The Fall 2009 issue of Library Trends, a quarterly standard in the field of library science scholarship, features "Workforce Issues in Library and Information Science." Edited by Drs. Joanne Gard Marshall, alumni distinguished professor, School of Information and Library Science (SILS) at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Paul Solomon, associate professor, School of Library and Information Science, University of South Carolina and former associate dean of Academic Affairs at SILS; and Susan Rathbun-Grubb, Ph.D., 2009 SILS alumna, the "collection of articles in this issue of Library Trends represents an initial attempt to bring together works that discuss key projects and research issues that can be explored using the available data" (from previous LIS research, the WILIS study and "lifecourse perspective from sociology").
Marshall, Solomon and Rathbun-Grubb have put together an impressive collection of academic literature associated with the issue’s primary theme. Included are articles authored and co-authored by other SILS faculty and students, as well as colleagues in the library world, with contributions by:
- Deborah Barreau, associate professor
- Kathleen De Long, associate university librarian, University of Alberta Libraries
- Brandy Farrar, doctoral student, North Carolina State University
- Jenifer Grady, director of the American Library Association-Allied Professional Association and SILS alumna
- Elisabeth Leonard, associate dean for library services at Western Carolina University and doctoral student at SILS
- Zeth Lietzau, associate director of Library Research State, Colorado State
- Victor W. Marshall, professor of sociology, UNC at Chapel Hill, former director of the Institute on Aging
- Barbara B. Moran, SILS professor
- Jennifer Craft Morgan, research scientist and associate director for research at UNC at Chapel Hill's Institute on Aging
- Chad H. Morgan, TRLN doctoral fellow
- Irene Owens, dean, School of Library and Information Sciences, North Carolina Central University and SILS alumna
- Ericka Patillo, doctoral student at SILS
- Allison Sivak, assessment librarian at the University of Alberta Libraries
- Nicolle Steffen, director of the Library Research Service, Colorado State Library
- Cheryl A. Thompson, UNC at Chapel Hill Institute on Aging and SILS alumna
- Jessica Zellers, public librarian, Williamsburg Regional Library
To view the article titles, authors and each article, visit the Library Trends site.
This particular issue of Library Trends is devoted to examining workforce issues related to librarianship and is based in part on the landmark "Workforce Issues in Library and Information Science (WILIS)" studies conducted by Marshall and her colleagues at SILS and at the UNC Institute on Aging.
In the issue’s introduction, Marshall, Solomon and Rathbun-Grubb explain the scope and purpose of the articles they have chosen to include—which all have to do, at least in part, with novel approaches to track and improve librarianship as a profession both now and well into the future. “Beyond buildings, collections, and services, the library and information (LIS) workforce is key to the success of many aspects of a knowledge economy,” Marshall, Solomon, and Rathbun-Grubb write. “Having these articles together in a single issue gives a sense of the scope and complexity of the workforce issues facing the field today and the potential of research to inform workforce planning at all levels.”
A second issue of Library Trends on LIS workforce research is in preparation. A panel on workforce studies will take place at the Library Research Seminar V (LRS-V) being held at the University of Maryland from October 6-9, 2010.
