O.o

[arethinn]

Since we're in the days when you can take almost anything online, I am actually looking in to an online Master of Library Science program. Canya believe it? Judy (my boss) tells me that the fact that my undergraduate degree is not in a related field (for example English) doesn't really matter.

Comments

[graphxgrrl.livejournal.com]

I have a friend (wikkywikky) in the distance/online MLIS program at the University of Washington. She's quite happy in it thus far, and has her undergraduate degree in drama. :)

[arethinn]

That's cool. Mine happens to be in Art Studio.

[arethinn]

PS thanks for the ref, I found the site for the distance MLIS program you mentioned.

[winterredwood.livejournal.com]

That's really neat. I might decide to go that route someday, if I actually get a B.A. first. I've been taking most of my classes online at Foothill. Seems like a lot of people I know are going for Library Science these days.

[arethinn]

Ah, Foothill! We had an intern from the Foothill Library Science program in the Library at De Anza (which is where I work) at the end of the Spring quarter. I heard from him that the Library Science program was being cut, though? or something?

Anyway, the subject came up because I was posting in canadabound asking what the general cost of living was like in the greater Toronto area and nearby surrounding cities like Kitchener and London, since that's where I'll be moving to when CIC (the Canadian version of the INS) finally approves my application and I become a permanent resident. (If this move seems baffling, it may explain things that I am engaged to enotsola and that that is where he lives.) I mentioned in passing that I worked in a college library, and someone responded with a salary quote for librarians in Toronto (because of course, if I work in a library I must be a librarian, right? no such things as library techs, no.. :p). So I thought hey, I'm not qualified to be a real live librarian at the moment, but what would it take to get the actual MLS?

Apparently there are actually quite a lot of online MLS programs. If you are intereated, you might check this website. The University of Washington which graphxgrrl mentioned isn't listed, but I found their program here. By the way, I found the first site by plugging "master of library science" online into Google, and there seemed to be more directory-type sites than just that, so you might try that search query and see if you find anything else interesting.

[winterredwood.livejournal.com]

Cool, thanks! Out of curiosity, how did you manage to get hired by the district? I've been trying for various jobs for a long time since it seems convenient to work at the same place where I go to school, but to no avail. I didn't know about Foothill's Library program being cut. Probably thanks to our lovely governor, I'm sure.

Do you have to get married in Canada in order to become a resident? I always wondered how that works.

[arethinn]

Out of curiosity, how did you manage to get hired by the district?

I was hired four years ago in October when the position happened to be open. Right now there is pretty much a hiring freeze going on because of budget difficulties. You can look at the job postings here - http://www.fhda.edu/jobs . This is full time positions, by the way, with monthly salary, benefits and the whole shebang; part-time student positions (which are waged hourly and funded utterly differently) aren't listed there, and the best way to find out about those is just to go around to various places on campus, see where students seem to be working, and inquire for a supervisor to find out if there's any open positions. I'm not sure which sort of job you were thinking of as I don't know how much of your time is spent in school.

Do you have to get married in Canada in order to become a resident?

The question you seem to be asking doesn't apply to me. I am not trying to immigrate as "family class", which is where someone who is already a resident (or citizen) of Canada "sponsors" you as an immigrant. The most common relationship for this is spouses, but others qualify as well, such as parents, children or siblings, and also fiancees (but you then have to marry within 90 days of "landing", which is arriving in Canada once the residency has been granted). Where the marriage takes place doesn't figure into it.

The route I am taking is called "skilled worker class", which is basically a catch-all for ordinary folks who are not coming in via a relative nor because they have tons of money and wish to start a business and/or invest ("entrepreneur class", I think that is).

[winterredwood.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm looking for full-time, as unfortunately I can't afford not to work full time while going to school. I briefly considered doing something part time on campus, but there's no way I can afford it.

A friend of mine just moved to Montreal to be with her boyfriend. She must've done the skilled worker class thing too.

[arethinn]

Well, probably, if she was doing it on a permanent basis. But there are other ways to legally stay in Canada. Residents of the US, not needing a visa to enter, can stay there for some time without any visa at all. Then there's a visitor's visa, and student visas and temporary work permits, both which are common "in's" for someone who wants to later become a permanent resident, since having work experience or school training in Canada gains you points on the "adaptability" section of the PR assessment.

[juuro.livejournal.com]

Library Science is essentially about retrieval, handling, and organization of information. It is not about Literature, or English, or Languages. I could see how _any_ undergraduate degree would support an MLS. Moreover, I should imagine that a number of MLS graduates actually work as informaticians in an environment that is not really a library. Gothenburg Opera house, for instance, employs six librarians, for in-house needs.