Joseph Hardie
Purpose
The purpose of my project was to build a larger pool of Latter-day Saint students in Masters of Library Science (MLS) programs.
Problem
The BYU MLS Library School closed in 1993. Since that time, the library administration has had concerns that the pool of qualified MLS candidates will dwindle as faculty retire. The HBLL, as well as other CES libraries, was concerned that by 2015 there might not be enough LDS applicants from which to hire new faculty librarians. This ORCA grant helped address this problem through strategic HR practices. We can’t open a new MLS program at BYU, but we can still inform students about MLS programs at other schools. We set out to hold a informational career fair about the MLS degree and partner schools that focus on recruiting BYU students for their programs. The second part of the project was to build an informational website to direct students to for more information.
Solutions
We held the MLS career fair at the beginning of January 2009. Before the grant was even secured the invitations were set out and food was ordered. We set up a room in the Wilkinson Center for two consecutive Friday afternoons. There were about 55-60 people in attendance. Half were students and half were patrons from the community that were interested. The first session focused on what professional librarians do. There were speakers to address academic, public, and professional career tracks. We also gave some general information about librarians, wages, retirement stats, etc. The second session focused more on what types of MLS programs are available. We invited representatives from Alabama, University of North Texas, and Emporia State. Students got to rotate and talk with representatives from each of the schools and ask any questions that they had. We had about 5 students actually begin programs because of these career fair/information sessions.
In trying to explain the MLS degree to students, we decided that an MLS website would be a valuable tool for the Harold B. Lee Library and our partners, the Consortium of Church Library and Archives (CCLA). For this part of the project I began learning about web-site design. I spoke with professionals and learned the basics of XHTML, CSS, and PHP. This was a long process. Web development is something that you can learn on your own just by looking up your questions online. I laid out the set up my mentor wanted on paper first, wrote the text, and then began programming. There are eight main pages on the site: The home page, a link to visit the CCLA libraries home pages, a page explaining MLS programs, a page where we can post job openings in the HBLL, a page explaining student internships in the HBLL, an MLS testimonials page, a page where people can RSVP for future career fairs, a page for frequently asked questions, and even a page to network with other MLS degree holders. We have had the site up for about two months and it has been a huge success. The site allows interested visitors to submit information for a testimonial, RSVP, networking, and the CCLA list serve. The link to the site is http://mls.byu.edu/.
Here are a few screen shots of the site:
