Factors influencing the choice of librarianship as a course of study at the diploma level in Ghana

Abstract

The study investigated the factors that influence the choice of librarianship as a course of study at the diploma level in Ghana. The study also sought to find out if interest had been engendered in librarianship after enrolling for the course and whether the students intended pursuing the course further to develop a career in librarianship. The population surveyed was the Diploma I & II classes of the Department of Information Studies, University of Ghana who were admitted in 2005/2006 and 2006/2007 academic years. Using data obtained through questionnaires, the study sought for information relating to their background, factors influencing the choice of librarianship, interest in librarianship and pursuing librarianship as a career. The findings revealed that various factors account for the choice of librarianship. These factors were mainly external with an opportunity for further education being the most prevalent. Other factors included association with librarians, experience in library work, a liking for books and the need for career change.

Choice of Library and Information Science in a rapidly changing information landscape

“…Commitment and job satisfaction are also identified as factors affecting students' decision (Simon and Taylor, 2011). In addition, previous work experience in libraries (Adanu and Amekuedee, 2010;Ard et al, 2006;Issa and Nwalo, 2008;Kim et al, 2007;Olawanle and Abayomi, 2010;Taylor et al, 2009) and individuals' love of libraries derived from library use throughout their lives are among the factors influencing students' LIS career choice (Farley-Larmour, 2000;Figyelo, 2005;Hussey, 2009;Newbutt and Sen, 2009). However, in Nigeria (Madu et al, 2014) have argued that school libraries fail to motivate students in the choice of LIS due to their inadequate management.…”

“…A significant number of the identified literature (23 papers) has examined students' decisions to choose the LIS discipline as a field of study. Love of books and reading (Adanu and Amekuedee, 2010;Berry, 2007;Farley-Larmour, 2000;Hallam and Partridge, 2005;Marcella and Baxter, 2001;Newbutt and Sen, 2008;Simon and Taylor, 2011;Singh and Chander, 2013) and the nature of the job (Ard et al, 2006;Berry, 2007;Egunjobi et al, 2014;Kim et al, 2007;Newbutt and Sen, 2009;Taylor et al, 2009;Unagha, 2008) are the reasons most cited. Almost as popular are the interest in helping people (Berry, 2007;Farley-Larmour, 2000;Medeiros, 2014;Newbutt and Sen, 2009) the interest in the field, love for research and the desire for an academic job (Hallam and Partridge, 2005;Kim et al, 2007).…”

“…Other factors referred to as equally important in the choice of LIS are enjoyment of information technology (Adomi and Ogbomo, 2001;Figyelo, 2005;Hallam and Partridge, 2005;Marcella and Baxter, 2001;Moniarou-Papaconstantinou et al, 2010;Taylor et al, 2009), the desire for personal learning experiences and career development (Adomi and Ogbomo, 2001;Hallam and Partridge, 2005;Kim et al, 2007;Simon and Taylor, 2011), the opportunity for further education as well as the desire for career change (Adanu and Amekuedee, 2010). Commitment and job satisfaction are also identified as factors affecting students' decision (Simon and Taylor, 2011).…”

“…Contact with a librarian is often mentioned as a factor for choosing LIS (Adanu and Amekuedee, 2010;Newbutt and Sen, 2009;Stanley, 2007), but this is not considered as important as library use (Hussey, 2009). The role of parents and relatives (Bavakutty et al, 2008;Issa and Nwalo, 2008) as well as the role of mentors, professors, coworkers or friends were also significant (Ard et al, 2006;Bavakutty et al, 2008;Taylor et al, 2009).…”

Factors Influencing the Choice of Librarianship as a Career Among Students in Tanzania

“…The choice of any career or profession, including librarianship, is influenced by several factors (Chiu et al, 2017). Adanu & Amekuedee (2010) and Bello (1996) categorized these factors into three. External factors (such as directly or indirectly by one or more of the following: parents, friends, mass media, employer and counseling), professional factors (such as stability, secure future, social status and prestige of the profession, satisfactory earnings and acquisition of knowledge) and intrinsic factors (such as the use of one's special ability, skill, creativity and the opportunity to work with people).…”