And say "et voilà" a lot. D
-----Original Message----- From: Code for Libraries [mailto:CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU] On Behalf Of Jon Stroop Sent: Thursday, May 29, 2014 5:45 AM To: CODE4LIB@LISTSERV.ND.EDU Subject: Re: [CODE4LIB] College Question! Riley, First, I wonder if there's anyone on this list who doesn't wish they had your foresight! You already have rare opportunity in that you're thinking about this now and not in your mid-20s, so way to go! We spoke about this a little @ the c4l conference, but I'll say more. I majored in music performance and even did a masters in it as well, which means that practically speaking I have a high school education. :-) I don't really mean that, but until you've had the experience it's difficult to explain (or at least I find it difficult) how relevant a degree in the arts/humanities can be to a job in technology--and there's no shortage of people who have taken this exact path. I did do an MLS, but see above re: high school education. At the time (~13 yrs ago) I felt like I needed to do it to get a job (I also didn't necessarily expect to wind up in systems, but that's another story), but, honestly, everything I know I learned on the job, or /a/ job, or the overnight hours between going to said job, which leads me to my point: Wherever you go to school, and regardless of your major, if you ultimately want to wind up working in a library, you should start now. Any brick and mortar university is going to have student jobs available (work study or otherwise) at the library, and while it may just be as a desk clerk or whatever, keep your ears open (we already know you're not shy): at some point there's going to be some stats that need munging, some Access (or even worse) database that needs migration, some web work to be done, or whatever and, et voilà, you're off! The point is, professional degree != professional experience, and--frankly--you probably don't want to be working at a place that requires a "systems librarian" to have a MLIS anyway, and certainly not in 4-5 years. Get as much experience as possible, do a CS degree, but also learn how to write and communicate OR do an arts degree, but also learn how to program (etc.), and you'll be fine. -Jon On 05/28/2014 11:17 PM, Riley Childs wrote: > I was curious about the type of degrees people had. I am heading off to > college next year (class of 2015) and am trying to figure out what to major > in. I want to be a systems librarian, but I can't tell what to major in! I > wanted to hear about what paths people took and how they ended up where they > are now. > > BTW Y'All at NC State need a better tour bus driver (not the c4l tour, the > admissions tour) ;) the bus ride was like a rickety roller coaster... 🎢 > > Also, if you know of any scholarships please let me know ;) you would be my > BFF :P > > > Riley Childs > Student > Asst. Head of IT Services > Charlotte United Christian Academy > (704) 497-2086 > RileyChilds.net > Sent from my Windows Phone, please excuse mistakes
