I’ll add a tick-mark under the “better management” box. My management class was a total waste, and I feel the lack daily. Project management I’m reasonably okay on (thanks to a really good systems-analysis class), and to my vast surprise I seem to be fairly decent at leading meetings and committees, but what I don’t know about budgeting, grant-writing, and library human resources would fill several libraries.

And I do think defining can have value (and can be fun), but I have also recently come to appreciate the limits of definition, which are far greater than most think. But my biggest complaint is because of the recent (and perennial) discussion in liblogs. Even if we (the degreed librarians) could agree that would have no impact on what our users think a librarian is. Thus, a waste of time.

I do value my MLS–heck, I even stayed for a 2nd 40-hour LIS degree–but my reasons have little to do with why many others value it. I do not believe that it [US-version anyway] provides anything like most think that it does.

If I could have made a living as a library tech I would have stayed one. And I can assure anyone that my skills, knowledge and attitude would have been the equivalent of any degreed librarian’s, and far greater than many.

All that said, I do think you made the best and wisest contribution here in that we need to know we don’t know it all.

Best.

and I say yes, that’s always fun.
Or at least I always find it fun, which is possibly not the same thing.

But, I came back to comment again because one of my staff today was talking to a student who had aspirations of working in a library. Her suggestion was a Library Technicians course because she thought it was a more practical education and she wished she’d done that one rather than the Grad Dip.

(noting that I’m talking from the Australian context, which has subtle differences from that of the US)

I imagine you mean the main schedules of LC (less than 26) and perhaps you mean to the 2nd level of DDC (100 classes) but if you really mean memorize all of DDC or LCC then except for the rare idiot savant who happens to have a love of bibliographical classification that is simply an impossibility.

And what would you do when they changed? Because they do. Slowly, yes, which is a good thing. And what about when you move to a library which didn’t reclass their items that had been affected by schedule changes? Reference works–which in essence is what the schedules are–exist for very good reasons.

Perhaps learning to appreciate that would have been a useful undertaking instead.

While I don’t like the way some of what ADHD Librarian wrote–do we have to get into who or what defines librarians again?–I agree with the gist and especially this: “perhaps a subject where you teach the students that they know very little and are going to have to “rely on the kindness of strangers”.”

Which also goes to Jenna’s comment about having become “fluent in either LC or Dewey.” Again, simply not a possibility. Most catalogers will spend a lifetime without ever becoming fluent in the entirety or half or even quarter of either. If one is lucky they get to specialize in a few areas in which they also have expertise (or a good education) and they can become fluent in that small part.

Learning to think, analyze, and realize what you do not know, how to learn, and where and who to turn to are far more important skills than memorizing a classification schedule or becoming fluent in one in such a short period. And what is stopping you now if you believe it even possible?

Back to ADHD: The same could be said of every single program, major, profession, etc. School’s only produce potential anythings in the sense that you mean.

Sorry for being so negative sounding but, in the end, I guess I answered Meredith’s question [with a twist] and I hadn’t even set out to do so.

I agree with Jenna, who wished for memorization of Dewey or LC. Of course, while I was in school I would have thought it was a waste of time, but boy would it be useful! I had only worked in one library and knew things more by “location” than call number. I got to my first Librarian job and found my coworkers had the whole system memorized!

A side note, I think the most interesting and useful class I had was offered online and talked about all of the different automation systems and compared/contrasted their features. Also, the basic nuts and bolts of networks. Now, when I want to throw my computer across the room because I can’t find something in the catalog, I know a few reasons WHY all automation systems are imperfect tools.

Also, cataloging wasn’t required, and with all the other pertinent classes I wanted to take, I admit I skipped it. 36 hours didn’t seem like enough.

1. IL Systems. We didn’t look at these at all, really.
2. More about cataloging. Our cataloging class was taught by a copy cataloger who had no grasp on the whys and wherefores of cataloging.
3. More advanced BI techniques and tutorial design.

I was lucky enough to take a fundraising and a management course in my program. And I am luckier than a lot of my fellow students in that I have real world library experience.