Survey Methods

LJ contacted 51 accredited library and information science (LIS) schools in the United States and offered each the opportunity to participate in the survey. Thirty-nine schools completed the institutional survey, providing background on 2015 graduates. Thirty-three schools elected to send 2015 LIS graduates a link to the LJ web survey. Six schools—San Jose State, Simmons, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, UNC Chapel Hill, University of Washington, and University of Wisconsin-Madison—conducted independent assessments of their graduates and shared some of the results with LJ.

The data analyzed for this article represents responses from 29% of the 4,002 graduates reported by 39 participating schools. Among the surveys conducted by LJ, the response rate of graduates from each school ranged from a high of 73% to a low of 1%. Response rates among graduates reported by the independent school assessments ranged from 93% to 22%.

Two schools that were unable to participate last year were able to do so this year: University of Maryland and University of Pittsburgh.

The following schools declined to participate, did not respond to calls for participation, or had no graduate participation: Queens College, CUNY; East Carolina University; Emporia State; Indiana University-Purdue; Kent State; North Carolina Central; University of Arizona; UCLA; University of Denver; University of Rhode Island; University of Texas at Austin; and University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Canadian LIS programs conduct their own assessments and do not participate in the LJ annual survey. This includes those at Alberta, British Columbia, Dalhousie, McGill, Montreal, Toronto, and Western Ontario. The University of Puerto Rico also does not participate.

This report provides a rich snapshot of this year’s LIS graduates’ placements. It allows us to identify general trends from the data reported by the schools and to capture some of the experiences of graduates. It is not intended to serve as a comprehensive examination of all employment outcomes. The limitations of this report include incomplete information reported by some schools, no information reported by some schools, and self-selected graduate participation in the LJ administered survey. Not all LJ administered surveys are complete because graduates were allowed to skip any question on the survey or leave the survey without completing it.