And the parish library boards didn’t come up with the LA revised statute governing the contractual issue: most of the parish library boards were created after the revised statute governing whom they could or couldn’t offer a contract to was already in effect. The statue created the authority for the police juries (think county governments) to appoint library boards and set up public libraries in their parishes.

Also, in LA at least the B.S. in LS was from early on treated like a graduate degree, where you had to first have a B.A. or B.S. degree in another field before you could apply to LSU SLIS. When my mother went in the early 40′s, she chose between going to grad. school in history or going to LSU SLIS. Later, when she became a high school librarian and English teacher, the LSU B.S. in LS was counted as a graduate degree by the school system.

As for library board composition, it can vary. The police jury (again, think county government here) appoints the library board members, in accordance with another LA revised statue. One member, by LA statute, has to be the police jury president or some other member of parish government that he sends in his stead. Others are appointed to represent different parts of the parish.

I’ve only worked for one board, so can’t speak for how they are generally. The one I serve is well-educated, comes from a variety of different professions (but majority teachers or former teachers), and is dedicated. They serve for no pay and do a lot for the library system–and for the director.

I guess I would be bitter if I were a librarian who couldn’t conduct even a cursory level of research, too.

http://www.usm.edu/slis/FAQ.php

The MLS degree has become the new fad in the library field. But this doesn’t mean that is how the field should be or how it will stay. The degree has evolved into the field, and now it can just as well evolve back out!

If anything, the current trends are telling us that the MLIS was innapproporiate in the first place. Sure, it was nice while we had the money to afford such frills, but in all honesty, it’s a bigger credential than we need to do the job. Take a look at Santa Cruz’s Grand Jury Suggestions on how to better run a library – it was very recently on the LJ main page.

The unfortunate matter is that now the boards have written the rules as stated: the contracts for people without the right credintails are limited but not exclusive to just those who qualify – aka – GREAT for the libraries. It doesn’t say they can’t hire – they just can’t retain.

Even though the library loses the corporate memory, the board sees numbers and dollar signs in the financial ledger. And what they see is a savings because they can continually hire short term people who ultimately cost less to the system. The person can’t stay long enough to build much above the starting wage, and they can offer the jobs at salaries that only attract those people who are willing to work at wages far below the MLS. And then once these people are there for four years, they kick them out, reopen the hiring process, and if anybody wants to come back they’re back to fight through the heap for the entrey level wage all over again. Libraries win, Lirbarians…eeks.

If anybody turns and gets the MLS, well, then it’s a matter of politics and a willingness of that individual to compete against those with no degrees and no dignity when it comes to how much they make.

There’s one other part to consider – just how many people on these boards have degrees themselves? If these people are the hiring board, which contestants are they going to hire? Those who are like themselves, who they can empathize with, or the gungho college kid with a freshly minted degree, who “should be off doing higher things” than doing the blue collar job in the library?

I am not arguing for or against the MLIS or MLS vs. other degrees or credentials; just pointing out that it has evolved into part of the normal requirements for contractual employment as a public library director for a parish (i.e. county) library system in the Pelican State. This is one of many reasons why loss of the LSU SLIS program would really hurt us. It would become much harder and/or more expensive for LA residents to prepare and compete for jobs as public library directors here, at least where contracts are expected. And, whether offering contracts or not, library boards generally want to hire directors who are already board certified or who can fairly soon take the certification exam.

I am not suggesting that any of this has even a fraction of the magnitude of the oil spill, which is weakening this state’s economy more every day. Far inland we are helplessly watching local businesses close up now, due to “ripple effects,” and we are seeing our tax base erode like the coastline. The combination of the ongoing spill and the drilling moratorium is devastating.

Carolyn, does it take a Masters to build a collection for children that includes “The Hungry Caterpillar,” “Bears In the Night,” “Fox in Socks” or “Curious George?”

Meanwhile, the organizations that represent libraries and library schools are all telling us that we MUST have a Masters to do this job. There are a number of boilerplate reasons, most of which fall apart after the reiteration of “but do you really need a MASTERS to do that [boilerplate reason]?”

The reason we demand the MLS [if I have to attach "degree" to MLS so that you know what I'm talking about...you may be legally retarded...] in this profession is simple:

By default, a person with a Masters should always be paid more than a person with a BA/AA/HSD, at least, in the minds of those who sell those degrees. If we want to raise the average wage in this field, and attract exciting new people to blow out the dust aka keep library school professors employed, we have to somehow force the market to offer the best wages possible. So as professional organizations, we demand that if a library wants to be part of our prestigious natilanl Library Association, they have to commit to requiring an MLSA for all Librarians! Poof, the status quo in the field goes from the old standard [BLIS wages] to the new standard {MLIS wages!] and that must mean our field is important and full of opportunity for the higher book-educated!

Library schools are in the profession of selling paper. Just becasue they are selliong it doesn’t mean you need it, no matter what anybody says. Bill of Goods…Bill of goods,…bill of goods.

AL, surprisingly, “classist” is correct. Your column reeks of snobbery and class privilege; it is classist in the same way that others are racist or sexist, etc. I suspect that it masks a deep and abiding sense of inferiority.

Southpaw, the state government has a hiring freeze on, not local governments. New Orleans Public Library is opening 10 new branches next year; East Baton Rouge Public Library has 2 or 3 new branches slated to be built next year. SLIS students find jobs within 2 months of graduation, if they don’t find one before graduation. However, they do have to be willing to go where the jobs are in the state. Most of those who are not working in libraries are unwilling or unable to relocate. That’s true in any field.

As for the statistics, it’s always easier to simply cite them than to understand and interpret them, but I’m not going to waste time arguing about that. The fact that Louisiana is ranked so low on all economic and educational measures argues for retaining the one program in the state that educates and trains public, school, academic, and special librarians, as well as archivists and other information professionals. As noted by Stephen Krashen in “The Case for Libraries and Librarians,” http://www.sdkrashen.com/articles/case_for_libraries/index.html “Research shows that better public and school libraries are related to better reading achievement. . . . the presence of librarians and overall staffing contributes to reading achievement independent of other measures of library quality.” And as documented in “Libraries as a precondition for the creative economy” http://www.isocarp.net/Data/case_studies/577.pdf “There is no modern, electronic democracy
without developed libraries, nor progressive society without dynamic activity in these
organizations.”
The only rational conclusion is that Louisiana needs librarians and libraries more than any other state in the nation.

EileenK and Infinity are right: politics is a big part of our problem. For example, while LSU SLIS is the only ALA accredited library science program, I think there are six journalism programs. We can’t blame anybody else for the bad resource allocation choices we make here at home for all kinds of agenda-driven reasons of various political stripes. But condescending insults and assumptions from those outside Louisiana are still not appreciated.

For the record, I’m posting at home on vacation leave.