About the WILIS Project

Background

Workforce Issues in Library and Information Science (WILIS) is a three-year research project (2005-2008) designed to study the career patterns of graduates of LIS programs. In general, LIS programs have lacked the time and resources to track their graduates. As a result, stakeholders do not have an adequate understanding of what happens to LIS graduates over the long term. LIS educators, in particular, do not have consistent data on the extent to which their programs meet students’ expectations, prepare them for the workplace or meet continuing learning needs. Such an understanding would assist in educating and managing the LIS workforce more effectively.

WILIS is funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through its Librarians for the 21st Century Program.

Research Design

WILIS has two major parts. Part 1 will build an in-depth understanding of educational, workplace, career and retention issues faced by LIS graduates using the life course perspective from the social sciences. This part of the research will be sited in North Carolina where a full range of LIS program types exist. One of the programs is in a historically Black institution, allowing a focus on minority career and retention issues. Part 2 will use the methods developed in Part 1 to generate a transferable model for career tracking of LIS graduates nationally.

Project Documents

• Grant Abstract
• Grant Narrative
• Survey Instrument - available by request to wilis@unc.edu