An important aspect of my dislike for grad school is that I was in the field for 15 years before entering. Although I have had some courses that provided me with training that I had not already gained through jobs, most of my courses are the theoretical underpinnings of what I’ve already done in a wide variety of library roles.

Add to this the fact that I am not a huge fan of academia-in-practice (while having an abiding respect for academia-in-theory) and it feels like, most days, I am spinning my wheels in order to get a piece of paper so I can do a very similar job to what I was doing before I started this program.

I understand the importance of requiring an advanced degree for librarianship, but the main reason as it has been explained to me is to prevent the deterioration of the reputation of the profession … which I see happening already, regardless of how many of us skip happily out into the workforce as newly-minted librarians.

I have more to say on this, but perhaps this is best framed in a post all on its own.