I would say that it's the same as suffixing one's name with RN, RD, or CPA. I invite you to read exactly what you may be thinking into that, because I sure did. Honest more than pretentious, as long as the intent is not purely pretentious. - Julian

I think it's pretentious, but that's just me... - Heidi Blanton

Personally I think any letters after a name is pretentious no matter what the field. But hey that's me. - Mlibrarianus

I don't. I'd prefer that people respect me for what I say and do, rather than a title. I try not to judge those who do... - Rochelle Rochelle

In a room full of librarians, redundant. Under most other circumstances, pretentious. - Cliff

I always do it in my email sigs and on Power points when I teach class. Librarians get less respect in some academic settings and those of us who are also IT get no respect from librarians who think we're "just IT". Nurses, counselors, therapists of all types, etc. use their credentials with their name. I paid a lot of money for my degrees, I'm entitled to use them as I see fit. :-) - Rev. Dr. W!cKeD Rock

But don't you think that's just sort of feeding the pretentiousness of it? I know that the stigma is already there, but I would rather see it not be there, especially between the IT/Librarian divide... - Heidi Blanton

There are 114 years of combined library experience in my department, between 5 of us. Still yet, the librarians in our consortium immediately changed their attitudes toward me when I started here, and have always been that way toward my colleagues. They act as if our opinions on library matters are of little worth. We're just their tech support. If degrees mean so little none of us would have paid what we did & put the work in so that we could get paid a higher wage than staff & paras. just my opinion. :) - Rev. Dr. W!cKeD Rock

I have started to write bios for website for each person in my dept. to attempt to establish legitimacy and market ourselves to our "customers", the librarians who dismiss us. I get frustrated with the line of thought I hear often that states that an MLS is worthless or overvalued. I think we are doing the profession a disservice by undermining a degree in a field that already seems to be stereotyped and UNDERvalued. Our credentials make us the experts. If we lose that Google has won. - Rev. Dr. W!cKeD Rock

I never have, and likely never will. The only reason I could see doing that is in a situation perhaps like what W!cKeD describes, where I wanted *librarians* to know I was part of the tribe. Cuz no one outside the tribe is likely to care or even know what MLIS means. - s t e v e

I also think that this is part of what Greg Schwartz often talks about regarding the profession's general inability, discomfort, or aversion when it comes to marketing ourselves and taking credit for who we are and what we do. I put blood, sweat, and tears into the 7 years I have spent at university. I went to grad school full time year round and finished my degree in 3 semesters and a summer session. I earned that. :-) - Rev. Dr. W!cKeD Rock

My mom would like everyone to know that it took two graduate degrees to make me an MA-MLIS, which she pronounces "Mammals." My mom is silly. :-P - lris

hey if you got the degree go for it, you earned it. do what others in your area of the nation do...if they all do it, I probably would, but if its only that one person that annoys everyone, maybe not. I just got mine a couple of days ago, i will put it on my business card and official emails, but probably not on regular communications. - royce kitts

Don't. It's on my business cards, but that's it. - John Fink

The last place I worked was a small liberal arts college. The librns had professional staff status & sat on committees etc. We were eventually lumped in w/ the maintenance & cleaning staff who they felt were being left out & allowed to be considered as "professional staff". The faculty gave us little enough respect as it was & then our status was placed in the same category as a group that contained many HS dropouts. So yeah, I started using my MSLS credentials.But then again, I'm a cantankerous s.o.b. :-D - Rev. Dr. W!cKeD Rock

I might put it on my biz cards in my next job. - Jàson Puçkett

I do for my work email and on my business cards. Faculty don't always see us as the peers we are, so I think the credentials can be important on an academic campus. - Tombrarian

All good points, and technically I can't put MLS on my business cards just yet... but for what it's worth, I don't care, I still feel, act, and do what it is to be a librarian, and that's all that matters to me. When I see degreed librarians with MLS after their email signatures at my library I cringe, it's because where I work there is much more "support staff" than degreed librarians, and our email is mostly for internal communication. That to me is pretentious. - Heidi Blanton

forgive me if I have argued adamantly or am overly zealous regarding this topic. I respect your opinions as colleagues and peers and realize that this is primarily a matter of preference. I do not, in any way, mean to imply that my personal views on this matter are anything more than that. I try hard to reserve judgment on any matter that boils down to "opinion" since I think people in general often present their opinions as fact, which is less likely to be the case. :-) - Rev. Dr. W!cKeD Rock

My office door and name tag have both degrees: MA, MLS (sounds like "mammals") - I'm thinking about changing it to "zookeeper" or maybe REP, TLS. - Jere

I have it on my business card and email sig. It is important to acknowledge the education required to be a librarian (You mean, you had to go to graduate school to file books?). Of course, if we don't think the MLS is important and that our organizations should hire people to serve as librarians without our current degree model, then perhaps it is time to do away with the MLS. Just a thought for discussion. - Kenley Neufeld

