Program Presentation

The IS major has proved to be a versatile course of study, with 16 respondents indicating that they found their first positions in a variety of organizations.

Number of Respondents	Academic	Public Library	Corporate	School	Government
16	4	1	7	2	2

Seven were employed in libraries; one as a systems librarian. The other MSIS graduates reported work in technology-related positions, for example:

The employers of the IS graduates were diverse – academic, business, government. Among these were:

The respondents indicated that they perform a wide variety of client centered duties including running a computer lab, performing statistical computing, programming, network support, providing reference services, managing special libraries, research and searching, and web site design and development. Six have held more than one position since graduation. With one exception, this group has tended to stay in the same sector while advancing or seeking alternative employment. The exception is a systems librarian, who moved from an academic setting to a technology organization and from there to a managerial position with a research organization.

Graduates with the LS major display a wide range of aptitudes, skills, and interests. Of the 70 who responded to this question, approximately 42% indicated that they found their first professional position in an academic setting. About 26% indicated that they had begun their careers in public libraries. About 11% found positions in schools; and the same percentage work in corporate settings; about 10% of the respondents were employed in government agencies.

Number of Respondents	Academic	Public Library	Corporate	School	Government
70	29	18	8	8	7

The graduates working in non-library settings have found a diverse group of employers, including:

Their positions are closely aligned with corporate objectives and reflect these settings. They include:

A little over half of the respondents list a series of positions, with half of these indicating that they were able to apply their skills in more than one type of setting. Others remained in place, in many cases taking on additional administrative responsibilities through promotion or migrating to more technology-based positions as they became available.

The positions described also reflect the wide range of career options available to graduates with skills related to information services and technology. The largest percentage of these, about 40%, obtained initial jobs primarily related to reference services in either an academic or public library setting. Another 18% report that they were primarily involved in youth services as children’s librarians, media specialists, school librarians, or YA coordinators. About 13% were employed in technical processing positions, with primary responsibility for cataloging, acquisitions, or collection development. Another 14% worked as information specialists or provided multiple services in corporate information centers, while approximately 11% held positions that focused primarily on technology. This group includes systems librarians, website designers and managers, database managers, and network administrators. The other alumni/ae worked in a wide variety of positions, including archives, research, and administration, and special collections.

In almost all cases, regardless of position and location, these graduates are providing multiple services, employing a wide variety of skills, and performing a variety of tasks. For example, of the 70 respondents, 54% indicate that they have reference responsibilities, 35% managerial or supervisory responsibilities, 25% training or teaching responsibilities, 32% collection development responsibilities, and 29% web or computer related responsibilities. Teaching and instruction, writing, and cataloging also figure in these positions.

Reference

Managemet/

Supervisory

Collection Development

Computer

Training/Teaching

Cataloging

Web

Appendix O: ALUMNI EMPLOYMENT SINCE GRADUATION

Corporate

Managemet/

Number of Respondents	Reference	Youth	Tech Processing	Information in Corp/multi	Other
70	24	13	9	10	14