Library Science Degree

[mahlerssecond]

Does anyone on here have a library scence degree? Why does it require a graduate degree? I would need all of this education just to tell people where to look for information and the answers to their questions.:rolleyes: I can do this already. What is a good area of four year study to get to this point? Any suggestions.

[caostotale]

At the school I attended, the library science program is a graduate program that accepts students from all sorts of backgrounds, though mostly communications and ITT, probably because the program is affiliated with the school of communications. I met with a librarian recently who told me it's pretty much mandatory to have an advanced degree such as this to get employed as a librarian at any academic institution.

Right now I'm torn between studying for this kind of degree or going for something more academic, like a humanity (music, literature). I'd venture to guess that library science helps you find work more directly.

[SpaceMonkey]

Yes, to be a librarian (whether at a college, K-12 school, a public library, or anywhere else) pretty much requires a masters degree. The cynical answer to your question is that it is because the American Library Association says so. There are some four year bachelors programs in library science, but you will not be able to get a job as a librarian with one. A lot of what you will learn in a 2 year library science masters program involves the theories and practices of how to organize information. Most programs encourage you to focus on either K-12 school librarianship (which usually involves its own whole set of standards) or a general track that could lead you to either public libraries or colleges/universities. Some corporations also hire librarians for their private libraries, and there are also positions in state and federal government.

To find a job after getting your masters degree, I would say that an internship (or a graduate assistantship, if you are lucky) or related work experience while you are getting your masters is crucial, as is a willingness to relocate after you graduate. If at all possible, attend a state school for in-state tuition. Librarianship is a low-paying profession, and financial aid is rare. There are usually some graduate assistantships, but they are often reserved for second year students.

I was in a library science program in New York for a semester. Feel free to PM me with any questions.

[hoodie]

I am a school librarian, so my study of library science has taken a different spin to make it classroom friendly, but I must ask you to please not take the attitude many people do and that is the "You need a master's degree for THAT?!?". It's not just a matter of googling whatever or looking up a book; there are other things that someone in a library would do. It's called Media and/or Information Literacy.

Some things that need to be learned:
-Computing - this would be web searching, webpage and search evaluation, web design, new ways of using computer technology to aid in the search for speciffic information. Some will study networking, some will study databases, and some will focus on information storage and retrieval. It really depends what type of library someone will be working in (school, academic, business, government etc.)
-Social Responsibility - lots of issues come up in terms of properly using information from the internet, giving credit when credit is due, how to deal with questionable sources, when certain sources are unavailable due to their content, and how to handle situations like that. Most LIS programs I've researched have at least one class dealing with that.
-Literature - whatever it is you're going to be librarian for, you need to know what type of reading/study is done there and what are the current trends therein. You can't just take a library budget and order whatever you want; it's your job to serve the patrons and keep up with all things modern and order what they want/need as well as make sure you have the old standards they rely on (case in point, as a high school librarian, if I don't have To Kill A Mockingbird, they will kill me!), so you study it. Again, you usually focus on the type of library you're serving in your literature studies.

There's usually a practicom or internship as well as many programs requiring a master's thesis or portfolio evaluation. These will eat up some hours too, so ultimately the master's program adds up to 40 hours.

I'll include a link to UIUC's library information science course catalog:

http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/oc/courses/catalog/catalog.html

Most other programs have something like this too where you can eyeball the courses and sort of start to realize what's all involved in a library degree.


Hope this helps! It really is a fascinating field of study/work.

[Samwell]

To find a job after getting your masters degree, I would say that an internship (or a graduate assistantship, if you are lucky) or related work experience while you are getting your masters is crucial, as is a willingness to relocate after you graduate.

That's a good point. I've worked in public and private libraries for most of my working life and decided against getting an MLIS degree after observing just how hard it is to get a job as a librarian. I would say that 2/3 of the younger people I know with MLIS degrees are not working in the library field. Granted, Seattle is overflowing with librarians, but most desirable places are.

[pisces2473]

Coll, where are you?

[dacrunkest]

Does anyone on here have a library scence degree? Why does it require a graduate degree? I would need all of this education just to tell people where to look for information and the answers to their questions.:rolleyes: I can do this already. What is a good area of four year study to get to this point? Any suggestions.

My mother has an MLS - master's of library science. She worked as a research librarian for several years at Buffalo State College before taking a job at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania.

