Homestead mailing list

[DSanner106 AT aol.com]

Lynn, 
    With a MLS you would be qualified to teach in some of  the online 
programs, I 
don't know if you have an interest in teaching or not, but it is an option  
and one
you can do from home. I have friends in the field and like others, it is  
changing as well. 
I was just looking at a page(listed below) that details currently what this 
 degree entails
and what sort of current and future jobs one can expect. One of my kids has 
 an interest
in the field. 
    Good luck 
Drew
 
_http://www.worldwidelearn.com/online-education-guide/arts-humanities/librar
y-science-major.htm_ 
(http://www.worldwidelearn.com/online-education-guide/arts-humanities/library-science-major.htm)
 
 
 
In a message dated 10/2/2009 12:51:17 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
erthnsky AT bellsouth.net writes:



Lynn Wigglesworth wrote:
> I can't find a job. I have  a Master of Library Science but the
> library won't even interview me  anymore (I've applied for 4 different
> positions in the past 2-3  years); they tell me that I'm
> over-qualified for an entry-level job (I  think it's that I have a
> better degree from a better school than the  library director...she
> thinks I'm after her job), <snip>
>  
> But I worry less about that all the time (senility maybe?).  I'm
> ridiculously satisfied with what I have.
> 
> Lynn  Wigglesworth Tioga Co. PA

I was ridiculously satisfied with my life,  too, even though we are in
debt and the house is falling apart in some  ways.  Then, out of the
blue, a job offer came my way.  As you  know, I start work on Monday, but
I am bittersweet about it because it  means I must leave my current
lifestyle behind.
I'm five years younger  than you, but we are of the same generation.  We
both went to school  prior to "The Information Age".  I don't know when
you got your  Master's Degree-if it was immediately after your Bachelor's
or later, but  did you think about the outlook for those types of jobs
before you got your  Masters?
I don't mean to sound critical.  I am in the same boat.   When I decided
Medicine wasn't for me, in 1983, I thought I'd be okay with  just a
chemistry degree.  I was very 'green', as we say today, and I  dreamed of
working as an environmental chemist.  Because I  married and started a
family quickly, I never worked as a chemist right  after school.  I did
not get my first chemistry related job until 12  years later, so I
started my "career" late, in my mid-thirties.  It  hasn't been contiguous
employment, either.  I felt like a dinosaur  most of the time, even on
the job, because Science, by it's very  definition, changes.  We are
always gaining more knowledge, adding to,  replacing old assumptions,
refining hypotheses.    When I went to  school, there were 103 elements
on the Periodic Table and maybe 2  experimental ones that I remember-but
they were not on the table.   Now, there are 118+ elements, 115 of which
have names and places on the  table, a table has been rearranged and
'simplified'...no longer are there  subgroups, just numbered groups.  I
took a facebook quiz the other day  and almost missed one because I was
'thrown off' by Group 17.  You  see, on my personal, trusty Periodic
Table, Group 17 is known as Group VII  A, which in my opinion, is a more
descriptive name since the 7 signifies  the number of valence electrons.
I guess someone wanted to simplify  the nomenclature and just number the
groups/columns across from left to  right.
Adhesives are based on polymers.  When I was in school,  polymer
chemistry was handled as a chapter in my Organic book and pretty  much
only dealt with natural polymers and the simplest synthetics like  rayon,
neoprene, PTFE (Teflon), Nomex, etc.  It was only base  knowledge at that
time, or at least that was all that was covered in my  undergraduate
textbook.   Today, you can actually obtain degrees  in polymer science,
and it, like environmental chemistry, is a  specialty.  That really
handicaps someone like me who is twice the age  of recent grads to begin
with.  I found myself not just working, but  studying and teaching myself
to think creatively about the physical  arrangement of polymers and what
characteristics they would have based on  that arrangement. That's it in
a nutshell, but the possibilities are  endless and I often feel too old
to think about it anymore.  I simply  don't retain knowledge the way I
did when I was younger.  It  sucks.
My point is, Lynn, who knew that it would be like this?  I  believed that
chemistry would change and grow, of course, but not to the  extent that
it has.  Biology and the Natural Sciences might have seen  fewer changes.
Physics and the Engineering fields seems to change  with the wind.
Karen, if you are reading this, I'd be interested in your  thoughts on this.
I honestly thought, when I chose my major, that I was  making the best
choice, choosing a field that would grow and provide lots  of
opportunity.  I never envisioned that it would grow and leave me  behind.
Maybe Lynn can relate to that or maybe you have a similar  but opposite
problem.  I don't know.  I feel for you,  though.

Bev
-- 
Sleep well tonight, for somewhere in the ocean's  depths, MY son is
protecting your freedom on the USS Key West, currently  deployed
somewhere in the Pacific and/or Indian Ocean.  Go  Navy!
EarthNSky Farm, NW Georgia,  USA

_______________________________________________
Homestead list  and  subscription:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/homestead
Change  your homestead list member  options:
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/options/homestead/dsanner106%40aol.com
View  the archives  at:
https://lists.ibiblio.org/sympa/arc/homestead