Changing trends in LIS job advertisements

The study reported in this paper is part of a larger program of studies designed to review and renew the curricula of Library and Information Science (LIS) and the broader Information Management (IM) courses. This paper contributes to the larger program by examining the Australian job market for library and information professionals (IPs). The purpose of the paper is to analyse job advertisements as readily accessible indicators of the knowledge, skills and competencies required of IPs by employers and potential available roles. The paper presents current (2010) findings and compares them with trends identified in earlier Australian job advertisement content analyses based on data collected in 2004. The information revealed by the study may be utilised by educators to inform curriculum review and renewal. The method used is a content analysis of Australian job advertisements. The current advertisements were collected from web-based sources; ALIA's employment web pages and two national web job-boards, Seek and MyCareer.com. The text from job advertisements was analysed using a content analysis software package to identify a) current and potential employers of IPs and b) the potential roles available for IPs. The data revealed an increasing demand for IPs with records management skills, and skills in business content management, web management and other information management systems, indicating an increasing overlap with the field of information systems. The 'move to the generic' identified as an emerging trend in 2004 has solidified in continuing demands for good interpersonal and communication skills, adaptability and flexibility, and IT and management skills