Dare I Say It?
"Grad School", That long put off next step in my career path. Before coming to the library I had been eying Technical Writing and Industrial Engineering pretty heavily. I've gone back and forth about whether I wanted to consider a Library Science degree. My co-workers on both sides of the graduate degree fence have differing opinions. Librarians and non-librarians alike caution me with the whole, "Do you really want to be a librarian?" just as I was dissuaded from pursuing a masters in education by my past teachers and family in the education field. Others are generally enthusiastic.
I can also see the wheels of fate turning. I get the sense that by pursuing this degree I am going to set into motion a repeat of events that played out in this department in the past.
The field of options also seems rather limited. I could have sworn someone told me there was a library degree here at state that was more management focused, but I have not found it yet. It isn't in the list of ALA accredited programs, which is what I am told is most likely the criteria I want to go by. ECU will soon have an online degree option that should be ALA accredited, but I've been told that the program at UNCG is in danger of losing accreditation. I've heard mixed things about the program at NCCU, though they do offer an MIS that is ALA accredited and I think I would prefer an MIS to an MLS. The program at UNC is of course more prestigious, but they don't seem to have many if any online options and I've been told the demands of that degree would preclude me from working full time while pursuing it, not an option I have right now.
I definitely get the impression that if I am going to stay here (in the Library) long term, i.e. more than a couple of years, I am going to have to pursue a Library degree to keep my longer term career goals on track. Non-librarians are marginalized and while I don't really like that, the fact is it happens everywhere in pretty much all work environments. The criteria do varry. In Engineering any Masters degree would have been sufficient, but with only a bachelors my options were rather limited. In other places a bachelors is more than enough to avoid marginalization, but most of those environments are too stagnant for my tastes.
Another problem is the looming adoption. I don't mean to say that like I am dreading adopting, I really want it. The issue is finances and time. If I had to choose between the two, which it really seems like I would, then I would obviously choose the adoption. I just don't feel like my current situation would be conducive to providing enough financially, and pursuing a degree.
I also don't want to come across as trivializing the Librarian profession, but it really does seem like those masters programs would be more of a path of least resistance at this stage in my life. In either case I feel like I have discounted the Technical Writing option before I have even given it a chance, and I keep shying away from Industrial Engineering for some reason.
Tick Tock
I can also see the wheels of fate turning. I get the sense that by pursuing this degree I am going to set into motion a repeat of events that played out in this department in the past.
The field of options also seems rather limited. I could have sworn someone told me there was a library degree here at state that was more management focused, but I have not found it yet. It isn't in the list of ALA accredited programs, which is what I am told is most likely the criteria I want to go by. ECU will soon have an online degree option that should be ALA accredited, but I've been told that the program at UNCG is in danger of losing accreditation. I've heard mixed things about the program at NCCU, though they do offer an MIS that is ALA accredited and I think I would prefer an MIS to an MLS. The program at UNC is of course more prestigious, but they don't seem to have many if any online options and I've been told the demands of that degree would preclude me from working full time while pursuing it, not an option I have right now.
I definitely get the impression that if I am going to stay here (in the Library) long term, i.e. more than a couple of years, I am going to have to pursue a Library degree to keep my longer term career goals on track. Non-librarians are marginalized and while I don't really like that, the fact is it happens everywhere in pretty much all work environments. The criteria do varry. In Engineering any Masters degree would have been sufficient, but with only a bachelors my options were rather limited. In other places a bachelors is more than enough to avoid marginalization, but most of those environments are too stagnant for my tastes.
Another problem is the looming adoption. I don't mean to say that like I am dreading adopting, I really want it. The issue is finances and time. If I had to choose between the two, which it really seems like I would, then I would obviously choose the adoption. I just don't feel like my current situation would be conducive to providing enough financially, and pursuing a degree.
I also don't want to come across as trivializing the Librarian profession, but it really does seem like those masters programs would be more of a path of least resistance at this stage in my life. In either case I feel like I have discounted the Technical Writing option before I have even given it a chance, and I keep shying away from Industrial Engineering for some reason.
Tick Tock