Systems Librarianship Preparedness: A Comparative Analysis of Skills Needed and Taught

Library systems and digital services are in rapid development and of increasing importance to meeting the needs of users, and systems librarianship is at the forefront of this development, with ever-changing expectations of expertise and areas of responsibility. The aim of this study was to determine how well library and information science (LIS) programs prepare graduate students for careers in systems librarianship. This study focused on systems librarian positions in academic libraries in the United States. Thirty systems librarian position descriptions were retrieved over a 40-month period from virtual job boards and email lists. The author performed a keyword analysis of terms from these position descriptions and compared them to keywords in course catalogs from 20 prominent, accredited LIS programs. These terms were categorized and assessed to determine the degree of similarity between the position descriptions and LIS course offerings and identify areas of potential development in LIS schools. In the majority of categories (27 out of 35), LIS schools clearly met or exceeded the coverage level found in position descriptions, but in the eight remaining cases, the LIS schools overall failed to demonstrate coverage of the topics in their course catalogs. LIS educators are encouraged to build these topics into their curricular offerings to better prepare systems librarians and any technologically savvy librarians for their professional careers.