MLS = R-E-S-P-E-C-T?

 re*spect (r -sp kt ) = To feel or show deferential regard for; esteem.

     A study by the Massachusetts Library Association called Benefits & Barriers to Obtaining a Masters Degree in Library & Information Science contains a survey stating that respondents felt obtaining an MLIS would gain them more respect.  The study doesn’t seem to say what percentage of people thought so. It also doesn’t say whom the respect would be coming from, professionally or the public in general.

    Let me tell you my experience with respect, and I’ll start with the general public.  I seem to be a rare breed in library land not just because of my gender or my politics but also because of my education. I went to college in Southern Connecticut State University and when I marched up to get my diploma for a Bachelor in Library Science only two other people went with me. A year later (including a summer semester) when I got my Masters there was quite a few more then before, but I’d had my fill of marching by then and headed home to start job hunting.

    That’s five years total. Five years of fellow students asking me my major and me inevitably having to answer the follow-up question that yes, in fact, you do have to have a degree for that. For the almost nine years since I’ve still had to explain to people that I’m not a high school student or a college student working part-time, I’m not a volunteer, I’m not a computer person working in a library, I’m a librarian who’s good with computers, and no, just because I’m the only man in the building wearing a tie I’m not the Director of the library. That last one may sound like a compliment to me but doesn’t say much for a profession containing a huge majority of women. No respect.

    Then there is what I like to call my fan club. I have one in my current position now but its more computer oriented. In my previous job I was much more on the reference floor and I helped a lot more people with basic research. I was the go-to-guy for any question, any topic. If I didn’t have an answer for you right then, I took your name and number and got back to you on it, good or bad, they knew I had made an effort and didn’t hesitate to come back to me again for help. None of them have or had a clue about my education, I did the job and that’s all that mattered. Lots of respect.

    The question here is, did the Masters give me the ability to earn the public’s respect? The answer is no.  In the positions I’ve held to date what I gained from an undergraduate degree, covering basic library services, has been enough. What I gained from a Masters I don’t doubt will come to play in higher levels of leadership but for now have been unnecessary.  In fact the two best skills I have didn’t come from either degree. My computers skills come from growing up in an emerging world of technology, a skill that is no longer going to be very unique in any field. My communications skills come in part from growing up with a large family of aunts, uncles, and cousins and the other part from having 5 years of dorm life. You can be a bookworm anywhere but at a family gathering or the men’s floor of a dormitory.

    .In terms of professional respect, you have to ask yourself what your peers are basing their respect on other than that all of you now share the same piece of paper.  Take every librarian with an MLS and sort them by ability and you are going to get the same curve you will get in any other field of endeavor. There will be those who are fantastic in every way, those who are absolutely awful, and then a wide range in between. Do you respect the lowest person in the line?  Do you respect them over someone who doesn’t have an MLS? I have met in equal parts good librarians without the degree and bad librarians with. So peer respect can’t be education based.

   No person working under you is going to give you respect because of an item on a resume. They may defer to your role in the hierarchy but that is not respect. God have mercy on you if you demand respect from a staff member because you have an MLS. You’ll regret that for as long as you both work in the same building if not longer.

Greg McClay

02/03/3004