Impact of Library and Information Science Master's degree (MLIS) on the Graduates: A case study

Authors

Asefeh Asemi, University of IsfahanFollow
Elham Aghajan

Date of this Version

2018

Document Type

Article

Citation

Asefeh, Asemi & Aghajan, E. (2018). Impact of Library and Information Science Master's degree (MLIS) on the Graduates: A case study, Library Philosophy and Practice

Comments

A version of this paper is archived at: https://arxiv.org/abs/1611.03786

Abstract

Objective: The study aimed to examine the effect of MLIS degree on graduates in Iran from different dimensions. The study examined the effects of MLIS on scientific progress, the development of subject expertise, employment, individual characteristics, skills and capabilities, and scientific activities of Iran's graduates.

Method: The study was a descriptive-survey and researcher-made questionnaire is used for data collection. The population included all graduates MLIS in Iran that their information was available in, "Iranian Library and Information Studies Alumni Database". 212 persons are selected randomly out of 547. Data has been analyzed by SPSS software on both levels of descriptive statistics (frequency tables and graphs of relevant data) and inferential statistics (including single-sample t test to examine the hypothesis, ANOVA test to check differences between variables, Tukey test to compare paired variables, and Pearson correlation test to assess the relationship between two variables).

Results: The overall effect average of degree of MLIS graduates was equal to 3/25. The findings showed that the average effect of MLIS degree associated with each studied factors on the graduates in the country were: Scientific progress (3/13), development of subject expertise (3/27), employment (3/27), individual characteristics (2/75), skills and capabilities (3/48), scientific activities (3/57).

Discussion: The effect of MLIS degree on Iranian graduates was more than moderate. Generally, it can be concluded that MLIS courses at universities in the country, can increase the value of a master's degree of graduates at an acceptable level, but is not perfect; it seems that the authorities should increase their efforts to promote the value of a master's degree in graduates.