Karen McEwen- Online Resume, Curriculum and Writing Samples

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Resume

Syllabi of Classes

The Native American Boarding School Experience 1880-1940

Collaborative Storytelling: The Evolution of Narrative in Role-Playing Games

Thirty Seconds to Impress: LIS Distance Education and Employment

Adult Graphic Novel Collection for the Public Library

Top Secret! A Checklist Evaluation of Non Fiction Espionage Monographs at teh Georgetown University Libraries

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Thirty Seconds To Impress: LIS Distance Education and Employment

Thirty seconds is the average time an employer spends, initially scanning the resume of a potential employee. In half a minute, can the format of your degree in terms of traditional or distance education put you in the accepted or rejected pile? A recent survy by Vault.com, a career information company, indicates that 55 prcent of the managers interviewed favor a traditional rather than online degree. Critics of electronic learning express concern that the degree is a financial trasaction rather than educational development- a concern compounded by the proliferation fo fraudulent diploma or degree mills online. Because these two factors lead to a question about the quality of online programs, employers prefer traditional students as the general value of the degree is a known, measurable standard. As an occupation concerned with a potential labor shortage and limited number of accredited schools, does this same bias for traditional versus distance education exist in the field of library science?

Articles in the late 1980's and early 1990's focused on distance education as a concept. In the early part of the 21st century the topic shifted to what makes a good program, but it is only recently that questions were raised on how online degrees are perceived in an employment situation. This reaction is important because distance education is identified as a component, by the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL), of the overall platform of recruitment for the profession. In addition, distance education is for some students the only option to obtain the masters degree, nearly universally required beyond paraprofessional positions.

A synopsis of qualifications indcates that libraries as employers are looking for employees with strong interpersonal and technological skills, who are flexible, creative, communicate well in a service oriented environment and who have strong critical and problem solving skills (Bridges, 2003). As demonstrated in the earliest case study (Kim and Cusak, 2005), these traits represent core competencies that highlight the conerns hiring librarians have about the commitment to service and interpersonal skills of distance graduates.

Examining exclusively, the viewpoint of the employer, a central conclusion is that hiring librarians have difficulty identifying distance education students. The authors consider this a possible limitation of the study as the person completing the survey may or may not ahve conducted the interview. However, a former distance education learner comments "I was instructed just not to mention that my degree was an online degree" (Glover, 2002). In tandem this implies that online users are apt to de-emphasize the format of their education.

In addition when librarians wre asked to evaluate distance education 41.3 percent felt they lacked knowledge to do so. Of those who could compare the two formats, there was a 75 percent favored traditional education. Similar results, in an overlaapping time period, were found in an online survey by Wynkoop (Hiring Preferences Among Libraries, 2003). Both studies demonstrate support for required residency for a portion of the online degree. Supporting these comments is a report confirming that students participating in a program with limited residency form stronger social relationships as students, than those of an entirely online format (Kazner, 2007).

Library distance educators proactively market the benefits and trends of their programs in journal articles and books. It is therefore puzzling why almost 60 percent of the librarians could not compare distance and traditional programs since they are the target audience for the described articles. To clarify, please note that while Kim and Cusak (2005) article was published in 2005, it took place in 2001. Acknowledging that there are six rather than two years difference between the first and final studies clarifies the dramatic increase in awareness of distance education programs demonstrated by the recent case study by Gonzalez, Kennedy and Cenzer (2007).

Conversely, Wile and Epperson (2006), exame the outlook of potential/future employees. Their focus was to find out why students select distance education and if alumni had difficulty in obtaiing positions in their fields of interest. Unexpectedly, the authors found that the main reason for choosing distance educatin is convenience rather than the limited availability of the program. This finding is also idenified as a trait of fmal distance students in a national study (Furst-Bowe, 2004). Demographically, the participants were identifed as primarily white women over the age of forty. As a result, according to this study, distance education is not succesful as recruitment policy because online students entering the job market are around the same age as those plannine retirement (Wile and Epperson, 2006).

Additionally, distance learners were more successful in obtaining positions in academic or school versus public or special libraries potentially reiterates the conerns about quality and socialization seen in the prior studies. The authors attempt to counter prior data by citing that with 74 percent of the respondents working in libraries while taking classes demonstrates the candidates' use of interpersonal skills. Simultaneously, they acknowledge that their results were infuenced by their choice of list services which professional rather than student librarians would use. The data also shows that 51 percent of the learners expected to advance in their current position. These three factors indicate that a large portion fo the students were paraprofessionals, or experienced librarians taking classes. This does not however, mean they were actively seeking degrees, because the authors' definition for participation in the study was having taken one distance education class.

