I have neither a library job, nor an MLS/MLIS, but I think this is a good plan. A damn good plan.

I would just liketo point out that her most recent blog entry calls me "perennial top hottie"

So when's the swimsuit poster coming out then, jess?

You can't be a librarian without an MLS/MLIS. You would be a "library worker" but not officially a librarian.

I scored 61.

No, Mb. It must be OFFICIAL! Then I can wear my sexy librarian glasses.

Seriously though, I read an article recently about fields that are opening up due to retirements with not very many new people with degrees/skills to fill the jobs -and library science was near the top of the list. So, job security, in a field I love so much. Woo hoo!

Jessamyn: Will you be my mentor? Yes. Seriously.

147 here.

I'd take that stuff about available jobs with a grain of salt. Croctommy can address this topic better, as he actually has been looking for a job in the library field (I got sidetracked into software engineering and have been here ever since).

You can be a librarian without an MLS--some libraries, often ones which are desperate for one reason or another, or ones which you already work for, will hire you for a librarian position while you're working on the degree, for example, and I know a few people working as reference librarians with nothing more than a non-library graduate degree or two--of course, the disrespect from your colleages will make your working life a living hell, and the shame and emptiness will keep you up at night (I'm joking).

The best LIS programs depend on what you're looking for, but UT (Austin), UI (Urbana-Champaign) and UNC (Chapel Hill) are usually at the top of the lists.

And I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, goml, but they've been including libraries in those articles for at least the last ten or fifteen years.

These days, there's a lot of debate about the topic, with people talking about things like bad research methods and even willful marketing-fueled deception, and quite a few folks feeling as though, myth or not, the idea of librarian shortages is good for library schools, and employers, but not so good for would-be librarians. (More from jessamyn.)

A $20 million dollar grant won't go very far.

goml: sure! I'll look for you in IRC or just email/im me.

I don't have any actual numbers, but anecdotally, among people currently in library school there's a good deal of distrust/scepticism of the whole "librarian shortage" thing. I just graduated with an MLS this past spring; maybe a third of my classmates had found jobs by graduation. Some people in the class before me (graduated May '05) still haven't found library jobs, although in most cases it's because they have geographical restrictions due to spouse's jobs or children's needs. None of the two-librarian couples I know have found library jobs for both. People who don't have a preference as to what kind of library they work in or where seem to be pretty employable, though it often takes a while.

My name is Lipstick Thespian, and I approve this post.