Back on the LIS PhD Wagon

I wrote about the PhD question a bit back in June, and I'm back on the wagon again.

I think the rejection from UNT's distance program was actually a good thing, because it has forced me to seriously think about myself and what I might want out of a PhD. If accepted into UNT's program, I was planning to explore technology, and language, and search, and all that good stuff.

I could probably still do that in another PhD program; I think my qualifications for doctoral work are pretty good and that I could get in somewhere.

However, a number of spatio-temporal problems arise. To be a little less Trekky, I am severely limited by location and time, and this reduces my options substantially.

But the fact is, the more I think about it, the more genuine hope and optimism I feel. One thing that the local option can offer is faculty who are interested in the varying aspects of information access, technological and otherwise. The organization of information might take me down some intellectually stimulating paths, but thinking about access might be more ultimately satisfying.

If I truly believe that knowledge is power, then I think my studies should follow that path.

I also have to face a fact about myself: without access to the people we serve, my days are just empty. I can do the metadata thing for a couple of days, or weeks, but then at some point I have to get out to the desk or to a faculty meeting and get energized. If I am going to wade through a dissertation, I had best be sure that what truly energizes me--people--should be the focus.

I have plenty of time to get my materials together, and then I guess I'll know next spring whether or not it's going to happen.