Librarians and librarians-to-be, please advise me

If I attend graduate school again (urgh -- I'm a PhD dropout who's ABD), I have decided to go to UCLA. While San Jose's distance program is attractive, I've heard far too many negative reports about the disorganization of the school and the unpleasantness of key faculty members.

I wonder if it's worth flying back to L.A. (9.5 hour flight) to attend UCLA's informational meeting. I have time off in the beginning of November. The next time I plan to visit L.A. is during Xmas (after the deadline to apply).

I don't know whether I should get my arse in gear and apply before Dec. 15 of this year (which would entail a lot of hustling to get letters of rec. and having to take the GRE in a foreign country since scores older than 6 years are not acceptable) or wait until next year when I'm back in the U.S. I hate to be rushed, but I also like having things well-planned.

Alas, I have this fantasy of becoming an academic librarian so I can be surrounded by scholarly types and still have time to write perverted little stories like Bataille did.

Oh lord no! I'm but a library assistant and I have no interest in pursuing a library degree, I've done grad school once already. Nicole aka Leon C is who I would defer to in this matter.

if you want to live a middle-class life (you don't say where) i don't recommend academic librarianship. you go through the same tenure process as faculty, are subject to the same publish/perish rules, the organizations tend to range from extremely rigid to downright dysfunctional. in fact, in many institutions there is a movement afoot to deny academic librarians tenure due to their lack of original research production.

public libfrarianship is about the same, although some metropolitan areas actually pay a decent salary. you wouldn't be able to buy a house in LA.

a lot of what you want of out school should dictate where you go. are you trying to retool, get new skills, explore new areas? try a 2-year program. if you just need your degree, and some new skill areas, go to a one-year school.

if you do go to school, learn to write while you're in there if you don't already know how. and form co-mentoring groups and study together and read each other's writing and counsel each other into better jobs. find a faculty member who you get on with, and take their classes. most jobs come from the social network, so form a good one in grad school.

anyway, i love being a librarian the way i do it, it pays well. i don't haunt this site, a friend pointed me here because she knew i'd rant on like i have. i hope someone can glean a bit of truth to help them down their paths. happy weekend!

If you get an MLS, you need to take the responsibility to research possible career paths and not think of it (as I did) as simply the necessary piece of paper to allow you to join the guild and get a job.

It's not a very in-demand sort of degree or skill set. I would recommend finding some other career path. Although there are people like lynn, above, who are able to shape some sort of interesting career path for themselves with the degree (or maybe she just stumbled into it--but I'm guessing she didn't based on the practical advice she gives about networking and so forth).

I am almost finished with a BS in Anthropology and I think I want to get an MLS. what are some schools with good programs? Is there such a thing as a research librarian?

A question to the Librarians of ILX:

Are their any competitors to Knovel for online technical reference collections?