What school offers the fastest, cheapest distance MLS program?

Fastest, Easiest, Cheapest?
Just remember you get what you pay for.

Re:FSU
High quality program FSU? You jest.

No better than any other program. There is no marquee name in library science education.

-FSU require 42 hours, which by my calculation is 6 hours longer than the minimum it’s out.
-USF requires 39 hours. 3 hours over the minimum

Both affordable via academic common market, but both drop the ball on the fast portion of the equation.

UIUC LEEP
University of Illinois – Graduate School of Library and Information Science

Best is a relative term – I’m satistifed with LEEP so far, but I’ve heard some positive and negative things from outside our little community. The focus is on both asynchronous coursework (bulletin boards, emails, etc) and synchronous coursework (the lectures are given online where you can chat with the other students and the instructor). You also have to attend the on campus day each semester, and a 10 day ‘boot camp’ at the beginning of the program.

You need 40 credits to graduate, and since most classes are 4 credits you need approx. 10 classes to graduate. It is pretty fast – some students complete the degree in a single year, about 2 years is average taking 2 classes a semester and one class in two summers.

As far as cheap, for in-state students, its about $1400 for 4 credit class. For out of state studnets, tuition is about three times as much and because you have to be resident on campus every semester you’ll spend a significant amount of money on travel.

Re:Career Plans
I disagree. Hmmm… spend lots of money and effort and not get a job? Spend less money and effort and still not have a job? Well there fast and cheap wins. It’s the MLS that matters, nothing else.

fastest? cheapest? easiest?
I am disgusted and appalled at this question. I hope you are not interviewing for a job at my library. Because if I found out that you were the type interested in the fastest! cheapest! easiest! way of doing things, I’d pass you over in a moment in favor of a candidate who believes in hard work and investing in the future.

Clearly you view the MLIS as a hoop to jump through, no more.

1. Are you interested in an MLIS as a path to a better-paying job? If so, it makes sense that it should require an investment (of time, energy, money, etc), and should involve learning something.

2. This whole issue points to a disagreement among library educatees over what an MLIS is. If it’s viewed a trade degree intended to teach ACTUAL JOB SKILLS – along the lines of many technical schools – then grumbling about the impracticality of research-oriented programs may be justified. On the other hand, if it’s viewed as an academic degree along the lines of an MA, then grumbling about too-easy programs may also be justified.

I say “may” because, imo, the purpose of the degree is to learn theoretical stuff that may not be immediately useful to one’s immediate job, but which is (again imo) essential to understanding the whys behind things, and seeing the bigger picture. I see this as the same sort of question as kids asking “Why do we need to learn history? It’s not USEFUL!”, or the issue of memorizing math formulas versus understanding why they work.

And thank goodness it’s a master’s degree, since how many of us who came to librarianship later in life would have been willing to go back to undergrad for it?

Sorry for being anonymous; I just discovered this site and don’t have a user account.

Re:fastest? cheapest? easiest?
And I probably wouldn’t want to work for someone so full of him or herself as you.

I’m a student at TWU, probably the “cheapest, fastest” of MLS-granting institutions. While I’m not thrilled with the program, I am getting a good education. I chose TWU’s distance ed. program because I am a husband and the father of a three-year-old. I hold down a challenging full-time job. And I also have to get out and mow the lawn once a week. Nonetheless, I want to be a librarian, and I believe that I will be quite good at the job. I would like to have have gone to a full-time, campus-based program, but that simply isn’t possible. This is the option that is available to me.

Despite having chosen the ‘fastest, cheapest’ alternative, I work quite hard at my studies. I’ve also try to bolster my education where I can: by taking on extra-curricular projects at Houston-area libraries, by reading up on dataabses and libarry technologies, and by installing a running copy an ILS on my home computer. My choice of school reflects circumstance, not drive or intellect.

Furthermore, I’ve spoken with numerous librarians, all of them very successful (directors and assistant directors of large academic libraries), very competent, and very bright. Whenever the subject of library school has come up, it has elicited a laugh, a shrug, and a deprecating comment. Everyone agrees that it has value, just not much. Most of what you learn is done on-the-job. Why else do you think recently-minted grads are having so much trouble finding work? It doesn’t much matter where you go, but what you do with your time.

By the way, I have a subject MA and speak a second language, as well. How about you?

Sorry I’m logged on as anonymous.
Barry Barancik

Re:Look for the best program for you
Also consider other things like opportunities for co-op education, because if you are earning money (in your field!) while at Lib school, then the additional tuition $$$ is more than worth it.

