I’m not married to the idea of a Lib.D. necessarily (as opposed to an Ed.D., say), but I do think that the profession would benefit in many ways from library school becoming a longer, more intellectually rigorous process that also requires a significant practical experience component, such as a clerkship.

Any librarian could be a library director if they have the intelligence, the curiosity, the ability to think institutionally and globally, and to be inclined to help a library organization grow. The LIS PhD may be a wonderful thing, but as a credential, it is most appropriately preparation for becoming LIS faculty. We all can learn constantly simply by being curious enough about what we do to conduct and share research – and by developing organizational cultures that promote such learning.

I’m more concerned that good librarians don’t think about becoming directors because they would have to drop out of a profession they love and become full time administrators within systems that are traditional and hierarchical. They don’t have to be that way. We should all be leaders, whatever our job title. And everyone should have the opportunity to shape the library’s future as their own professional knowledge grows.

One easy way to accommodate this within the existing degree structure would be to offer an Ed.D. option in LIS schools (this is really the same thing as the Lib.D. that Stewart suggests, but without the need to create another degree type). Ed.D. programs focus heavily on application, and typically include internships and other activities that allow the advanced degree student to reflect on practice within the context of the discipline.

One reason why I undertook the Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration (and why others are doing the same) is that Higher Ed (whether Ph.D. or Ed.D.) is a field in which one can examine the academic library as part of the broader organization. This is probably possible within any Educational Administration program (if you happen to be located at a school that doesn’t have a Higher Ed program), but it’s very nicely accommodated by Higher Ed programs.

I see the Simmons program, though limited in some ways, as being something of a bridge between those two approaches (and kudos to them for building in an opportunity for rotating “Professors of the Practice,” which is one very nice model for brining practice-based leadership and a scholarly practitioner model into advanced LIS education.

However, I can see how the PhD in library and information science might be more helpful if the librarian was interested in getting on the track to be a department supervisor or library director. I think that a second degree can always be helpful to librarians, but which degree they choose to pursue should reflect their personal goals in librarianship.

http://notes.smbrower.com/2006/02/what-about-another-degree-entirely.html

First, if you’ve ever visited the annual ALISE meeting, you know that it is a seller’s market for Ph.D.s with an interest in going into LIS education. I have never seen so many interviews as I saw during my last visit to that meeting. Once I might have noted that one is most sought after at ALISE if one is in the IS-side of the house, but there have been plenty of jobs posted this year for people with interests in library-oriented areas, e.g., reference. In my mind, the major problem with the Ph.D. in LIS has been its focus in most programs on Information Science (something that Simmons is trying to address, for a select group, with its new doctoral program track). The “I-School debate” in one that doesn’t need to be engaged in a comment field!

Evidence of recent senior hires certainly seems to support Steven’s conclusion that a doctorate is not required for appointment as a library director, but it certainly has some value (in addition to personal satisfaction and growth) for those in libraries where librarians hold faculty status and the director is part of a Council of Deans (or similar group). Discussions of the degree of value could dovetail with similar discussions among non-librarians of the relative status of the Ed.D. on campus vs. the Ph.D., or of others who operate on campus as faculty without the doctoral degree (e.g., MFAs). Again, that’s another discussion.

Given that I do hold a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration, I could go on about the reasons why I think that superior to a Ph.D. in LIS, but I’m thinking of proposing that as part of a paper for ACRL 2007, so I’ll let the argument mature a bit