Well, uh--our public library is hurting right now--tax issue FAILED (it would have been first increase in funding in something like 47 years). No, it won't be charging admission, but it _has_ been running a gift shop of sorts--selling withdrawn or donated books and magazines. It also has a very active "Friends of the Library" group bringing in money. I believe they rent space, too, for meetings and such. But the sorry vote is going to mean (at least this is the plan now--the city may come to the rescue with funds from elsewhere) that the library will only be open two evenings a week instead of four, and will be closed Saturdays as well as Sundays. Actually, depending upon the library, you can get a decent job without an MLS. I'm a technical assistant in an academic library; in a big library, there are plenty of "paraprofessional" positions (and yes, there's a movement afoot to get recognition as such). I have a master's in history, which is just dandy for my job in Special Collections here. I don't catalog books (cataloging is something that only the catalogers do, not just anyone with an MLS) and work under supervision, of course (although as a matter of fact, my immediate supervisor does not have an MLS, either). Actually, I have often thought that for managers (library directors, department heads in big libraries, etc.) a degree in management might be much more useful and beneficial to the library than an MLS. Some of us, in fact (when we're feeling really nasty), think of the MLS as a trade school degree--no broad education or knowledge of a wide variety of subjects (which would be useful in a library) required. One can just plug into the library school and get a bunch of information about the mechanics of dealing with books--and of course get the magic degree. I have been continually amazed at the _lack_ of education exhibited by librarians with an MLS. Things like an interlibrary loan request to a library in New South Wales being sent to England. Or seeing in one of our collections a program for Marian Anderson's concert at the Lincoln Memorial--and an MLS (in Special Collections!) who had no idea what the significance of the thing was. And as for the "professional degree" getting one a higher salary, jobs, etc., well, my former supervisor had an MA in history, got his MLS, took the National Archives 2-week workshop in archives management, passed the Association of Certified Archivists (or whatever the outfit is called) exam to become a "Certified Archivist," had probably published more than all the other librarians put together (this is an academic library, remember, publish or perish and all that)--and was working here for a salary only slightly higher than mine and going nowhere. It took him a while to connect with a more appropriate and financially rewarding job. The basic problem, I think, is that museums are still thought of as luxury items. Libraries are more frequently thought of as necessities. For one thing, libraries are tied to schools more than museums--kids are frequently told to go to the library, but rarely given an assignment that requires a museum visit. For another thing, when someone (newspaper, TV station, government agency, etc.) needs information, odds are that person will contact a library, and never think of contacting a museum. Also, libraries have worked hard to publicize themselves. Our public library obviously didn't work hard enough recently, but in the past I've seen things like table tents in restaurants advertising the public library as the place to go for whatever you want (nifty things published, I believe, by the ALA--does AAM put out such "support" items?). They usually make it a point to have what people want--seed catalogs in the spring, tax information and forms, best sellers, records, lots of videos recently--at one time they had a public-use computer, but I actually never saw it working. I think there were too many problems with keeping it running. I believe they even check out tools. The kids' library has an aquarium, parakeets, kid-size furniture, and the library has story telling and reading programs frequently. And despite all this, the voters turned them down... Right offhand I can think of a couple small, local museums that have fantastic support from their communities, financial and otherwise. I don't believe that any employees in either of them have degrees in "museum"--they have just worked their proverbial tales off to get that support. Sorry this is so long. Mostly just wanted to say--from a library-- there's no magic bullet. Nan Lawler [log in to unmask]