Looking Into Dual MLIS/History MA Programs

[wtmced]

Hi all,

I've been lurking the past few days while really digging into grad school research, and I decided to join in hopes of getting some advice.

I will be an undergraduate senior this fall, and am looking to apply to dual library science and history master's programs for fall 2013. My concern is this: I currently go to an accredited, but very non-traditional public liberal arts college that offers most courses in the form of integrated 16 credit programs and has no majors or prescribed curriculum. I did transfer here as a junior, having earned my AA at a community college, so my foundation resembles the more traditional general requirements. While I've really thrived in this unconventional setting, history tends to be integrated into programs rather than presented as its own thing, and last year I took programs focusing on political science, public policy, and education; this leaves me feeling under prepared for graduate level history study. (For what it's worth, I did take three courses of world history in CC and have studied ancient history and methodology on my own, so I'm not grabbing at history in the dark.)

One of the flexibilities my college offers is support for designing my own coursework, and I want to take advantage of it this next year to prepare myself as well as possible for my graduate school ambitions. I know that I need to produce something I can use as a writing sample that demonstrates my grasp on historical research and writing, but I am less sure about what specific skills and knowledge sets I should aim to develop. Particularly for those in history MA (or PhD) programs now, what skills and knowledge sets do you find are essential? What specifically should I make sure I learn and do to be prepared for graduate history work? What would you do if given the freedom to design your coursework in undergrad to prepare for graduate study?

I also spoke with my college library's archivist, and he offered to sponsor an internship for me in the library, particularly to work on an archival project for him, something that would ultimately go out into the world bearing my name. This sounds like an incredible opportunity, not only to become more familiar with positions in the library and where I might see myself working, but to have published work I can point to. If I were to do this in the fall, then it's something I can include in my applications. Would it be worth pursuing the library internship, leaving only winter and spring to study history? Is there anything in particular here I should make sure to learn or experience?

I also have to consider language study; I do not yet have a language I can claim any proficiency in. My college is offering French, German, and Japanese this year, all of which I am interested in learning. My partner thinks German would be the most useful to history generally, but I'm leaning toward French. (I took Japanese in HS and really enjoyed it, so it'd be easy to pick back up.) Would it be better to begin a language this year instead of waiting for grad school? If so, which language should I consider taking? I'm more interest in global/ transnational/ comparative perspectives in history, and I don't know exactly what I'd choose if forced to specialize, so it's more difficult to choose a language based on regional interest.

My final concern is in regards to being forced to specialize. At least one school I'm looking at, UMD, supports global/transnational study, but others do not. At what point would I need to make a decision about what to specialize in, if forced to narrow in geographically, temporally, and/or thematically?

My interest in this dual degree is to work either in archives/ rare books/ special collections or academic librarianship. I would also consider getting a PhD in history later on to become a professor and do research. I like the idea of doing an MA first not only to feel better prepared because my undergraduate study will be less than if I had a prescribed curriculum, but also in case I don't go on to a PhD program.

Finally, anyone who has done/ is in/ is also looking at dual MLIS and history MA, I would love to hear about your experiences and considerations in your own process, and what you are planning to do with it!

Thank you for taking the time to consider my questions!

[annieca]

Hi! I don't think I'll get anything close to answering all of your questions, but I'll try to answer a few.

I'm also looking at dual MLIS/MA's. My two favorites are Indiana and South Carolina for multiple reasons. I'm a Post Cold-War Eastern Europe historian and Indiana has a great East European center where I can take both Czech and Romanian. South Carolina has an amazing Public History program.

I would recommend looking at dual Library Science/Public History if you want to go into what you mentioned - archives/rare books/academic librarianship. Public History will look great on resumes to help get a job in non-library sector archives like the Smithsonian, Library of Congress, etc.

One last piece of advice I have is to diversify your recommenders. I'll have two professors and one in the industry which will show the History committee that you can do research and the MLIS that you can do the library science part of the degrees.

Feel free to PM me if you want to talk more specifically about any of the programs you're looking at or more of my process.

[wtmced]

Annieca, thank you for your response and advice!

Could you speak to the utility of public history over "regular" history in archives/ rare books/ academic librarianship? In my research I've steered away from public history under the assumption it would be limiting in the prospect that I pursue a PhD in history, but in light of your comments I may need to rethink that.

[annieca]

I imagine that yes, if you did want to get your PhD, Public History would be limiting. However, if you just wanted to work in most archives (Stanford's Herbert Hoover Center is one exception I know of), then the PhD isn't as necessary.

Public History programs, as I've researched, tend to teach you how to be a historian in the context of working with the public. They don't care so much if you can spout off every date within your field as much as you can help someone find where to find those dates. It's learning how to help people search and help people learn more than history itself. Library Science teaches a very specific set of skills, some of which are totally not useful for History. But dual Public History/MLIS shows that you know both the library techniques and the historian backing.

I met a few people at the National Council of Public History's annual conference in Milwaukee who said that the people who have those dual degrees are hot commodities for employment straight out of graduation because they don't have to show as much experience as those with one or the other. One of these such people was one of the Librarians for the House of Representatives Archives (or whatever it is officially called.)

I think it ultimately depends on your end goal. If you want to teach and have a PhD or be a super-specialized librarian, then do the "regular" History MA. If you want to be a little more employable to both libraries and museums, go with Public History.

[wtmced]

This is really great information. Thank you for sharing your insight! This gives me a lot to consider (and reconsider).