Thing 10: Graduate traineeships, Masters Degrees, Chartership, Accreditation

In Canada to become a librarian, one must have a bachelors degree in any subject. Many students also have a majors degree and are returning to school to become librarians. While previous library experience is not necessary, it is taken into account and makes you more of a favorable candidate for the program. Each school is different, some like McGill University teach all streams under the same degree to allow for students to diversify, while others teach different programs for different streams. The programs are usually 2 year programs. Students can continue to study and do a PHD. In addition, there are some 2-3 year programs for library technicians, and other various certificates for semi-professionals. In Canada you do not have to be part of an association to work, but in Quebec in order to work librarians must be part of the Corporation of Professional Librarians of Quebec.

My path so far is that I have done a Bachelors at Concordia University with a Major in Anthropology and an Honors in Classical Civilization. I then went straight to McGill University to do my Masters of Library and Information Studies. I did not have an prior experience in working in a library, but I did have lots of experience using it! While I was in library school, I volunteered to gain practical experience working in a library. I volunteered at a public and special library to get diverse experiences and became part of a school association (Multilingual Children's Library). At the end of the program I did a practicum, or stage/internship, in a special medical library where I got hands on experience doing various projects as well. I really enjoyed my practicum and believe it is very important to do one as it gives direct hands on experiences with many aspects of libraries, the work done, and the thinking about the current issues and possible futures of library services.I still volunteer at my practicum site and at the public and special libraries. I have just recently graduated and am looking forward to getting out there!

I have noticed that in order to professionally develop in Canada, librarians mostly depend upon associations for courses, work environment, and alternate school programs (ex. web design). I like the idea of Cahrtership and Certification done in the UK as it gets librarians, not only continuing to professionally develop, but also to make themselves and others us aware of our work through portfolios. I have seen that some universities in the United States require students to create ePortfolios as part of their course work. I think that librarians need to learn how to promote themselves, their services, and their work more effectively and portfolios are certainly a great step in that direction.