Library World Upgrade

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Been trying to find a good university that offers an online Library Science masters program. Given the dumb shit our Liberry administration is pulling right now, I will not be getting much in the way of promotions anytime soon anyway, so I might as well go ahead and become more qualified for any less dysfunctional libraries out there.

I’m still pretty damn sick of academia, but less so than I was when I graduated. And at least if I start doing school stuff I won’t have to feel quite so guilty about my continued existence—at least, that’s what I’m hoping, because right now THE GUILT IT BURNS US, and that is tiresome.

I considered doing an on-site school program, but Utah doesn’t have one, and, y’know, money. Unless someone knows of a full-time job I can get while going to the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, it’s pretty much online school for me.

And hey—maybe by the time I’m done with a Masters, the Liberry staff will have pulled their heads out of their asses and I can get a better job!* Anything is possible


*Although frankly, I would not object to being a full-time, benefits-packaged, high-paid book shelver.

Comments

[mis-creation.livejournal.com]

Oh my gods, you too?

Unfortunately, I think that's pretty across the board with libraries right now. I'm contemplating the same move you are, but I just don't know. It's kind of a gamble that the economy would've recovered sufficiently that there isn't a complete lack of degreed library jobs.

But, given that many of the posts at the various library LJs I follow are about job searching and how to get jobs once you have the degree, I don't know that now is the time to go back to school.

[kadharonon.livejournal.com]

I can't say it's been worth it.

I can't even say it will be worth it in the future.

I'm trying to find the study... but if you're looking at working in a traditional or academic library, there are currently (I believe) upwards of a hundred newly minted graduates per available positions in a given year. Add in graduates from years past who still have the gumption to actively seek library jobs and it becomes something more ridiculous, like 500. And the sad part is, these numbers did not actually change between non-recession years and recession ones.

I would love to be able to say "go for it!" I would love to be able to say that things were fine and dandy in libraries. But in the end, it just seems like state and local governments are cutting back on funding for libraries in the recession, and libraries do not come back easily from that.

(But it could be I am just bitter that there are no library jobs right now.)

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that's good to know, thanks. I'm asking various of my library supervisors and whatnot if it's something they'd recommend, and nobody is really sure. So it's just one of many options--I'm also trying to see what other masters degrees might be useful for getting actual jobs, and of course I'm hoping to sign a giant lucrative book deal and become a Famous Author, but, y'know, I should probably do something else while I wait for THAT to happen.

I'm mostly sick of being a statistic right now illustrating the Poor Economy. I gotta do something.

[pghbekka.livejournal.com]

Depending on what you like to do, library wise, there are actually a variety of non-traditional jobs available. While traditional and academic library jobs are scarce and highly competitive, you can check into law librarianship and other jobs in the information management field. A variety of different companies have discovered there's value in data management and research.

I got my Master's Online at University of Pittsburgh (I live here, so I could have gone on campus, but I worked full time while completing my degree). Provided nothing's changed, they do require one weekend a semester on campus, the rest is through Blackboard. I was already working in my field (I manage the donor database for a nonprofit), but the degree helped me to get a new and better job with a more professional standing, away from the place that treated me like an unskilled automoton. If you like mucking about with information, I highly recommend you check out the Special Library division of ALA.

This info dump was brought to you by obsessive!library!Bekka. :-)

[pghbekka.livejournal.com]

Oooh! And obsessive!nonprofit!Bekka asks if you're interested in/ have looked into grantwriting at all?

[kadharonon.livejournal.com]

I do have to add, now that I've thought about it, that if you can manage to get to a place with your current library and job where it's basically "finish the degree, we might give you a little bit of financial support to finish, and we can pretty much guarantee an upgraded job when you're done", then it becomes worthwhile. Or in your current library system, if not your specific branch. However that goes. But it sounds like right now they're dealing with crazy and it may take a long while before they're up to taking that step.

[origamicage.livejournal.com]

Um, my mom is getting her MLIS online at...San Jose State University?

[childthursday.livejournal.com]

You could come room with me, Emily and the cats! Dominican University in the suburbs has an MLIS program. Or there's the one in Champaign-Urbana, which is too far to commute, but there are Nice People living there too.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

D'aww, you're sweet! I might in fact have some questions about your neighborhood at some point as I look through this. And I'll take a look at Dominican ...

