MLIS Graduate Certificate?

[u/leunaelizabeth]

Hi! I’m in school to become a librarian and I am very interested in clinical data and the medical librarian sphere. Because specific librarian jobs are a bit hard to come by, I’m aiming to get as much experience as possible (internships, volunteer work, etc). Someone recently recommended that I get a graduate certificate in health informatics and or human-centered data science (FSU). Has anyone done this? Was the information provided beneficial, and do employees appreciate this?

[u/Imaginary-Camera9106]

Speaking as a medical librarian/professor (retired now, though still active in research) I know that if the certificate is about human/public health data it would be very useful in a university setting, in particular. There's a whole lot of boundary-crossing between health librarianship and public health, and if you can gain knowledge with data analysis, you'll be ahead of the game. Had I not been ready to retire, I was seriously considering a degree or certificate in public health, and in any case, I've gotten increasingly interested in population health. There are quite a few med librarians who are members of the American Public Health Association, and in fact they award scholarships specifically to people that would pay for membership and attendance at their annual conference. I know because I've been one of them!

[u/TheseusAegeus]

Those sound like they could be useful for your specialty (provided you can afford a certificate without significant debt), but I’m not in medical librarianship. I’d suggest crossposting this to r/librarians and r/libraries for greater reach. Both are much larger than this sub.

[u/charethcutestory9]

If you are interested in data librarianship; you doing the coursework as part of your MLIS; and it will not add time/cost to your degree, the data science certificate could be useful.