An analysis reported in 1974 of 660 library science and library science related dissertations completed between 1925 and 1972 showed that48% of the 435 doctoral recipients who received their degrees between 1953-72 worked in positions or with activities that appeared to be far removed from the scope of their dissertations. The primary exception to this general trend was library school faculty, where 63.3% taught courses that generally coincided with their dissertation topic. (Source)
Ibid…. showed that, of the 435 doctoral recipients who received their degrees between 1953-72, there was no statistically significant relationship between type of degree earned (Ph.D., D.L.S., and Ed.D.) and the type of position held (faculty, academic libraries, public libraries, school libraries, special libraries, other) at the time of the analysis. D.L.S. recipients were as likely as Ph.D. or Ed.D. recipients to teach on library school faculties, while Ph.D. recipients were as likely as D.L.S. or Ed.D. recipients to have jobs in academic libraries, etc. (Source)
A survey reported in 1978 of traceable North American librarians who had earned library doctorates in American Library Association accredited programs between 1930 and 1975 (survey size: 568; responding: 403 or 71%) showed that51.3% reported being in library education, 33.8% reported being in the field of library administration, 11.1% reported library research (as distinct from any other categories), and 3.8% reported being in library operations. (Source)
Ibid…. showed thatrespondents were generally happy with the type of work they were doing. Specifically:
of library administrators, 76.1% reported that they preferred administration to other type of work, while only 10.9% reported that they preferred education;
of individuals in library operations, 53.3% preferred this type of work, while 26.7% reported they would prefer library administration;
of library educators, 86.7% preferred this type of work, while only 7.1% reported they would prefer library administration;
of library researchers, 67.6% preferred this type of work [no information is given on those preferring alternative types of work]. (Source)
Ibid…. showed that, based on a scoring system where “3” = essential, “2” = important, “1” = useful, and “0” = unimportant, respondents overall rated the library doctorate 2.4 in obtaining their present posts and 1.99 in performing the duties of their present posts. Specifically:
library educators rated the library doctorate 2.81 in obtaining their present posts and 2.33 in performing their duties;
library administrators ranked the library doctorate 2.06 in obtaining their present positions and 1.73 in performing their duties;
library researchers ranked the library doctorate 1.86 in obtaining their present positions and 1.51 in performing their duties;
individuals in library operations ranked the library doctorate 1.20 in obtaining their present positions and 1.07 in performing their duties. (Source)
A survey reported in 1978 of full-time British and U.S. library school teaching staff (population: 16 British schools with 285 teachers, 53 accredited U.S. programs with a total of 633 teachers; responding: 134 or 47% of the British teachers and 302 or 48% of the U.S. teachers) showed that nonteaching professional experience of British and U.S. respondents was as follows: none (British, 4 or 3%; U.S., 30 or 9.9%), academic libraries (British, 49 or 36.6%; U.S., 215 or 71.2%), national libraries (British, 2 or 1.5%; U.S., 13 or 4.3%), public libraries (British, 96 or 71.6%; U.S., 93 or 30.8%), school libraries (British, 1 or 0.8%; U.S., 57 or 18.9%), special libraries (British, 28 or 21.0%; U.S., 93 or 30.8%). (Source)
Ibid…. showed that, of 130 British and 297 U.S. respondents, 59 or 45.4% of the British and 180 or 60.6% of the U.S. teachers had been teaching in their present institution for less than 7 years, while 54.6% of the British and 39.4% of the U.S. teachers had been teaching in their present institution for 7 years or more. Average teaching time at their present institution was 7.5 years for the British and 6.5 years for the U.S. teachers. (Source)
Ibid…. showed that, of 134 British and 302 U.S. respondents, 127 or 94.8% of the British and 255 or 84.4% of the U.S. teachers were members of the Library Association or American Library Association, respectively, while 11 or 8.2% of the British and 283 or 93.7% of the U.S. teachers were members of state, regional, or county library associations. (Source)
Ibid…. showed that, for 132 British and 289 U.S. respondents, the age distribution of teachers was as follows: 21 to 30 (11 or 8.3% British; 6 or 2.1% U.S.), 31 to 40 (32 or 24.2% British; 73 or 25.3% U.S.), 41 to 50 (49 or 37.1% British; 94 or 32.5% U.S.), 51 to 60 (32 or 24.2% British; 81 or 28% U.S.), 61 to 70 (8 or 6.1% British; 35 or 12.1% U.S.). (Source)
A 1978 survey of full-time faculty in 7 Canadian graduate library schools (population: 81 faculty; survey size: 71 faculty; responding: 59 or 83%) showed thatthe average age of the faculty had increased since the early 1970s. For example, 27.1% of the faculty were 55 years old or older compared to 20% of the faculty 55 years old or older in a 1971-72 survey. This compared to 9.5% overall for university teachers in Canada who were 55 years old or older in a 1975-76 study. (Source)
Ibid…. showed that46 (78%) respondents were Canadian citizens. This represented a 16% gain in Canadian citizens over the 1971-72 study of library schools. Overall in Canadian universities 70.6% of the university teachers were Canadian citizens [no date given]. (Source)
Ibid…. showed thatthe 4 “best” library schools out of 16 as ranked by 24 respondents (voting for one’s own school was allowed) and scored on a weighted scale were (in descending order of perceived quality):
1. University of Chicago
2. University of Toronto
3. University of Illinois
4. University of California, Los Angeles
Further, 23 (28.4%) of the total group of Canadian library school faculty received at least 1 degree from these 4 schools. (Source)
Ibid…. showed that 2 (3.4%) respondents entered library education directly without having spent time in some other full-time occupation. 53 (90.0%) respondents worked in libraries before becoming library school faculty, while 4 (6.8%) had never worked in a library. (Source)
Ibid…. showed that, of the 57 respondents who had held a full-time job before joining a library school, 27 (47.4%) received all their experience in Canada, while 18 (31.6%) had both Canadian work experience and work experience in at least 1 foreign country. Only 12 (21.1%) respondents had no Canadian work experience. (Source)
Ibid…. showed that44 (74.6%) respondents felt that library experience was a prerequisite for teaching library science, 14 (23.7%) felt that library experience was not a prerequisite for teaching library science, and 1 (1.7%) held no opinion. (Source)
Ibid. . . . showed that13 (22%) respondents had been in their present positions for less than 5 years, 26 (44.1%) respondents had been in their present positions between 5 and 9 years, while 20 (33.9%) respondents had been in their present positions for 10 years or longer. (Source)
Ibid…. showed thatthe 5 most frequently reported professional groups to which respondents belonged were (multiple responses allowed):
Canadian Library Association 40 (67.8%) respondents
American Library Association 27 (45.8%) respondents
Association of American Library Schools 18 (30.5%) respondents
American Society for Information Science 18 (30.5%) respondents
Canadian Association of Library Schools 18 (30.5%) respondents (Source)
A study reported in 1983 of 98 doctoral dissertations in library administration (taken from Dissertations in Library Science 1930-80 by C. H. Davis, 1980) showed thatresearch continuity in the area of library administration was very limited. For example, of the 23 individuals supervising 2 or more doctoral dissertations in library administration:
4 of the supervisors had no earned Ph.D.;
of the 19 supervisors who had an earned doctorate, 4 had doctorates in fields or disciplines other than library science;
of the 15 supervisors who had doctorates in library science, only 1 supervisor had a degree in library administration. (Source)