@Heidi: I am very against creating an us/them thing between librarians and support staff (which, unfortunately seems to be a bit of an issue at MPOW). I don't see that putting MLS after my name would foster such a dichotomy. I guess I see it that the people within the building already know and that, by using the MLS, I'm educating those outside the field. But you have me thinking twice about that. - Tombrarian

tagged this for unvocab. Would like to talk about it. :-) - Rev. Dr. W!cKeD Rock

suddenly I feel like a conservative. I'm freakin out. - Rev. Dr. W!cKeD Rock

I think it also depends on what type of organization you're in. In an academic/public library, totally pretentious. In a special library where you most likely deal with non-library people (and your title is probably not "librarian"), somewhat understandable but still pretentious. I get that degrees are lots of work, but people shouldn't need some letters after their name for respect. - Kendra <3 Three Lions

@W!cKed - I always love your insights into things, and I think most of us started this discussion with "in my opinion". Differing opinions always rock. - Heidi Blanton

@Tom - I think it would be different if I knew that we used our email "outside of the field", but I believe that most of the librarians at MPOW don't... who knows maybe I'm wrong. We have a hard time even getting people to use email so maybe it's good that the librarians use it... - Heidi Blanton

I'm having a hard time with suggesting this is pretentious. Doesn't that mean an undeserved or unwarranted claim? Most of us worked hard on our degree requirements and my experience with the non-librarian community, including those in academia, is most don't realize an advanced degree is required. In fact, to most people every person working in a library is a librarian. Do I care? Some. Was my education important? Yes. So, if there isn't an important distinction, then maybe get rid of the MLS completely? - Kenley Neufeld

not necessary; kinda pretentious. - Lisa Finder

I also want to recognize that libraries do not operate without support staff. In fact, my support staff ROCKS and I live and breath by the work they conduct. They are knowledgeable, experienced, and some can be called upon for "librarian" related work. Within the library walls, this would be an unnecessary distinction because we know who we are but I communicate significantly with those outside the library. - Kenley Neufeld

I'm with Kenley on this one. I, too, am having a bit of a hard time seeing it as pretentious. I think this might be another librarian confidence issue. I can't imagine this conversation is happening in another field that requires an advanced degree for employment. This could be more of an issue at academic libraries where we are trying to hold ourselves up to the same or similar requirements as other faculty on campus. Should we be trying to be like other faculty? I'm not so sure, but that's the reality. - Tombrarian

I put it in my work email signature because most faculty here (who put PhD in their sigs) don't realize that we have any training and skills, so I do it in the hopes that it might make them realize that we have some specialized knowledge that can benefit their students. I don't see it as necessary for internal-to-the-library communications, but I also don't see it as pretentious. - Meredith

and with a husband with an MD and MBA, I SO wouldn't put up *my* credentials anywhere with the hope that someone would actually be "impressed" by them. - Meredith

why not put the degrees on stuff? everyone else with a graduate degree does. folks can make of them what they will. - marthalib

For me, the "pretentious" part comes in when the person seems to think that the "MLIS" makes them a big shot. Also seems like part of the culture. I think if someone put "PhD" in their email sig at the college where I work--where most faculty dress casually and everyone is on a first name basis--that would seem pretentious. Context is everything. -Steve Lawson, MLIS - s t e v e

On business cards: Yes. On work email signature: Maybe. Anywhere else: No. You don't see too many business folks putting MBA after their name - not sure that's comparable, but something to consider. - Laura Norvig

im switching to putting FOW (friend of W!ckeD) after my name from now on. - royce kitts

Right, Steve. It's not the MLIS that makes me a big shot -- it's my charm, poise, and general brilliance. - Meredith

If we don't show our credentials to prove our skill, what do we show? MBAs gain status by profit made rather than degree earned, so that makes sense. The MD means something after a physicians name. Architects/designers show their chops with a portfolio. Academics with a CV chock full of peer reviewed articles published. - ɥsıuɐʎɹ

I don't show my degrees, even on my business cards. But if you were at a fundraising dinner sitting next to key philantropists, how would you assert your contribution to the world in clear terms? - ɥsıuɐʎɹ

...don't show my degrees (MA, MLIS) either, and I have the wonderful burden of looking younger than I actually am. Added together, I sometimes feel compelled to let people know I've been around a few blocks and know what the hell I'm talking about -- in a good way, of course - J450N

I think it depends on your environment and attitude, and that blanket statements of pretentiousness are more than a little presumptuous. ;) I use MLIS in my work email, on my business cards, on my work ID badge. I am in an academic medical center and it's appropriate to the culture where I am. - Rachel Walden

What I'm getting from this conversation is that it's very context-specific, and no one should feel like they're being pretentious for putting it on anything if there's a good professional reason. - Meredith

Meredith, I would agree with you 100% - Rachel Walden

It is the culture at my work to include it on business cards. I only have an MA though, and I feel bad about putting that, like people will judge me and not consider me a real librarian. FWIW, I also include my IM screenname. - MegvMeg

Personally, I think MLS after my name would be pretentious on my business card and/or sig. What about the vaunted "Prof." term? I could use that in my sig and business card, but I am not sure that I can profess to be a Professor quite yet, even though one of the students in the LIS class I just taught as an adjunct (LIS 4375) always started her email, Dear Prof. Kraus -- that just seemed weird to me. What do you think of the blog we worked on together? http://lis4375.wordpress.com/ - joe is...

