Why librarianship? Attitude, motivation and certainty of intent among Bachelor of Library and Information Science students

Abstract

This non-experimental study using a one-shot survey method was conducted to describe the attitude, motivation and certainty of intent to take up Bachelor of Library and Information Science students in a Private educational institution. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to gather data. Frequency distributions, measure of central tendency, means and percentages were used to analyze the data gathered. Findings showed that most of the respondents were highly exposed to the library resources and services. More than half of them have a positive perception about the BLIS course. Among the factors considered, professional growth exerted the strongest motivation for the respondents towards librarianship. Majority of them had positive attitude towards librarianship and expressed intentions to take up the course. Furthermore, a higher percentage of the respondents with moderate exposure to the library resources and services have strong motivation towards librarianship and those with moderate to high exposure have also a positive attitude towards librarianship. The extent of motivation and attitudes towards librarianship have bearing on the respondents’ certainty of intent to finish their course. However, exposure to the library resources and services and perception about their course have nothing to do with their intention to finish the course. Those with strong motivation towards librarianship have also strong intention to remain enrolled in college and complete their degree. A greater percentage of the respondents with positive attitude towards librarianship who would certainly continue their BLIS course than those with negative attitude towards librarianship. This implies that the respondents’ attitude towards librarianship has an impact with their certainty of intent that they would continue their BLIS course.