Measuring Employer Expectations of Information Professionals

Authors: Linda Marion, Mary Anne Kennan, Patricial Willard and Conception S. Wilson (School of Information Systems, Technology and Management, The University of New South Wales).

Description: This paper reports the findings of an exploratory study of 395 library job advertisements in Australia and the USA from August to October 2004. To investigate similarities and differences between the two countries’ data we conducted a content analysis and co-word analysis of professional job ads from academic, public and special libraries. Interpersonal Skills, Behavioural Characteristics, and responsiveness to a changeable Environment1 were identified as critical requirements in both countries.

Full reference: Marion, L., Kennan, M.A., Willard, P. & Wilson, C.S. (August, 2005). A tale of two markets: employer expectations of information professionals in Australia and the United States of America. Paper presented at the World Library and Information Congress: 71th IFLA General Conference and Council, Oslo: Norway.