Abstract:

Analysis of the relationship between the faculties’ latest graduated schools and current iSchools could depict faculty mobility in the US. Investigating the faculty construction of iSchools and the capacity of teacher cultivation in the United States would have valuable references for both faculty construction and disciplinary construction of library and information science in China. From the perspective of faculty mobility, the information of faculties’ latest graduated schools and current iSchools was collected. Graduated school distribution and relocation tendency of 880 faculties from 27 iSchools were mapped out in this study, as well as the faculty scale of each iSchool, title structure, education background, cultivation ability, and talent exchange among iSchools. It concludes that mobility and stability both exist in the faculty structure of iSchools in the US. The sources of the US iSchools faculties are wildly from the global, other districts, and others iSchools mutually, which represents multilevel mobility. Besides, the title of the US iSchools faculties are in a reasonable proportion. The strong relationships of mobility among different districts and iSchools, and extremely low inbreeding rate show the stability of faculty structure.

Keywords: iSchools, Faculty mobility, Disciplinary construction, Cultivation ability, Library and information science education, United States