See our Exit Requirements page for more details.

All required courses (LIS 600, 601, 602, and 603, and an IT elective) are offered each Fall and Spring semesters, and two of the four core courses are offered on an alternating basis in Summer term. Since elective courses are offered on a rotating schedule,  students need to pay particular attention to the timing of the courses they need and their related prerequisites when preparing their course plan.

Occasionally a student may need to take time off from their studies for personal reasons (medical, etc.). If this is the case for you, you will need to request a leave of absence for the semester you need to sit out. Please contact Student Affairs if this is something you are seeking to do as we will need to assist you with gaining approval from the UK Graduate School to do so. You should also notify your adviser. Students who miss one or more semesters without a leave of absence must apply for re-admission, so please contact us as soon as possible if you believe you may need to request a leave of absence.

Disclaimer: it appears our student FAQ is picked up by search engines when leave of absence and the University's name is searched, and we have received inquiries from graduate and undergraduate students outside the School/College about medical and other leave requests. Please know this FAQ is meant solely for our master's students (ICT, Library Science), and you should contact the program representatives for your degree's department/College if you need assistance. Please do not contact our unit's Student Affairs representative or provide personal information to us. Thank you.

The academic concentration areas here (with the exception of the School Librarian Program) are suggested courses to take based on your area of interest and are not specialized degree programs themselves, although we encourage students to pursue additional certification(s) in their field of interest should they find it beneficial to do so. The degree you will receive is the Master's of Science in Library Science (MSLS).

You must apply for federal student aid for every school year that you attend (info from FAFSA.gov).  Financial aid's contact info as well as information about FAFSA at UK is available here. If you have specific questions, you should definitely contact them directly and as early on as possible.

For tuition and account inquiries, you'll need to speak to Student Account Services (contact info at link) for the university. You will first want to set up a myPasscode in myUK (Student Services-->myInfo) to obtain permission for them to release/discuss your financial info via email or phone. They should be able to assist you with tuition payment. We don't handle any financial information at the academic department level.

Link Blue refers to the basic login information you will use to access campus-wide systems. You will use your Link Blue information to login to myUK, where you will register for classes, view your grades and financial information, and access other student services. You should have received your Link Blue (User ID) information from the Graduate School. If not, please allow 7-10 working days from your admission date. Oftentimes because your admissions letter is electronic, students find it has gone into their spam folder by mistake. You can access it through ApplyYourself if you don't see it in your email inbox.

If you need help activating any of your UK accounts, check out UK's Help Wiki. If you are still unable to access your account, contact the IT department at 859-218-4357 or by visiting UK ITS. They provide technology services and support for the university and can help you with determining the a password or resetting yours if needed.  Please let us know if you need assistance in the meantime with classes/course registration.

Upon admission into the LIS program, you received a welcome email which includes your advisor and his or her contact information.

Registration takes place on myUK under Student Services >> Registration. To look up courses, click on the appropriate semester and enter the course number (ie, LIS 603). To view all courses offered by SIS for the semester you're registering for, simply search for LIS.

Start dates depend on the year and semester in question. The Office of the Registrar maintains a page listing the Academic Calendar for the current and upcoming academic year.

Students may complete the degree online or with a mix of online and some face-to-face classes: the degree may be completed fully online. Face-to-face classes may not be available each semester, so it is important to check the schedules for each semester when planning your registration.

The school listserv is where we send out program updates, portfolio and graduation info, and much more, so students really should subscribe to the listserv. We also get job posts on the SIS email listserv all the time, and there's no shortage of internship and practicum possibilities.
If you aren't already subscribed to the listserv, here is how: Send a one-time email to UK's listserv administrator at: listserv@lsv.uky.edu. Be sure to send it from the email address where you want to receive/ post messages to the school's list. Leave the subject line blank.
On a single line in the body type the following: "SUBSCRIBE SLIS Firstname Lastname"  (where you would enter you first and last name, of course). You should then receive an email verifying that you have been added.
Want to unsubscribe? Same process, only type "SIGNOFF SLIS" in the body without anything after it.

Current textbook information can be found on the UK Bookstore website (note: students are not required to purchase texts from the bookstore). Required texts are also noted in the syllabus for each course. Books can be purchased at one of many bookstores on or around campus, or online.

Yes. please see the Student Organizations resource page.

To find out about libraries in your area, consult WorldCat’s Library Locator page. Finding out what types of libraries are in your vicinity will help you get started. Depending on what type of library you wish to work in (types are listed in the results), you may want to contact directors or volunteer coordinators to find out about how you can get involved on your own or via a Practicum (LIS 672)  or Independent Study (LIS 695) course.