Presented by Svetlana Milrud.

ISI 5101 – Research Applications in Information Studies.

Problem statement.

The goal of this study is to identify how

library and information studies educators

can most appropriately refine their

curriculum in accordance with the ALA

accreditation requirements, and in alignment

with the expectations of potential employers

of LIS graduates and perceptions of

students.

Problem statement.

The value of the study:

benefit for the LIS scholarship.

benefit for LIS practice by providing.

benefit for UOttawa LIS school.

Relevant scholarly literature.

Consulted scholarly journals: Library and Information Science research; Education for Information; Journal of librarianship and Information Science.

Creel and Pollicino (2012).

Cherry, Duff et al. (2011).

Bosque and Lampert (2009).

Aharoni and Raban (2008).

Chow, Shaw and al. (2011).

Study framework.

A quantitative paradigm.

Four main stakeholder groups: current

students (62), alumni (45), faculty (5

regular full-time professors and 15 part-

time or cross-appointed professors) and

potential employers (100+).

Close- and open-ended questions.

Conceptual framework for program evaluation.

Evidence

base for MIS

curriculum

improvement

Current

students

perspective

Evaluation

from

education

literature

Alumni

perspectiveEmployers’

perspective

LIS program

curriculum

Faculty

ALA

accreditation

standards.

Overview of methodology.

Data collecting:

• Online surveys of current students, alumni

and employers;

• Face-to-face interviews with faculty and

educational administrators;

• Questionnaires.

Sampling size.

The overriding research question.

Methodological instruments. Survey questions fall into four categories:

demographics (for all groups);

program assessment and course content

evaluation (for students, alumni and

faculty);

skills required for entering the job and for

on the job performance (students working

on the LIS field, alumni, employers);

curriculum upgrade (all groups).

Data collection and analysis.

Participant observations (from the authors

of the study and student volunteers);

Interviews and online surveys

supplemented with analysis of job ads

from the LIS field.

Consent form for participants.

Rating scales.

Time frame.

Data collection 3 month

Response analysis 2 month

Final report and recommendations 1 month.