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.

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 a certain area, 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.