Honestly, I’m not trying to be snarky, but I’m trying to figure out what a degree in library science teaches you. I always thought that if you could figure out the filing system, you pretty much aced everything you needed to know about libraries, but then I found out that there were bachelor and masters degrees in library science. (I presume that you can also hold a Ph.D, but I don’t know about that).
So, what does it teach you?
Apologies for the Surreal nature of the post title.
I am bumping this OP as I, too, want to know. Hopefully, someone more intelligent than I will come along with an answer shortly.
My sister has a Masters in Library Science, and I don’t even know what it’s for. I’d call and ask her, but she just moved to Columbus Ohio and I don’t have her new phone yet. If no one answers this in the next couple days, I’ll see if I can find out.
First off, you should understand that not everyone who works in a library has a degree. There are about 20 people in my relatively small branch library and only 6 of us are “professionals” (i.e., have a master’s degree). Of those, 3 are managers.
Next, and getting more toward answering your questions, an ALA-accredited Master’s in Library (sometimes and Information, like mine) Science (or Studies as some, like mine, are) is the common entry-level degree for “professional” library positions. A doctorate is required if you’re going to teach in a library school, but that’s about it.
What do you learn in library school? How to run a library. A surprise to most people is that running a library doesn’t stop at checking books out, checking books in, and putting the books on the shelves in the right order. Middle school students can do that. I know, because that’s where my library career started. Classes in library school include classes on general reference, subject-specific reference, cataloging (deciding what number goes on the book in the first place), management (general), type-of-library-specific management (public, school media center, special, and academic are the four major types), and technologies in libraries. That’s the highlights. More specifics depend usually on your type of library specialization.
Anyway, I hope some of that helps. 
Interestingly enough I know someone going for their masters in that. Yet I never did ask them even though I, too, have always wondered.
I will get this started…
Quite apart from managing a large building that hosts hundreds or thousands of visitors a day…
…librarians are essentially database administrators. Every item must be catalogued (tagged) so that it can be identified and located from a remote location. The rules for doing this are extremely complex, and take a lot of study to learn and understand. They must also know how to find reliable sources of information (it’s not Google.com) quickly. Remember, many if not most librarians work not in public libraries but in academic settings. A Harvard professor doing research needs acurate citations, and www.bubbas ribs 'n astrophysics.com is not the kind of place she needs to be looking at. This is a learned skill as well. Although the rules of cataloguing are the same as in years past, it is now a completely digitized process, so the knowledge of technology needed is high. Most library school grds these days could make a living as web designers.
Finally, who would want to go to a library staffed by morons?
Sections:
Car Repair
Comics
Star Trek books
Thomas Kincaide coffee table books
Watch, some librarian will be along to give the real Dewey or LC numbers for each of those - off the top of their heads…
A side, but related, question.
I hear librarians make really, really crappy money. What does a freshly new minted, right out of school Librarian Science major lucky enough to get a job in a library usually make? How about if they are they 5 years later?
It depends on where you work and what you do, **BlinkingDuck **, like any job. Here is info from the current Occupational Outlook Handbook:
When I first graduated (December 1997), I was interviewing for jobs that started at about $25,000/year. The job I accepted started higher than that because of the size of the library system and its relative affluence, and additional experience and skills I brought to the table allowed me to negotiate for even more than the base starting salary, so I’m not typical. I have been a professional librarian for just over 4 years now and I make … let’s just say I’m doing OK. 
Kneadtoknow, that’s nice to know, especially your personal experience.
If you had just quoted the Occupational Handbook I still would have been skeptical. Sometimes I think these sources pull the numbers out of their butts. When I was a teacher, I would continually hear statistics about what teachers made that was over twice what I was making.
The MLS degree serves as a de facto credential for librarians. Unlike teachers, librarians don’t have formal credential programs or have to go and take continuing education classes or pass competency exams. (And I know a lot of them that I wish had been forced to do that.)
But the MLS is a professional degree, not unlike getting an MSW (Social Welfare or Social Work).
There is some theory taught, but a lot of it is practical management skills.
Auto repair books are usually in the 629.2 section of your local Dewey Decimal organized public library.
Comics are sometimes in the 700s if they are hardbound, but the softcovers usually just get tossed on a rack.
The Star Trek novels go in the Fiction section arranged by author’s name. Or in the Science Fiction section if the library separates its fiction by genre.
Thomas Kinkade coffee table books are usually vandalized by people who recopy the prints and then try to rebind them and sell bootleg copies.
Ah, Duck. but those are what teachers make after 30 years of teaching and assuming that your salary isn’t put on hold and you’re not giving back 2% to the government every year. At least, thats according to my mother, who works in Quebec.
Nah, I see ads for librarians all the time that offer (what I consider to be) terrific starting salaries. So much so that I considered going back to school to get the degree, since I am something of a bookish sort.
But then I saw a news story about what pharmacy school grads are being offered right out of school…
So, how much does it cost to go to pharmacist school? Anyone?
As a practicing engineer for over 40 years, I discovered that the one thing I wished they had provided us in college was a 1 hour course in library science every semester in the junior and senior years. I don’t think there is anything that is much more valuable than knowing how to use a library and how to get the most help of those in the library who have degrees in library science.
Thanks everyone! You’ve truly eradicated a bit of ignorance today.
Jane, any idea how long it takes to get through pharmacy school? That’s a crazy amount of money! I mean, I thought computer programmers were well paid, but that’s over twice what an entry level programmer makes in this area.
You realize that in many places entrance to Pharmacy schools requires many of the same requisites as medicine schools? AND good grades and GPA too?
Pre-pharmacy required classes at UF:
General Chemistry
General Biology
Calculus I
Physics(but they can take an easier one than pre-meds, unless their major requires the harder one, which is usually the case)
Anatomy courses
Zoology courses
Organic Chemistry
And the Math and Sciences GPA should be 3.0.
Courses may vary among pharmacy schools, but I know a friend that is studying for pre-pharmacy at another university, and she has to do at least the General Chemistry and Biology and Calculus part.
Oh, and being a pharmacist it depends…I think some places may have pharmacy as a bachelor’s degree, while others have a combined BS/Doctor of Pharmacy degree that lasts 6 years, and regular pharmacy school is about 4 years.
I do have a question related to the topic, though…is it possible for a librarian to work with just a bachelor’s degree?
Some library systems are thinking of hiring librarians who just have BAs because of a shortage in librarians.
However, such proposals are strongly resisted by labor unions representing librarians (yes, most public librarians are unionized.) The unions feel that if the educational standards are lowered, so will the salaries.
IANAL, but…
I don’t know what else they know, but one of the librarians at the library I used to work commented that she (and other library science majors) can actually stitch a book together, good as new, if the occasion called for it.