Picking up again after a couple years. I sent myself back to graduate school this year and am being presented with new and varied opportunities to create blog entries. Writing has been my biggest challenge as I've been getting back into student mode and that's all the more reason to make myself practice.
Why did I send myself back to graduate school? Well, having survived thirty years as a state employee I became eligible for "full" (as in not drastically reduced) retirement this year. That got me thinking about whether I wanted to retire. I don't. I like my job and I can easily imagine staying at it for another five to ten years. However, if I'm going to do that I need to upgrade myself a bit. A lot of things have been changing very quickly in the library world during the past decade and reading journals and partaking of webinars isn't really enough to keep up.
Secondly, the same past decade has seen the creation of viable and useful continuing education for librarians. Several schools have started programs for post-MLS students, and a couple of these are offered online. I chose the University of South Carolina, mostly because of its flexibility. SC doesn't restrict students to a predetermined curriculum, I am pretty much free to take whatever courses suit me.
Here is a link http://www.libsci.sc.edu/about/index.htm. I am pursuing the Certificate of Advanced Study in Library and Information Science (that's a mouthful for what is basically a half a Master's Degree).
And as I said, it's all online. I did drive down to Columbia for an orientation and I'm almost sorry that there isn't a residency requirement, it's a beautiful campus and town.
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