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Apr. 21st, 2009 09:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dezaI was browsing job ads today, and I ran across this fun little phrase:
Umm, exsqueeze me? The FIRST damn Master's degree (which is considered a terminal degree, BTW) isn't good enough? Why the fuck not?
You might be able to tell this irks me.
OK, I spent 18 months getting my MLS degree, since I refused to take the summer off. Getting the MLS costs just as damn much as getting any other graduate degree. Classes covered everything from the history of cataloging methodology and the development of MARC records to information technology structure. The "S" in "MLS" stand for "Science" for a reason. Librarians regularly engage in in-depth use of the scientific method to do everything from tracking our user base to developing demographic studies to fine-tuning our future collection development strategies. This is not a degree obtained by sending in $2.50 and a couple of Cracker Jack boxtops to a P.O. box in Poughkeepsie. Librarians with "just" an MLS are regularly writing in-depth professional articles, developing new and innovative techniques and being the unsung heroes of the research world. How on earth is this not good enough to be a professor at a mid-rank small state university?
Librarians are regularly under-appreciated by the public. "You have to have a degree to do that?" is a common reference question. An academic environment treating a MLS as a sub-standard Master's degree is an insult to all of us who have worked our asses off to benefit our profession.
I refuse to apply for jobs that require a second degree for advancement. It's not because I don't meet the requirement--honestly, picking up another graduate degree would not be that hard--it's because of the double standard. How often are English or Anthropology professors required to have degrees outside their field? Sorry, if my MLS isn't good enough for you, then your institution isn't good enough for me.
ALA-accredited MLS/MLIS. Second graduate degree required for tenure or for appointment/promotion above Instructor rank.
Umm, exsqueeze me? The FIRST damn Master's degree (which is considered a terminal degree, BTW) isn't good enough? Why the fuck not?
You might be able to tell this irks me.
OK, I spent 18 months getting my MLS degree, since I refused to take the summer off. Getting the MLS costs just as damn much as getting any other graduate degree. Classes covered everything from the history of cataloging methodology and the development of MARC records to information technology structure. The "S" in "MLS" stand for "Science" for a reason. Librarians regularly engage in in-depth use of the scientific method to do everything from tracking our user base to developing demographic studies to fine-tuning our future collection development strategies. This is not a degree obtained by sending in $2.50 and a couple of Cracker Jack boxtops to a P.O. box in Poughkeepsie. Librarians with "just" an MLS are regularly writing in-depth professional articles, developing new and innovative techniques and being the unsung heroes of the research world. How on earth is this not good enough to be a professor at a mid-rank small state university?
Librarians are regularly under-appreciated by the public. "You have to have a degree to do that?" is a common reference question. An academic environment treating a MLS as a sub-standard Master's degree is an insult to all of us who have worked our asses off to benefit our profession.
I refuse to apply for jobs that require a second degree for advancement. It's not because I don't meet the requirement--honestly, picking up another graduate degree would not be that hard--it's because of the double standard. How often are English or Anthropology professors required to have degrees outside their field? Sorry, if my MLS isn't good enough for you, then your institution isn't good enough for me.
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Re: as someone who has been in academia who whole MLS careeer
Date: 2009-04-23 12:41 pm (UTC)We recently went through a two-year process to change librarians ranks, making MLS the terminal degree rather than a PhD, and librarians have a separate promotion process. We don't qualify for tenure, which I would prefer was different, but at least I can move above assistant professor rank now.
I often wish I had another masters because I sometimes feel I have a lack of depth in subject matter knowledge after only studying it on the undergraduate level. Ultimately, however, it is my performance that the other professors respond to. It takes longer to gain credibility without extra letters after my name, but I'm up for the challenge. I'm an intelligent person, and capable of learning outside of the requirements for a degree. This is what makes me a good librarian and contributor both to the library and the music department. I'm even teaching an upper level music elective next spring, just with an MLS.