Graduate traineeships can be an excellent route into any profession. The 'try before you buy' element allows you to dip your foot into a career with committing to the time and expense of further training - I did in fact replace someone who did his year and decided it wasn't for him. However, this generalisation should of course be qualified that everyone's traineeship is different; and given the hugely varied nature of the library/information profession, it is not surprising that training schemes would vary massively. In my own experience - a large commercial law firm - as an information trainee I was given a well-rounded and multi-departmental experience, whilst the library trainees always seemed to be tied to the photocopier.
I was lucky enough to get sponsored for my part-time MSc in Information Science whilst continuing to work. With hindsight I have to ponder on the relevance of the course and whether we are encouraged along this route in order to be raise the status of the profession - although the teachers I work with are often surprised that you need a post-graduate qualification to be a 'qualified librarian'. I learnt more on the 4 days at work than could be crammed into the very long day at City University. Ultimately, I wasn't able to complete the Masters and came away with a lesser award. However, when applying for jobs, both with public libraries and schools, this has not held me back. I am currently working towards chartership. I have come across a lot of different attitudes to it during the last 13 years working in the profession. At the law firm no one ever contemplated it - the Masters was everything. In public libraries, a few had done it, but they tended to work in prison libraries where it was required??? There was no support or cpd geared towards mentoring - in fact my line manager once told me to save my money and not bother renewing my CILIP membership? It is only now, working in school libraries, that I have done anything about it. I suspect that the infrastructure of schools - being very focused on cpd for teachers - is more amenable to the concept for other professional staff.
As far as routes to librarianship are concerned, they are many and varied. No two librarians seem to have the same background. It is perhaps one of the greatest things about the profession. Lots of different, interesting and experienced people coming together - some through the traditional routes, others through experience. No one would suggest that professional development isn't a good idea, but I think its more helpful to see the above options as just that...options which can be dipped into as is appropriate.
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