Debate

I feel compelled to take sides in the debate about the MLIS (or whatever monogram is given to our basic credential). Like the others, I give it lip service and even recruit students to get it and join our profession. I have high hopes for it. I don't think librarianship or any other profession is some kind of subdiscipline of that ill-defined, overbroad field of “information.” Those who do think that way, though, ought to revisit the literature of that “discipline” and see how difficult it has been to define the term information or decide what should be taught in its schools. I believe the shift of once “professional” duties to folks without the MLIS is more often driven by budget woes than good management. We've been debating those issues forever. It's time to do something about them.

While we wait, I'll assert that librarianship is a profession because it has an ancient body of knowledge, a set of valid core values, and a broad practice that improves the lives of its clients. The MLIS at least tells an employer that a candidate has learned that much." ---- John Berry, Library Journal

Source: Taking Sides on the MLIS