(That title is a real groaner. sorry.)
The Young Librarian recently had a post over at her blog about what she felt core competencies for library students should be. I agree with her completely that no one should get out of library school without learning about relational databases. I also think her list of core classes is pretty on the mark (and is close to my required classes through Missouri.)
My question is, what should be offered outside of these core classes? What kind of courses should library students be able to chart for themselves? In my particular school, because the program is fairly small, I feel limited as to what I can take. I can only transfer in 2 classes, and I am kicking myself for taking those both at the beginning, negating my opportunity to take an interesting class the school doesn’t offer and transferring it. What if I want to take a class in python programming or PHP? What if I want to go deeper into relational databases? I suppose there’s always independent study, but that always felt like a bit of a cheat to me (pay $900+ to write and execute my own program of study?)
The truth is, I have few options for learning technical stuff. There’s a few classes I can take as electives that are offered jointly with another program, but they’re somewhat unpredictable and sparse. They also don’t connect with the rest of the program- the one I’ve taken was great, but I’m finding it hard to carry the momentum of what I have learned into other classes.
I have recently been looking into Associates degrees at nearby community colleges- I’m thinking of getting an associates in computer programming after I graduate. With some classes already taken care of via my bachelors, it would take about 2 years at a slowish pace, and I think it would really help me in what I want to do in Libraries. (Besides, I’ve always said I’ll be in school until I am 40. at least.)
I imagine this is true for students that want to specialize in other areas, like archives or digital repositories. For the most part, we’re on our own. This wouldn’t be the case, I suppose, if I went to a larger program like Urbana-Champaign. In the end, it might not matter too much, because there’s barely enough time to take all the classes I want anyway. I’ll learn a lot outside of Library School, and that’s OK.
(Image “The Departing Fleet” by flickr user cruadin. I couldn’t have that cheesy title like that and NOT have a picture of a sailboat, now could I?)