ACRL College & Research Libraries News

College & Research Libraries News

Letters

Dear Editor:

In his letter in the December issue of C&RL News‚ Eugene Dukes agreed that the ACRL Board of Directors made a mistake when its members approved a policy statement at their Midwinter meeting in January of last year to the effect that the master’s degree in librarianship was the appropriate terminal degree for academic librarians.

I find myself no less in agreement and would go a bit further in characterizing the Directors’ action—it was retrograde. Notwithstanding the academic arguments, which Mr. Dukes has stated well, the action is incongruous with the realities of the employment market. Ten years ago, it might have been at least superficially credible, but now, with the collapse of the market, it is hopelessly regressive. When a candidate for academic employment has not only the best qualities of the generalist, whatever those may be, and a second master’s degree or the doctorate as well, what employer could select instead someone with only the generalist’s qualities? When a large proportion (over a quarter in my estimation) applying even for beginning positions have an advanced degree in some subject, this situation is the rule, not the exception. Despite antiacademic resistance on the part of some academic employers, the expectation still must be that employment opportunities will deteriorate increasingly for those with only the ordinary degree. The advanced degree in librarianship alone, which has been something of an anachronism for a decade or longer, now constitutes an even more unimposing credential. The cause is lost. The march to the advanced degree cannot be stopped, and it is more than a little ironical that the academic library division should try.

Sincerely yours,

Thomas Gwinup Associate Librarian San Diego State University San Diego, California■■