Lis

LJ's 2019 Placements & Salaries survey considered how and when LIS students and grads conducted their job searches, and learned that 44 percent are hired before they finish their degrees. Job seekers are leveraging not only traditional outlets, such as listservs and employment sites, but social media and networking opportunities, too.

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 at the salaries they command. This provides a snapshot of graduates' job-seeking experiences at 41 ALA-accredited institutions and identifies comparative trends from previous years. Two schools are new this year, 35 schools used our survey, and six schools created independent assessments.

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 learned that full-time grads earned on average 6.2 percent more than they did last year. Top earners tend to have private sector and special collections jobs.

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.

Recovery from the 2008 recession continues: This year’s Placements & Salaries survey indicates that graduates from LIS programs have more options and better opportunities in the field. Highlights include positive trends in salaries and employment status, gender-based pay parity, and employment in LIS institutions. Graduates placed user experience/usability analysis in the top two primary job duties for the first time.

There will always be a place in libraries for people to fill traditional roles in programming, collection development, and working with children or teens. But many recent graduates earning their MLS (or equivalent degree) have learned new competencies that are increasingly in demand.

Whether you have only recently decided to pursue librarianship and are eager to learn the ropes, or have been working in libraries for years and are hoping for the expanded opportunities that the degree can bring, finding an MLIS program that is right for you depends on a number of factors.