undergradly.
Major · Library Science

Build the skills librarians use — but know the MLIS is usually the real entry credential

Library and Information Science at the undergraduate level teaches how information collections are built, organized, stored, and served across print, audiovisual, and digital formats. Bachelor's and associate's options exist, but the field's professional entry point is typically a master's degree. About 123 degrees are awarded annually across 15 colleges, with bachelor's completers reporting median five-year earnings of $33,809.

Schools offering
15
Annual completions
123
Typical degree level
Associate's + Bachelor's
Median earnings (5yr)
$34k

About this major

Library and Information Science focuses on how collections of information — print, audiovisual, and networked digital — are built, organized, stored, described, retrieved, and served to the people who need them. The CIP definition frames the major as preparation for professional service as librarians and information consultants, but the honest picture at the undergraduate level is that most professional librarian roles require an ALA-accredited master's (the MLIS) rather than a bachelor's. The undergraduate curriculum is best understood as foundational: cataloging and classification, reference services, information behavior, metadata, collection development, and the administration of libraries and information centers, typically paired with a practicum.

The major tends to fit students who think in structures — taxonomies, hierarchies, metadata schemas — and who care about the difference between finding something and finding the right something. It also fits students who want to work at the intersection of people and information: helping a patron clarify what they're really looking for is a skill the curriculum takes seriously. Interest in preservation, access policy, and the quiet ethics of who gets to see what information are recurring themes.

The undergraduate footprint is small. About 123 degrees are awarded annually across only 15 colleges, split between associate's and bachelor's programs. Top feeders include University of Southern Mississippi (38 bachelor's completions), University of Maine at Augusta (30), and University of Nebraska at Omaha (17). Career destinations in the data span librarians and media collections specialists ($64,320 BLS median, master's typical), library science teachers at the postsecondary level ($78,630, doctoral typical), and a broader "managers, all other" category ($136,550 BLS median) that captures information-management roles in non-library settings where a bachelor's is often sufficient.

Section 3 · Careers

Where this major leads

Occupations most often associated with this major, from the federal BLS+O*NET crosswalk. Job-growth projections and median wages are national.

Occupation Median wage Job growth Typical education
Managers, all other $137k +4.5% Bachelor's degree
Librarians and media collections specialists $64k +1.7% Master's degree
Library science teachers, postsecondary $79k +3.0% Doctoral or professional degree
Section 4 · Earnings

Earnings at a glance

Median graduate earnings from the federal College Scorecard, 5 and 10 years out.

Median 5-year earnings

$34k

Who this major is for

You may thrive here if you find organizing and surfacing information genuinely satisfying, if you enjoy the puzzle of building a taxonomy or metadata schema that lets strangers find what they need, if you're drawn to a future in libraries, archives, museums, schools, or corporate information centers and willing to plan for graduate school to formalize that path, if you appreciate quiet and methodical work over high-visibility competition, and if you can accept modest early-career earnings — $33,809 median at five years for bachelor's completers — as an entry-point rather than a ceiling.

Think twice if you want a clean professional-credential path with only a bachelor's: the credentialed librarian role, with its $64,320 BLS median, typically requires an MLIS on top of any undergraduate degree, and you can reach an MLIS from almost any major. Think twice if you want strong undergraduate labor-market signal in itself — with 123 annual completions across 15 colleges and slow 1.7% projected librarian growth, the bachelor's alone carries less market recognition than adjacent fields like Information Science/Studies (10,334 annual completions), which covers overlapping territory with broader tech-industry applicability. Think twice if the library's public-service atmosphere is what attracts you but day-to-day procedural work on cataloging and metadata doesn't — the operational reality is detail-heavy systems work, not curating reading lists.

Section 6 · Where to study

Top colleges for Library and Information Science

Ranked by annual completions at the associate's or bachelor's level — a proxy for program scale.

