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The wikipedia page on library education seems like an obvious place to start:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_for_librarianship

It's not particularly well written, but has a decent bibliography and points to several other good bibliographies.  My understanding is that the masters degree was part of a movement to professionalize librarianship into a formal profession.  It occurred at a similar time as other fields were also instituting educational regimes for professionalization (nursing, teaching, etc). 

-l

On Thu, Nov 22, 2012 at 5:41 PM, Gretchen Whitney <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Greetings, and Happy Holidays.

  I am looking for references to the history of library education.  I have a colleague who is interested in when the Master's degree was required for a librarian, rather than the Bachelor's degree.  I could not answer his question.  I do not know when, nor how, this transition happened. While I can remember reading this literature in the 1970s, I can't recall it nor justify the distinction now.

  Background: I ran into an interesting conversation a few days ago that was debating the need for a master's degree in library education (and I am being very specific in not saying LIS education) and the need for a master's degree as opposed to a bachelors degree for working in, and even running, a library.

  I am asking the iSchools to stay OUT of this discussion for now.  This concerns library schools.  This concerns schools, both graduate and undergraduate, who are trying to educate librarians.

  The conversation is at

http://21stcenturylibrary.com/2011/12/19/why-not-a-bachelors-in-library-science/

  I could not answer their questions about why a master's degree was required.  I could recall vague ideas about why a librarian needed to have a subject specialty because understanding library science underlaid all of the other disciplines.  And the collaboratory in a library of these subject specialties with the understanding of library sciences made the building work.

  I can't refer this colleague to a history of why librarians need a master's degree rather than an undergraduate degree.  Neither the ALISE nor ASIST website is a help. I have no idea where to send him/her

  Can someone refer me to a decent explanation of why the Master's degree is needed to be a "librarian" (and I use the quotes specifically), historically or in present terms, and why a Bachelor's degree would not suffice?

  Have a great holiday.
  --gw

PS This is a library education problem. I ask the iSchools to stay out of it for a while. IT issues will come in later.

  --ggww

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Gretchen Whitney, PhD, Retired
School of Information Sciences
University of Tennessee, Knoxville TN 37996 USA           [log in to unmask]
http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/
jESSE:http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/jesse.html
SIGMETRICS:http://web.utk.edu/~gwhitney/sigmetrics.html
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