和中国大学不一样，美国大学很少设立图书馆专业本科。美国大学的图书馆专业Library Science或信息科学专业infromation science一般是研究生学位。入学申请一般需要你具有非图书馆或信息科学专业的本科专业背景比如数学，物理，生命科学等。根据你将来职业的规划，有些专业的图书馆员比如医学法律则需要你在读图书馆专业前必须完成医学博士MD或法学博士学位JD。这样你才可能成为医学图书馆员或法律图书馆员。想想也是很正常，如果你不懂医学法律怎么可能为医学法律专业人士提供咨询服务？看具体学校和职位的要求，比如有些学校要求acdemic librarian
必须要有第二个非图书馆专业的硕士学位或博士学位以满足library faculty status或tenure track的要求。有些商学院图书馆要求馆员有MBA学位。具体要求不一样。但图书馆硕士学位是必须的。
美国的图书馆学院或信息科学学院一般设有几个专业方向。比如图书馆专业，档案专业，商业数据分析等等。我的母校麦基尔大学信息科学研究生院设有硕士学位和博士学位。硕士学位（MLS）培养专业的图书馆员或信息科学分析师等等职业人员。MLS或MIS（Master of Information Studies，本文为了叙说简单，统称MLS ）是北美图书馆员（librarian）的最终学位（terminal degree）。MLS不同于一般的硕士学位。等同于艺术表演类的MFA（Master of Fine Arts,艺术表演的最终学位）。根据美国大学与研究型图书馆学会的定义和声明。MLS是academic librarian
的terminal degree。http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/statementterminal
Statement on the Terminal Professional Degree for Academic Librarians
Approved as policy by the Board of Directors of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association, on January 23, 1975. Reaffirmed by the ACRL Board of Directors, June, 2001 and June, 2007.Modified and reaffirmed by the ACRL Board of Directors at the Spring Executive Committee Meeting, May 11, 2011.
The master's degree from a program accredited by the American Library Association or from a program in a country with a formal accreditation process as identified by ALA’s Human Resource Development and Recruitment Office is the appropriate terminal professional degree for academic librarians.
博士学位则培养图书馆学院或信息科学学院的教师（teaching faculty）。
在北美，librarian必须有MLS学位。否则即使你拥有其他专业研究生学位比如博士学位硕士学位，没有MLS不能做librarian。这就是为啥有了医学法学文学博士学位如果你想做librarian还必须读MLS。馆长职位除了MLS必须外，研究型大学的馆长一般要求你具有非图书馆专业的博士学位。我以前在耶鲁大学工作时当时的馆长是牛津大学一个学院的院长职位上过来的。图书馆馆长一般是vice provost。provost是大学仅次于校长（president）的职位。相当中国的主管学术的常务副校长。
以我母校为例，硕士学位分为两种：
Master of Information Studies (Non-thesis)
Master of Information Studies (Non-thesis) - Project. Includes an 18-credit research project component.
是48个学分的program。区别是有project的含18个学分的研究项目。培养学生的研究能力。要写一份类似论文的研究报告。北美图书馆员属于和医生，律师一类的职业教育professional
studies， 所以很注重实践和应用。培训课程很多是实用性的。博士课程则培养学生的研究能力。
在北美图书馆硕士专业教育（MLS）必须接受行业协会的论证（accreditation) 。博士学位则不一定。可以是自己学校的adhoc专业，也可以通过州和省的论证。受过论证的图书馆学院叫accredited school。目前全北美有大约六十个ischool的MLS接受过美国图书馆学会组织的论证。包括七个加拿大大学两个波多黎各大学。列表如下：
http://www.ala.org/educationcareers/accreditedprograms/directory/alphalist
所以想要到北美留学的学生可以参照此表。因为accredited MLS是成为北美图书馆员（librarian）的唯一必要条件。librarian在北美是一种职位，不是一个专业名称。比如你是医学馆员，叫medical librarian, 依次类推，有science librarian, technical service librarian, reference librarian, law librarian, systems librarian, electronic service librarian等等。
有的学校馆长叫unievrsity librarian,一般直接向provost汇报。州馆馆长叫State Librarian一般向州务卿Secreatary of State汇报。市馆馆长叫City Librarian,一般直接向市长汇报。美国国会图书馆则相当于中国的国家图书馆。馆长The Librarian of Congress由美国总统直接任命。
如果你看http://joblist.ala.org 的招聘职位，除了图书馆与信息科学学院的教授必须要有图书馆或信息科学专业的博士学位外，其他librarian职位的唯一必要条件就是ALA accredited MLS。所以这点和中国的图书馆员入职条件是很不同的。它保证了北美图书馆员必须接受很系统很正规的专业培训。
图书馆与信息专业学院的入学要求(admission requirements)并不低，特别是对英语非母语的外国学生。比如我母校麦基尔大学的入学要求是要求英语是托福100或雅试至少7.5。那还是因为地处蒙特利尔魁北克法语区，英语区的学校比如多伦多大学华盛顿大学都要求更高的英语成绩如雅试8分，托福100-110分以上。并对听说读写都有具体要求。有的还有电话面试或委托校友面试。
附件：北美ALA-accredited MLS school一览表：
See also the searchable directory of ALA-accredited programs and the Google map of accredited program locations.
