Academics:  Master of Library and Information Science

Although some law librarian positions require only a JD degree, the vast majority require an MLIS degree or dual JD and MLIS degrees. Currently, 85% of those working as law librarians have a graduate degree in library science and most jobs require a master’s degree in library science from an American Library Association–accredited institution. Nearly 30% of all law librarians also have a JD or LLB degree. In a 1999 survey of requirements for available law librarian jobs, an MLIS was required for 47% of jobs posted, dual JD and MLIS degrees were required for 38%, and a stand-alone JD degree was required for only 2% of the positions. In addition, law school accreditation requirements demand that the director of an academic law library hold dual JD and MLIS degrees. Many academic institutions also require that their legal reference librarians hold both degrees.

The transition from lawyer to librarian is not a painful process for most law librarianship students. However, those who weather this change well are prepared for it. That is, they have read everything they can find about the profession of law librarianship, and they have talked to law librarians in the field. Check out this article on how lawyers who become law librarians make the transition: Greenfield, E. (2004, Dec.). Looking for law in all the right places (PDF). AALL Spectrum, 9(3), pp. 8-9, 28.

International students without an American J.D. degree should register for the regular MLIS degree (63 credit) program. As part of that program, the student can then register for all of the law librarianship courses offered (except LIS 595) in order to gain the necessary expertise in law librarianship.

Entrants into the program often have very little prior library experience. Although we encourage applicants with any kind of library experience, the intern program offers students the opportunity to obtain law library experience in both technical and reference services while completing the MLIS coursework. We believe it is important for students to experience working in law libraries so they will be well informed about the profession.

Approximately 240 students are in the overall MLIS program. The number of students in the law librarianship program averages five to seven but has ranged in past years from two to thirteen. All students in the law librarianship program take their classes together as a group. The law librarianship students join the general MLIS students for the MLIS core curriculum courses and are joined by UW law students in the legal research courses.

Most MLIS programs offer at least a legal research or law library administration class. A few schools, for example, University of Arizona, Catholic University of America, State University of New York at Buffalo, Emporia State University, and the University of North Texas offer 2 or more courses in law librarianship. Only the University of Washington offers 21 credit hours of classes that are specialized in law librarianship. For a full list of schools that offer law librarianship courses, see the AALL Task Force To Enhance Law Librarianship Education.

Through the coursework and the internship component of the Law Librarianship program, you will gain a combination of general library and information science and law-specific competencies. The core curriculum will also introduce you to the principle theories of the field of library and information science. General competencies to be gained include reference and research services, library management, collection management and organization, and classification. Subject competencies to be gained include an in-depth understanding of the legal system, law-specific research skills, and knowledge of legal literature.

Because the program is accelerated, it is rigorous and very time consuming. A few students have audited or taken classes in addition to the program requirements or have worked up to 20 hours a week while doing the program. It is strongly recommended, however, that a student work no more than 10 hours a week.

No. You will learn all required skills and competencies in one year—but it is a very full year! At the end of the program, you will earn the same MLIS degree as students in the 63-credit program and so will be qualified for any career that requires an MLIS degree. Because the program is accelerated, it is a planned program and the 44 quarter credit hours required to complete the law MLIS program do not include any elective credit hours. Although the program is intensive, students can always take additional courses such as Catalogs, Cataloging, and Classification; Government Publications; or Business Information Resources.

This program was originally designed to educate lawyers who wanted to become law library directors. However, the program does provide all of the core competencies required for all types of librarian positions in any type of library. If you are interested in technical services and would like to take a large number of courses outside the requirements for the law librarianship program, you may wish to consider taking an extra quarter or two or doing the 63-credit regular MLIS program.

Law librarians should know legal research inside and out and must know more than law students or attorneys. As a law librarian, you will be teaching others to do legal research, and so you will need to know how to research and how to use its tools categorically. Rarely do entrants into the program possess these types of skills. The legal research classes required as part of the law librarianship program are broad and in-depth and will teach you the latest legal research tools and methods.

It is true that officials will not release LSAT scores to the University of Washington’s Information School. Therefore, to meet this requirement, you must (1) submit a copy of your LSAT report results with your application, and before matriculation, (2) a letter from your law school’s registrar attesting to your LSAT score. Finally, no LSAT score is too old.

It makes great sense to take the bar exam after you finish your law degree, while the information is fresh and a bar review course would be easier. Although bar membership is not required for law librarians, it would be useful if you want to serve on bar committees. Taking the bar exam later would be much more difficult.

Many students come to the program after having worked as lawyers for some period of time. Of the students right out of law school who come to the program, we estimate about 50% are members of the bar.

The American Association of Law Libraries offers a lot of information about the kind of work law librarians do as well as current jobs listings. Looking at jobs that are posted will show you the types of organizations hiring and job descriptions and requirements. Our local law librarians association called the Law Librarians of Puget Sound (LLOPS) has membership forms and information about a listserv that posts job announcements. LLOPS meets once a month and is happy to have new members and people interested in the profession.

The market is very robust with lots of jobs all over the country in academic, firm, county and court law libraries. Placement of our graduates has been 100% within three months of graduation for years. Most academic jobs have at least a small teaching component, and some have a major commitment (for example, reference librarians at Creighton University Law Library teach sections of first -year research and writing courses). Even jobs in firm and government law libraries have a significant teaching and training component.

Entry-level salaries were $48,000 to $65,000 (USD) in Summer 2006 for academic law library jobs. However, the range depends on the area of the country. See the AALL Biennial Salary Survey online and at Gallagher Law Library classified stacks (Call # Z675.L2 S34).

The Law Librarianship program is a state-supported program and follows the tuition structure defined by the State of Washington. The Information School charges tuition at Tier III, because of the higher technology resources we provide. View more information on tuition and related fees.

Yes. We offer a graduate assistantship. The recipient of the assistantship works 20 hours/week (partly as a research assistant and partly as an intern in our law library), attends classes full time, and receives a monthly stipend, paid medical insurance, and full tuition waiver.

In addition, the AALL and SLA both offer scholarships for people who want to earn their library degree.

Learn more about admission requirements and the application process. The same application is used for all MLIS programs.