Library Science Teachers, Postsecondary
Library Science Teachers, Postsecondary is the O*NET name for people who teach courses in library science. The skills rated most useful are instructing, speaking, and reading comprehension. Expect to conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and present findings in professional journals, books, electronic media, or at professional conferences. The strongest interest signal is Social (6.3 of 7), then Investigative (5.4) and Conventional, which gives it the code SIC. Getting in usually takes graduate school and often five years or more of related experience, a level O*NET calls extensive preparation. The job can ask you to evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers. If you want helping, teaching or caring for people, keep it on your list. If you need leading, persuading and making business decisions, it may feel thin.
What they do
Teach courses in library science. Includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.
Main tasks
- Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and present findings in professional journals, books, electronic media, or at professional conferences.
- Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.
- Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, giving presentations at conferences, and serving on committees in professional associations.
- Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as collection development, archival methods, and indexing and abstracting.
- Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.
- Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction.
Skills
- Instructing
- Speaking
- Reading Comprehension
- Writing
- Monitoring
- Learning Strategies
Who this career fits
May suit you if
- You get energy from helping other people move forward.
- You enjoy working out why something happens, not just what happened.
- You are prepared for graduate-level study and a long training path.
- You are comfortable relying on instructing and speaking.
May not suit you if
- You find a full day of dealing with people draining.
- You want to lead people or run the business side. Enterprising rates 2.2 out of 7 here.
- You want to be working in the field within the next few years.
Interest profile
O*NET rates each occupation from 1 to 7 on six interest types. The code SIC takes the three highest, and Social comes first here.
Preparation
Extensive preparation. Many jobs here need graduate study, and people often spend five years or more building specialist experience.
Most-reported requirement in the O*NET survey: Doctoral Degree. This reflects what workers reported most often and is not a legal minimum. Licensing rules can differ by state or industry, so confirm what applies where you plan to work.
Also called
- Assistant Professor
- Associate Professor
- Classification Instructor
- Information Science Professor
- Instructor
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This page includes information from the O*NET 31.0 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.