Master of Arts
Library & Information Science
Accredited program by the American Library Association that will prepare you for careers in libraries, museums, and archives as well as government and business information centers.
About the Program
Our M.A. in Library and Information Science is the only accredited program by the American Library Association in Arizona. The program focuses on information organization, digital information, health sciences, law, and culture.
The degree offers flexible options for students, including on-campus courses and a fully-online program.
Concentration Areas
Our curriculum reflects the diversity of library and information environments. It touches the areas where students will eventually work and the populations they will serve. It covers various disciplines, ethics, and values of library and information science augmented by an interdisciplinary approach to knowledge and information. Depending on your career interests, you can concentrate your coursework in several different areas:
- Academic Librarianship
- Archival Studies
- Digital Information Management
- Law Librarianship
- Legal Information and Scholarly Communication
- Medical and Community Health Information
- Public Librarianship
- Special Librarianship
Many of our concentrations are also available as graduate certificates.
Learn more about Concentration Areas
Career Pathways
We prepare students for professional opportunities in a wide variety of environments, including libraries, archives, publishing, the corporate sector, Internet, and other technology companies. Possibilities include:
- Public librarian
- Academic librarian
- Library manager
- Copyright specialist
- Legal librarian
- Information architect
- Metadata specialist
- Archivist
- Health information specialist
- Digital repository specialist
Progress to the Ph.D. Program
M.A. graduates with strong research interests are encouraged to apply to the Ph.D. program. Admission requirements are the same as the other candidates, but M.A. graduates may be able to waive certain courses.
Advising Resources
These additional resources are designed to orient students to the M.A. in Library and Information Science program and provide helpful details about requirements for current students.
- M.A. Four Year Course Rotation (Excel file)
- General Advising Information
- Curriculum and Coursework (Spring 2018 and forward)
- Academic Progress & Policies
- Plan of Study
- Internship Information for M.A. LIS Students
- Introduction to D2L
- Discussion of M.A. ePortfolio Process
- Playlist of short videos demonstrating the D2L Brightspace learning environment
- Requirements for MA students admitted Fall 2019 and later
- Requirements for MA students admitted Spring 2018 through Summer 2019