MLIS Course Planner
Three graduate courses (9 credit hours) are equal to a full-time load for graduate students in the MLIS program.
Members of the MLIS faculty recommend a course load of no more than 2 courses at a time (6 credit hours) for students with full-time jobs and no more than 3 courses (9 credit hours) at a time for students not working.
Factors that make a student a better-than-average candidate for large course loads include strong motivation to graduate in less than seven semesters;
minimal responsibilities or plans outside work and school; and workplace flexibility that allows curtailing work during heavy school weeks.
If you are entering the MLIS program on probation, the maximum course load is 6 semester hours in your first semester. To take a course load in excess of 6 semester hours in that first term, you need permission from your advisor and the program director. This is an MLIS policy.
The standard for time spent on a 3-hour graduate course during a standard-length semester is 12 hours per week. This means that to take a course, you must be willing and able to allocate up to 12 hours per week on it if need be. Plan your course load knowing that 12 hours per week per course is what your instructors have a right to expect.
If you are under no time imperative to complete the 39-hour MLIS degree, a 7-semester timeframe will assure you the best choices of courses. See the Course Sequencing section for further recommendations.
All students entering the VSU MLIS program must take MLIS 7000, Foundations of Library and Information Science, as the first course.
MLIS 7800, Capstone, is taken in the last semester.
New students who want to take a second core course with MLIS 7000 should consider:
MLIS 7200 Management of Libraries and Information Centers
MLIS 7300 Cataloging and Classification
Core courses that have intensive requirements in reading, research, and writing and should be scheduled later in your program of study are:
MLIS 7100 Information Sources and Services
MLIS 7700 Research Methods
Read the syllabus for any course you are considering taking. The Syllabi page is online at http://www.valdosta.edu/mlis/syllabi.shtml. You should avoid taking two or more elective courses together that have intensive requirements combining reading, research, writing, or technology. You should also avoid scheduling an intensive elective course with MLIS 7100 or MLIS 7700.
Examples of student enrollment patterns:
- Students starting with no time imperative to finish the program:
- First semester: MLIS 7000
- Second semester: MLIS 7200 or 7300 + 1 elective
- Third semester: MLIS 7200 or 7300 + 1 elective
- Students who wish to finish the program within 6-7 semesters:
- First semester: MLIS 7000 + MLIS 7200 or 7300
- Second semester: MLIS 7200 or 7300 + 1 elective
- Third semester: MLIS 7100 + 1 elective
The following elective courses are particularly well-suited to the needs of new students:
MLIS 7360 Indexing and Abstracting (offered in alternating Fall semesters)
MLIS 7370 Information Architecture (offered in Spring)
MLIS 7500 Computer Applications for Information Professionals (offered in Spring)
MLIS 7610 Information Policy
MLIS 7650 Information and Ethics
Dual Program Course Sequence (51 credit hrs.)
- This program prepares students to work with children or teens in school or public libraries.
- The Dual Program is based on a 10-semester course sequence consisting of 17 courses.
- You must declare your interest in this program upon entry into the MLIS degree program.
- At the end of your first year in the MLIS program, you must apply as a non-degree student to the IT program.
- Declaration of interest in the Dual Program does not guarantee your acceptance into the IT program.
- You must commit to a Program of Study that allocates all elective courses to Dual Program requirements.
Required course sequence for the Dual Program:
First Fall-Spring terms: MLIS 7000, MLIS 7300, either MLIS 7420 or 7421, and either ITED 7300 or CIED 7060.
First summer term: ITED 7201 (offered in Summer only; face-to-face requirements included).
Second Fall-Spring terms: MLIS 7100, MLIS 7200, ITED 7203, and either ITED 7300 or CIED 7060.
Second summer term: Limited to required ITED courses or approved MLIS electives*.
Third Fall-Spring terms: SPEC 3000, MLIS 7550, MLIS 7700, complete approved MLIS electives*.
(If you have a current Georgia teaching certificate, you may exempt SPEC 3000.)
Final semesters: MLIS 7800 either preceded or followed by ITED 7299+ (school media internship).
* Approved MLIS electives: MLIS 7220 (Public Libraries), MLIS 7422 (Children’s Programming), one of your choosing.
+ ITED 7999 may not be scheduled in the same semester as MLIS 7800. Both courses have face-to-face meetings.