The Development of Subject Gateway and Library Operating Model for the Diffusion of Entrepreneurship – Focus on Job and Employment Services

2.1. Literature Reviews in Republic of Korea

Research on employment services based on libraries in Republic of Korea has been conducted by a few researchers. Literature reviews cover not only library centered information services, but also users’ needs, policies and education for careers. For employment services outside libraries, Kim (2012) visited 13 universities and assessed the employment support capacity of each university using indices consisting of the five areas of operation activities, performances, human resource management, customer management, and employment support services. As a result of the evaluation, 2-year colleges earned higher scores in operation activities and performances than 4-year universities, while the latter were a little bit more highly evaluated than the former in human resource management and customer management. Two-year colleges and four-year universities showed the same level of capacity in employment support services. The study pointed out that the employment support capacity of Republic of Korean universities should be enhanced according to a long-term plan through the assessment of the capacity for more universities with improved evaluation indices.

Jang and Go (2010) conducted a need analysis through focus group interviews for 11 employment support personnel. From the results, it was revealed that the workers were required to have a basic attitude as employment support personnel and capacity for project planning, development, implementation and management, as well as the ability to provide counseling to students and link them to jobs. They had a need for case-centered education rather than a theoretical one and a need for a systematic curriculum. Based on the results, the study suggested that employment support personnel need to cultivate their job capacities in all areas for employment support such as education and guidance, counseling, administrative work, and planning.

For studies of information services for employment in libraries, Lee (2013) asserted that public libraries, with a mission to provide lifelong education to the public as a social educational institution, should offer employment and career-related services and expand information services to facilitate the exchange of information on employment and vocational training based on accumulated databases. The researcher suggested that public libraries' major educational services introduce programs for developing new occupations as well as promising jobs in the 21st century and that their information services be expanded for the exchange of information on employment and vocational training.

Kim (2013) pointed out that in most of Republic of Korean university libraries, employment information services are not included in their major services. Even with regard to the libraries providing employment information services, they reveal a very passive approach to such services, only building up the collection of books on employment or examination preparation books and assigning employment information services to librarians in charge of other tasks. The study suggested the appointment of dedicated librarians, the accumulation of books on employment, the provision of career search support information, the establishment of a cooperative network with related organizations, and the promotion of employment information services as measures to activate such services.

2.2. Literature Reviews Outside Republic of Korea

Quenoy and Orgeron (2003), in their study on the employment-related services of libraries, conducted a survey on 78 librarians at university libraries and investigated the cooperation between the libraries and the relevant university departments. In particular, this study carried out a comparative analysis of research conducted in 1992, focusing on the location of employment and career information resources in the campus, efforts for cooperation, library collection development, students' accessibility, students' satisfaction, and the availability of information. As a result of the survey, 93% of the libraries had collections of employment-related sources, 85% of them provided seminars on employment and career development, and 78% of them were cooperating with university departments. However, only about 49% and 33% of the total libraries engaged in promotional activities for the services and offered training to university departments, respectively. Compared to the survey in 1992, there was an increase in the proportion of relevant online resource collections and the number of libraries that are primarily responsible for the development of collections.

Dugan, Bergstrom, and Doan (2009) emphasized the importance of cooperation, public relations and marketing, and the improvement of services through constant evaluation as key factors to the successful operation of career centers, based on the analysis of the case of career center operation by the Library of Purdue University. The major findings of their study are as follows. The library used the wiki system to cooperate with other major employment and career-related departments in the campus and share information and programs provided by each department. The cooperation enabled the effective purchase of books and other materials, and the website built based on the wiki system provided students with information on employment and career development. In addition, the library installed its booth during job fairs for the promotion and marketing of its employment and career-related services. It promoted its website and conducted service evaluation and a user survey using Google Analytics.

Varalakshmi and Moly (2009) presented a model for providing employment and career services in university libraries. They stressed that librarians need to be responsible for printing and collecting electronic sources, have extensive knowledge of employment trends and access to information, and lead organic cooperation with the relevant departments. It was also emphasized that librarians should continue to make efforts to promote various services such as counseling and information provision and to understand students' needs. This study suggested that libraries should meet the following requirements to play a leading role in employment services: the establishment of a separate center and the employment of dedicated human resources, the provision of relevant information, the hosting of seminars, continuous attempts to cooperate with employers, and the securing of financial resources. It was also noted that libraries should design e-learning programs and provide educational and related information.

