I recently asked "Is an MLS Still Relevant?" in my ONLINE column. (Online, v. 34, n. 2 [March-April 2010], p.64) An MLS student recently emailed me some questions about that article. I'm curious as to what other thoughts you might have.
First is the quote from my article. Next is a question. Following that is my answer.
At a recent online conference, the head of a large corporate library told me that, as she reviews resumes for info pro positions, she counts an M.L.S. degree as a point against an applicant…
This seems counter-intuitive. What was this library head’s reasoning for this stance?
Obviously, I can't speak for this person. I suspect that it was because many people with MLS degrees leave school with little experience working in special libraries, are not familiar with the need to market the library, don’t have much experience in the professional online services, and don’t have their heads around the idea of providing analysis to research.
This isn’t to say that current MLS grads don't have those skills, of course. Simply a statement that, for her, experiencing doing these things were more important than being taught the skills.
The better-paying jobs for M.L.S. graduates are those that require initiative, an innovative approach, and practical research and information management skills.
Would you please give me some examples of these better-paying jobs?
Corporate libraries often need info pros who are willing to take the initiative to create internal wikis, or to develop a new marketing strategies, or to develop webinars, or to provide analytical skills on top of research. Part of the skill set required in these jobs is the ability to identify an employer’s most pressing strategic needs are, and to figure out how your skills can address those needs. For example, are special libraries concerned about moving into social media? Then they’re looking for info pros who understand how to build a brand in the Web 2.0 space.
I wrote a newsletter issue on informational interviews, which may give you some ideas on how to learn what special librarians’ needs are.
“Unfortunately, many LIS programs are still graduating students who have no meaningful experience in using the professional online services, searching beyond the open web, or providing added value to their research.”
What are some examples of commonly desired value added services for research?
The ability to work with the library client to learn what the information will be used for, and to then build a deliverable that enables the client to make a decision. Data visualization skills – to turn a statistical table into a more compelling chart or graph, to understand how to make numbers more understandable. Data-mining skills – to understand how to learn information about information. I also recommend running a simple search on the concept of added value in libraries for lots of other perspectives on this topic.
The ‘clients’ of the LIS programs' graduates want people who have a practical set of professional skills, a familiarity with new media and new technology, an appreciation for the need to tangibly demonstrate their value to their employer, and the basic skills in using the premium online services.
What practical set of professional skills are these employers looking for?
In addition to what I described above, initiative to gather, analyze and summarize information; ability to market yourself and your library; familiarity with how to search social media and to use it for branding; skills in creating podcasts, webinars, charts and graphs, blogs, wikis, effective presentations, among other skills.
What are the main premium online services that MLS graduates seeking jobs with these employers should be skilled in?
Any two of Dialog, Factiva and LexisNexis. Or one of the three and a deep understanding of one of the library-oriented services such as EBSCOhost. You need -- in at least a couple of different "languages" -- to understand how to conduct effective searches in a minimal amount of time. That means thinking on your feet, understanding how to get the most out of each service, how to produce output that you can then incorporate into a report, and so on. It also means being able to do that kind of dance in a variety of online search systems and services. Ability to search the web is assumed; what employers care about is skill in using resources beyond the web.
What other thoughts do you have on what skills an MLS graduate needs?