to wonder what a masters in library studies involves?

[giraffesCantGoGuising]

I read a description and it was rather vague - something about library science and moving towards digital collections.

My understanding of a MA is that it builds on a previous relevant degree - so would you have had to do a librarian degree first?

My MA had a major research project we carried out, critical evaluation of lots of journals etc. What is the equivalent of that in library MA? Are there journals/research papers about library use?

I'm currently doing the library ma. In my experience you need it to get a more senior/management position. Most people (including me) who have done found it mildly interesting but it's a necessary hoop to jump through. It's an easy way for prospective employers to cull applicants.
As for what we study, data management, the principles of cataloging and indexing and classification, website design, marketing, etc. We also do a research project and dissertation. There are many academic journals about various aspects of librarianship.

You don't have to have a degree in librarianship to do a library studies MA. I have a degree in English Lit. My Library MA research project was a study of the early 19th century printing trade. I have managed libraries in large arts organisations during my career. I now manage an academic library with a large rare books collection. I don't clean shelves or stick labels - that's what the library assistants do. Hope that helps.

just before I go and bang my head on a table.

I put a lot of effort into teaching students to use librarians as a resource to help with their research units.

Just to add that while community libraries are different from academic libraries, and the roles of assistants are different from those of managers - the role played by 'humble' library assistants is more various than you would think.

I very much enjoyed this particular recent article. Which also makes an important point about why libraries remain very necessary.

www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/06/austerity-measures-libraries-vital-needy-people

You don't have to do the MSc. My course was a postgraduate diploma and then I did the optional research project to get the MSc.

I wouldn't say that a great deal of the course ended up being directly relevant to my job, though some of it was useful, but it was essential as a qualification. You wouldn't be selected for interview without it.

I'm a medical librarian so not (too) much wiping of snot involved. Luckily my clients highly respect and value my expertise so I'll just at "pseudoscience".

The thing that turns it into a masters is usually the dissertation i.e. the research. I bailed before that point and have a PgDip. I am in a senior position (academic library) and have been continuously employed in a library for 12 years.

It can be a very stressful job at times, but also rewarding.

I have a MA in Librarianship and have been struggling to try and get a job as a library assistant for over two years. Those in my graduation year who have been lucky enough to get jobs are on very low salaries. Wouldn't recommend it as a career choice and wish I'd done something else instead, as do several of my fellow graduates.
It is a rigorous course though, and does involve much IT knowledge, but be prepared to be mistaken for a library assistant for the rest of your life if its your career choice.

Christ, there are people on MN who will be rude about anything.

People I know who have this don't work in libraries, they work in creating and analysing research for charities, local government strategic planning etc. It's just the same as any masters, to show you are capable of working at that level.

I have an MA in this area (different name, though). We were able to specialise quickly and so I did a lot of work on human-computer interaction, as others have said upthread, and my research was on intranets. We did also learn about the Dewey Decimal system, though! I love a good classification system, me.

Can't believe some of the comments on here! DH did an MA in Information Management and worked his way up from library assistant to branch manager. The MA is academic not just learning to shelve and he did a dissertation on an aspect of mentally ill people and library services which has been relevant to his job.

Sadly public libraries are dying and there are few career prospects for people qualifying today.

I've just retired after working in libraries for a total of 31 years. I started as a 'Saturday girl', shelving the returned books, progressed to full-time work as a Library Assistant in a Public Library -- then had 15 years out while I had my children. I returned to work in an academic library (and to a completely changed set of required skills, as computerisation had happened in the interim ).

I've worked my way up through the various qualifications and levels while working full-time, and ended up as the wonderfully-named 'Learning Resources Co-ordinator' (i.e. Assistant Librarian) of a large FE College, managing a team of 18 staff.

In all that time, I have constantly found that the general public see Librarians simply as people who 'stamp books and shelve them' and totally ignore the massive changes in working practices and skills that have been required - just as they think that all Librarians go round saying 'Shushhh' - despite complaining in the next breath that libraries are SO noisy nowadays....

