Professional PathwaysProfessional PathwaysProfessional Pathways

The MLIS program is designed to prepare library and information professionals to become leaders who implement information justice and equity, community engagement, and technology use in their communities of practice.

In addition to wide-ranging LIS electives, you can align your coursework to your professional goals with one or more of the following professional pathways.

Whether working in a college/university library or a cultural institution such as public library and museum, user services and community engagement is one of the core functions of libraries and cultural institutions of all types. User services librarians have the responsibilities on information literacy training, instructions, references, collection management and outreach to diverse communities to assure equal access to library and information resources.

Data librarians facilitate the management, curation, and preservation of data in a number of professional settings. They can locate data for business or academic use, use statistical methods to understand what stories a dataset tells or organize data for later retrieval. Students interested in the data curation and services pathway will gain knowledge of digital data systems, metadata theory and practices, programming and markup languages, and data services to the communities they serve.

Libraries, archives, and museums (LAM) are central places for the acquisition, organization, management, and dissemination of information and knowledge. Organizing and managing information and knowledge of all types, formats and forms is the core function that supports LAM to achieve their goals and actualize their values.

Libraries strive to be places that facilitate lifelong learning. The urgency for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) learning initiatives in library settings, the proliferation of the makerspace movement and the widespread use of emerging technologies from a young age prove that the role and responsibilities of children’s and young adult librarians go beyond recommending a good read. Networking and marketing are important facets of a Youth Services Librarian’s job, as well as building relationships with parents, caregivers and teachers in the local community.

Modern libraries run on digital data and information systems to provide services anywhere and anytime that require technically savvy librarians to innovate, support and maintain. Digital information systems in libraries and other types of organizations play a key role in making data and metadata findable, accessible, interoperable and usable/reusable. Knowledge and skills in this pathway can lead to jobs not only in non-traditional positions in libraries but also in non-library settings such as corporate and government.

Whether you are conducting research on community profiles for building a new library branch, gathering data and information on emerging trends for a market research, or collecting information about products or companies for compiling competitive intelligence, the skills and knowledge in research methods and data science can go a long way in developing a career as a research librarian.

Learn more about how the online MLIS program and professional pathways can help advance your career.