[Publib] Downgrading the profession

[Alana Abbott]

>
> As I wrote to one poster (who wrote to me off list), the MLS offered me
> opportunities to do things I was not otherwise permitted to do--collection
> development, training and mentoring other librarians, attending conferences
> where I met and learned from colleagues around the country, developing
> programs, working with other organizations within and outside the field, and
> more. And the salary increases, modest as they were, didn't hurt either.
> There was also a matter of pride in the profession and, for better or, (as
> some seem to think), worse, the degree gave me entree into the profession.
>

Speaking as a para-pro, I think this last bit is key: there are jobs in
libraries that are better served with an MLS in the position. There are
plenty of jobs inside of libraries that can (and often are) beautifully
handled by people who have learned on the job and do not hold a degree. I am
a part-timer, intentionally, because in my other life I'm a writer, and
working at the library offers me the best of the other side of the book
world: it's a social position where I help people find the information they
need. I work the reference desk as a reference assistant. My training, both
in libraries and as a bookseller, have made me very good at customer service
(something not always traditionally associated with libraries) and reader's
advisory. Working as a writer and an editor (I worked at Gale for three
years after college) have helped me build skills as a researcher. Working
with computers all the time gives me a reasonable ability to help patrons
with standard computer problems (which, really, make up the majority of
questions asked at our reference desk these days).

To serve my community in this capacity, I don't need a further degree.
Whether or not I'm a "librarian" is really a matter of semantics. Our
patrons generally think everyone who works at the library is a librarian,
and it's a much easier and faster description of what I do than offering my
title. I am not (currently, anyway) looking for more responsibility than my
title implies, or that a degree would offer. To say that any person who
holds any position in a library should have an MLS (which I don't think
anyone is saying here, but which sometimes seems implied) strikes me as a
little silly. There are positions and levels of responsibilities that should
require degrees. There are a lot of perfectly capable (and exceptional!)
para-pros whom I consider librarians, based on the services they provide,
and I don't believe that a degree would necessarily benefit them. I think
there's a nice, friendly middle ground available to us that doesn't
downgrade or degrade or hurt the profession.

But that's just my two cents.

Alana Abbott, Reference Assistant
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