the Information and Library Science Profession 

"More than 125,000 librarians now work in academic, school and public libraries across the country.  Many librarians come to the profession as a second or third career.  When asked why they made the switch, these career changers cite everything from the thrill of the hunt for information to a desire to "give back" and connect people with free resources to a desire to streamline and improve research methods.

"As the needs of library users change and evolve, so are libraries and librarians. With the 2000 Census documenting the trend toward a non-white majority in the United States, libraries are building multilingual collections, offering Internet classes in Spanish and focusing on adding staff from different races and ethnicities.

"Completion of a Master's of Library Science (MLS) degree is the on-ramp to a career as a librarian.  The MLS opens more doors than the ones that lead into libraries.

"'We invite people to learn more about this dynamic and important career." John W. Berry, past ALA president

Extracted from the ALA Website

NOTE ON NAMING: You will see a number of ways the information profession and education for the information careers are named: ILS (information and library science), LIS (library and information science), library science, information science, information studies, i-Schools. Likewise, the ALA-accredited degree may be awarded as an M.L.S., M.S., M.A., M.S.I.S., M.S.L.S. The American Library Association maintains on its Web site a list of ALA-accredited programs as well as information on school library media programs.