Career readiness and engagement in student library employee roles

Academic library employment offers many benefits to student employees that may impact their academic engagement and career readiness. This study explores library student employees’ attitudes toward these benefits especially in the areas of career readiness and professional development. Answers were collected from 106 students working at academic libraries, using a ten-question anonymous survey disseminated by email and message board postings. The results revealed that student employees perceive aspects of library employment such as access to academic services and resources, flexible scheduling that offers work-life balance, development of soft skills, and other opportunities through training and mentorship as being beneficial to their career readiness. However, the results also highlighted a potential area of improvement for library managers in helping students identify skills and skill development opportunities that are indicative of career readiness and transferrable to their intended career. In addition, this study offers the opportunity for future studies to seek a better understanding of the benefits of library employment, its impact on professional development, and the well-being of student employees.