What I Learned About the Value of an MLIS Degree: An LIS Student’s Perspective

“I am torn between not recommending and recommending pursuing a MLIS degree… While I value my degree and what I have learned, entering the profession has been disappointing and frustrating.”

“The job market is extremely glutted, while at the same time people outside of the profession are seeing less and less value in paying for a professional librarian. It’s a really terrible job market right now, yet ALA and library schools are doing absolutely nothing to address these very serious problems.”

“The MLIS reflects our earlier vision and mission but may not address the present and future as well as it should.”

After hours of skimming responses to the Library Research Service’s MLIS value survey1, I suppose a bit of self-doubt was inevitable.

As a student only a few months away from my own MLIS, the stress of exams and projects is gradually being replaced by another, more nebulous anxiety: the fear that I won’t be able to find a professional job, especially once the bills for my student loans start showing up in the mailbox. More than that, will the job translate into a rewarding career and a decent lifestyle? Here, directly from the folks in the trenches, were words that spoke to my anxieties, and they weren’t exactly comforting.

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