McGill MLIS Program Review

[docantelope]

Here's an honest review of the McGill University School of Information Studies Masters of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) program. 

 

These are the ALA required courses:

 

Information and Society

Information System Design

Research Principles & Analysis 

Information Agency Management

 

The required courses vary in quality except for Information Agency Management taught by Joy Bennett because she's an adjunct who's been teaching the course for so long she doesn't bother to update due dates on her syllabus. 

 

Cataloging is taught by Elaine Menard and she has never worked in a library or even outside of academia. I want to add that cataloging is not a requirement for all MLIS students. 

 

Classes are usually in the Education building, which is on top of a steep hill that gets icy in winter. Classes are scheduled into too-long three hour blocks: 08:35 - 11:35, 11:35 - 14:35, 14:35 - 17:35 and 17:35 - 20:35.

 

In general, the professors will take every opportunity to not teach you anything by canceling class or dismissing you early. Everything is even more terrible when its taught by an instructor desperate to prove that information studies is a legitimate academic discipline. Some will resort to petty quizzes and in-class exercises to keep you attending a horrible class.   

 

Practicum is not required or guaranteed and you might not even hear anything (not even a rejection email) from a site you apply to. Outside of the practicum poster sessions, the Practicum Coordinator won't facilitate contact with a current or former practicum student so you cannot ask them questions about their experience. The Practicum Coordinator won't help you find volunteer or internship opportunities at the practicum sites either. 

 

Getting in touch with SIS alumni by looking them up in a directory is not possible because that directory doesn't exist. 

 

You will be taught the value of structured information but will be bombarded by unstructured information in the form of junk mail. 

 

Provincial education cutbacks have squeezed all universities in Quebec and McGill's School of Information Studies is no exception.

 

There are 48 classes listed in the MLIS Student Handbook. 15 - 19 is the number of classes actually offered per semester. It's slim pickings and you have the option to take classes at other Montreal graduate schools but actually getting this done is a hassle. 

 

The SIS computer lab has only thirty computers and gets crowded often. 

 

The program as I know it divided students into three streams: archives, librarianship and knowledge management. SIS has hired three new professors and next year the Masters program offered is the Master of Information Studies (MISt). I don't even know if the MISt degree is ALA accredited. 

 

Prospective MISt-ers, save your money and don't even bother applying. 

Edited January 8, 2014 by docantelope

[legroschat]

I don't know who you are (though we have probably already met), but I am also currently finishing up year one of the MLIS program at McGill. I agree with everything you've said here. I was hoping this semester would be better than last, since some of last semester's courses suffered from being recently re-structured, but it's been just as bad. Do you think you'll stay in the program?

[airimnoslo]

Hi,

I am considering this program.

Have things improved? Did you decide to stay in the program?

[b3come1122]

I have recently graduated from this program and sadly, things have not improved; actually, things are much worse. First of all, there are no more streams so all students are sort of going through the program without having a concrete idea what kind of degree they are getting. I was part of the last graduating class with an actual stream.

 

Classes are mostly useless and while teachers are usually very nice, you can see that they are struggling to make the program seem valuable. Unless you have a defined idea of the kind of job you want to do after graduating or have some experience under your belt, this program is not really for you. The practicum is still optional and the coordinator is still useless to you. Assignments are usually very easy and will teach you next to nothing. Most classes consist of you sitting and reading through 100+ power point slides. 

 

The new MISt program, while accredited, now focuses on new technology and seemed to have completely cut all the librarianship and archival studies courses from the curriculum. The good teachers are the lecturers who you will meet one semesters and who you will never meet again because they get sacked. Most full time professors have no actual work experience in the field and only do research and therefore, cannot help you understand the current job market. 

 

Good luck if you are still considering going into this program, you will need it. I would recommend finding another master's program which will give you more bang for your buck.

[rosiepoe]

Hey guys, 

I have been accepted in both McGill SIS and Université de Montréal EBSI information science graduate program. I'm not sure which university I want to attend, but from what I read on here, McGill doesn't seem to be a good choice! Anyone know if the program is better at UdeM? 

 

Thanks a lot!