Comments on The Future of Library Science

• The New Library/Information School
• Posted by William Patrick Leonard on July 25, 2007 at 12:20pm EDT

• Library science programs are moving in the right direction, albeit at a rather measured pace. I applaud the progress made and their aspirations for bringing library services in-line with evolving client needs and wants.

  As a former library and learning resources dean, I do not agree that the gold standard degree, the MLS, must be a two year program. The newly minted degree recipient needs some significant on-the-job experience instead of additional hours of theory and some guided practice. The second year even with internships can not duplicate the value of real world seasoning. The cynic in me regards the second year’s value more in terms of additional school income than the value of lessons learned.

• Mr. Leonard is correct in his cynicism
• Posted by Brian L. Baker on July 25, 2007 at 2:05pm EDT

• Mr. Leonard is correct in his cynicism. Library and Information Science programs need to institute either shorter degree requirements, or look towards clinical education - a la medical or law schools - to give more hands on experience to their students.

  Live interaction with patrons is the best experience a Library School can provide. The running joke among Librarians in practice is the "things they never taught you in Library School" experience.

  These experiences are often more valuable than what they did teach you, and can only be learned on the job. Creating a clinical program would provide those experiences to students while still studying and can then be discussed with seasoned Librarians on what the best approach to the problem would have been.

  A complete rethinking of Librarian education needs to begin.

• Keep LIS programs as two-year programs
• Posted by Michel Dupagne on July 25, 2007 at 8:25pm EDT

• I am an LIS student as well as a university professor. The trend in some LIS programs is to shorten the length toward one year. I think this is a terrible mistake because it makes LIS graduates less familiar with the growing number of LIS subjects. In addition to traditional courses, such as information policy, management of information resources, information organization, cataloging, and reference resources, there is a vast area of new information technology related topics, such as networking, web development, usability, database management, and metadata. I do not know how Mr. (or Dr.) Leonard proposes to cover these areas in a job training fashion if students are not first exposed to these materials. Certainly, internships and work experiences are valuable ways for LIS students to become more proficient in one or more areas, but students also need to know the basics of an increasingly extensive LIS curriculum.

• alternative library education path
• Posted by Lesley Farmer , Dr. at CSULB on July 26, 2007 at 1:20am EDT

• I have suggested to several folks that professional library education be structured similarly to some states' teacher ed programs: a preliminary credential or stage I (advancement to candidacy) certificate, which enables one to be hired as a professional probationally. It would have CORE courses for major operations/knowledge base. Then an additional year of training that would be specialized ALONG with internship/job. Only then would the person get the full master's degree.

• Posted by Dynamic Librarian on July 27, 2007 at 4:35am EDT

• One person says, "A complete rethinking of Librarian education needs to begin." I agree, and am continuing the discussion some have already started. I'm also putting a name to it.

  If anyone is on facebook, I have started a group called 'zero based library school.' Check it out. If you are not on facebook, I'll be posting something to my blog in the next few weeks about the concept.

• Training versus teaching
• Posted by Andrea Gillaspy-Steinhilper , Adjunct Reference Librarian on July 27, 2007 at 5:55pm EDT

• There are a few basics that MLS programs need to instill in their students. A service mindset. An idea of the range of possibilities for searching. Basic information on ways of organizing knowledge. This we could call teaching, because we impart a new way of thinking to our students.

  Beyond teaching, there is a need for training: some of the specific and directed techniques and information that the prospective librarian will need in whatever field they choose. A smattering of courses, whether they be in storytelling and children's lit, online searching, cataloging, budgeting, current technology, then should be available.

  A problem arises after one hits the workplace. Whatever one has learned becomes so quickly out of date. We have a great need for all types of continuing education classes - and it is imperative that we make this need clear to our students. You can't just go out there and do the job. You need to keep coming back for more - and we need to keep providing the more you will continue to need.

  We need to teach. We need to training. We need to keep doing it - and keep looking for people who can help us continue to learn.

• ALA should exemplify open and equal access
• Posted by Dan Kleinman , Are Children Safe in Public Libraries? at SafeLibraries.org on July 31, 2007 at 8:40am EDT

• I agree that, as Andrea Gillaspy-Steinhilper said, "We have a great need for all types of continuing education classes — and it is imperative that we make this need clear to our students. You can’t just go out there and do the job. You need to keep coming back for more — and we need to keep providing the more you will continue to need."

  The ALA does provide continuing education classes. However, the ALA, the very Office for Intellectual Freedom itself, blocked me out of one of it continuing ed classes. It did so by raising hurdle after hurdle, something it opposes regarding disabling internet filtering software. It did so by defying Pennsylvania Supreme Court rules, something similar to what it claims the Bush administration is defying. For details, see http://www.SafeLibraries.org/unequalaccess.htm

  So perhaps in addition to providing continuing ed classes, the ALA should exemplify the open and equal access to information it claims to support.

• More teaching not less...
• Posted by Matthew Thomas , Public Services Librarian at Queen's University on August 1, 2007 at 12:25pm EDT

• One of librarianship's biggest problems is the lack of respect that we receive from almost everyone, and in particular, other academics and professionals. I think that librarians are incredibly valuable and important to education and research efforts but try convincing a doctor or a lawyer or a professor of that when your main claim to fame is your 1 or 2 year master's degree.

  But it's not just for show either. There are all sorts of things that I think librarians should be learning before stepping up to the desk: psychology, education, management, much more technology skills, and certainly more "information" theory. Yes, there are a lot of things that you can only learn on the job. But you'll learn those on the job. Don't teach the things that will be learned (or perhaps unlearned) on the job and don't teach as many of the things that will obviously be out of date by the time you graduate. Learning about some of the reference books in my Canadian library school experience didn't really help me when I went to work in an American library. Learning about TYPES of reference books helped me much more. I could have had more about that.

  We as librarians know perhaps better than anyone else how much stuff there is to know out there. Maybe we could get more of that in school then? But sometimes I'm afraid that library schools are too afraid of scaring away the too-few students away with a more challenging curriculum. I don't know. I just know that I would have liked to have had more "book learnin'" in my master's degree before I was thrown to the sharks. LOL

• Posted by susie choi, MLS, MSW on September 26, 2007 at 4:30pm EDT

• I can't believe someone actually suggested here that MLS education be less than one year! Most professional degrees are 48 credits or more, and I believe this enables the profession to become more legitimate in the eyes of the world. Due to budget cuts, many public libraries are trying to use paraprofessionals to do 'reference'. I don't think a librarian in academic world should be thinking more education, not less. Having worked in both public and academic settings, I definitely assess that professional degree DOES MATTER!