Librarians are certified- in order to get a professional librarian position, one must have an MLS degree. In suggesting this (that museum related positions require a museum studies or related graduate degree), I suspect we are going to make a few people angry, but I don't see anything wrong with this tactic. Perhaps it would drive salaries higher. What were librarians making before the MLS requirement vs. after? Arlyn Danielson ---------- From: Robert T. Handy[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Friday, June 19, 1998 10:51 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: "entry-level" job uproar I have been busy lately, so have not joined this discussion. I do, however, want to reiterate something I have offered before. Someone needs to develope a "Cerification" program that would be recognized by A.A.M. and other museum organizations. The latter need to be convinced that they should set a requirement that xx number of professionals in a given museum be "certified" before that museum can be accredited. It would work sort of like Universities (unless something has changed since I worked in that world); accreditation hung in part on the qualifications of faculty. They had to have xx number of Ph.D.s on staff or they risked losing their accreditation. I would certainly be helped by such a requirement. We are a County museum and employees of the County. If I could tell the Commissioners' Court that my Curator must have a Masters degree; my librarian a MLS; my education curator a BA with teacher certification and; all with "A.A.M. Certification in their specialties, I could also tell them that they will have to pay salaries that are competitive with say, educators with similar degrees (and that ain't asking a whole lot here in Texas!). The net effect would be to limit the number of people in competition (only those who are certified will be considered) and in so doing, drive wages higher. Would anyone care to join me in the effort? ------ Robert Handy Brazoria County Historical Museum museum_bob [log in to unmask] http://www.bchm.org ---------- From: Robert Mac West[SMTP:[log in to unmask]] Sent: Friday, June 19, 1998 9:38 AM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: Re: "entry-level" job uproar Let me suggest a somewhat different tack to this never-ending string.