Livre d'Or

(Aw, thank you!)

I don't know that there's any way to usefully compare, but it also strikes me that the sheer distances involved in the US complicate things, too.

(12 years in Minnesota taught me that. I loved living there, but having everyone before that part of my life 1500 miles away sucked sometimes. And when you're talking a $400+ plane ticket, train tickets nearly as much, or a very long drive, and limited income/resources/scheduling, well.)

Anyway. I think you're very right that the whole process doesn't handle the relationship between supervisor and student very well, and that there's a lot of messiness about what you do after. And yet, both pieces are really important to your happiness while in process, and to your options afterwards. Which is a really sucky place to be in if things go badly.

I mull over both bits re: libraries, because library school doesn't teach you *tons* of stuff you need to know to actually be a librarian, and while it's slightly better about how to get a job being one, there's only so far that goes.

(My basic advice, which I know you've seen, but in case it helps anyone else in the thread, is "get as much actual experience in libraries or something close to that as you can", "user-facing tech skills will *never* hurt, and other tech skills are very likely to help", and "be really clear what you can and can't compromise on." It's reasonably possible to find library jobs if you are picky about only one of [location], [type of library], and [type of job], but as soon as you start wanting more than one of those, it gets a lot harder.)