Do You Need a Master's to Work in a Library? – Librarian Career Guide

As a librarian, you're finding information and organizing and synthesizing it. Your responsibilities could include collection development, cataloging, education, and more.

MLIS programs can focus on information organization, digital information, health sciences, law, and culture, to name a few. Depending on your career interests, library sciences can offer specific foci to specialize in, including archival studies, law librarianship, digital information management, medical and community health information, and more.

So why do you need a master's to be a librarian?

Even if an information professional specializes in one aspect of librarianship, many librarians are expected to have a general knowledge of all aspects of the field. That's where an MLIS prepares you for any responsibilities you might assume as a librarian. 

Additionally, earning a master's in library sciences could broaden career opportunities beyond libraries, museums, archives, government, and business information centers. Information and data technology and database development are just a few topics studied in-depth in an MLIS program and are desirable and valuable skill sets in other information intelligence fields.