The Association of College and Research Libraries is talking about the value of a Master's of Library (or Library and Information) Science degree (MLS or MLIS). However, the academic librarians, meeting in Seattle March 12-15, came to no resolution.
On another matter ... here in New Jersey, many SLA members, including myself, have earned MLIS degrees from Rutgers. The university is seriously considering removing Library Studies from the name of the School of Communication, Information and Library Studies, after approval by the SCILS faculty. Most MLIS graduates who've spoken up on the topic aren't thrilled with the idea, even though the proposal has been well-explained in open letters from Dean Jorge Reina Schement and Claire McInerney, chair of the LIS Department, and on the SCILS site.
But, does it matter much what the school is called if the degree is not valued in the marketplace (academic or organizational/corporate)? It's frustrating sometimes to see that academic libraries often require (or "highly prefer") candidates with a second master's degree, even if there is no subject specialty. In fact, according to "one commenter" at the ACRL conference, the ML(I)S is sometimes used primarily as a "certificate" to earn a higher salary. We can't draw too many conclusions from the ACRL debate, as reported by Library Journal, partly because of the "reticence" of the debaters to stake a position.
At least in the corporate arena, the word "librarian" still carries a significant amount of equity among both information professonals and C-suites*, according to a January 2009 presentation (PDF file; see Page 33) based on results from the SLA Alignment Project. As an international organization, and one with many members who are not degreed librarians, SLA rightly would not focus on the degree, but on info pros themselves.
I don't have any wise resolution to offer either, just food for thought.
(* C-suite means the group of executives with "chief" in their titles: chief executive officer, chief financial officer, etc.)
Eric Schwarz
NJSLA President