Where Did All The Good People Go?

Abstract

According to the slogan “Where did all the good people go?” students of the Berlin School of Library and Information Science (IBI) set up, organized and executed a career history study, addressing alumni who graduated in their major subject at the institute between 1999 and 2010. The study was conducted in four workgroups: Organization and planning, survey design, survey administration and analysis. The workflow, including problems and challenges encountered during the project as well as the result are discussed in this paper. It appears almost 2/3 of all the surveyed participants graduated with a "Magister"-degree (64%). Already 35% finished their studies with a Bachelor or Master of Arts. Skills imparted by the IBI like organization management, information literacy, IT-skills and abilities to work autonomously turn out to have influenced the alumni's careers in a positive way. Especially the theoretical knowledge gained throughout their studies, e.g. information service, library-IT and knowledge management were very helpful in many alumni's professional lives. According to the participants, the IBI offers a good learning atmosphere, good support from its lecturers and student advisory service, and seems to prepare its later Alumni successfully for their professional careers.