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An investigation of 133 job advertisements for systems librarians in American Libraries in 1996‐1997 was conducted to examine the increasingly important role that systems librarians play in the ever‐changing information environment, and to identify the knowledge, skills and qualifications of systems librarians expected by employers in various types of libraries. The results show that although systems librarians in different types of libraries may play different roles and have different emphases in their duties, the responsibility and knowledge requirements for them are generally expanding. Systems librarians are not only technology experts but also managers and coordinators. Positions for systems librarians in most academic and public libraries require at least one year of work experience. Employers expect systems librarians to have a strong computer and network background. Over two‐thirds of the position in public and academic libraries and more than half of the openings in other libraries require MLIS/MLS degrees.

This paper reports on a taxonomy design project involving graduate students in information science (MLIS degree) working as intern-consultants under the guidance of an information science faculty member. The consulting team developed a taxonomy that would reflect current academic departmental structures and be used to optimise publisher tools for generating metrics and interpretive assessment.

In this case study, three students worked under the direction of a faculty member on a consulting team for a Silicon Valley company that provides business analytics to academic publishers. Tasked with designing a taxonomy of disciplinary knowledge to support the company’s analytical software tools, the students developed methods for environmental scans, vocabulary design, validation and taxonomy management for the project objectives.

The consulting experience proved to be highly beneficial for the students as an opportunity to take concepts learned in their coursework and apply them in practice. The project team delivered to the company the most detailed taxonomy of academic disciplines in the marketplace, along with recommendations for its maintenance and management for ongoing support of business objectives. The company was supportive throughout the internship programme, generating collaborative contributions from all stakeholders.

As more students earning an Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) or similar degree move into a wide array of careers within business environments, internship experience through consulting can be an essential advantage to their preparation.

The purpose of the paper is two-fold. The first is to inform the readers of the racist origins of libraries in America. Readers will learn about historic instances of systemic racism in libraries and those that persist today. The second purpose is to give readers examples of antiracist actions they can take on an individual level, in concert with library administration, and on the institutional level.

This paper gives an overview of systemic racism in librarianship. Part I outlines the history of libraries and their institutional oppression origins in America. Part II reviews some of the current racial issues in Libraries and Information Science (LIS). Part III gives the author's viewpoint on how to incorporate antiracist action within libraries and how to decenter whiteness at the national level.

The authors found that libraries were established on institutional oppression and systemic racism, which continue to this day to center whiteness and disadvantage BIPOC. Having said that, now is the time to make changes, decenter whiteness and remove systemic barriers through antiracist actions. These actions will help increase the number of BIPOC working in libraries and improve the retention and promotion of those BIPOC too. If the American Library Association (ALA) heeds this call to action, Critical Race Theory (CRT) will become part of the Master's of Library and Information Science (MLIS), BIPOC will be better funded and supported, and the credentialing stigma will be removed.

This article highlights concrete action that should be taken beyond individual bias awareness and into systemic changes. It advocates for more critical awareness and daily antiracist action within the LIS field.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the level of awareness and usage of open source digital repository software (DRS). The paper also studies the factors, which influence the level of awareness and usage of different open source DRS by academic librarians in India.

The study administered an online questionnaire to academic librarians in India to know their level of awareness and usage of open source DRS. The questionnaire aimed to gather the awareness and usage of open source DSR. In total, 374 complete responses were collected from academic librarians in India and the collected data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Moreover, Fishers’ exact test was used to identify whether factors i.e. qualification and participation in workshop/seminar influence the level of awareness and usage of open source DRS.

The results of the study reveal that the level of awareness and usage of open source DRS, namely, DSpace (Mean = 2.92, SD = 0.906) and Greenstone digital library software (GSDL) (Mean = 2.18, SD = 0.699) are high amongst the academic librarians in India. In total, 33.4%, 11.5% of the participants are using DSpace and GSDL, respectively, on regular basis. Fishers’ exact test shows that factor(s) i.e. qualifications and participation in workshop/seminar affect the level of awareness and usage of open source DRS. The results show that there exits strong relation between participation in workshop/seminar and awareness and usage of DSpace (Fishers’ exact test = 13.473, p < 0.05).

This paper is the new type of study exploring level of awareness and usage of open source DRS by academic librarians in India. It identifies the factors that affect the awareness and usage of open source DRS. It is the first study to analyze the statistical significance between Indian librarians’ participation in workshop/seminar and their level of awareness and usage of different open source DRS.

Purpose – As change creates more uncertainty for library practitioners, graduate library education needs to explore how best to prepare students to manage ambiguity through new approaches to identifying and solving challenging problems. We advocate for incorporating design into graduate library education.

Design/Methodology/Approach – First, we discuss the need for a design approach to librarianship. We then introduce the nature of design thinking and philosophy and discuss the ways in which it is already present in librarianship. We review past developments and recent trends with a special focus on the ways in which design thinking, methods, and philosophies are (or are not) incorporated into library and information science (LIS) education.

Findings – We synthesize these findings to propose recommendations and suggestions for an alternative degree program to the traditional Master of Library Science (MLS): the Master of Library Design (MLD). This includes the presentation of a new model of library education that blends design philosophy with traditional library science content.

Originality/Value – This is the first compilation in the library literature to propose the development of a new type of library degree that we refer to as the MLD; hence, it has a high level of originality. While the library literature has examples of practitioners applying design thinking to improve library services, this chapter’s value is that it promotes the integration of design thinking and philosophy more broadly in order to better equip future library professionals for a rapidly changing information landscape.

