Online Master’s Degree in Information Sciences (MS)

The diverse nature of a MSIS degree from UT enables you to take your passion for information, technology, people, and/or libraries in any of hundreds of traditional and nontraditional directions, and can be applied to the setting that most excites you!

Information Science roles generally focus more on working with information as a strategic asset for organizations, ranging from nonprofits to corporations to government agencies and others. There is a wide array of careers in IS, which include data analyst, UX designer, corporate taxonomist, web content analyst, digital archivist, and more.

Library Science (LIS) roles are those found in a variety of settings, including school, public, and academic libraries. Individuals interested in an LIS career track can pursue a variety of positions, including (but not limited to) academic librarian, law librarian, school librarian, data curator, instruction librarian, and emerging technology librarian. Many of these careers require an ALA-accredited Master of Sciences in Information Sciences Degree.

If you love working with people; being part of high-performing teams; organizing information; researching hard-to-find information; and turning technology into solutions, systems, and strategic and actionable results you would excel in an IS career!

A career in information and library sciences may also be a good fit if you’re passionate about contributing to the common good, with some trajectories including working with children and early literacy, helping a community grow and thrive, or working with geographic information to identify patterns and emerging trends for grant-funded programs.

Or perhaps you have always wanted to do scholarly research; transform information into action, whether community-based, social, or political; or work with STEM resources?

Or maybe you are a numbers person at heart, ready to turn data into analytics that drive decisions and outcomes?
The common thread among information and library science careers is working with information. But beyond that, your interests and the skills you choose to develop throughout our IS program will determine what type of work you do.

As you go through the UT information sciences bachelors and/or masters programs you’ll be encouraged to “try out” as many different types of information work as you can to get a good sense of what most engages you. You will want to explore questions like:

• Do you prefer working with people, systems, technology, or data?
• Do you thrive in a team or more solitary environment?
• How do you feel about working with technology?
• Do you prefer a familiar routine or always-changing project work?

Why? Because the universe of information and library science careers offers all these options and more. Consequently, because the work you do and who you might do it for is so diverse, you can easily take your IS career in a new direction should you choose to do so.