Academic librarians work for colleges and universities. They play a vital role in curriculum instruction and supporting faculty and student research. This type of librarianship often involves developing subject expertise to work as a liaison for students and faculty members in specific programs. Depending on the institution, academic librarians may be hired as tenure-track faculty, which will involve creating work for scholarly publications as part of the role. Academic librarianship is an excellent career path for people who want to work with research tools like subject databases, have strong skills in instruction, and are interested in collaborating with researchers and other academic professionals.

If you are interested in learning more about working in academic libraries, visit the ALA page on academic librarianship.

Some suggested courses for this area of study

SLIS:5041 College and University Libraries
SLIS:5700 Cultural Heritage
SLIS:6130 Community Engagement
SLIS:6150 Information Behavior
SLIS:6330 Archives: Theory and Practice
SLIS:6335 Metadata Theories and Applications
SLIS:6490 Information Policy and Ethics
SLIS:5600 Reading Culture: History and Research in Print and Digital Media
SLIS:6250 Beginning Cataloging and Classification