College Location Assoc. Bach. Total
University of Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg, MS 0 38 38
University of Maine at Augusta Augusta, ME 0 30 30
University of Nebraska at Omaha Omaha, NE 0 17 17
Ashford University San Diego, CA 0 11 11
Southern Connecticut State University New Haven, CT 0 10 10
Chippewa Valley Technical College Eau Claire, WI 8 0 8
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania Kutztown, PA 0 4 4
College of Southern Idaho Twin Falls, ID 3 0 3
Pueblo Community College Pueblo, CO 1 0 1
Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College Perkinston, MS 1 0 1
Section 7 · Explore sideways

Related majors to explore

Information Science/Studies

10,334 completions/yr

Geographic Information Science and Cartography

796 completions/yr

Library and Archives Assisting

161 completions/yr

Library Science, Other

3 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

What do Library and Information Science majors actually study day-to-day?
The curriculum covers how information is acquired, organized, stored, retrieved, and delivered across formats — print, audiovisual, and networked digital collections. Students take courses in cataloging and classification, reference services, information behavior, collection development, metadata standards, and the administration of libraries and information centers. Many programs include coursework in database structures, user-experience design for discovery tools, and the legal and ethical landscape around access and privacy. Most programs require a practicum or capstone project in a real library or information center.
Do I need a bachelor's, or is an associate's enough for library work?
It depends which role you're aiming at. For paraprofessional library technician work, the BLS typical education is a postsecondary nondegree award, and either the associate's or bachelor's in this major exceeds that threshold — median five-year earnings for bachelor's completers run $33,809. For the credentialed librarian occupation (median wage $64,320), BLS lists a master's degree as typical education — specifically an MLIS from an ALA-accredited program. That means this bachelor's is best understood as a foundation for an MLIS rather than a terminal professional credential.
What kinds of jobs do Library and Information Science graduates end up in?
Three broad destinations appear in the data. Librarians and media collections specialists is the most natural professional fit, with a BLS median wage of $64,320 — but that occupation typically requires a master's. Library science teachers at the postsecondary level run $78,630 but require a doctoral degree. A broader "managers, all other" category shows a $136,550 median for roles that leverage information-management skills in corporate, government, or nonprofit settings where a bachelor's is often sufficient. Many graduates also work as library technicians, archivists, or in records and knowledge management.
How competitive is the job market for this major?
The credentialed librarian occupation shows slow BLS-projected growth of 1.7% — positive but well below average. The supply side is small: only about 123 degrees are awarded annually across 15 colleges at the undergraduate level, but national MLIS output adds thousands of graduate-level candidates competing for the same librarian roles. That means undergraduate-level completers often face a crowded market for professional positions unless they go on to graduate school. The adjacent paths — information and records management in non-library settings — are less saturated and often more lucrative, but require framing the degree as an information-management credential rather than a library credential.
What if I really want to be a librarian?
Plan for graduate school. Librarian roles almost universally require a master's from an ALA-accredited program — the MLIS — and the BLS median wage of $64,320 reflects that credential. This bachelor's is a reasonable on-ramp: you'll arrive at a master's program with foundations in cataloging, reference, collection development, and information systems that many peers lack. But you can also reach the MLIS from almost any undergraduate major, so the specific LIS bachelor's isn't required. The associate's and bachelor's programs in this field are small — 123 combined completions nationally — because most future librarians route through other undergraduate majors first.
What's a common next step after a Library and Information Science bachelor's?
The three common paths are: pursue an MLIS master's to become a credentialed librarian, enter the paraprofessional workforce as a library technician or archivist while deciding about graduate school, or pivot into adjacent information-management roles in corporate, legal, or government settings where the skills in metadata, taxonomy, and discovery transfer. The "managers, all other" occupation captures many of these adjacent paths at a $136,550 BLS median — though that ceiling typically requires years of experience and is not representative of a first job. The earnings signal for the bachelor's itself — $33,809 at five years — reflects that most graduates are either early-career paraprofessionals or still in graduate school.