Because the majority are existing library employees looking to update or increase their skills, they are using this format as continuing education, which creates a dichotomy in the literature. In Janaury 2007 an article in The Chronicle for Higher Education states employers do not favor online education, and three months late an article in Issues in Higher Education reports that online degrees are gaining acceptance by employers. While employers favor traditional education for employees, they support continuing education because employees usually learn outside of work, and the employers receive the benefits. Compared to previous studies, this report indicates that librarians may not favor distance education as the primary introduction to the profession but may accept it as a secondary source for continuing education. Supporters of distance educatin believe that by allowing libraians to work while taking classes, many smaller communities obtain better trained personnel. Distance education is pormoted as a racieal free environment which may encourage diversity. Distance learners have the opportunity to learn with students from different cities, states and countries.

Focusing on academic libraries, Gonzalez, Kennedy and Cenzer (2007) addressed perspectivves of both employers and employees at the March, 2007 ACRL 13th National Conference. Their questions reflect those of Wilde and Epperson, seeking to identify whether a bias exists among hiring librarians, what types of libraries applicants applied to and leevels of experience, with similar results. Unlike prior stuies, the authors targeted academic library members who had participated in academic search committees and dived employees between recent graduate with employment and current students. thir results indicate that only 17% of the respondents did not know whether or not they were interviewing a distance candidate. While incofmative, the study presents statistical data wihtout the benefit of graphs or charts.

Comments from search committee members and hiring librarians from this study clarify the lack of identification of distance students from respondents in the Kim and Cusak (2005) study. Members and hiring librarians state their priroites are to hire applicants with practical experience who have an American Library Association (ALA) accredited degree. Less important are grades, institutions and awards. Further support for this is seen in that all students, seeking positions had some degree of library experience through jobs as paraprofessionals, internships or volunteer opportunities. The format of the degree is not considered important for hiring purposes. Therefore, it is unsurprising that employers and employees note that the format of the degree is not ussually a part of the interview discussion. This is further underscored in library staffing and interviewing literature where core competencies and equal treatment of candidates are emphasized (Cohn & Kelsy, 2005; Goodrich & Singer, 2007; Rubin, 1993). The authors identify the value of experience over education as a concern for furthr study. This is demonstrated in research library hiring statistics- for in 1985, 93 percent of new hires had a library degree but in 2000 this numbr dropped to 80 perecent (Wilder, 2004). According to this author this is partially due to the increase of hires in functional specialist poisitons. As library human resources and library education are a self perpetuating cycle, for future librarians this implies that education may not remain a decisive hiring qulalification. This is also reflected in the concern that library programs are becoming too reactionary and need to re-focus on the foundations of the profession (Tenoprir, 2002).

In conculsion, hiring librarians want the best person for the job. However, hiring librarians also express a clear preference for traditional education, although since 2001 a significantly greater percentage is aware of the different types and formats of online education. Because most librarians earned their degree through traditioal methods, their perspective echoes that of general employers in preferring the format with which they are most familair with. A continual increase in employed library distance learners would theoretically mean greater acceptance of the distance format. Currently there is no way to test this conjecture because there are no national statistics tracking the number of distance students. Therefore, future studies should examine sschools on a specific basis rather than convenience samples provided in all three studies.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Barron, D. (Ed). (2003). Benchmarks in distance education the lis experience. Westport: Libraries Unlimited.

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Kazmer, M.M. (2007). How do degrees differ in online lis programs with and without a residency? Library Quarterly 77(4), 359-383. Retrieved October 12, 2007 from EBSCO HOST Resarch Database.

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Wilde, M.L. & Epperson, A. (2006). A survey of alumni of LIS distance education programs: Experiences and implications. The Journal of Academic Librarianship 32(3). 238-250.

Wilder, S.J. (2004). New hires in research libraries: Demographic trends and hiring priorities. In Simmons-Welburn & B. McNeil (Eds.), Human Resource Management in Today's Academic Library(pp.19-26). Westport: Libraries Unlimited.

Wynkoop, M. (2003). Hiring preferences in libraries: Perceptions of MLS graduates with online degrees Retreived Novembr 28, 2007 from http://www.camden.lib.nj.us/survey/results.htm