Of library science, that is.
I decided to wait until my grades came through. I appear to have avoided failing both of my classes this semester. So I guess that means I have my MLS now.
It feels kind of anticlimatic. This may be because I spent most of Saturday working on my presentation for my interview instead of standing around in a robe and mortarboard being part of a long and mostly meaningless ceremony. Honestly, having a room full of librarians congratulate me on it (which is what happened a couple of times during my interview) was the most exciting part so far.
The next exciting thing would be getting a job. Thankfully, I feel that I am quite qualified to be a librarian/information professional with one of a number of possible focuses (foci?):
- general science librarianship
- chemistry librarianship
- chemical information retrieval/support
- instruction/information literacy librarianship
- general academic librarianship
Cool, huh? And the job thing may be moving right along. More news on this as events warrant.
For those readers interested in the process of achieving the degree, I now present a brief description of the last two academic years. If you don't care, you can stop here and offer your congratulations below. (What, fishing for compliments, me? Never...)
I was warned before entering my MLS program that it would not be as rigorous as my undergraduate degree in chemistry. I have found this to mostly be true. Getting an MLS is not hard. It just takes a while.
It also very much depends on what you want out of it. The MLS program is very flexible. You are required to take some core classes, but they do not constitute the bulk of the degree. You have room for 7-9 classes of your choice. I took quite a few computer-related courses, mostly because that's more where my talents lie (instead of doing lots of reading and discussing and paper writing). But you can almost escape without much computer stuff at all, if you like. But I wouldn't recommend it.
Along with the control over your coursework, you also are trusted with much more control as for how you complete it. Classes are usually only once a week, and while there are frequently a lot of readings, professors seldom do any sort of check to see if you've read them. Take that as you will. So overachievers and slackers are equally at home.
Some of the classes have been very interesting and challenging. Some of them have been rather boring and seemingly useless. I doubt this is any different from any other degree, however.
I found myself with plenty of free time for the past two years -- way more than I had as an undergrad at St. Olaf or as a science teacher. I filled a lot of it with work -- mostly positions directly or indirectly related to my field. So you will have time to get experience as well. But I still had plenty of down time. Which is something I have appreciated immensely.
The only time it really gets tough is during the last couple weeks when final projects come due. There are no tests, but just about every course I've taken had a final project of some type, and they're usually all due within a week or so. It probably wouldn't have been so hard if I didn't have procrastination issues. But so be it.
It was somewhat expensive. I'm going to come out with more loan debt than I did from undergrad. But they did pay for my first year's tuition thanks to a scholarship and work/study package. But scholarship money is hard to come by, because MLS programs aren't supported by the cash flow of undergraduate tuition like other graduate programs are.
The one thing that's nice about an MLS is that, along with the theory and scholarship, it's a pre-professional degree in a growing and graying profession. Meaning that, unlike some of my peers who are getting degrees in music performance or advanced degrees in the humanities, I am virtually guaranteed a job. And it's a job I think I'll enjoy. And at the very least, it's a job I won't have to bring home very often.