@Meredith of a few comments ago: I was pretentious as hell before I had any degrees, so right. I think I'm gonna put MLIS on my Moo cards. - s t e v e

Dudez, I was inspired to pontificate on a my blog thingy. Hell freezing over now. http://blog.infosciphi.info/... - Rev. Dr. W!cKeD Rock

I haven't been - but then I realized i said that i got the degree to put the letters after my name ... i don't use it - but may start putting it on speaking proposals for academic oriented orgs - Nicole

It honestly never occured to me to put letters after my name. Maybe if I were in an academic setting, I would (since academia is all about the letters), but working in public libraries, I'd feel like a dick if I always put my degree after my name. - josh neff, geek at large

I'm with Joshua. I'm in a public library and it never occurred to me and I wouldn't do it. In academics, it may be a different story. - Alan Simpson

I asked this question because I see it so infrequently in our field, and I just saw it today, and it got me to wondering again - why? I am definitely proud of who I am and the degree I've got. But maybe I've been lucky so far, as I haven't had to prove that I can do my job because I have my MLS. Even when I worked at a university library, what degree I had was never questioned by the faculty. I did a good job for them, and they were happy with that alone. I am with Rochelle - judge me for the job I do, not the degree I have. - Christa

I dunno. Occasionally it seems pretentious, but if you're good at your job, it also reflects well on the MLS. I *will* say if you use the letters and you're a douche, please stop putting those after your name, kthx. - ωαřмaiden, MFA'd poet

I've read *most* of the comments, so I haven't read them all, but I"m chiming in away. I think this is something MLS holders struggle with in our field. The public seems everyone who works in a library as a librarian. Many non degreed library workers like to call themselves librarians. Personally I'm a bit tired of apologizing for the fact that I choose to get an MLS to the people who are defensive about. No one said you have to have one to do great work, but there is something to be said for having... - Bobbi Newman

or so many of us wouldn't have one. I say yes - put it on your cards, presentations, depending on your email usage but it there. And I say no it's not pretentious. There is nothing wrong with being proud of a degree you *earned* . Now when you meet people F2F introducing yourself as Christa Burns, MLS might be :) - Bobbi Newman

Maybe we need to use our profession as a title? Like Dr. for people with a PhD. "Hello, I'm Lib. Christa Burns. Nice to meet you." "Dear Lib. Burns..." - Christa

If I actually thought my MLS were worth something I might use it, but... I don't. It's not a confidence thing, I think I'm great at my job, it's a lack of confidence in library school thing. - Derik Badman from twhirl

I don't particularly think it's pretentious, unless the person doing it is. I don't put it after my name because technically I have a MA in Information Sciences and Learning Technology (go Mizzou with having to be different.) I figure that my job title is enough on my business cards and email signature. However, I do have 12th wonder of the universe after my name. -

Excellent discussion! The only people I know who use the MLS title are librarians who display some of the odd personality defects that perpetuate the negative stereotype some non-librarians possess of our profession. Personally, I’d never use it. I can see where it might be useful in some situations, but I just can’t get past the notion that there’s a certain amount of false grandiosity associated with it. - tom baich

ah, finally found this thread! ;-) I use it and I do not think it is pretentious... am I missing something in thinking it is not any different from putting MD or PhD or whatever else -? Those don't seem pretentious to me. I earned the degree, I paid for it, and I use it, so I put those letters after my name. Not in personal settings mind you, or is that the debate? I have heard and seen some people say that no one will know what it is anyway, and I have always been encouraged to happily explain! :-) - Amy J. Kearns, MLIS

sorry for 2 posts: but I also think we need to do a better job of educating others about what qualifications we have and what jobs we do. I don't want to take anything away from those who do wonderful library work without degrees or letters, but I think we do a disservice to ourselves and our profession (and our salaries) when we don't use our letters. My opinion. And I can see it is different in different contexts. - Amy J. Kearns, MLIS

Heck, why not resuscitate the topic for those who got here via the ACRLog? - Zen Master the Librarian

I'm not sure I know how to be pretentious (yes, I'm opening myself up to cheap shots, but none of you would do that... would you?) but I've both used and not used my abbreviations. *checks business cards* Nope, not on this iteration. *checks email sigs* "Formal" sig yup "MSLS, MSM" "Systems Librarian and Assistant Professor" "Casual" sig nope. If we all put 'em on there will we all be followers or leaders? :) - Zen Master the Librarian