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It was actually in a power plant, which was not as interesting as it sounds. At least most days. My masters degree is Library Science. I've had a weird and wind

It was actually in a power plant, which was not as interesting as it sounds. At least most days. My masters degree is Library Science. I've had a weird and winding career. I'm a sysadmin now.

mysterydip 4y ago
Library Science sounds fascinating. I always assumed you master dewey decimal and you collect your certificate as a librarian. What other (broad) topics does such a degree cover?
- blakesterz 4y ago
  If there's a bad Dewey Decimal joke, I ain't heard it! I got mine in the late 90s, right when the web was taking over, so it was pretty different then. I was pretty lucky, I saw the web and went for it. I was a web master for one of the first ever online classes, and just kind of stuck with it over the years. The degrees are pretty tech heavy now, people end up doing all sorts of different things.
- pcthrowaway 4y ago
  It's a part of information science. Libraries are systems to organize large amounts of information (not necessarily physical locations, there are digital libraries now). So I imagine you learn sorting and indexing techniques, processes for getting information and metadata in and out of the system, and much more A library is a database of unstructured documents with structured metadata, which might need to be indexed, queried, and accessed in many different ways
  - dredmorbius 4y ago
    I just wanted to say that this is an elegant and beautiful definition of a library: "A library is a database of unstructured documents with structured metadata, which might need to be indexed, queried, and accessed in many different ways." Thanks for that.
- joe5150 4y ago
  My degree covered everything from copyright law to NoSQL databases. Most modern programs are highly interdisciplinary and students have wide latitude to select courses that suit their own interests. I did learn a little Dewey, though.
  - richwater 4y ago
    This is so interesting because I definitely imagined "Library Science" as something as a relic/old but clearly that's not the case.
    - joe5150 4y ago
      I think that's a common assumption, but as the other commenter said, libraries (and archives and museums) are fundamentally concerned with applying structured metadata to unstructured information and organizing it. The tools for doing this have always been highly technical even before they were computerized. You can definitely still pick a more "traditional" library career and avoid working with computers more than absolutely necessary if you want to, but the training will still expose you to a core set of technology concepts (database systems, digital resource management, metadata essentials, etc).
Terr_ 4y ago
> My masters degree is Library Science. [...] I'm a sysadmin now. The retroactive combination sounds a bit like an Informatics degree. (Which in my neck of the woods is taught by the same school/department that does MLISes.

It was actually in a power plant, which was not as interesting as it sounds. At least most days. My masters degree is Library Science. I've had a weird and winding career. I'm a sysadmin now.

mysterydip 4y ago

Library Science sounds fascinating. I always assumed you master dewey decimal and you collect your certificate as a librarian. What other (broad) topics does such a degree cover?

blakesterz 4y ago
If there's a bad Dewey Decimal joke, I ain't heard it! I got mine in the late 90s, right when the web was taking over, so it was pretty different then. I was pretty lucky, I saw the web and went for it. I was a web master for one of the first ever online classes, and just kind of stuck with it over the years. The degrees are pretty tech heavy now, people end up doing all sorts of different things.
pcthrowaway 4y ago
It's a part of information science. Libraries are systems to organize large amounts of information (not necessarily physical locations, there are digital libraries now). So I imagine you learn sorting and indexing techniques, processes for getting information and metadata in and out of the system, and much more A library is a database of unstructured documents with structured metadata, which might need to be indexed, queried, and accessed in many different ways
- dredmorbius 4y ago
  I just wanted to say that this is an elegant and beautiful definition of a library: "A library is a database of unstructured documents with structured metadata, which might need to be indexed, queried, and accessed in many different ways." Thanks for that.
joe5150 4y ago
My degree covered everything from copyright law to NoSQL databases. Most modern programs are highly interdisciplinary and students have wide latitude to select courses that suit their own interests. I did learn a little Dewey, though.
- richwater 4y ago
  This is so interesting because I definitely imagined "Library Science" as something as a relic/old but clearly that's not the case.
  - joe5150 4y ago
    I think that's a common assumption, but as the other commenter said, libraries (and archives and museums) are fundamentally concerned with applying structured metadata to unstructured information and organizing it. The tools for doing this have always been highly technical even before they were computerized. You can definitely still pick a more "traditional" library career and avoid working with computers more than absolutely necessary if you want to, but the training will still expose you to a core set of technology concepts (database systems, digital resource management, metadata essentials, etc).

Terr_ 4y ago

> My masters degree is Library Science. [...] I'm a sysadmin now. The retroactive combination sounds a bit like an Informatics degree. (Which in my neck of the woods is taught by the same school/department that does MLISes.