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This survey
was designed to determine the perceptions of those already in the library
workplace of a degree earned through distance education. On June 6,
2003 an invitation to participate was sent to a number of library
listservs. In order to get as many varied responses as possible the
library listservs selected served academic, public, special and school
libraries. Additional invitations were sent to listservs for library
management, children's librarians and those involved in web management.
Survey responses were collected until August 8, 2003.
In all there
were 397 responses to the survey. Respondents worked in a variety of
libraries or library-related industries, in a number of
different positions. There were responses from many different
age groups and from 49 of the United States. In addition, there were
17 responses from outside the United States.
Results
showed that 82% of respondents would hire someone with a degree
earned online, while 18% would not. While 43% of respondents felt
that the degrees were equivalent, 32% felt that a traditional course of
study was better, and 3% preferred the online degree. Twenty-two
percent (22%) of all respondents felt that they did not know enough about
the online course of study to be able to compare. For a breakdown of
the responses to all questions, see Table I.
Of the
respondents that preferred a traditional course of study, many felt quite
strongly about it. See Table II
for the comments of these respondents and
Table III for the comments of those
who would favor an online course of study.
Table IV includes additional
comments e-mailed separately to the researcher.
Table V includes comments sent
after preliminary results were published.
Table VI contains a breakdown of
survey responses by library type.
Table VII includes survey
responses broken down by age of respondent.
Table VIII contains a breakdown
of responses by geographic location.
Table IX has survey
responses limited by library size.
TABLE I - Responses to Survey: Hiring Preferences
in Libraries
Respondent’s hiring input
|
Number of responses
|
Percentage of responses |
|
Has hiring input |
282 |
71.6 |
|
Does not have hiring input |
112 |
28.4 |
|
No answer |
3 |
|
Total
|
397 |
|
|
|
Where respondent works
|
Number of responses
|
Percentage of responses |
|
Works in a public library |
163 |
41.2 |
|
Works in an academic library |
120 |
30.5 |
|
Works in a school library |
52 |
13.2 |
|
Works in a special library |
48 |
12.2 |
|
Works in another environment |
13 |
3.3 |
|
Note: Other environments included
Consortium
Office, Consulting, County Office-School, Government (Army) library,
Government Agency, Information Vendor, Knowledge Management,
University, Library System, University Medical Research Library, and
Vendor |
No answer
|
1 |
|
|
|
Position held
(some respondents held more than one position)
|
Number of responses
|
Percentage of responses |
|
Library director |
82 |
20.6 |
|
Library administrator |
44 |
11.1 |
|
Librarian |
209 |
52.5 |
|
Human Resources |
5 |
1.3 |
|
Support Staff |
24 |
6.0 |
|
Other Position |
34 |
8.5 |
|
Note: Other
positions included Branch Manager, Children's Services Consultant,
Department Head, Director, Recent MSIS Graduate, Manager, MLS grad
student, Program Officer, Technology Manager, Vice President, Web
Manager and Youth Services Consultant |
|
No answer |
8 |
|
|
|
Size of Library
|
Number of responses
|
Percentage of responses |
|
Serves less than 10,000 |
156 |
40.3 |
|
Serves less than 25,000 |
67 |
17.3 |
|
Serves less than 50,000 |
56 |
14.5 |
|
Serves less than 100,000 |
37 |
9.6 |
|
Serves more than 100,000 |
57 |
14.7 |
|
Not sure of size |
14 |
3.6 |
|
No answer |
10 |
|
|
Total |
397 |
|
|
|
Location
|
Number of responses
|
Percentage of responses |
|
Outside the United States |
17 |
4.3 |
|
Inside the United States
|
378 |
95.7 |
|
Alaska
Alabama
Arkansas
Arizona
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Washington, D.C.