The skills required for Librarianship are vast, and there is a wide range of areas to specialise in (e.g. archiving, conservation, restoration, cataloguing, use of computerised stock management systems etc.) and most of these areas equip you with transferable skills that can be applied to many other jobs.

I loved every job that I had, and enjoyed my work for all those years - especially as it changed so much and so constantly challenged me to learn new things. I'm especially glad that I worked with IT so much, so that can enjoy my retirement with none of the 'IT phobia' that I see in some of my friends.

I work in a school library. I'm not a librarian by training, my colleagues are. They both have PhDs but are earning around £16k pro rata. Which is less than the teaching assistants, and per hour not a lot more than the cleaners. Yet they are better qualified for their jobs than almost all the staff in the school!

I don't think it is a career I am going to follow long term unless DH suddenly starts earning a lot more or we win the lottery. I would like to, but I need to earn a decent salary, and that just doesn't seem possible.

Yy Frau, no disrespect intended - as I said, I've worked in a library doing lots of the above for not far off minimum wage, and I have no MLIS or equivalent.
My intention was to explain that the MLIS is not a meaningless vanity project that is a non-subject and should be obliterated, rather than to demean anyone working in a library who doesn't have one!
Apologies if that wasn't clear!
(We don't have snotty noses in our library - we have string quartets that move as one and have one spokesperson, requiring a specific publisher's version of some minor composer's last work, and visual artists that once saw an exhibition in Prague in 1993 or 4 and need to get hold of the catalogue... But I use plenty of public libraries with the kids and absolutely value the work of the staff. The op was being disingenuous, presumably because she doesn't like the person she knows who is studying for this qual at present?)

Sadly it seems that David Cameron seem to have the same thinking as the OP and is busy downgrading the professional nature of librarianship by getting public libraries to be staffed by volunteers . And now it seems the same is happening to teaching as a profession - no qualification needed to teach in a Free School.

I'm a qualified librarian! :D and i work as a library assistant, in a grammar school, but i'm very fortunate to love my job, and it pays well. (well, obviously not as much as i earned in a professional capacity, but personal circumstances dictated meant i had no other choice
Frau, pass no remarks pet, thats just stereotypical rubbish!

Oh, and i have a PGCE in teaching, as well!..

Can I wade in here and say that my undergrad degree was in LIS - as I am deaf, I wanted a degree that was more vocational in order to get a foot in the door. It worked - I've now been working in health care libraries for 18 years and am now library manager with a fairly decent salary(it's not mega bucks, but I am comfortable).

I can see why people think that it is pseudoscience and in fact I wouldn't call it science at all, but it does equip you with the knowledge of managing a library and it's staff. It's not just about issuing books to people as I find myself teaching, managing staff, carrying out searches for staff who have patients upstairs or are carrying out research, not to mention the tricky question of classifying a book in the right place - where would you put "cancer nursing" - in the cancer section or the nursing - ok that's a rather facetious example, but my point is that it's not just about stamping books and going shhhh!

Incidentally I chose to do a PGDip in leadership and management rather than LIS. That's not to say I might not do a LIS MA in future, but we're not as bad as the USA where for many (if not all) LIS jobs a MA is mandatory apparently.

In the UK 'qualified' librarians will have either a BA/BSc or MA/MSc in librarianship - not both. The MA involves a dissertation but on some courses you can skip that and get a PG certificate instead.

There are many professions, trades and courses out there which I don't fully comprehend so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that their qualifications are worthwhile.

It's a social science not a hard science like economics or politics. My course is in the school of mathematics and computer science (again not a hard science like biology).

Ginger I'm not sure I'd classify economics and politics as hard sciences! Both would normally sit in humanities or social sciences faculties.

Sorry I miss worded that. I should know since I used to work in a social science library. I blame pregnancy brain