Swamy, Umesha, and Ramasesh (2014) reviewed the employment-related services provided by the University of Mysore Library. This library opened a center to provide employment and career services as part of its lifelong learning services. The center provides services including the purchase of books and DBs and subscription to a variety of sources, support for resume preparation, and the provision of information on various tests and examinations. In addition, the center, through its online portal, provides subject guides, links to test information and job search websites, information on domestic and overseas educational institutions, and information on preparation for job interviews and self-introduction letters. It was reported that about 2,800 students and professors visit the portal every month. As a result of literature review, we found that information services for employment and career should cover diverse information services as well as information sources such as newspapers, e-books, magazines, counseling, and e-learning programs. Career related research in Republic of Korea still has a long way to go in the construction of subject guide reflecting necessary information services. Today, libraries are considered lifelong educational institutions and are required to function as employment and career partners; thus, they need to establish a method to provide information resources and services to support employment.

4.1. Case Studies of Employment Support Outside Library Sectors

4.2. Case Studies of Employment Support in Library Sectors

4.2.2. Case of Library Support in Other Countries

Overseas, employment support services have been provided continuously on university and public libraries for a long time, which have supported job seeking and preparing activities through dedicated departments or centers. Therefore, this study selected libraries that can be used as best practices for employment services.

The San Francisco Public Library runs the Job & Career Center on the fourth floor under the auspices of the Bank of America, and provides services focused on offering information resources. The Job & Career Center is equipped with a separate Reference Desk, subject-specific collections, diverse newsletters, as well as a reading and discussion space for users. The library provides relevant databases, online links, and information on prospects for various occupations, job fairs, and its e-learning center via its online portal. The most notable feature of this library is the operation of this e-learning center. By signing up as library members, users can benefit from services such as one-on-one online tutorials on self-introduction letters, resume and job interview preparation, and other Online Courses on Job Search, computer skills, etc.

Fig. 1.

San Francisco Public Library Job and Career Services

The Los Angeles Public Library is a representative public library in the Los Angeles area. As it is located in a highly populated area, it is relatively larger compared to other libraries. The most distinguishing feature of this library is that it operates a separate Job & Career Center where both experts in this field and dedicated librarians work and provide one-on-one education services and consulting on employment. The curated book stacks are available as seen in the figure, with collections specific to the subjects "IT Certificate" and "Resume Writing" displayed on the front.

Fig. 2.

Brooklyn Public Library Job and Career Services

The Brooklyn Public Library has operated a business and employment library since 2011 with the addition of the categories of employment and business information to its website and the provision of various relevant services. The library provides a company search function and information on investment and market search and other topics through subject guides, along with one-on-one counseling and resume preparation support.

Delaware Libraries have been organized by a consortium of 33 public libraries, 8 university libraries, and 7 specialized libraries. Its website provides employment and career development support guides that introduce relevant information resources and programs that are operating in partner libraries. Among the partner libraries, the Georgetown, Wilmington, and Dover Public Libraries have the Inspiration Space to provide specialized employment services. The most important feature of these libraries is that they offer a variety of information on employment information search, resume and job interview preparation materials, extended education and training, and company search through employment subject guides. They also provide a list of websites of relevant organizations as well as information on lectures provided by other organizations through extended education and training.

The following implications have been drawn from the analysis of the above-presented cases. First, employment was supported on diverse levels such as government, university, and libraries. They provide lots of different services, funding, and projects for tiered targets. Scattered information should be systematically organized. Second, As the role of public and university libraries has become more important in lifelong education, greater emphasis has been put on libraries' services to support employment and career development. Libraries in foreign countries had made diverse efforts to provide efficient and effective information services for employment and job careers. On the other hand, there are few cases of library-centric support in Republic of Korea while some universities and public libraries have provided relevant services in a passive way. Following this trend, collected information sources based required information needs should be provided. It is required to construct a subject gateway that can provide scattered information in one place.

