Librarians get in a tizzy over non-MLS hires

Anonymous Patron writes “Madison, WI – from the free weekly paper’s story: “Recently, the Madison Public Library hired two individuals who lacked Masters of Library Science (MLS) degrees. This has stirred considerable distress within the ranks of librarians who obtained their degrees believing this was a prerequisite for the job. Actually, under language that the city requires to be part of job postings, a professional degree is not required for most professional jobs, and cannot even be used as a factor in weighting applicants. The union that represents library workers recently presented the Library Board with a letter expressing its ‘grave concerns.'””

January 22, 2006 by Librarians Libraries

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5 Responses

  1. Anonymous Patron says:
    January 22, 2006 at 10:25 am

    Qualifications…?
    Whoa! People being hired because of competency rather than their post-nominal letters?

    Face it…most of what 4 out of 5 librarians do is either based on the basic knowledge learned through a 4-year degree, or learnable on the job with very little training. There is no reason for a graduate degree for entry-level librarianship; if anything, a bachelor’s of librarianship should be the standard.

    The MLS (or even an MBA) might be a reasonable degree for entry into the ranks of upper management and administration. But for the front line, low-end-of-the-totem-pole folks? The job can be done–and has been done, and is currently being done–by non-MLS librarians.

  2. mdoneil says:
    January 22, 2006 at 11:28 am

    Re:Qualifications…?
    I have an MLS and an MBA ( and for that matter an MS Chem ) and it was a pain for me to find a job. Insofar as the de facto standard in the US for librarians was the MLS the ALA should (especially since it accredits the Masters degree granting schools) champion the MLS (or MS LIS or MLIS or whatever iteration it takes today).

    Of course the ALA is too busy with other BS and other dicking around to do that so the profession gets devalued.

    At librariancertification.org we can see that only library directors in WI require certification so anyone can call themselves a librarian.

    I also have an undergraduate degree in Information Studies from the same school where I got my MLS and frankly I could have probably made a good librarian with that. However with the MLS I am a very good librarian.

  3. Anonymous Patron says:
    January 22, 2006 at 3:37 pm

    Re:Qualifications…?

    I also have an undergraduate degree in Information Studies from the same school where I got my MLS and frankly I could have probably made a good librarian with that. However with the MLS I am a very good librarian.

    So, would you say that you would have had fairly good career development if you had earned your BS, taken employment as an entry-level librarian, gained experience in the position, and then earned an MLS or MBA (as appropriate for career direction) to advance into higher positions?

    I know many (most?) respected MBA programs will not consider a student who has not earned at least a couple of years of experience ‘in the field’. Perhaps the MLS would be more valued if it were used as part of the career development ladder, rather than both the first rung and the high rung for most librarians.

  4. mdoneil says:
    January 23, 2006 at 2:06 am

    Re:Qualifications…?
    Perhaps the MLS would be more valued if it were used as part of the career development ladder, rather than both the first rung and the high rung for most librarians.

    Perhaps it would, but that would require a shift away from the traditional model. This would not be dissimilar to the shift from using registered nurses in hospital to using less educated aides. Sure an aide can give you a bed bath, and for that matter CPR, but I wouldn’t count on them knowing how to start your IV, or drug interactions, or preparing a nursing care plan. They just are not trained to do that.

    Similarly undergraduates may certainly be able to answer simple reference questions and help patrons with materials they may not have the education and expertise to judge the authority of sources. Is Natural Cures They Don’t Want You To Know About an authoratative source or simply garbage? I know what it is, but since it is on amazon’s top ten list does that make it authoratative? How is authority evaluated? These are things that may not be taught in an undergraduate program (which if there is the paradigm shift required to make librarianship a BS) although they could be.

    Until then for remarkably selfish reasons; if I had to get the MLS to be a librarian then libraries should require that for hire as a librarian. I’m already paid poorly, lets not make this a minimum wage job.

  5. Brian G. says:
    January 23, 2006 at 3:09 am

    Re:Qualifications…?

    Face it…most of what 4 out of 5 librarians do is either based on the basic knowledge learned through a 4-year degree, or learnable on the job with very little training. There is no reason for a graduate degree for entry-level librarianship; if anything, a bachelor’s of librarianship should be the standard.

    I only have experience in academic libraries. Someone without the MLS would never be prepared for the job, and the low staffing in most academic libraries would not allow for the new hire to be trained in everything while working.

    I was recently in a meeting that was dominated by academic library directors. They were saying they needed more in entry-level librarians, which is just the opposite of you. They needed MLS graduates for all entry-level positions, but also hope they specialized in something (metadata, management, etc.). Academic budgets are requiring entry-levels positions to be more and more involved in library operations.

    Maybe we are seeing the gap between academic and public library experiences growing greater in differences.

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