WebJunction

Hi
My name is Malavika Muralidharan (just Mala for you!) I am your new moderator. Just thought I would introduce myself. I am a librarian and have been for the last 30 years (giving my age away!!!) I have worked in Libraries across three continents. I am currently at the Arizona State library. You can read more about what I do at http://www.lib.az.us/extension/contact.cfm

I am sure we would all be delighted to hear from each other about how we landed in this profession.
Here is mine to start...
I graduated with a BS in Chemistry and Biology and then did a Bachelor's in Library and Information Science... yes, in India where I come from, we can do a Bachelor's in LIS.... My reasoning was that I loved the smell and feel of new books and loved meeting and talking to people who also had a passion for reading and also loved life-long learning....on the practical side... I wanted to get into a profession where I could get a job fairly quickly and have a safe and routine work environment.
Well !!!!! 30 years down the line.... I have two MLS - one from India and one from Chicago. I don't get to handle new books.... my computer does not smell or feel like a new book. I meet and talk to a lot of people - not all of whom have the same passion for reading... some are techy and wonder why we librarians want to read books and not surf the net.... I have very little time to read - I ride the bus to make time to read. I have always had a job even when a moved several times .... but routine job or safe.hmmm.. I have had a fair share of adventures and I have learned that there is nothing routine about a library job!

Your turn...

Mala

Hi Betha
In India, we have a one year full time Bachelor's... which is intensive and is a second Bachelor's. You need a Bachelor's in some field or the other, befpre getting into a BLS program. You can get entry level and maybe sometime middle level positions and also it gives you enough exposure to be able to manage a single person library on your own. I have a BS in Chem and did my BLS in 1975

The Masters MLS normally accepts mature students i.e. with at least 3-5 years work experience and you can move up the ladder pretty quickly. It can be done as evening classes... holding a full time job. At the time when I did my MLS in India we had no automation at all (1979) ...my Masters thesis was on automation of the Acquisitions system of a large research library. So I came here in 1983 to do an MLS with a major concentration on Automation and Management. I went back and worked until 1998 in India. and then came here to the USA.
To get a work permit I do not need an MLS but I am positive that with just a MLS from India I would never have been able to get a professional position here....
The Indian MLS is far more rigourous than the MLS I took here... but also being a 2nd MLS maybe it was far easier. Libraries in India are so different from those here... but perhaps that is not for this forum... maybe an International Librarian's forum or something!!!!!
Mala