[gryphart.livejournal.com]

Hm. Have you thought about going into something related, rather than investing in a masters? There seem to be a lot of Library Sciences people out there who are struggling to find work in the academic field, so they turn to something like law librarianship/copywriting/etc.

I know how you feel - I'm having to learn/relearn a lot of stuff in graphic/web design in order to diversify, as the illo market is pretty bleak at the moment.

[thewrongcrowd.livejournal.com]

... like law librarianship

heh. Not only is the ML(whatever)S required for law library positions, but you will also need a J.D. And there are buttloads of unemployed lawyers who keep thinking, "hey, I'll go get that 1-yr masters and get off the dole."

[gryphart.livejournal.com]

Heh, I know jack squat about library sciences other than the quantity of "NEED JOB NOW PLZ" from out-of-work/underpaid librarians that seems to come up on Ask.Metafilter, as is probably obvious.

[thewrongcrowd.livejournal.com]

There are some pretty decent online library master's programs out there. But as people have pointed out, the job prospects post-masters aren't real hot. The occupational outlook for professional librarians has listed the primary means of advancement as 'death or retirement' higher up the chain for the last 25 years. And with the economy the way it is, can't imagine too many that are rushing into retirement.

It's not all doom and gloom tho. There are still positions for heavily multi-lingual people, especially those with backgrounds in less-than-popular languages (Arabic, Farsi, Mandarin, etc.). If you think you might want to work academic liberries, be on the lookout for a second masters (or gods forfend a Ph.D) that you wouldn't mind picking up. All this for jobs that pay diddly.

One thing to keep in mind, if you decide to go brick-and-mortar. There used to be a program to give in-state tuition to candidates whose home state doesn't have a library program. I think it's still in existence and you can track it down on the ALA site. (And now I will take my little (un-employed) reference librarian self to the kitchen for a forbidden pint of Ben and Jerrys).

[fractalwolf.livejournal.com]

North Carolina Central University has a a MLS that you can do online, though not all electives are guaranteed to be taught that way. http://www.nccu.edu/curriculum/details.cfm?id=120 I've taken a class on metadata class, and been very impressed.

From what I've heard, the out-of-state tuition is cheaper in NC than it is many places. http://www.nccu.edu/formsdocs/proxy.cfm?file_id=894 for the graduate tuition schedule.

Admittedly I do have an MLS and I'm not working in libraries, but I did get my current job on the publishing side of things shortly after and as a direct result of getting my MLS, and my pay is more than twice what I was making before I got my Master's. Just be sure to get all the tech skills you can! There's plenty of librarians with humanities backgrounds, but ones with good computer skills are rarer. If you're sufficiently technically inclined there should be a wave of retirements soon, as the first systems librarians who got the jobs because they were there and knew *something* about computers hit retirement age.

[daiq.livejournal.com]

If you want to study in Australia ;) Open Universitys here (which is basically just a central website for a bunch of unis who run online stuff, all are real bricks and morter unis too, no rip off agents) looks to run a couple of Library type courses
http://www.open.edu.au/public/home/search-results?q=library&page=1&resultType=COURSE

Curtin University who offer the top couple of coursed, like the Grad Dip in Information and Library Services have a great reputation (i almost enroled in their distance ed Ed.D program a couple of years ago).

random person from Metaquotes

[sockschan.livejournal.com]

Came here to look at something else, but IIRC, University of Michigan in Ann Arbor has one of the best Library Science programs in the country and I THINK you can take those classes online. Do not quote me on this. I know that UofM's Library Science is top notch and that their online classes are as well; I could've sworn the two dovetailed, but maybe I made that up. No idea what tuition will run you though...

Good luck.

Re: random person from Metaquotes

[kadharonon.livejournal.com]

No, the School of Information does not offer distance education classes. The way that the coursework required for the degree is set up does not allow for distance education, as it is heavy on project-based group work using local clients.

Also, out of state tuition there is... quite expensive.

/UofM MSI student

(However, you can access a good number of the teaching materials for SI classes through Open.Michigan. I was the dScribe for SI 643. Whee!)