I think that there are people who are in the positions now who are doing great work. I don't want to cut them out of the profession. However, I also think that perhaps we do need some kind of a professional test.
There are bad librarians with the M.L.S. degree. I also know that those who are fresh out of library school are often not as good as someone who has been in the position for several years but doesn't have the degree. I do think library school was good for me. I learned things that came in handy after I had been in my career for a little while. However, when I first arrived, many of the things I learned were not yet in context.
We need to make use of the highly trained and skilled people who are in the profession now who don't have their M.L.S. degrees. At the same time, we need to make sure that we value the profession adequately. At one time, not that long ago, teachers did not have to have education degrees or even bachelor's degrees. In the early part of the century, a person with a two-year degree or even a high-school graduate could turn around and teach. The increase in status and (albeit small) increase in pay came as the profession became more rigid about who was qualified to teach.
Here is my suggestion. Lets institute a professional test. Those who pass it would have the right to put the title "Certified Librarian" after their name. If they don't pass, legal action can be taken to enjoin others from using the title. (We can do this by trademarking the term "Certified Librarian.") I dare say that people like Bob Ryan and Amy Comeau would easily pass that test, or perhaps (like the teachers) the people who are in the positions now can be grandfathered in.
New M.L.S. grads are a little more problematic. Some may say that they are qualified by virtue of their degree. Others may remember that not all M.L.S. people are good, and want them to take a test right away like the bar exam. Still another model is to take a page from the accounting and actuarial profession, and require a combination of work experience and tests.
The only way to stop the decline in our profession is to formalize the requirements. (This will benefit those who don't have M.L.S. degrees too, since as "Certified Librarians" they will be able to command a higher salary, as well as ending the feeling that some M.L.S. people look down on them.) I think we need to form some sort of a certification committee to look into the possibility of doing something about this. If the AALL, the ALA, and the SLA got together, along with other groups such as the school librarians, we could do something. I am willing to serve on such a committee.
Just my two cents' worth (and probably not my employer's position). Lets now stop shooting arrows at each other, and use the energy to benefit the profession.
Bryan M. Carson, J.D., MILS
Reference/Computer Services Librarian
Hamline University Law Library
1536 Hewitt Avenue
St Paul, Minnesota 55104
612-641-2063
bcarson@gw.hamline.edu
*********************************************************************
"Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves,
or we know where we can find information upon it."
--Samuel Johnson
*********************************************************************
All opinions expressed are my own and not my employer's.
All original content © 1997 Bryan M. Carson. All rights
reserved.
>>> Karen Mahnk <karenpdo@mailhost.netrunner.net> 03/31/97 08:41am >>>
But one is not an attorney merely because she/he has attained a JD - but
only after passing the bar..
The same example can be applied to medical school graduates - they may not
practice as Drs. w/o passing a board exam. And accountants as well...
Nearly every well compensated profession demands more than an educational
degree.. perhaps because it is well
known that a "sheepskin" alone does not reflect competency..
Only my HO..
Karen Mahnk
>Mr. Ryan, if you went to work in a hospital, would you expect to be called a
>doctor? Nothing in my message suggests or was intended to suggest you are
>inferior to any other human or any other profession on earth. You are not
>a librarian because you lack the professional credentials of a librarian,
>period. People with M.L.S. degrees but no JD, but yet work in law firms,
>are not lawyers because they lack the professional credentials of lawyers,
>however high the quality of the work they do. Would you argue otherwise?
>
>Ann Puckett
>Director of the Law Library and Professor of Law
>University of Georgia School of Law Library
>Athens GA 30602-6018
>Phone (706)542-5078
>Fax (706)542-5001
>apuckett@uga.cc.uga.edu
>http://www.lawsch.uga.edu
>
>
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