It all seems to have started with Fixing the First Job and snowballed from there. In the last few days there have been several posts about the plight of new librarians as they head out into the professional world. For those who like me have gotten lost without a scorecard I’ve compiled the list below in roughly publication order.

• Tell me why
• What We Really Want
• More on the NextGen librarian hiring freeze
• let the NextGenners shine
• NextGen librarians don’t need to be all systems, all the time
• THE RIGHT HAND KNOWETH NOT…
• What to do ’bout us young-brarians- Read the comments particularly.
• Library Web Chic

There are a lot of good points made. The balance of theory and practice comes up a couple of times. No one seems happy with the current level, whether they think it’s too much or too little. Personally, I think they’re both important. The practice prepares us for today while the theory helps us deal with tomorrow. A favorite quote The key is the *blend* of skills. Classic library skills, communication skills, people-networking skills, tech skills, and a love for the profession. Not just a way out of a recession. That’s who the library schools should be putting out right now. And it’s who libraries should be hiring.
LibraryTechtonics

Looking over the diversity of the areas the survey respondents wished they knew more in, I wonder if it isn’t too much to fit into a two-year degree. Would the profession be better off if students went for a four-year degree and emerged with the equivalent of a Ph.D. like lawyers. That way students would have more time to do more than “get their feet wet” in the various topics we need to understand. Easy for me to say I know. The financial hardship would be twice as tough. But money is already a problem and only going to get worse for a long time before it gets better. I hope to hear what anyone else has to say.