Have you thought about going overseas? Even paying international student fees might be less $$ then some colleges in the US. Canada for example?

As for not being able to find a job, I was working part time only 4 months into library school (yay co-op!) and full time within 2 months. Employers will hire people from schools they know are good (often their fellow alumni), so quick, easy, online may seriously limit your job prospects. This may not matter if you are already in a unionized position at a library where you can not advance without that MLS, but heaven help you if you ever get laid off, or if other reasons stifle your advancement (hello Harvard!)

Re:fastest? cheapest? easiest?
Illeagal. If ever I lost a job because of your silly prejudice I’d have perfect grounds for an EEO complaint against your institution. Besides who would want to work for, or with you. My guess is your not allowed to offer much input on such matters.

Re:fastest? cheapest? easiest?
I don’t think the Constitution says you are not allowed to discriminate on the basis of hard work vs. laziness.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to choose a program based on cost or time, or even “easiness” (define easy. It may mean they are looking for something that works with a flexible schedule, etc.)

However, if any of these are your sole determining factor, then I question whether you value the degree, or the time and money you put into it. Considering something as important as a graduate program that is a big investment of time and money, as well as having a huge impact on your future, should involve more than these factors.

Re:Time to use some critical reasoning
Using efficiency as the basis to evaluate your life and life choices? Hmmm… sounds just like Melvil Dewey, which you would know if you took a History of Libraries course. You wouldn’t do that though, because it’s not essential and wouldn’t be the most efficient use of your time.
Yes, use your critical thinking skills. I applaud and value efficiency in the operation of a library or other organization. But I would evaluate success by other more human, less machinistic criteria, like the overall vibrancy of the Library Friends group or of the library itself. You can behave as if you are a machine if you want to – it’s your life.
Why go the extra mile? There are those who value experience and knowledge for its own sake, for its ability to test and strengthen our character, to show us the limits of our capabilities, to know ourselves and our lives fully. Working hard can be a worthwhile experience. Working smart and working hard are not mutually exclusive. I suppose on this we can agree to differ.
Incidentally, I worked full time for a publisher while I attended library school full time, while I parented my daughter full time, while I also volunteered for about 3 different local grassroots/charity groups. I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep for those two and a half years and I didn’t watch TV. I was hired within 4 weeks of my graduation at a decent salary ($40K in a rural area where housing costs are about $400 a month) to create a brand new school library for a three-year-old private high school. I’m very happy with the choices I made to get to this point and I enjoy 99% of my job. Would I have gotten to this point if I had put in less than my best effort? Doubt it.

Re:Time to use some critical reasoning
You missed the point in your self-righteous soliloquy. Isn’t that the case with so many passionate arguments? On the surface history of libraries sounds pretty easy. I bet that would gravitate it to the top over many other elective choices.

Your argument is pretty easy to invalidate. One only needs to find someone who spent less effort for a higher salary adjusted for inflation and cost of living. I wonder if those without jobs feel the same way about the effort they spent.

PS
Sorry your library educational experience was so arduous, however it appears that was personal choice. Bet your still waiting for the Trivial Pursuit library history category.

Re:Time to use some critical reasoning
Well, no. I wouldn’t say History of Libraries was especially easy or especially difficult. It required a lot of reading (1700 pages over the semester plus the textbook), self-direction (we chose our own library history books to read), and discipline (we had to keep a journal in which we explored ideas and concepts addressed in the books we read with a minimum of one typed page of journal for every hundred pages of reading and due at the end of the semester) in addition to a few other assignments. Obviously the subject matter is either interesting or not, depending on the student.
And I’m afraid in your eagerness to *invalidate* my perspective, you missed my point altogether. My “high” salary is not the reason I am happy. It demonstrates that I was externally rewarded for my effort, yes. But my point is that I made the choices I did because of internal “rewards”: a tremendous sense of accomplishment, deep knowledge of my realized personal power, the satisfaction of having tested my limits and succeeded without compromising my standards, a fuller, richer, more profound experience of my own life… these were my reasons for expending my best efforts, along with wanting to know as much as I can know. These things are not quantifiable. I simply do not live my life as if I were a machine.
So while you can’t *invalidate* my perspective or my experience of my life, you could illustrate wide diversity in experience if you found someone who spent less effort for a higher salary and who also experiences similar internal rewards. (I think I know someone like that – someone who was born on third base and thinks he hit a triple.)
 

