Historical book structures

Joint MA in Library and Information Science and Graduate Certificate in Book Studies, for those interested in Special Collections librarianship.

School of Library and Information Science

Purpose

To prepare students for careers in Special Collections librarianship. (Special collections librarians manage rare book, manuscript, archive and other types of special collections, including graphics, music and ephemera.)

Research libraries report a shortage of qualified applicants for current openings, and anticipate worse shortages as retirement numbers rise over the next few years. The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) has convened a Task Force on Education and Training for Careers in Special Collections. At meetings held on November 12 and 11, 2003, participants made the following points:

Institutions report recruitment difficulties and concern about impending retirements.
Few LIS programs are preparing students for careers in this area; few schools offer in-depth programs for special collections, although students are interested in the field.
As digitization revitalizes interest in special collections there is likely to be growth in the curriculum.
Some recruitment difficulties can be viewed positively as reflecting growth in the nature of special collections jobs (e.g., Head of Public Services within special collections is a new type of position).

We anticipate that initially, about ten to fifteen percent of the incoming SLIS students (five or six) might take the joint MA/Certificate option. We expect this initial figure to rise after the first few years, but that it is unlikely to be more than twenty percent (ten students) of the total annual intake.

Joint Program

To enroll in the joint program, students must be admitted to the MA program of the School of Library and Information Science and to the Graduate Certificate program at the Center for the Book. Taken separately, these two programs require a total of sixty semester hours (36 for the SLIS MA, and 24 for the Book Studies certificate). But for students enrolled in the joint program, up to nine semester hours of study may be applied toward the MA in LIS or to the Book Studies Certificate.

All core requirements for both programs must be met. Students must take at least 27 credits in LIS and 15 credits in Book Studies, as part of the total 51 credits required for the joint program. The remaining nine credits may be taken from either LIS or Book Studies, or from another unit, provided the substitution or transfer of credit is negotiated in advance with the student's advisor in either SLIS or the UICB. To transfer credit from other programs into the joint degree/certificate, the student must follow the rules for transfer or substitution of credit currently in operation at either SLIS or the UICB, depending on the nature of the courses involved.

If a student drops out of the joint program, but stays in either the certificate or master's program, then the normal regulations for that individual program come into effect, including rules for transfer or substitution of credit from other programs.

Curriculum

Taken as a stand alone, the master's degree in Library and Information Science (LIS) requires 36 semester hours of graduate credit with a grade-point average of at least 3.00, and the successful completion of a written and oral comprehensive examination or portfolio. For more information go to the Program Descriptions section of the SLIS website.

The 36 semester hours include 17 earned in required core courses and 19 earned in electives, distributed among four curricular clusters. A thesis option is available for students who wish more research experience.

The UI Center for the Book certificate requires 24 semester hours of coursework in courses numbered 100 and above, which must be taken at the graduate level. At least 6 semester hours must be taken in historical/cultural courses and 6 semester hours in arts & technologies courses. For more information go to: www.uiowa.edu/~ctrbook/programs/requirements.html.

For students entering the Joint Program click here for more information.