“No librarian should feel inadequate for learning the discipline on the ground rather than in a classroom.” At BookRiot, Michelle Anne Schingler provides validation for librarians who don’t have a Master’s degree in Library Science — who “merely live” library work instead of having studied it through a four-year university. Those non-degreed librarians must surely also include those of us who earned a community college vocational certificate or Associate in Science degree.
I don’t share what I read as dismissal of the importance of library theory; I think that’s part of being a good librarian. But I do share the belief that there is more than one pathway to acquire the skills and mindset that make a good librarian — including volunteer and on-the-job experience as well as extra-curricular learning — and I especially appreciate those library employers that recognize alternative pathways to measure a librarian’s proficiency.
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Subject Classifications (Partial list, via Dewey Decimal System)
- 006.754-Social Media
- 020-Library and Information Science
- 020.7025-Library Education
- 020.92-Cynthia M. Parkhill (Biographical)
- 023.3-Library Workers
- 025.02-Technical Services (Libraries)
- 025.04-Internet Access
- 025.2-Libraries--Collection Development
- 025.213-Libraries--Censorship
- 025.3-Libraries--Cataloging
- 025.84-Books--Conservation and restoration
- 027.473-Public Libraries--Sonoma County CA
- 027.663-Libraries and people with disabilities
- 027.7-Academic Libraries--University of Central Missouri
- 027.8-School Libraries--Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts
- 028.52-Children's Literature
- 028.535-Young Adult Literature
- 028.7-Information Literacy
- 158.2-Social Intelligence
- 302.34-Bullying
- 305.9085-Autism
- 306.76-Sexual orientation and gender identity
- 371-Schools--Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts
- 371-Schools--Santa Rosa City Schools
- 636.8-Cats
- 646.2-Sewing
- 658.812-Customer Service
- 659.2-Public Relations
- 686.22-Graphic Design
- 700-The Arts
- 746.43-Yarn bombing (Knitting and Crochet)
- 809-Book Reviews
Among responses to the BookRiot article, I like this attitude, expressed at “Bryce Don’t Play”:
ReplyDelete“I believe that if you have your Masters of Library Science, you are a librarian.
“I believe that if your job title is Librarian, you are a librarian.
“I believe if you work in a library and people call you a librarian, you are a librarian.
“This is because I believe your existence as a librarian should not impact my existence as a librarian.”
(http://brycedontplay.blogspot.com/2016/03/what-is-librarian-unsolicited-rant.html)