Taking off on Mr. Brennan's comments, I have some personal advice
for disgruntled MLS/non-JDs:
1. Your self-esteem should not be based upon how many degrees you
have been fortunate or unfortunate enough to accumulate. Many
JD/MLSs are overrated. They haven't practiced law or done any
sustained legal research and writing for years. They have the
vocabulary, diplomas, and polish to sound like lawyers in an
academic setting, but their current specialty is identical to
yours: providing the best information in the most efficient way to
others who will perform the legal analysis. I would even go so far
as to say that librarians who try to interpose their own, outdated,
legal knowledge into the exploding information world perform a
disservice. Why are we viscerally suspicious of candidates who
have practiced law "too long" before turning to librarianship?
2. The law library world has become so diverse that you can be
accomplished in many areas other than law to gain status in your
institutions: business, computer science, foreign languages, video
and microform technology, technical services, personnel management,
or (if you are stuck in one library for life) simply the personal
and anecdotal knowledge that provides continuity in the midst of
a frenetic, national, job market. I remember with deep affection
Gwyn Anderson, Barbara Bridges, Manuela Segura, Bob Cogswell, and
Mary Burton as the bulwarks of Texas.
3. You may reach the point where you "can't stand it anymore."
If you are tired of going to AALL Conventions year after year and
watching the young turks flit about with ostentatious self-
importance, I recommend going to law school part-time where you
work for the following reasons:
a) Many schools have tuition exemption to help you avoid
deep debt.
b) Your knowledge of information science will not suffer
from dropping out of the profession for several years of full-time
study.
c) Both faculty and library staff will admire you for
earning your JD "the old fashioned way." Each group will claim you
as its own, and you will not be accused of being an elitist.
d) Part-time law study and full-time library employment
reinforce each other as a joint, work/study experience.
e) When you finish your JD, your opportunities for
advancement in your current library and nationally will improve.
f) No law librarian will ever question you in an interview
about your first love.
g) You will remain humble, the true goal of all higher
education.
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Ronald E. Day Phone: (215) 898-7853
Head of Reference Services FAX: (215) 898-6619
& Lecturer Internet: rday@oyez.law.upenn.edu
Biddle Law Library
University of Pennsylvania Law School
3400 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6279
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