at grads entering the LIS field and discovered that the highest paying jobs are in the Pacific region, and that the regional differential between salary extremes is 59 percent larger than last year.

LJ's 2019 Placements & Salaries survey showed that the top job skill cited was again reference and information services (10 percent), but in second place for the first time was user experience/usability analysis (9 percent). This is the first year that LJ asked graduates about soft skills training in conflict resolution, cultural competency, customer service, design thinking, ethics, and leadership.