Why librarianship? : a survey of students' reasons for choosing librarianship

This dissertation looks at the trends and characteristics of students embarking upon a career in the library and information profession. It also considers the impression and the ethos generated by the way Career Information and Course Handbooks present library and information services. In particular, it profiles the LUT DILS student intakes for the Academic Year 91/92. Students' previous job experience and their chosen careers were analysed against their given reasons to embark upon a library and information course so as to establish whether a library and information profession is their first or their second choice of career. It was found that the intakes are predominantly female and they are inclined to specialise in humanities and social science subjects. They are likely to be individuals who are inquisitive, investigative, like attending to details and have good interpersonal skills not in organising and administering people but in understanding and helping people. He or she is also likely to be an independent worker who values the aesthetic qualities of the work and the workplace. They are not likely to be outwardly competitive. Most of them do not care for monetary gain and they seemingly lack leadership qualities. Most of them consider the role of work important and they are keen to identify their implicit need for personal growth with their job. The results suggest that the library and information profession embarked upon was treated by some as a second choice of career. The main first chosen careers are in the literary proper, social work and in teaching. Course reference handbooks for different educational establishments could not agree in their main entry headings for library and information work and they tend to have different philosophical outlooks for the library and information profession. Such different approaches created a confused image for the library and information profession. The tertiary career guidance was found to represent information services more realistically by its occupational nature and. not by the employment sectors as in the Career Library Classification Index( CLCI) used by secondary careers guidance.