[SOA] Opportunity for Current and Future LIS Professionals and Paraprofessionals to Participate in Research Study on LIS Education and Training

[Gracy, Karen]

A research group at Kent State University’s School of Information is researching LIS education and training trends and opportunities and is looking to speak with currently employed LIS professionals and paraprofessionals about their educational experiences and goals. Please consider participating to help us identify ways in which education providers can better serve library, archive, and museum employees’ educational needs.

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Dear LIS Current or Future Employee,

We are scholars at Kent State University and have identified you as someone working in the field of Library and Information Science. We would like to interview you for our study, tentatively called: Ohio Pilot Study STACKS: Stackable Training for Accessible Career Knowledge and Skills.

We would ask you open-ended questions (prompts) related to education and training in the field, as related to your specific role in the field, such as:

1. Background/trajectory:

a. Can you tell me about your current work/studies?

b. How did you first become interested in this field?

2. Identity/future self:

a. How did you imagine yourself when you first started pursuing a degree?

b. How do you see yourself professionally now?

c. If you had to describe your professional self in one sentence, how would you describe it? (e.g. A who likes B and works for what?)

d. Can you describe any challenges you have experienced (or expect) when pursuing a career in this field?

3. Education and preparation:

a. What kind of education or training do you think are important for your career goals? (e.g. MLIS and beyond MLIS such as social work, specific disciplinary knowledge)

- In what ways did your MLIS education prepare or not prepare you for your current work?

b. (current students & alumni) Can you describe educational experiences that have been most and least helpful for you? Why?

c. (paraprofessionals) What factors influenced your decision not to pursue an MLIS degree? Are you planning to get a MLIS degree? If not, why and what would be barriers and benefits of your choice?

d. Have you heard of micro-credentials that make you learn relevant courses and stack credits towards a degree? Do you have intentions to enroll in this kind of program for your professional development? If not, why?

4. Do you have any ideas you would like to mention to develop MLIS programs?

If you are interested in participating, we would interview you via Zoom, Teams, or similar, at your convenience. The interview would take no more than 60 minutes. Upon completion of the interview, you will receive a $30 gift card as a token of our appreciation.

To communicate your interest in participating, please visit the following site to provide us with your contact information: https://kent.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0DtJItFdbFCI1Ho


We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely yours,

Principal Investigator: Marianne Martens, Ph.D.

Co-Investigator Jeeyeon Chun, Doctoral Candidate

Co-Investigator Karen F. Gracy, Ph

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Dr. Karen F. Gracy
Professor
School of Information
Kent State University
kgracy at kent.edu




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