The job generally requires a masters. It was a hot degree in the mid-late 90s (when my mom got hers), and for a while there wasn't enought capacity job-wise in the academic library field to meet the demand. Not sure if that is still true or not.

Nonetheless, my mother LOVES being a research librarian.

[NewMrs.]

My sister graduated from the MLS program at Pitt last year. She sent out something like 50 resumes in the months leading up to her graduation. Before she graduated, she was offerred a job in North Carolina, but decided for a variety of reasons not to take it. Then she was offerred a job near Philadelphia. I think that she started her job about a month after she graduated. She's been there for about a year now. She doesn't say that much about it. However, the area has a pretty high COL, so she took two part-time jobs in order to pay down her student loans faster. I think that she's in about $30K debt total for grad and undergrad. Her undergrad degree was in a natural sciences-related field.

She told me once that in her experience, its hard to find librarian jobs in the Pittsburgh area because almost everybody coming out of the program at Pitt wants to stay in the area.

[alanisjunkie]

It is clear that you do not understand completely what a librarian does if you think that they just go on a library catalog and bring patrons books. That's ok though, you are with the majority of people. :heehee:

First off, you are describing a Reference librarian. This is only one type of librarian. I don't know if you are speaking of a public or academic library though.

Let me share with you what I (a librarian) do. An academic (higher education) librarian is tenure-track, just like a professor. One thing a master's prepares you for is how to write well enough and do research well enough to publish credible articles. Very few undergraduates could write and research at this level (in fact, some people with an MLS who coast still can't). Another thing is specialization. While getting my master's I focused on database construction/content management/web design/(and more). The only undergraduate program (that I can think of, I might be wrong on this) that prepares you to do this is computer science.

There are many more examples I could give, but I'd rather tell you this: If you'd like to work in a library (especially looking up books for patrons and googling directions) you don't have to be a librarian. Most libraries (esp public) are hiring people with bachelor's (or even HS degrees) to sit at the reference or circulation desk and do tasks like these. The libraries save money since they pay paraprofessionals (any library worker without a master's) less. So don't feel like you CAN'T work at a library without a master's, most you can, you just can't do "librarian only" things (ex. select books).

[EmberMae]

There are many more examples I could give, but I'd rather tell you this: If you'd like to work in a library (especially looking up books for patrons and googling directions) you don't have to be a librarian. Most libraries (esp public) are hiring people with bachelor's (or even HS degrees) to sit at the reference or circulation desk and do tasks like these. The libraries save money since they pay paraprofessionals (any library worker without a master's) less. So don't feel like you CAN'T work at a library without a master's, most you can, you just can't do "librarian only" things (ex. select books).
One more thing to add....YES, they are hiring parapros for these jobs. However, 90% are part time, usually filled by people going to library school. I love libraries, worked in one in high school, and after I moved back home, twice. I have over 2 years of library experience. I really really wanted that type of paraprofessional job, looked for months, but they are just few and far between and mostly part time and low paying. All of the full-time paraprofessionals at my former library had been there for YEARS (despite the fact that the job pays less than 30k a year with 10 yrs exp), and when they left they were being replaced with part time people so they wouldn't have to pay benefits. And the jobs in which you do the more interesting tasks like helping people research, find books, processing new books, are even harder to find and usually hired internally. Most of the jobs that are posted are working the circ desk (and dealing with irate annoying people complaining about fines) or shelving books.

[winneythepooh7]

I know some people who recently completed this type of degree, and it definitely was not easy. Honestly, I think a lot of Master's programs are definitely not a walk in the park and it's offensive when people who have no clue make those statements.

[jj26]

I have a BA in communications and work for a community college. There is a Library Technical Assistant certificate program available here at the college. I was thinking of possibly taking some LTA classes here and see how they go. If I enjoy them, I may consider getting my master's in library and information science. The LTA classes are all online, so I wouldn't have to rearrange my work schedule. It's also good to add a certification to my resume. Library work is something that I've been thinking more about the last few years. I worked in a library as student and enjoyed it. How useful is a LTA certificate in getting library employment? I know that I would need a master's to be a librarian. Any other LTA's here that could offer some insight?

[CityGal]

My friend is currently doing an MLIS at a city school and loves the program. She got a job as an indexer but quickly quit after finding a better paying job as a news writer. Her class assignments were pretty cool though.