You’ve probably already been told that getting library work experience before you graduate is key to a successful job hunt. This session will report on preliminary results of a mixed-methods study of recent Canadian LIS graduates’ pre-professional work experiences and their subsequent career success. We’ll explore how these experiences impact your job search and what to look for in a field placement to make you the most marketable candidate possible. Presented at OLA Super Conference 2015 on Thursday, January 29, 2015

1. How do I get a job?
Evidence-based advice
Judith Logan, University of Toronto
Sandra Herber, University of Guelph-Humber

2. “Real, practical work experience is what
will get you a job after school. For
students what that means is that
seeking out, securing and excelling in an
internship is key to the library school
experience. “
Vandegrift, M. (2013, March 21). [Series] Experiencing LIS – The Internship Edition. Retrieved from
http://hacklibschool.wordpress.com/2011/03/21/internship/#more-731

3. Agenda
1. About the project
2. Interesting findings
3. Actionable findings

4. ‘pPLWE’
=
Pre-professional LIS work
experience

5. Primary research question
How do pre-professional LIS work experiences
affect LIS students’ subsequent career
success?

6. Secondary research questions
● What pre-professional LIS work experiences
(pPLWE) do students have access to?
● What outcomes do students get out of their
pPLWE?
● What external factors affect the influence of
these pPLWE?

7. Methodology
Icons by Sarah Abraham and Brennan Novak at the Noun Project
Unstructured interviews
Fall 2013
Online survey
Fall 2014

8. Inclusion criteria
Interviews
● U of T iSchool or Western FIMS
● 2008-2012
Survey
● U of T iSchool
● Must have had LIS concentration
● Graduated 2008-2013

9. n=88 / 554 eligible
16% response rate

10. Interesting findings...
but not necessarily actionable if
you’re already in a LIS program

11. Today’s measure of impact
Time (in months) it took
respondents to get a job
after graduation
Icon by Wayne Middleton at the Noun Project

13. Did previous work in a library make a
difference in how fast people got jobs?

14. Not really.
Of people who had previous
library work:
● 21% had a job before
graduating
● 52% got a job within 6
months
● 8% got a job in 7-12 months
But…
that wasn’t much different from everyone else

15. Of those who had careers before doing an LIS:
● 44% were ‘early career’ (1-3 years of experience)
● 16% were ‘mid career’ (4 - 6 years of experience)
● 40% were ‘late career’ (more than 7 years of experience)

16. It seems those ‘early career’
people have a slight advantage

17. Did having more than a Bachelor’s degree make a difference in
how quickly people got jobs?

18. Not really. In fact...
...it took people
with Master’s
degrees longer to
get jobs

19. There is a trajectory everyone goes
through

21. Actionable findings
if you’re a pre-professional or an LIS
student

22. Types of pPLWEs
1. Formal, programmatic
a. Practicums
b. Virtual reference internships
c. Job shadowing
2. Matrix
a. Paid vs. unpaid
b. Within the university vs. outside of the university
3. None

23. Icons by Sergi Delgado and iconsmind.com at the Noun Project
Subjective
Objective
vs

26. Of all experiences, respondents
chose paid work as the most
impactful

28. What respondents who
got jobs in under 6
months had done
What all respondents
said was most impactful
Paid work in the library system of my LIS program’s
university
1 2
Paid work in a library or information centre setting outside
of my LIS program’s university
2 1
Job shadowing 3 7
Practicum (105 hours) 4 3
Practicum (45 hours) 5 4
Unpaid/volunteer work in a library or information centre
setting outside of my LIS program’s university
6 5
Virtual reference internship 7 7
Rankings

29. What respondents who
got jobs in under 6
months had done
What respondents who
got jobs in under 6
months said was most
impactful
Paid work in the library system of my LIS program’s
university
1 1
Paid work in a library or information centre setting outside
of my LIS program’s university
2 2
Job shadowing 3 0
Practicum (105 hours) 4 4
Practicum (45 hours) 5 3
Unpaid/volunteer work in a library or information centre
setting outside of my LIS program’s university
6 5
Virtual reference internship 7 0
Rankings

30. “You feel differently about a job when
you’re being paid for it. … I think people
give you different things to do. They
treat you in a different way when you’re
being paid.”
-Interviewee

31. Most impactful
experience

32. People who said paid work was the
most impactful, got these things out
of the experience
1. Added to my professional resume (98%)
2. Taught me practical professional skills (95%)
3. Helped me build my professional network &
Clarified my professional aspirations (93%)

33. Interestingly...
The paid work was less likely to introduce you
to new areas of librarianship not previously
considered (32% said it did not).

34. How many hours do you need to
work?
Of the people who had jobs within 6 months of
graduation…
● 40% worked less than 10 hours weekly in
their most impactful field experience

36. Takeaways
1. Stop worrying
a. Previous library work experience
b. Length of time in previous career
c. Master’s
d. Trajectory towards permanent, full time takes time
2. Get paid work
3. Under 15 hours (even under 10 hours)
weekly is enough

37. https://lisfieldexperiences.wordpress.com/
judith.logan@utoronto.ca
sandra.herber@guelphhumber.ca