Germ/Slav grad school options?

[Mark Yoffe]

Dear comrade,
Perhaps you need to look at Big 10 schools.
I graduated with a Ph.D. from Dept. of Slavic at the univ of Michigan.
Back in the 80s it was a great department. Germanic Languages Dept. was
not as great but good.
Now Department of Slavic Languages is not as great as it used to be (too
many star professors retired since then) but it is still one of the
best. So now Germanic Languages and Slavic Languages Depts at UofM are
about equal.
I also have an MLS from the same school. Getting this degree was the
wisest thing I have done.
After I got my MLS no one in the library world cared if I had a Ph.D. or
not. Having a Ph.D in a field not related to Library science DOES NOT
make your chances of getting good library job any stronger. All you need
is an MLS! Your second Master's degree is a plus. A Ph.D. can on the
contrary damage your chances of getting jobs -- they would suspect that
your "true love and calling" is elsewhere...
If you are serious about library career DON'T waste your time on getting
useless and tortureous Ph.D.! (You can always go into a Ph.D. program at
some university where you get your future library job). And it will be
free!
But don't confine yourself to universities once you get your MLS. There
is so much more to librarianship.
Should you decide to get a Ph.D. a chance is a few yers later you will
still go for the MLS and will end up in some library doing the  same
thing, only: MUCH LATER.
Think about it!
Best,
MY
--
Mark Yoffe, Ph.D. Curator, International Counterculture Archive
Slavic Librarian, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
HTTP://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~yoffe
E-mail: yoffe at gwis2.circ.gwu.edu   Phone: 202 994-6303