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Professional Series

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The NDLA Professional Series is a series of online professional development meetings for NDLA members. Meetings are held four times a year and will focus on semiannual topics broken down into discussions over pre-assigned resources (journal articles, videos, podcasts, etc.) and speakers.

Fall 2023 sessions will occur in September and November

Speaker sessions may be recorded (with the permission of the speaker), but general discussions will not be to allow fuller discussion about potentially difficult topics. 

Past Sessions

Current Topic

Have you been affected by a degree requirement on a job posting? Does your library require 4-year degrees of its employees? Did you know that for the first time since the Great Recession, employers are taking degree requirements off job applications and shifting to skills-based hiring?

Join the NDLA Professional Development Committee at our Professional Series meetings in September and November to discuss what this shifting trend in degree credentialing could mean to library workers, as well as your own experience with degree credentialing.

September 2023 - Discussion

Have you heard of degree inflation? Did you know that this decades-long trend of requiring more educational credentials of job applicants may have started to shift in the last few years? Join the NDLA Professional Development Committee to discuss degree requirements in hiring, possible shifts in this trend, and its affects on library workers, particularly within North Dakota.

This meeting will be a discussion based on the following readings:

This discussion session will be held on September 21, 2023, at 3:30 p.m. Central.

November 2023 - Panel Discussion

How important is that Master in Library and/or Information Science? To many library staff, it has been the doorway to a long and fulfilling career as librarians or other library workers; however, there are many who are finding a passion for libraries without a Master of Library Sciences degree. How does this affect early-career library workers? What does an MLS prepare students for in public versus academic versus special libraries? Is it necessary, or is this job requirement becoming a preferred qualification?

Join the NDLA Professional Development Committee and a panel of diverse library staff and school representatives to examine the difference between obtaining a Master's of Library Sciences and not; determine whether this is something that is right for you; and hear from MLS degree holders as to what they found the most helpful in their careers.

This panel session will be held on November 9, 2023, at 3:00 p.m. Central.

Registration

Registration is now closed.

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