Pursuing academic librarianship: Gender identity and factors affecting job attainment

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to support library and information science students and recent graduates considering academic librarianship by helping them strategize their career preparation and job search endeavors based on recent graduates' experiences. The authors accomplished this by quantifying the demographic characteristics, experiences during LIS studies, pre-professional experiences, aspects of the job search, and information about first librarian positions of recent graduates in the United States seeking positions as academic librarians. This article focuses on the factors which significantly influence successful and unsuccessful job search outcomes based on gender identity, specifically by looking at the experiences of cisgender men in pursuing employment in the women-majority librarian occupation. Results yield one statistically significant finding for this group – applying for administrative positions is associated with a successful job search outcome – while revealing that on average cisgender male respondents need the shortest amount of time to obtain their first academic librarian position. We discuss these findings in context of research on and related to (cisgender) male librarians and in relation to our study's initial results of other population groups represented in the study.