Admission Requirements
A graduate student in the School of Library and Information Science must meet the general requirements for admission to the university graduate program as outlined elsewhere in this Bulletin. Application forms for admission to the graduate program must be submitted to the Graduate School Admissions Office of the university.
Applications for admission are evaluated by a combination of the following criteria:
Undergraduate Record - Recently, students qualifying for regular admission to the master’s program have had a 3.0 (4.0 scale) grade point average for the last two years of undergraduate study. For conditional admission, the School of Library and Information Science adheres to the policies of the Graduate School as stated in this Bulletin.
Graduate Record Examination - The student must submit official GRE scores for verbal, quantitative, and written analytical sections.
Letters of Recommendation - Three letters of recommendation by professionals in the field assessing the readiness of the applicant for graduate work must be submitted with the application.
SLIS Application - The school requires the submission of an application.
Personal Interviews - Personal interviews with applicants will be conducted whenever possible but are not required.
Letter of Application - Letter of application discussing the development of the student’s interest in library and information science, the types of libraries they are interested in and statements about the student’s potential contributions to the field; a minimum of 1,000 words is required.
Resumé
Applications are submitted online through the Graduate School.
Candidates for the Master of Library and Information Science (M.L.I.S.) degree must earn a minimum of forty (40) semester hours of credit with a 3.0 cumulative GPA. Eighteen (18) of these hours must be at the 600 level of courses. As many as six (6) hours may be selected from the offerings of other departments within the university with approval of the director. A total of no more than six (6) semester hours of transfer work may be applied toward the degree. A total of no more than nine (9) semester hours of combined transfer work and nondegree work may be applied toward the degree. Students must pass a comprehensive exam and complete a master’s proposal and project (LIS 695 ) and have a 3.0 GPA with no more than one “C” or lower to graduate. Some specified courses cannot have less than a “B”.
The program of study for students will be individualized, taking into consideration previous academic backgrounds, experience, and career objectives. All programs of study must be planned with the counsel of a faculty adviser and approved by the director of the School of Library and Information Science.
Continuous Enrollment Requirement: Students must meet the requirements specified in the front section of this Bulletin for continuous enrollment.
Plan of Study. Students must submit their signed, official Plan of Study form to the Graduate School by the end of the first semester they are enrolled. The Plan of Study forms are available at www.usm.edu/graduateschool/planofstudy.php.
Research and Scholarly Integrity Education
All faculty holding Regular or Associate graduate faculty status, must complete CITI training modules required by the Graduate School and their departments. All graduate students must complete the CITI training modules required by the Graduate School and their departments the first semester they are enrolled in graduate school. The RSIE policy and training information are found on the Graduate School web page –www.usm.edu/graduate-school. Contact the Dean of the Graduate School if you have any questions regarding the policy of training information.
