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Home – Programs – Career Pathways – Leadership and Management

Leadership and Management

The MLIS program requires 43 units for graduation. Within those units, five courses are required: LIBR 203, LIBR 200, LIBR 202, LIBR 204, LIBR 285, and either LIBR 289 or LIBR 299. Beyond those five courses, a student is free to select electives reflecting individual interests and aspirations.

The Career Pathway described here is provided solely for advising purposes. No special designation appears on your transcript or diploma. All students get an MLIS degree.

Note: The skills, knowledge, and courses outlined in this career pathway are useful in all functions and environments — even if you don't expect to be in a supervisory position in your first job. But it is crucial for all information professionals to appreciate the importance of leadership and management (of both people and information) in all types of organizations, including globally distributed virtual organizations.

Therefore, students may wish to select some courses from this Leadership and Management path to complement or supplement core skills in other areas.

Description

Librarians and information professionals assess the information needs and interests of their communities; design collections, programs and services to address those needs; and assess the impact of those services on the well-being of their communities. These may be learning and teaching communities, research communities, professional communities of practice, and, increasingly, organizations whose knowledge is distributed globally and managed virtually.

It is the role of managers to orchestrate resources, both people and materials, to enable members of these communities to access and make effective use of information and ideas for improved decision-making.

Career Opportunities

Professional librarians may work in highly specialized fields such as information literacy in a university or information technology in a corporation, where they are valued for their deep knowledge and abilities. In other cases, however, graduates assume responsibility for overseeing and managing a small department or branch, assessing needs and training support staff to deliver more routine direct services. This is certainly true of the "solo librarian" found especially in school and corporate libraries, but also of information professionals working in smaller departments in academic libraries and branches in public libraries. Other MLIS graduates manage virtual teams of geographically-distributed individuals who must complete interdependent tasks and share joint responsibility for outcomes.

Management expertise provides a career ladder through the organization that is not based on professional competency alone.

Core Theory and Knowledge

• Communicate effectively with others, including those from diverse backgrounds
• Develop appropriate policies for effective customer service
• Evaluate programs and services
• Manage resources for maximum results
• Market services through understanding user needs and expectations
• Plan strategically for improved services and support to realize organizational goals
• Plan and understand budgets
• Supervise, motivate and assess individuals and groups
• Understand effective advocacy
• Understand the effect of state and national policy on service delivery
• Understand the nature of the organization
• Work effectively in virtual teams

Required Courses:

• LIBR 203 Online Social Networking: Technology and Tools
• LIBR 200 Information and Society
• LIBR 202 Information Retrieval
• LIBR 204 Information Organizations and Management
• LIBR 285 Research Methods in Library and Information Science
• LIBR 289 or LIBR 299 Culminating Experience

Foundation Courses:

• LIBR 282 Seminar in Library Management
  Sections on financial management, grant writing, human resources management, leadership, managing electronic resources, managing change, project management
• LIBR 283 Marketing of Information Products and Services
• LIBR 286 Interpersonal Communication Skills for Librarians

Recommended Courses:

• LIBR 234 Intellectual Freedom Seminar
• LIBR 241 Automated Library Systems
• LIBR 243 Systems Analysis
• LIBR 257 Records Management
• LIBR 266 Collection Management
• LIBR 275 Library Services for Racially and Ethnically Diverse Communities
• LIBR 281 Seminar in Contemporary Issues
  Sections on digital copyright, national information policy, diversity issues in information environments
• LIBR 287 Seminar in Information Science
  Section on the open movement in libraries
• LIBR 294 Professional Experience: Internships

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