Page 43 - Volume_14

Jurnal PPM: Journal of Malaysian Librarians
Vol. 14, 2020

primary schools, 46 (32.4%) of them in secondary schools, 7 (4.9%) of them were
working in international schools, 6 (4.2%) of them in colleges, 5 (3.5%) of them were
working at universities and 14 (9.65%) of them were from other educational institutions.
This result is significant as it indicates that the potential market and candidates are
teachers. They may have the desire to learn as well as to enquire about the qualifications
for librarianship.

The results also showed that 49 (34%) of the respondents chose distant learning as their
preferred mode of study. Another 30 (20.8%) preferred to study online, 29 (20.1%)
preferred to take up part-time study, 34 (23.6%) preferred to study fulltime and 3 (2.06)
chose to study through online and distant study. This indicates that most of the
respondents are in the work force and/or may have family commitments. They are
looking at online and distance learning options in order to pursue part-time programmes.

At the same time, almost 38 (27%) of the respondents chose Open University Malaysia
(OUM) as their preferred learning institution, followed by 35 respondents (24.8%) who
preferred University of Technology Mara Malaysia (UiTM), 31 respondents (21.37%)
preferred other learning institutions, 24 (17%) of them preferred University of Malaya
(UM) and the remaining of 17 respondents (12.1%) preferred the National University
of Malaysia (UKM). These results may support the findings that respondents favour
open and distance learning institutions due to their workplace locations and other
commitments.

Modes of learning/ face to face/ ODL
The majority of the respondents (100, 70.4%) indicate that they are interested to pursue
a master’s degree in Teacher Librarianship or areas of studies which combine Education
and Library and Information Science. Another 25 (17.6%) of them are interested in a
master’s degree of Library and Information Science, 16 (11.3%) a master’s degree in
education and 4 (2.7%) others. From the results it can be inferred that the respondents
prefer a professional dual subject degree such as education and librarianship which is
suitable and applicable in their professions. As for financial assistance for their studies,
a total of 102 (71.3%) would apply for financial assistance, 23 (16.1%) would use their
own financing, 13 (9.1%) would apply for study loans and 7 (4.8%) would find other
financing means. This indicates that they may need some kind of financial assistance to
enrol into this programme.

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