Why Does a Librarian's Job Require a Master's Degree?

[statisticsnerd]

Anyone with slightly above average intelligence can run a library. It isn't a hard skill that takes years to master. My mother is a librarian and I've seen what she does. Taking inventory, maintaining the catalog system, directing assistants to shelve books, ordering books, and giving book talks doesn't take a ton of brainpower.

[BusyMeAK]

They just don't want many people to compete for tax-funded positions, maybe.

[campion]

Originally Posted by BusyMeAK

They just don't want many people to compete for tax-funded positions, maybe.

...other than the fact that a large percentage of us don't work for public libraries, that's a great response. What a stereotypically uneducated attitude.

[IonRedline08]

When younger, I worked in a library for years, and often had the same thought. Especially because the library I worked in did not pay well.

However, I know the "librarian" had a ton on her plate, not only from managing others, but in selecting materials, budgeting, spend, etc.

I've always said, if I could make what I make now at any job I've had before, that would have been the one.. Loved working there.

[mochamajesty]

Originally Posted by gizmo980

I know, right? We really don't get the respect we deserve, except from people who actually use and need our services - then it's all "you guys are fantastic!" Almost every time someone asks us to justify our degree and/or salary, it's coming from people who haven't set foot in a library for years. It's okay, though; at least I know we're appreciated by those who matter.

I admire your patience in this thread.

Originally Posted by campion

...other than the fact that a large percentage of us don't work for public libraries, that's a great response. What a stereotypically uneducated attitude.

This thread demonstrates the importance of education, and is filled with ignorance. Truly, this thread is an advertisement for the necessity of libraries and librarians.

[Kaphawoman]

Someone left me a comment on my quick reputation page to say that only in tiny towns will you find university (public or private) librarians without master's degrees. Wrong. I know several personally at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, the state capital with a million people in the metro region (which is why I left my initial comment). These requirements are for people coming through the system now, not for librarians who have been doing the job for years even decades.

[misskittytalks]

Originally Posted by Kaphawoman

Someone left me a comment on my quick reputation page to say that only in tiny towns will you find university (public or private) librarians without master's degrees. Wrong. I know several personally at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, the state capital with a million people in the metro region (which is why I left my initial comment). These requirements are for people coming through the system now, not for librarians who have been doing the job for years even decades.

I agree this is a statement dependent upon when your heyday/study period was. In the 90s, fresh off a job in the college library and a clerk job in a small private library, I applied for librarian positions, for example. Every single one under the sun, said Master's degree required. Went to a major agency in NYC, that was their specialty, they looked at me like I had grown two heads. Nobody was hiring library "paraprofessionals" and they literally had no use/job into which they could slot me.

Now, like anything else, while it does require the Masters to advance in a library, somewhere along the line, like making adjuncts do the work of full professors and avoiding passing out tenure, many libraries started out "only" hiring "paraprofessionals" (i.e., $8/hr. clerks). I am currently enrolled in an online MLS and you in fact wouldn't (or possibly would), believe the vast rafts of students in the meet-n-greets, who say they already have jobs in a library. Full time not work study. In fact, it was so bad that for a while I cynically thought "well, no wonder all these people have their projects done ahead of time, while I'm struggling tied up 50 hours/week in an unrelated field. They already work in the industry and I don't, clearly their supervisors give them time to do these projects at the library where they are already employed, if not outright help them on the projects." This category of student ranges from the very young to the fortysomething. About 7-8 years ago I went to the in-person orientations for NYC area MLS programs (Pratt and the like), and the number of attendees who raised their hands in response to "How many of you already work in a library?", were legion.