See our guidelines for choosing a master's program in library and information studies for help in selecting the master's program that is right for you.
Alabama, University of
www.slis.ua.edu
Albany, State University of New York
http://www.albany.edu/information-science/
Alberta, University of
www.slis.ualberta.ca
Arizona, University of
http://si.arizona.edu/master-arts-library-and-information-science
British Columbia, University of
www.slais.ubc.ca
Buffalo, State University of New York
http://gse.buffalo.edu/lis
California - Los Angeles, University of
http://is.gseis.ucla.edu/
Catholic University of America
http://slis.cua.edu
Clarion University of Pennsylvania
www.clarion.edu/libsci
Dalhousie University
http://sim.management.dal.ca/
Denver, University of
http://morgridge.du.edu/programs/library-and-information-science/
Dominican University
www.dom.edu/gslis
Drexel University
drexel.edu/cci
East Carolina University
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-educ/idp/lsed/
Emporia State University
http://slim.emporia.edu
Florida State University
http://slis.fsu.edu/
Hawaii, University of
www.hawaii.edu/lis
Illinois, University of
ischool.illinois.edu
Indiana University
http://www.ils.indiana.edu/admissions/ala-programs.html
Iowa, University of
https://slis.grad.uiowa.edu/
Kent State University
http://www.kent.edu/iSchool/master-library-information-science
Kentucky, University of
www.uky.edu/CIS/SLIS
Long Island University
www.liu.edu/palmer
Louisiana State University
http://slis.lsu.edu
McGill University
www.mcgill.ca/sis/
Maryland, University of
ischool.umd.edu
Michigan, University of
www.si.umich.edu
Missouri-Columbia, University of
http://sislt.missouri.edu
Montreal, University of
www.ebsi.umontreal.ca
North Carolina - Chapel Hill, University of
http://sils.unc.edu
North Carolina - Greensboro, University of
http://soe.uncg.edu/academics/departments/lis/
North Carolina Central University
www.nccuslis.org
North Texas, University of
http://lis.unt.edu
Oklahoma, University of
www.ou.edu/cas/slis
Ottawa, University of
http://www.sis.uottawa.ca/
Pittsburgh, University of
www.ischool.pitt.edu/
Pratt Institute
https://www.pratt.edu/academics/information/
Puerto Rico, University of
http://egcti.upr.edu
Queens College, City University of New York
https://sites.google.com/a/qc.cuny.edu/gslis/
Rhode Island, University of
www.uri.edu/artsci/lsc/
Rutgers University
www.scils.rutgers.edu
St. Catherine University
http://www2.stkate.edu/mlis/home
St. John's University
www.stjohns.edu/dlis
San Jose State University
http://ischool.sjsu.edu
Simmons College
www.simmons.edu/gslis
South Carolina, University of
www.libsci.sc.edu
South Florida, University of
www.cas.usf.edu/lis
Southern California, University of
http://librarysciencedegree.usc.edu/
Southern Mississippi, University of
www.usm.edu/slis
Syracuse University
http://ischool.syr.edu
Tennessee, University of
www.sis.utk.edu
Texas - Austin, University of
www.ischool.utexas.edu
Texas Woman's University
www.twu.edu/library-studies/
Toronto, University of
www.ischool.utoronto.ca/
Valdosta State University
www.valdosta.edu/mlis/
Washington, University of
www.ischool.washington.edu
Wayne State University
http://sis.wayne.edu/
Western Ontario, University of
www.fims.uwo.ca/mlis/index.htm
Wisconsin - Madison, University of
www.slis.wisc.edu
Wisconsin - Milwaukee, University of
www.uwm.edu/Dept/SOIS/
作者：傅平 工作：Central Washington University教授
研究领域：管理综合->图书馆、情报与文献学->图书馆学
来源：
链接地址：http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-3316383-1076196.html
来源：iGroup信息服务
原文链接：https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzA5OTAwOTkyMw==&mid=2653364158&idx=1&sn=8155dd64f9ecc5ffe3000916d1ba75bd&chksm=8b5b6b52bc2ce24455b328c3151e108b7a24b4b755201b34c2d0d8f7c3ae47cce6d7368194fd&mpshare=1&scene=23&srcid=1018e5tSvnkG6NwWv3XDa059#rd
