In Michigan, you can be a community librarian with a general equivalency diploma (in a small town), a bachelor’s degree (for mid-sized municipalities) or a master’s degree (in larger cities). But to be a school librarian, you need a bachelor’s degree, a teaching certificate and a master’s degree.

A proposed bill would change that. House Bill 4922, sponsored by Rep. Tim Kelly, R-Saginaw, would eliminate the requirement for a master’s degree in order to be a school librarian.

This is a good bill. The vast majority of schools in Michigan don’t have a full-time librarian, and the number of school librarians has plummeted. Which makes sense — many would-be librarians find it easier just to become teachers to earn as much money without needing the extra degree and years out of the job. People who want to be librarians can save time and money by deciding instead to work in a community library rather than in a school.

It is important to note that this bill doesn’t stop a school from hiring someone with a master’s degree as its librarian or even requiring its school librarian to have these credentials. The legislations simply says it isn’t illegal to hire a school librarian without an advanced degree. That is good flexibility that makes it easier for a person to become a school librarian, for schools to hire librarians, and for kids to be served by a full-time lover of books.

Permission to reprint this blog post in whole or in part is hereby granted, provided that the author (or authors) and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy are properly cited.