Certificate Options
Below, you will see some options for Graduate Certficates you can pursue as a SLIS student. Please note that only the Special Collections Certificate is available to fully remote students. Many of the other certificates are only available to on-campus students due to the nature, availability, and delivery methods of the courses involved that are outside of our department.
BLIS Program
Joint MA in LIS and Certificate from the UI Center for the Book
Potential Areas of Specialization
You may choose your curriculum based on your specific interests. Please go here for more information.
Information on the MA Degree
The Master of Arts in Library and Information Science requires 36 semester hours of graduate credit with a GPA of 3.0 or above in all coursework applied towards the degree where a letter grade is assigned, and the successful completion of a career development portfolio or thesis.
In order to finish in 2 years, typically, students will take 9 semester hours (s.h.) per semester, which is considered full-time for graduate students.
The 36 semester hours include 15 hours earned in core courses and 21 hours of SLIS elective coursework. With the 21 semester hours, you can choose to specialize in an area of your choosing, be a generalist, and/or get one of our certificates.
The SLIS curriculum is structured in two categories, building from a common curriculum into your chosen area of specialized concentration. You can choose to specialize in a certain area or you can choose more of a well-rounded, general coursework.
The first category consists of five core courses which provide a solid grounding for all successive course work:
For Students who enter the program in Fall 22 or after:
- Libraries, Culture, and Society (SLIS:5010)
- Information Organization (SLIS:5030)
- Management, Teams, and Leadership (SLIS:6170)
- Information and Inquiry (SLIS:6115)
- A computing foundations course, choose ONE of the following
- Foundations of Computing (SLIS:5020)
- Digital Environments (SLIS:6140)
- Metadata Theories and Applications (SLIS:6335)
- Media Production Workshop (SLIS:6040)*
For Students who entered the program in Fall 21 or earlier:
- Cultural Foundations (SLIS:5010)
- Conceptual Foundations (SLIS:5030)
- Computing Foundations (SLIS:5020)
- Evidence-Based Practice in LIS (SLIS:6110) OR Organizational Management (SLIS:6170)
- Information and Inquiry (SLIS:6115)
The second category is composed of SLIS elective coursework, allowing you to focus on your area of professional specialization. Select seven courses, or 21 s.h., from the elective category. For a complete list of electives, please download this chart. For course descriptions, please go to the General Catalog descriptions.
For a sample plan of study for your on-campus MA in Library and Information Science, please go to the General Catalog- SLIS page.
*This course won't be offered untill Fall 2023
SLIS Practicum, Independent Study, and Mentoring Opportunities
Go here for more information on making a Practicum, Independent Study, and Mentoring Opportunities part of your SLIS experience.