New career opportunities and their impact on Library and Information Science degrees : an exploratory study

In the USA and Canada, there has been considerable effort on the part of program providers of professional degrees in Library and Information Science to expand job opportunities for graduates of their programs beyond the traditional placement in libraries. This has led to the development of specializations in topics such as Data Curation and Data Analysis. In other cases, new degrees in Information Management and Knowledge Management have been developed and offered in the effort of improving job placement results of graduates. Expanding placement opportunities for graduates of programs educating information professionals is often referred to as developing alternative career opportunities to the traditional jobs for information professionals in libraries and related organizations such as archives and museums. Such programs often focus on the broader term information and promote education and research for the information professions beyond the traditional LIS professions in libraries and related institutions. A number of schools no longer offer LIS degrees, but offer degrees in Information instead. This paper examines the patterns of name changes found in degrees and programs in schools with American Library Association accredited programs and presents an analysis of the reported impact on alternative and/or new career opportunities on the graduates specifically with Information Management degrees. Suggestions are made for further research needed to determine the success of these new degrees as well as issues related to the relevance of accreditation of programs by the American Library Association in the context of the changes taking place in LIS education.