An Exploration of the Relationship Between MLIS Students' Professional Goals and Their Attitude toward Their Information School Experience

Principal Investigators: Beth Lahickey, Amy Mihelich, Greta Rieber, John Vosmek

ABSTRACT: 

Student attitudes towards their experience at the Information School and their professional goals are examined in this exploratory study.  Sixty-five respondents to an online survey provided information about each student’s progress in the program, desired work environment, areas of future interest, level of involvement in extracurricular activities and work experience in the field of library and information science.  A small focus group discussion followed up on themes present in the survey results.  The objectives of this study were to identify the professional goals of current MLIS students, to explore the attitude of current MLIS students toward their Information School experience and to describe the relationship between MLIS students’ professional goals and their attitude toward their Information School experience.

iSchool Students and "Diversity" Awareness: How do We Educate Ourselves?

 Principal Investigators: Teri Tada, Memo Cordova, Adrienne Bourne 

ABSTRACT:

Information professionals interact regularly with diverse groups of users and organize information for diverse user populations with different user-needs, opinions, and experiences.  Our objective is to identify how future information professionals such as graduate students at the University of Washington’s iSchool, educate themselves on issues related to “diversity”.  Through focus group interviews and an on-line survey, our study identifies resources MLIS students use to inform themselves on issues related to diversity and diverse populations; explore what obstacles inhibit the acquisition of such resources; and describe their educational experiences at the iSchool in relation to diversity education.  We hope to better understand how MLIS students prepare themselves to meet the information needs of a diverse population.           

The Perils and Pleasures of Group Projects: A Study of the Experiences and
Attitudes of MLIS Students

 Principal Investigators: Scott Beveridge, Jon Haupt, Nicole Elger

 ABSTRACT:

Group project assignments are a required component of the University of Washington Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) program. This study investigated the attitudes and beliefs of current students in respect to their experiences with group project assignments. The researchers conducted a focus group to discover factors that relate to students’ positive or negative reactions to their group project experiences and gather suggestions for methods of improving these experiences.

The data collected from focus group participants informed the development of a questionnaire that gathered data across a larger sample size of 62 participants. Both quantitative and qualitative data was collected and analyzed, providing significant insights into the research questions and suggesting direction for further study or changes to the academic program.