This post was going to go up yesterday, but a combination of illness, homework, and holiday scheduling conspired against that. So … one day late, here’s what I have to say.

A month from now (Friday, December 10th) I’ll be finishing up my final class in the Simmons College GSLIS program, seven semesters (and one summer class) after I began the program in Fall 2007. In January, if all goes well, I’ll have an officially-conferred Master’s in Library Science. My Master’s in History won’t be complete until May, and yet … this still feels like at least a partial milestone.

I’m sure I’ll have more thoughts about this transition, being the sort of person who always has more thoughts. Mostly, right now I have these preliminary observations.

• Graduate school did not fundamentally alter my love-hate relationship with institutions of higher learning and formal education in general. If anything, it amplified those feelings, and the tension between them, to an uncomfortable degree.
• At the same time, graduate school has fairly fundamentally altered my relationship to academic work. In undergrad, I tried as much as possible to take classes for the love of learning, and throw myself with good faith into the content of every course.  In graduate school, I was much more selective about where I directed my energies. The jury is still out on whether one or the other of these is a preferred approach.
• Librarians, as a group of professionals, are unquestionably awesome 
• I am less than convinced that library school is the best way to approach training professional librarians.

But for now, I’m looking forward to what comes next, including my first tattoo (details to follow), winter vacation, my thesis revision (yes, I’m daunted, but also excited to pick it up again), and a wee bit more time with my girlfriend.

And now it’s back to work.