Delaware
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Iowa
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Massachusetts
Maryland
Maine
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Mississippi
North Carolina
North Dakota
Nebraska
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
Nevada
New York
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Virginia
Vermont
Washington
Wisconsin
West Virginia
Wyoming
Inside U.S. – no state specified
|
3
4
1
3
21
9
15
5
2
14
8
2
6
2
12
5
3
9
2
16
8
1
16
6
9
2
12
1
3
2
15
6
3
18
17
1
3
14
5
5
8
26
2
9
1
11
9
2
1
20 |
|
|
No answer |
2 |
|
|
|
Geographic Regions
|
Number of responses
|
Percentage of responses |
|
New England States
CT, MA, ME, NH, RI, VT |
40 |
11.2 |
|
Middle Atlantic
DC, DE, MD, NJ, NY, PA, WV, VA |
73 |
20.4 |
|
South
AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC,
SC, TN, TX |
91 |
25.4 |
|
Middle West
IA, IL, IN, MI, MN, MO, OH, WI |
80 |
22.3 |
|
Plains and Mountains
AZ, CO, ID, KS, MT, ND, NE, NM,
NV, OK, SD, UT, WY |
34 |
9.5 |
|
Pacific States
CA, OR, WA, HI, AK |
40 |
11.2 |
|
|
Respondent’s Age
|
Number of responses
|
Percentage of responses |
|
Under 30 |
46 |
11.7 |
|
31-40 |
100 |
25.4 |
|
41-50 |
112 |
28.5 |
|
51-60 |
112 |
28.5 |
|
Over 60 |
23 |
5.9 |
|
No Answer |
4 |
|
|
|
Aware of Distance Education in MLS
Program?
|
Number of responses
|
Percentage of responses |
|
Aware of Distance Education |
384 |
97.0 |
|
Unaware of Distance Education |
12 |
3.0 |
|
No answer |
1 |
|
Total
|
|
|
|
|
Knows Someone Taking MLS Courses
Online
|
Number of responses
|
Percentage of responses |
|
Yes |
302 |
76.1 |
|
No |
95 |
23.9 |
Total
|
397 |
|
|
|
How Respondent Feels Traditional and
Online Degrees Compare
|
Number of responses
|
Percentage of responses |
They are equivalent
|
170 |
43.0 |
Traditional degree better
|
126 |
31.9 |
Online degree better
|
12 |
3.0 |
Not sure
|
87 |
22.0 |
No answer
|
2 |
|
|
|
Would respondent hire someone with
online degree
|
Number of responses
|
Percentage of responses |
Yes
|
314 |
81.8 |
No
|
70
|
18.2 |
No answer
|
13 |
|
|
|
Degree Preference
|
Number of responses
|
Percentage of responses |
Prefer traditional degree
|
164 |
41.3 |
Prefer online degree
|
14 |
3.5 |
No preference
|
219 |
55.2 |
|
|
Reasons for preferring traditional education (of 164
respondents – multiple responses selected)
|
Number of
responses
|
Percentage of responses
|
Traditional better education
|
81 |
49.4 |
Traditional more complete
|
89 |
54.3 |
Online not as challenging
|
39 |
23.8 |
Unsure of online value
|
50 |
30.5 |
Other reason
|
74 |
45.1 |
|
|
Reasons for preferring online education (of 14
respondents – multiple responses selected)
|
Number of responses
|
Percentage of responses |
Online better education
|
1 |
7.1 |
Online provides better technical
skills
|
5 |
35.7 |
Online will provide fresh ideas for
staff
|
10 |
71.4 |
Online not afraid to try new things
|
9 |
64.3 |
Online more flexible
|
6 |
42.9 |
Other reason
|
6 |
42.9 |
|
|
Library’s hiring policy
|
Number of responses
|
Percentage of responses |
No MLS required
|
13 |
4.4 |
MLS is preferred
|
0 |
|
MLS required
|
0 |
|
ALA-accredited MLS required
|
254 |
86.4 |
MLS required; ALA-accredited
preferred
|
0 |
|
|
|
27 |
9.2 |
No answer
|
93 |
|
|
|
Hiring policy personal preference
|
Number of responses
|
Percentage of responses |
No MLS required
|
4 |
1.0 |
MLS is preferred
|
52 |
13.4 |
MLS required
|
44 |
11.3 |
ALA-accredited MLS required
|
227 |
58.4 |
MLS required; ALA-accredited
preferred
|
62 |
15.9 |
No answer
|
8 |
|
|
|
Importance of school attended
|
Number of responses
|
Percentage of responses
|
Most important factor
|
2 |
0.5 |
Important
|
115 |
29.7 |
Not very important
|
119 |
30.7 |
Not important at all
|
28 |
7.2 |
It varies
|
123 |
31.8 |
No answer
|
10 |
|
|
|
Importance of grades
|
Number of responses
|
Percentage of responses
|
|
Grades very important |
29 |
7.4 |
Grades important
|
192 |
49.0 |
Grades not very important
|
78 |
19.9 |
Grades not important
|
25 |
6.4 |
It varies
|
69 |
17.6 |
No answer
|
5 |
|
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