Curriculum

Students who apply to the U2G program and are accepted may choose up to 12 hours of credit in their fourth and final year of undergraduate studies from the following 3 semester-hour classes from the program’s core curriculum.

The U2G Master of Arts in Library and Information Science requires 36 semester hours of graduate credit with a grade point average 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.

Please note: In order to stay on-track for a 5 year program, you MUST take 12 SLIS graduate semester hours in your fourth year of undergraduate studies.

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.

The first category consists of five core courses which provide a solid grounding for all successive course work. As an Undergrad to Grad student, you will choose 4 of the following courses to take during your "blended" senior year of your undergraduate studies (you will add the fifth core course in your fifth year of study at Iowa):

• Libraries, Culture, and Society (SLIS:5010)
• ​Information Organization (SLIS:5030)
• Computing Course (Choose either: SLIS:5020, SLIS:6335 (even years), SLIS:6040 (odd years) or SLIS:6140)
• Management, Teams, and Leadership (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. During your fifth "graduate" year of study at Iowa, you will select seven (7) 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.