MARA or MLIS?
Which degree is right for you?

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1. If you are interested in immersing yourself in a degree program that prepares you to manage organizational information, regardless of storage medium, in a manner that improves efficiency and productivity, ensures regulatory compliance, safeguards vital information, supports management decision making, and preserves corporate memory and collective memory, the MARA degree is right for your career goals.

2. Graduates of the MARA degree demonstrate their professional expertise by seeking individual certification from related professional associations. Each association has specific education and experience requirements that must be met, in addition to the requirement that the candidate pass a qualifying examination. Three of the most directly related certifications are: Certified Archivist (CA), Certified Records Manager (CRM), and Information Governance Professional (IGP).

3. The MARA degree is not accredited by the American Library Association because it contains no library-focused courses. If you want to work with archives and records within a library environment, then the MLIS degree is right for your career goals.

3. Students electing to pursue the MLIS degree can follow the Archival Studies and Records Management career pathway and take up to nine units of credit from the MARA course offerings.

If you’re still unsure, please reach out to Dr. Darra Hofman, MARA program coordinator, to discuss which degree program best suits your needs.