Degrees and Programs Offered
Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS)
- Requirements for the MLIS degree
- Required Courses & Specializations Details
- Transfer and Extension Credit
- Exemption Exams
- Graduate Grade-Point Average
Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS)
Requirements for the MLIS degree are as follows:
- satisfactory completion of a minimum of 40 semester hours.
- successful performance on a written comprehensive final examination.
- completion of the degree program in five years. Credit for individual courses taken more than five years before the completion of the program may, in some cases, be validated. Requirements for so doing are set by SLIS Policy Statement #14 "The school will not validate courses taught by another faculty, either within or outside the LSU System".
Basic computer skills are important in the library and information service field. Many courses in the SLIS program assume that students possess familiarity with at least one operating system, one commercial word processor, one common commercial spreadsheet, one web browser, and have the ability to use electronic mail and to search an online library catalog or bibliographic database at a basic level.
Although not required, a thesis may be submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for the master's degree. Maximum credit allowed for the thesis is nine semester hours. Top
Required Courses & Specializations Details
Students must complete all required courses for one of the following specializations: the Library Specialization, the Archives Specialization, or the Information Management Specialization.
Regardless of the specialization completed, all students will receive the MLIS degree, and the total number of credit hours (40) and total number of required course credits (22) remain the same for all specializations. There is a common core of 13 required course credits for all specializations:
LIS 7004, Principles of Management for Librarians and Information Professionals
LIS 7008, Information Technologies
LIS 7011, Information Needs Analysis
LIS 7013, Evaluation of Information Systems
LIS 7901, Issues in Library and Information Science
Three additional courses are required within each career specialization:
| Library Specialization | Archives Specialization | Information Management Specialization |
| 7002, Information Services | 7002, Information Services | 7610, Information Retrieval Systems |
| 7005, Foundations of Library and Information Science | 7005, Foundations of Library and Information Science | 7605, Information Science |
| 7012, Bibliographic Organization and Resource Development | 7408, Principles of Archives Management | 7510, Website Design and Management |
Students are also required to complete one course in information organization and description:
| Library Specialization | Archives Specialization | Information Management Specialization |
| 7606, Abstracting and Indexing OR | 7603, Electronic Description of Archival Materials OR | 7603, Electronic Description of Archival Materials OR |
| 7608, Cataloging and Classification | 7608, Cataloging and Classification | 7606, Abstracting and Indexing OR |
| 7608, Cataloging and Classification |
With the advice of their major professors, students in each specialization also select six elective courses to complete their degree requirements.
Student must be able to attend classes in Baton Rouge to complete the Archives and Information Management Specializations.
For more information on the Archives Specialization, contact Dr. Elizabeth Dow: edow1@lsu.edu
For more information on the Information Management Specialization, contact Dr. Carol Barry: lsbary@lsu.edu
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Transfer and Extension Credit
Up to six semester hours of graduate credit from other universities may be considered for transfer toward the MLIS degree. A student requesting transfer credit must have been enrolled in the graduate school from which the credit is to be transferred. Up to 12 graduate semester hours of credit earned from within the LSU System, but outside the SLIS, may be considered for application toward the MLIS degree. In either case, the hours must be relevant to library and information science, recommended by the student's major professor, and approved by the dean of the Graduate School. The work must have been taken for graduate residence credit and must have been part of an otherwise satisfactory graduate program. Further, Graduate School policy states that no course work older than five years from other schools may be accepted as transfer credit. To petition for acceptance of transfer credit, the student must have completed at least nine hours of graduate residence credit at LSU. No credit will be transferred for courses completed with a grade of "C" or below, or unsatisfactory, or the equivalent. Top
Exemption Exams
By means of written examinations, students may be exempt from some or all required courses. Students who wish to take exemption examinations must inform the dean of the SLIS at least two weeks prior to their first registration in the SLIS. Such exemption does not reduce the 40-hour degree requirement. Top
Graduate Grade-Point Average
A student in the SLIS must maintain a 3.00 grade-point average in library and information science courses, as well as a 3.00 grade-point average on all graduate work. Grades for courses other than those offered by the SLIS and those specifically identified as adjunct courses will not ordinarily contribute to the library and information science grade-point average. A SLIS student who receives a grade of "C" in three library science courses is not eligible for the MLIS degree, regardless of the number of credit hours of "A" and "B" on the student's transcript.
SLIS required courses must be completed with a grade of "A" or "B." A student who makes a "C" in any of these courses must repeat the course during the next semester in which the student is enrolled and the course is offered, and earn a grade of "A" or "B." Top
