Editorial: The Practice Prerequisite
By John N. Berry III, Editor-in-Chief -- Library Journal, 9/15/2005
Library experience is as important in getting hired by a library as the MLS, maybe even more so. That has been and still is the report from recent graduates of library and information studies (LIS) programs across the nation. It raises a host of concerns for both those programs and the libraries that hire their graduates.
Despite the complicated nature of the issue, the profession must consider making the availability of a formal practicum a requirement for the accreditation of any LIS program. While many schools offer such opportunities, few make them mandatory. Yet some kind of library practice gives a new graduate an immense edge in an extremely competitive employment arena and adds substantially to the educational value of the coursework.
It has come to the point where it is almost false advertising for an LIS program to suggest to students that graduating with an MLS is a guarantee of employment. That simply is not so, and the same students report that the average time it takes for a new graduate to find gainful employment is now more than a year.
Students and recent graduates are so desperate to get that experience that many take low-level, menial jobs in libraries. Some volunteer, just to have evidence that they have worked in a library. If the LIS degree required a practicum, students would have that experience when they graduate.
The hidden scandal in all of this is that many libraries are willing to take advantage of this cheap labor, allowing students and recent graduates to serve as interns and volunteers in part-time or underpaid positions that would demand full salaries and benefits if filled by a full-time professional staffer. This exploitation of students would be minimized if the libraries and LIS programs worked together to make sure students were properly compensated with both degree credit and money.
Students with work experience in libraries tremendously enrich LIS education. They provide the only bridge between the theoretical and idealistic curricula and the practical and political reality of library work. Yet, there are dangers. Students can pick up the prejudices and biases of the libraries in which they work. Frequently that means that political or social reality is the knee-jerk rationale for bad practice, even discrimination against age groups or social outcasts, and for a more general, condescending hostility toward library users. One would like to think that most libraries operate on a higher level, and many do. Either way, the student experience adds substance to interactions in the LIS classroom.
When LIS schools and libraries are required to develop these internships or practicum opportunities, they add another connection between the institutions and the libraries, a connection between faculty and library managers that can only lead to greater understanding.
It is crucial that any practicum opportunities provide a substantive, varied educational experience. Libraries and faculty must, as so many already do, provide the student with both managerial and front-line experience, including direct contact with library users and education for working in teams or as leaders with other library staff. It will take diligence to be sure that student interns don't end up simply staffing the circulation or information desk, or becoming just another underpaid, nondegreed library worker.
Given the great value of experience in professional practice for the job seeker and students and faculty in the classroom, a practicum must become a required component of any program leading to the master's degree in our profession.