5.1. Background Characteristics of the Research Scientists

The user survey was conducted to investigate user needs. The survey was conducted from November 2018 to February 2019. The subjects of the survey were those who wish to search employment. They included participants in job fairs and those who are expecting to graduate from university. Total 114 was collected, but the analysis was performed on 98 surveys excluding the questionnaire not answering required answers. User needs survey questionnaire consisted of difficulty in information search, source of information used, information services used, information source usefulness, information service usefulness, desired information source, and desired information services.

5.2. Information Behavior on Employment

For search frequency for employment information, about 26% of the respondents search for employment information once or more a day and about 74% of the respondents search for the information once or more a week.

Table 2.

Employment Information Search Frequency

For types of information regarding employment that are primarily searched, the most common types of information regarding employment that are primarily searched pertain to the latest job offers (67 respondents), job information (61 respondents) such as average annual salaries and prospects for occupations, followed by information on certifications (38 respondents) and the company information (34 respondents) that the respondents want to work for.

Table 3.

Types of Information Regarding Employment that are Primarily Searched

Regarding challenges in employment information search, each respond chose three main reasons based on priority. The most frequent response was that it is difficult for the users to distinguish useful information to them from all available information. Other responses included the users’ uncertainty about the type of information they need, and that it is difficult for them to search for the needed information due to the tremendous amount of employment information scattered across various sources.

Table 4.

Challenges in Employment Information Search

For information sources primarily used to obtain employment information, respondents are allowed to choose multiple responses. The most frequently used information sources are Internet portals such as Naver.com or Daum.net (64 respondents), followed by individual websites (e.g. Job Planet) (53 respondents), online communities (e.g. blogs & Internet cafes) (50 respondents), and employment-related organizations (57 respondents) such as schools and employment support centers. To be concise, the respondents mainly obtain employment information mainly via Internet, and academic information sources, primary and secondary sources are not used much.

Table 5.

Information Sources primarily used to Obtain Employment Information

When questioned whether users are confident in their employment information search skills on five Likert scale, a higher percentage of respondents chose the answers "Neutral" (32 respondents, 32.65%) or "Nor very Confident/Not Confident" (37 respondents, 37.78%) while fewer respondents selected "Confident/Very Confident" (30 respondents, 30.61%). The results suggest that they generally have a low level of confidence (2.89) in their search skills and many respondents are not sure their level of confident on job search skills.

Table 6.

Confidence in Users’ Employment Information Search Skills

5.3. Information Satisfaction and Information Needs on Employment

The users' satisfaction is high with individual websites, Internet portals, online communities, and employment-related organizations. Satisfaction is relatively higher with job fairs and other employment events in particular. This suggests that though these events are not the primarily used information sources, the users derive from them relatively higher satisfaction. The satisfaction of academic information sources, primary and secondary sources are low. The more sources of information that are mainly used, the higher the satisfaction level is. However, the average of the overall satisfaction is around 3.23, indicating that users' satisfaction with the information source is not high overall, and needs to be improved.

Table 7.

Satisfaction with the Employment Information Sources

For employment support information services needed, the most needed employment support information services are employment counseling and support for resume and curriculum vitae writing. There are also high demands for training in job interviews and employment information search skills.

Table 8.

Employment Support Information Services Needed

For importance of services needed regarding employment information, among the services users reported needing regarding employment information, the users put greater importance on Training in Employment Information Search Skills (4.06) and Resume and Self-introduction Letter Preparation (4.32), as well as Employment Counseling (4.34) and Job Interview Training (4.44). They also consider Employment-related Events and Job Fairs Information (4.03). The more information services are needed, the more respondents think the information services are important. The average of the overall importance of information services for employment information is 3.89, which relatively higher than the satisfaction level (3.23), indicating that even though respondents think information services regarding job search is important, current level of services are not enough to meet users’ needs.

Table 9.

Importance of Services Needed Regarding Employment Information

The users' opinions on the needed improvement of employment information were divided into those related to services, information sources, and system operation. In terms of services, the majority of the respondents said that they need customized employment information services suited to their majors or certification types and feedback on their resumes. In terms of information sources, it was indicated that more specific and systematic information on companies, job opportunities, and preparation for employment is needed as these types of information are currently provided in a fragmented way. Moreover, most of the respondents said that it is necessary to provide inclusive information for various majors such as humanities or engineering, as well as reliable information that is free of advertisements. Regarding system operation, most of the users mentioned the necessity of an integrated employment information service that provides an aggregate variety of employment information.

