Information Studies (Graduate Program)

Program Overview

In 1926 LSU began offering summer courses in library science. In 1932 the LSU Board of Supervisors established The Graduate School of Library Science. The name was changed to the School of Library & Information Science in 1981 and the School of Information Studies in 2023. In 2020 the School was officially recognized as a member of the iSchools Consortium. The consortium includes 115 institutions around the globe that share a fundamental interest in the relationships between information, people, and technology.

The School of Information Studies (SIS) offers the only Master of Library & Information Science (MLIS) degree in Louisiana. The MLIS degree has been continuously accredited by the American Library Association since 1932. SIS also offers Graduate Certificates in Archival Studies, Records and Information Management, and School Librarianship. All graduate degrees are offered entirely asynchronously online.

SIS graduates are currently employed as librarians, archivists, project specialists, software developers, webmasters, directors of knowledge management, information architects, web analysts, research coordinators, and document controllers. The organizations in which graduates are employed include public, school, and academic libraries; presidential libraries and museums; archives; private corporations; not-for-profit organizations; and state and federal government departments and offices.

Administration

Admission

Students are admitted for the Fall and Spring semesters. Applications for all graduate study must be submitted through the online applications site for the LSU Graduate School.

Admissions requirements are:

• A conferred baccalaureate (or equivalent) from a regionally accredited college or university by the expected date of entry into the graduate program
• A minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 (“A” = 4.0) or a GPA of 3.0 for the last 64 credit hours in the undergraduate coursework
• A cumulative GPA of 3.0 for all graduate coursework previously taken
• A Statement of Purpose of at least 1000 words that addresses the following:
  • Why do you want to earn this degree?
  • What are your career goals and objectives?
  • How will this degree assist you in achieving those goals and objectives?
• A resume

Applicants who meet these requirements are not asked to submit GRE scores.

Probationary admission may be recommended for an applicant who fails to meet the necessary admission requirements but who is judged by the director and the faculty to show promise for successful graduate work. Additional requirements for probationary admission are:

• A grade-point average of at least 2.75 (“A”= 4.0) on the final 64 hours (half degree requirement) of undergraduate work and 3.0 on any graduate-level work previously taken. Applicants with a GPA of less than 2.75 for the final 64 hours of undergraduate work must have completed a minimum of nine hours of graduate work with at least a 3.33 GPA to be considered for probationary admission
• Official GRE scores (Verbal, Quantitative, and Analytical Writing) no more than five years old of at least 300 composite and 3.5 writing. Other standardized graduate admissions exams will be considered (GMAT, MAT, LSAT, etc.)
• The Statement of Purpose must address the reasons for prior lack of achievement and reasons the applicant believes he/she/they would succeed in the program

Financial Assistance

See Financial Aid & Scholarships for details about scholarships and assistantships for MLIS students, including application forms and deadlines.

Graduate Faculty

(check current faculty listings by department here)

Carol L. Barry (7M) • Information retrieval, relevance, library automation, abstracting and indexing
Edward Albert Benoit III (7M) • Archival access, participatory & community archives, archival education, and digital collections
Bert Boyce (EM)
Alma Dawson (EM) 
Tao Jin (7M) • Competitive intelligence, knowledge management
Boryung Ju (M) • Human-computer interaction, knowledge management
Patsy Perritt (EM)
Suzanne Stauffer (M) • Print culture, history of children’s services in public libraries and school libraries, librarianship as a profession, education for librarianship, gender issues in librarianship
Jamene Brenton Stewart (7M) • Cataloging
Yejun Wu (7M) • Information retrieval systems, digital libraries, knowledge organization
Seungwon Yang (6A) • Information archiving, analysis and visualization; digital libraries and information systems; information retrieval

Programs

• Archival Studies Graduate Certificate
• Records and Information Management Graduate Certificate
• School Librarianship Graduate Certificate

• Library & Information Science, M.L.I.S.