Re:Time to use some critical reasoning
My MLS was far from challenging. The biggest gripe I have about the work is being locked away during a really pretty summer trying to squeeze 12 credit hours into 8 weeks. The classes were not really hard but the time spent making the minimum instructor contact hour requirements was horrendous.

I finished by MLS in 1996, got a job before I graduated at 38k. Cost of housing was around $400. My job was extraordinarily rewarding got to do more than I ever expected. My director prepared me extraordinarily well for my later career. Learned everything from fund accounting to reading blue prints.

My library school experience provided an MLS nothing more. If there was a shortcut I took it. I spent time learning the profs and the mechanics of the classes I took. By doing that I spent less time with the actual class work. That time paid off over and over again by taking the same instructors each semester. Know your audience.

Why did I get a decent salary and a great job? It wasn’t because I suffered for education. I’m great in an interview. Very few of my classmates understood the importance of self-confidence, charisma, and the ability to effectively speak. The better employers covet those skills.
   

Re:fastest? cheapest? easiest?
Not all programs are created equal. Yes there are easier programs which are fully blessed by the ALA.

     

Re:fastest? cheapest? easiest?
Isn’t the MLS a hoop? Theoretical librarianship? Wow! finally a term to compliment knowledge mentor and information archictect. It can be lots of work to earn a MLS, but the theoretical work in library science is very week. Most of the arguments and discussions end in pretty obvious conclussions. The MLS could be a whole lot more practical and still qualify as a masters program. A greater emphasis on accounting and practical management issues would truly improve most programs.

Re:fastest? cheapest? easiest?
Thanks. I appreciate your comments. Unfortunately, the person to whom I was responding with my post paints everyone who attends my school (or one similar) with the same brush: To this person, we’re all stupid and lazy and looking for a free lunch. And not worthy of careful consideration when applying for a job. I just wanted to emphasize to this is not the case. Each person/job candidate should be examined on his or her own merits, and not be the victim of some deeply insecure person’s prejudices and misplaced arrogance.

Re:fastest? cheapest? easiest?
No you didn’t say stupid but I certainly do not agree with your viewpoint. Interviews are not about how hard you worked in school. They are about how well you present yourself. Interviews are about selling yourself. No matter how hard the academic work, the candidate with better verbal communication skills has an edge. Why do you equate those seeking an easy program with not being able to excel in an interview? It’s a different skill set that most library science programs don’t offer significant opportunities to develop. Most faculty that I’ve encountered aren’t capable of providing the necessary instruction.

My advice to someone seeking the cheap, fast, and easy is to attend Dale Carnegie in some of your spare time.
 

Re:fastest? cheapest? easiest?
You are revising your point and adding aditional assumptions. Undue toil is not a quality I see a particular need to respect or admire. Just because someone works harder doesn’t mean they are any better at the task. I tend to assume, yes I’m assuming, that the person taking the easier route will work smarter not harder. The MLS is the same no matter how hard you work or don’t work.

Online MLIS
I am not sure how the program cost and length compare to other institutions, but Drexel University offers a fully online and ALA accredited program. Good luck!

P.S. Unlike some others who have responded, I don’t see anything wrong with your question. Afterall, practicality can be just as important as theoreticism.

Re:Incorrect
The preferred term is “protected class”. Can you discriminate based on education? Yes, it occurs all the time. Usually in the determination of whom not to interview based on compliance with the desired, required, or preferred qualifications.

Out of curiosity i’d like to see the list schools whom I should reject all canidates based on attendance.

Re:fastest? cheapest? easiest?
I’ve been doing this for 10 years and don’t have a masters degree.

I’m sure there is a lot I could learn in getting a MLS degree, but at this point, is it worth the time and effort?

Probably half the jobs advertise salaries lower than what I’m making now, so I see little incentive to get my MLS. Why would I spent $20,000+ to make less money?

I’m looking forward to the day when I will be judged for a job on my skills and abilities, not the quantity of education I have completed.

The MLS is a hoop to jump through.

Re:fastest? cheapest? easiest?
I’m looking forward to the day when I will be judged for a job on my skills and abilities, not the quantity of education I have completed.

Sounds to me like an excellent argument for dropping out of high school. Because “education” just means having put in time, right? Doesn’t imply actually having learned anything.

I’m sorry for everyone who apparently got nothing out of their MLS programs. Perhaps you went to the wrong program for you. I simply could not be the librarian I am today without all the stuff I learned in my MLS program.