Academic Catalog

Library and Information Science and Public History (M.A.P.H./M.L.I.S. Joint Degree)

Students in this joint program will earn both the MAPH and an MLIS degree. Graduates of the program benefit from the joint preparation in public history and library and information science and increase their potential for finding employment in either field. Students are prepared to enter a new workforce with the skills to appraise and describe historical records, create and maintain websites, preserve electronic documents, and communicate with a public audience. Upon successful completion of this program students will be prepared for employment in a wide range of settings, including libraries, archives, museums, state and federal agencies, and the private sector.

Public history is applied history, and the MAPH leads to employment in occupations as diverse as museum work, library and archival research, public policy analysis, documentary filmmaking, state and national parks, and tourism. Public historians provide an essential service by making historical scholarship accessible to a broad public audience. Libraries, archives, and other institutions that hire information management professionals increasingly seek employees who can communicate with broad public audiences about their collections and holdings, and who can create exhibits and public programming. The MAPH/MLIS joint degree program responds to the changing professional expectations for librarians and archivists.

Applicants to this program must be admitted to both the School of Information Sciences and Department of History MAPH program.

Students complete a minimum of 55 credits total for both degrees (14 hours are double-counted). For the MAPH degree, students complete 33 hours of MAPH credits, inclusive of 8 hours of INF credits that will also count toward the student's MLIS degree. In SIS, students complete 30 hours of LIS credits and 6 hours of History credits, for a total of 36 credits. The History credits would also count toward the student's MAPH electives.

Requirements: Library and Information Science

The MLIS degree requires 36 credits (including 6 credits of HIS courses).

INF 6010Foundations of the Information Professions3
INF 6080Fundamentals of Information Technology3
INF 6120Access to Information3
INF 6210Organization of Information3
INF 7040Management and Leadership3
INF 7996Research for the Information Professions3
INF course electives - Students should use INF electives to fulfill the MAPH methodology and public history elective requirements.12
HIS course electives6
Total Credits36

Requirements: Public History

The MAPH degree requires 33 credits (Including 8 credits of INF courses). The course work includes 15 credits in core coursework, and 18 credits of MAPH Track requirements.

Core courses

HIS 7835Public History3
HIS 7855Memory and History3
HIS 7998Internship in Public History3
HIS 7999Master's Essay Direction3
INF 7710Archival Administration3
or INF 7740 Archives and Libraries in the Digital World
or INF 7770 Oral History: A Methodology for Research
Total Credits15

MAPH Track Requirements

Core course3
History seminar3
History electives6
Public History electives - students in the joint MAPH/MLIS program must select two from among a variety of INF elective courses, including:6
Advanced Web Development
Archival Administration
Administration of Audio Visual Collections
Archives and Libraries in the Digital World
Oral History: A Methodology for Research
Description and Access for Archives
Cultural Heritage Institutions: Management and Leadership
Total Credits18
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