This chapter updates earlier research that analyzed mergers, collaborations, and similar trends in LIS education, and provides a more comprehensive current summary of those trends. Three distinct patterns are beginning to emerge in both organizational structure and collaboration: changes in the nature of LIS program partnerships within parent educational institutions; the impact on LIS education by prominent academic associations that are not reliant on ALA accreditation recognition; and the growth in the number and type of academic offerings in LIS schools themselves. Among some notable changes are the establishment of the Consortium of iSchools Asia Pacific (CiSAP), continued growth in the iSchool caucus and its increasing international membership. Additionally the number of dual degree master’s programs in which LIS departments partner is on the rise, as is the number of degrees now being offered at LIS schools (both at the undergraduate and graduate levels) that are not “traditional” MLS degrees. Inter-institutional collaborative MLIS programs are also emergent, evident in such programs as the Web-based Information Science Education (WISE) consortium. The data presented here seem to suggest that the face of LIS education continues to change as the 21st century gets underway.

The purpose of this study was to bring library practitioners and researchers together to develop two co-designed tools for helping library practitioners gain a more holistic understanding of families in underserved groups and identify their values with the goal of developing more relevant learning experiences for them. The co-designed tools were then tested with Master’s of Library and Information Science (MLIS) students at two universities, whose feedback yielded several valuable findings and informed revisions to the tools.

A participatory, design-based approach was used throughout the study, both with engaging library practitioners in the co-design of different tools and processes introduced in the Toolkit, and to help MLIS students and library practitioners test the tools and provide feedback on the tool revisions.

Students indicated that the tools helped them develop a deeper understanding of underserved groups and their values and gave the students the time and space to reflect on their understanding of the socio-cultural and value contexts of their communities and the values they hold.

This study can help libraries more effectively design strengths-based learning experiences that are meaningful and relevant to underserved groups and their values, particularly for children and families from underserved communities.

The purpose of this paper is to design a cascaded Multilevel inverter with reduce number of switches for high power applications. This paper came up with an innovative three-phase multilevel inverter (MLI) topology, which is a cascaded structure based on classical three-legged voltage source inverter (VSI) bridges as an individual module. The prominent advantage of this topology is that it requires only one direct current (DC) link system. The main characteristic of it is that a higher number of voltage levels can be achieved with considerably a smaller number of semiconductor switches, which improves the reliability, power quality, cost and size of the system significantly.

The individual modules are cascaded through three-phase transformers to provide higher voltage at the output with the higher number of voltage levels. In this work, the phase-shifted pulse width modulation technique is implemented to verify the result.

The proposed topology is compared with three-phase cascaded H-bridge MLI (CHB-MLI) and a modified CHB-MLI topology and found better in many aspects. The proposed MLI can produce a higher number of voltage levels with fewer semiconductor switches and associated triggering circuitry. As the device count in the proposed MLI is less compared to other MLI discussed, it tends to have less switching and conduction loss which increases the efficiency and reliability. As the number of level increases, the voltage profile and the total harmonic distortion of the proposed MLI improves.

This is a transformer-based modular cascaded MLI, which is based on classical VSI bridges. Here in this topology, a single module provides all three phases. So, a single string of cascaded modules is enough for three-phase multilevel voltage generation.

The investigators examined 133 job advertisements with job title “systems librarians’‘ and other similar job titles in American Libraries from January 1996 to December 1997. Information about full‐time positions available in the United States only was collected. For examination, four variables and their components were studied: degree requirements, work experience, job responsibilities, and knowledge and skills. Based on the classified job advertisements three types of libraries were identified: academic, public and other libraries. Two follow‐up questionnaires were distributed to library directors and newly hired systems librarians of the 133 libraries. The follow‐up survey based on the two questionnaires reflects that the majority of employers are satisfied with their newly hired systems librarians. However, they have higher expectations from the positions in terms of qualifications and responsibilities. The investigators also examined the curricula of seven American LIS schools which concentrate on educating “systems librarians” to provide recommendations to the curriculum design.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the competencies, skills and knowledge obtained through a master’s degree in library and information science (LIS) and to identify those competencies that are most valued by graduates who obtained employment in non-library roles. These observations will contribute to an understanding of the transferability of LIS education which will assist LIS professionals and educators to frame LIS competencies in a way that appeals to employers outside of library settings who may not have any knowledge of LIS education or practice.

The grounded theory methodology was used with data collection taking the form of semi-structured interviews. Interviews were between 30 and 90 min in length and included career narratives, as well as responses to particular questions about different aspects of professional identity. Participants included graduates of master’s level LIS programs employed in a variety of positions including information managers, policy analysts, human resources specialists, marketers, vendors, taxonomists, search engine designers and information consultants. The participants were employed in sectors including government, information technology, aerospace, oil and gas and retail/online sales in both Canada and the USA.

The participants in this study found that their LIS education was valuable to their success in a number of non-library roles. Although the specific career paths of participants were each unique and the different roles they occupied required different combinations of skills, a list of key transferable LIS competencies could be identified. These included a focus on client service, the ability to identify need, and the ability to search for information and navigate databases. In addition, several participants observed that their coursework and opportunities to participate in internships, co-operative positions or work placements prepared them for such workplace conditions as deadlines and fast-paced environments.

This study involved a population of LIS graduates whose experiences have not been extensively examined in the past. This article helps to fill a gap in the understanding of the professional experiences of LIS graduates who pursue roles outside of libraries. In addition, the semi-structured interview technique allowed for deeper understanding of participants’ perceptions of which of their competencies, skills and knowledge were valuable to employees. This information was gained through answers to specific skills-focused questions intended to identify which competencies developed during their LIS education assisted them most in their careers, as well as larger career narratives. This study will have implications for library practitioners and educators. It will provide insights into valued skills for those who are designing or implementing LIS education programs, as well as LIS graduates who are seeking to market their skills to employers across industry sectors.