Table 10.

Opinions on the Needed Improvement of Employment Information

The implications of the results of the user need surveys are as follows. Regarding employment, there were high demands for specific employment information such as the latest job offer information, annual salaries, and prospects for occupations. To search for these types of information, most of the respondents used the Internet. However, users feel difficulties to find information and are not confident in searching information effectively. Also users pointed out that they needed one source to find scattered information in one place. The gateway should include not only formal information such as news, job postings, and databases as well as information services such as mentoring, counseling, feedback, and job interviews review.

6.1. Modeling of Knowledge Structure on Employment

A linked metadata for job and career based on the components derived from literature review, case analysis, user need surveys and library status investigation is constructed. For subject gateway, the study presented the modeling for knowledge structure of job information as followed. Classes related to job announcement, counseling, education, financial support, mentoring, internships, fairs, presentations, and success stories were presented as subclasses for job information. Metadata elements applied to classes were extracted and presented so that detailed description for each class could be made. Agent-related classes are largely divided into people and organizations, which they play the role of information users while being producers of job information. Classes associated with the employment class are fields, subjects, and related information classes. The fields refer to employment-related topics such as management/office, civil servants, public institutions, IT, health care and education, which are composed of subclasses and instances according to hierarchy. The target class is a group that is a beneficiary of employment information, consisting of low-income, youth, women with career interruption, middle-aged and high-school graduates. The relevant information class is a class that provides relevant information related to employment, consisting of subclasses such as guides, statistics, reports, white papers, news articles, partner and related agency websites, reviews, etc. Within the agent class, classes that apply only to human classes are task, salary, and major classes, which are for mapping job seekers with job information. Each task is classified based on NCS and additional information is provided. The modeling of employment knowledge information constructed is shown in the following Fig. 3.

Fig. 3.

Information Modeling for Employment

The job announcement class, which provides information on job openings, is associated with various classes. The job announcement class is represented by metadata of company, annual salary, qualification, experience, occupation, major, contents, preferential conditions, work type, working days, welfare benefits, application method, contact information, e-mail, post-employment review, and corporate review. Among these metadata, company, annual salary, qualification, experience, occupation, major, preferential conditions, corporate review, and recruitment review are object properties associated with other classes. Other remaining metadata including work type, working days, benefits, application methods, contents, contact information, e-mail are data properties.

The metadata elements of the job fair class consist of attributes such as name, type, schedule, location, host, sponsorship, participating organizations, target audience, content, inquiries, and related information.

To build a profile for agents, agents consist of two subclasses-people and organization, for people, name, date of birth, e-mail, gender, mobile phone number, address, academic background, graduation year, major, language, technology, external activities, current salary, current job, desired job, desired position, resume, CV, portfolio, preference, interest keywords are presented. Among them, salary, industry, type of jobs, work area, and position are object properties for connecting with other classes, while the rest consist of data properties. Profiles for people are used to provide customized services, consulting, and mentor-mentee services that can recommend turnover and employment information through their profile analysis. Metadata for organization class include corporate name, business type, sales, homepage, address, CEO name, number of employees, establishment date, company introduction, financial information, annual salary information, corporate news, welfare, related recruitment. Among them, business type, sales, and related job information are composed of object properties. The remaining elements are data properties. Other classes and properties are shown in Table 11.

Table 11.

Ontology Description for Employment Information

6.2. Subject Gateway for Employment

The gateway for employment and job search is implemented to ensure that a browsing and search system is performed on a hierarchy of knowledge structure modeling. If users click on a particular recruitment announcement (Saltlux developer, an artificial intelligence company) as follows in Fig. 4, they can view detailed recruitment information, as well as work type, career details, NCS job, region, target of application, employment field, academic background, job posting agency, etc. If users click the name of company, they can also see the detailed class and instance information (Saltlux) as shown on the right side of the screen. This would provide cross-references from job openings to enterprise information, and other employment announcements issued by the same entity. Each metadata record was implemented as rdf/xml as shown in the Fig. 4. below.

Fig. 4.

Job Posting and Organization Example