This report, based on data from a representative survey of 1,765 full time college students at 4-year colleges in the USA, looks closely at the demographics of undergraduate student interest in many facets of library science. Data is given specifically for interest in legal and corporate information literacy, information literacy in the hard sciences, social science info literacy, digital image management, special collections and digitization, cataloging and metadata, information purchasing management, and information architecture. The demographics of student interest often differs significantly by field of library science – and this report is a superb guide for those trying to develop courses and degree programs in library science or trying to integrate library science into other programs.
The report also gives detailed data on the demographics of students who have ever worked in a colleges library and, separately, for special and public libraries – enabling the report’s readers target students with library experience and skills.
Just a few of this 237-page report’s many findings are that:
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Students raised in the US South were more likely than others to have ever worked in a public library.
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Students of Asian ancestry were more likely than those of other backgrounds to have ever worked in a corporate, legal or other special library.
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Transgender students were much more likely than other students to highly value library science skills.
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Students whose family of origin came from the poorest income quartile were much more likely than students from wealthier backgrounds to want to apply to an MLS program.
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Serious interest in digital image management grew with year of class standing from only 1% of first year students to nearly 4% of juniors.
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Interest in library information architecture peaked among older students, over age 35.
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Interest in special collection management correlated with both high incomes and left wing political views.
Data is broken out by more than 20 institutional and personal variables including but not limited to: income of family of origin, race/ethnicity, religion, gender, regional origins, current employment status, sexual orientation, major field of study, age, year of school standing, type of college, size of college, tuition level of college, and many other variables.