• Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science
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• v.47 no.4
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• pp.143-167
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• 2013

The power of human capital in a library is the main resource that determines the level of library services, which in turn should play a pivotal role in forming the intellectual power of the country. This research conducted a survey on the employment perspectives of LIS undergraduates, which resulted as follows. First, among the LIS undergraduates, 40% of students responded that their desire was to be employed in the library as librarians. Although there were some negative opinions regarding the working environment of the industry, the undergraduates appreciated the developmental possibilities. Second, the most desired task was working with cultural programs. Third, the respondents were satisfied with the current curriculum overall, acknowledging the extra need for job search support programs, which include career support, employment-related mentoring, and internships. Fourth, the main requirements for their future employability were perceived as grade point average, language skills, obtaining licenses, internship and apprenticeship experience, and career management. Fifth, influential factors on employment decision making were divided into two aspects: environmental and personal factors. The environmental factors included salary, welfare, opportunities in personal development, workplace environment, organizational culture, and development possibilities of the organization. The personal factors included fitness with personal aptitude, the level of knowledge and technology in the job industry, social norms and acknowledgement, rewarding opportunities with their major, and location of job.

• Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
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• v.24 no.4
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• pp.259-280
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• 2013

There has been a dramatic increase in the proportion of temporary employees in LIS fields, due to current trends of restructuring, automation, complete personnel systems, and complete wage systems. This research, therefore, conducted a survey exploring the current status and working environment of the temporary posts in LIS fields, in order to understand and direct the employment prospects of potential librarians. Results show that the average working period of more than half of temporary librarians are between 1-3 years. The total working period as a temporary librarian, including former experiences in their career, were evenly distributed between 1-5 years. Among those, being temporary often persisted, as 32% of temporary librarians stayed in their temporary status for more than 5 years. Second, temporary librarians perceived themselves as working the same hours as regular librarians, having independent or assistant tasks to regular librarians, and having a neutral or larger amount of tasks than regular librarians. Third, temporary librarians are employed and contracted from the work place, generally having contracts of less than 2 years or an open contract, which shows a serious level of job instability. Therefore, we should consider the following: proper remuneration for work of equal value, professional contractors, the supplementation of the total wage system and the number of public employees in the system as well as changing temporary positions to permanent positions and so on.