Has the dropping of the Master's Thesis contributed to a general decline in the ability of librarians to conduct, evaluate and assist with research?
My school, GLS at the University of Chicago, required the master's thesis. My advisor was Dr. Lester Asheim. The GLS has long since closed.
I'd never realized before reading Hérubel's essay the rate of decline.
In 1960 13.4% of all MLS graduates had written a thesis. By 1979 it was .04%.
Jean-Pierre V M. Hérubel
"Contextual Culture of the Master's Degree and the Decline of the M.L.S. Thesis: An Exploratory Review Essay" Libraries & Culture 40. pp. 63-84 Winter 2005.
See also:
Richardson, John, Jr. The Gospel of Scholarship: Pierce Butler and a Critique of American Librarianship. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1992.
________, The Spirit of Inquiry: The Graduate Library School at Chicago, 1921-1951. Chicago: American Library Association, 1982.
