The Master of Arts in Library and Information Science requires 36 semester hours of graduate credit with a grade 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:

Students Enrolled BEFORE Fall 25Students Enrolled Fall 2025 or later

 

CORE:

  • SLIS:5010, Libraries, Culture, and Society
  • SLIS:5030, Information Organization
  • SLIS:6170, Management, Teams, and Leadership
  • SLIS:6115, Information and Inquiry*/ Introduction to Research Methods in LIS**

                 AND one of the following:

  • Option 1 - SLIS:5020, Foundations or Computing*/ Public User Services and Technology**               
  • Option 2 - SLIS:6335, Metadata Theories and Applications*              
  • Option 3 - SLIS:6040, Media Production Workshop*                
  • Option 4 - SLIS:6140, Digital Environments*/ Academic User Services and Technology**

   

 

CORE:

  • SLIS:5010, Libraries, Culture and Society
  • SLIS:5030, Information Organization
  • SLIS:6170, Management, Teams, and Leadership
  • SLIS:6115, Introduction to Research Methods in LIS

            AND one of the following:

  • Option 1 - SLIS:5020, Public User Services and Technology**          
  • Option 2 - SLIS:6140, Academic User Services and Technology

 

 

*Title of SLIS:5020 before Fall 2025

**Title of SLIS:5020 after Fall 2025

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 list of all SLIS courses, check out our SLIS Course Chart.