I am not quite sure how I didn’t think of this at the time, but when I was going through all my plans for formal learning, I completely missed a discipline. I was thinking about something earlier today, and it suddenly occurred to me that I had missed it.

I have mentioned previously when talking about performance measurement that one of the areas I am interested in writing about is around libraries. Part of it is PM; part of it is story-telling; part of it is management; part of it is municipal oversight. How libraries organize themselves and tell their citizens how they are performing, basically.

And yet, for some reason, it didn’t occur to me to include a Master’s in library studies as part of my possible plans? I’m thinking of a whole book on it, and I didn’t link the two? I considered doing an MLS degree previously and didn’t think of it as a possibility? Weird.

So, I checked through Canadian offerings. The last time I looked at MLS-like degrees, it was probably the early ’90s, as I was finishing my undergrad at Trent. Thanks to AI offerings, the list was narrowed down pretty quickly — there are eight MA-level programs in Canada that are certified by the American Library Association (ALA). All of them are tied to Information Studies/Science/Management now.

Four are relatively easy to eliminate as being primarily in-person:

• Université de Montréal: In-person and totally in French, pass;
• McGill University: In-person, pass;
• University of Toronto: MA in “information” with a concentration in Library & Information Science…alas, only in-person, pass;
• Dalhousie University: MA in information, but only in-person, pass;

The University of Ottawa has an MA in Information Studies which is bilingual and in-person. I could consider it, but a quarter in French doesn’t seem likely for oral comprehension, my weakest area. I’m going to pass.

UBC has a primarily in-person program, with some distance education stuff. Doesn’t really excite me, and I don’t want to do a semester there. Pass.

That leaves two that offer fully online options.

Option 1: Western

The new kid on the block is Western. They have the most structural options as of this month, with full-time and part-time combos with online or hybrid. It is a Master of Library and Information Science.

The program structure has five required courses and ten electives. For the required courses, four are standard intro courses around the broad areas of the program, including Perspectives on Library and Information Science; Information Organization, Curation and Access; Information Sources and Services; and Managing and Working in Information Organizations. The fifth is Research Methods, which I might or might not be able to get out of, depending on whether it is RM specifically to libraries or qualitative methods in general.

I took a peek through some of the “main issues” that the different parts of the program addresss, including:

• The needs of various stakeholders and agents / intermediaries / end users in information organization, curation and access
• Intellectual property, copyright and access, both for individuals and institutions, and the rights and claims of various stakeholders
• Materials and services for children and young adults
• Information literacy
• Readers’ advisory
• Strategic planning and collection management
• Other work activities covering advocacy, community development, marketing

Which sounds good. Until I look at the list of actual courses from which I would choose my 10 electives…and only see about 5 that interest me. A couple might be badly named, and the sub-materials might be quite interesting. They have a research option, but it’s only one credit/course.

As I look at it all, I am reminded of my interest in legal studies…Do I need a formal structure to do this type of work? I don’t need the degree itself. And I haven’t even considered that it’s about $12K for a full year’s tuition.

Option 2: Alberta

Alberta has apparently offered a long-standing part-time online option. It is all done asynchronously, which wasn’t entirely clear for Western, but would obviously appeal to those who are working and thus can time-shift their school work. Because it is part-time, you are limited to 2 classes per semester. They have an option where you can do a thesis, but only if it is in-person/on-campus.

Otherwise, you have to do 13 courses:

• 5 core courses that are similar to Western (Foundations of Library and Information Studies; Organization of Information; Reference and Information Services; Leadership and Management Principles for Libraries and Information Services; and Introduction to Research in Library and Information Studies);
• 2 IT-related courses (there are five main ones and two special topic ones to choose from, any would be fine);
• 6 electives; and,
• Capping “portfolio”.

For the electives? There are 27 courses to choose from, and some of them sound, well, awesome:

• Special Topic: Management of Financial Resources
• Services in a Culturally Diverse Society
• Intellectual Freedom and Social Responsibility in Librarianship
• Instructional Practices in Library and Information Services (pedagogy and teaching)
• Multimedia Literacies
• Publishing
• Issues and Trends in Public Librarianship
• Storytelling
• Materials for Young Adults
• Canadian Literature for Young People in Schools and Libraries
• History of the Book
• Advanced Scholarship and Research

And then the tuition hit comes. About $17K minimum for 39 credits/13 courses. Doable still, and way more interesting than Western. And, I think, I would even do it before considering more law / legal studies. But an MFA is still more likely.

A cool rabbit-hole, not completely explored yet.