Scientists in librarianship and information work: II

This paper reports the results of a postal survey (91% response) of students from the Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield who were awarded the MSc in Information Studies between 1979 and 1985, inclusive. Re-spondents were asked about their careers and to evaluate the MSc programme. A high proportion (49% if only UK students are included or 44% if overseas students are also included) of the graduates entered industry and commerce as their first destination and only 1% of UK students were 'unknown, unemployed or in temporary employment' (2% if overseas students are included). First posts were likely to be 'traditional' information posts but a substantial proportion of subsequent posts were in less traditional areas of employment (the emerging market). 31% were working in less traditional areas (predominantly information technology) at the time of the survey. 93% of all current UK posts held by these graduates involve computer applications. The survey results show that these science graduates are not typical products of the UK library/information studies schools but are like other science graduates who took advanced courses supported by the Science and Engineering Research Council. The evaluation showed that there was a good degree of satisfaction with the present programme and confirmed the need to continue developing the practical computer applications aspects.

Section: Job Satisfactionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: Functionssupporting

confidence: 67%

Section: Functionsmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…The study reported here is a follow-up of two earlier surveys carried out at Sheffield of the careers of the MSc graduates in Information Studies [16] and [17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Scientists and information work: the careers of the 1979-1985 MSc graduates from the Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield

Wood

Richardson

Schur

1987

“…LIS departments thus need to ensure that their curricula fully reflect the new priorities, while still retaining traditional strengths in areas such as information retrieval and information resources, if their graduates are to be able to compete successfully for the new types of employment that are becoming available to them. An important component of the curriculum review process in the Department of Information Studies at the University of Sheffield (hereafter 'the Department') has been a continuing series of surveys of postgraduate students' jobs after graduating from the Department [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. Topics covered by these surveys have included students' duties, job satisfaction and mobility and their views on the relevance of the various components of their Masters' programme, inter alia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Follow-up study of graduates from the MSc Information Management programme at the University of Sheffield

Quarmby

Willett

Wood

1999

Self Cite

This paper reports the principal results from a postal survey (response rate: 62%) of the students graduating from the MSc Information Management programme in the Department of Information Studies at the University of Sheffield in the years 1994-96. The most important conclusions to be drawn from the responses that were received are that: most of the graduates rapidly found employment in librarianship and information science, with the largest single group of students starting work in the industrial or commercial sectors; the most commonly occurring duties are database management and searching for information, with library skills being required for only a small fraction of their duties; the extensive restructurings that have occurred in many organisations have left the graduates largely unaffected; use of the Internet, practical computer skills and database design are the elements of most use in their postgraduate careers.

Professional education and subsequent careers in library/information work: a follow-up study of former students on the MA/MSc Information Studies (Social Sciences) course at the University of Sheffield

Hulme

Wilson

1988

Reports on a survey of former students which aimed to collect career information, gain an impression of views on their course, compare findings with an earlier study, and assess these findings in the context of the current employment situation. The results showed, inter alia, an increasing interest in computer-based information work, that most graduates were able to find posts that matched their interests, that they entered a wide range of jobs in 'the emerging market', and that job satisfaction was at a high level.