SLIS The University of Iowa

SLIS The University of Iowa Offering Professional Growth through Personal Engagement

The School of Library and Information Science at the University of Iowa, an ALA-accredited program since 1971, is a leader in curation, creation, and connection of communities. Through our engagement in education, service, and scholarship, we empower library and information professionals, promote the creation of responsible and informed seekers of knowledge, and perpetuate the fundamentals of our democracy through equitable access to information for all. Degrees and certificates available: MA in LIS (online option), Joint MA in LIS and MFA Center for the Book, Joint JD/ MA LIS, Interdisciplinary Ph.D., Undergraduate to Graduate MA in LIS (online option), Certificate in Special Collections (online option), Certificate in Book Studies, Joint Certificate in Special Collections and Book Studies, and K-12 Iowa Teacher Librarian Certification (online only).

Amanda Walch is currently working at the University of Jamestown as the Director of Libraries and an Assistant Professor...
09/13/2026

Amanda Walch is currently working at the University of Jamestown as the Director of Libraries and an Assistant Professor. She graduated from SLIS in 2018 and had her first job out of library school at the Library of Congress as a member of the first cohort of their Librarians in Residence program, describing it both as a “pinch me” situation and as a program that made them “guinea pigs in every sense of the word.” She credits her time at SLIS for helping her get this position, as she got into the program due to her experience as a cataloging assistant working on the University of Iowa’s School of Music recital recordings.

Though she enjoyed those ten months, she knew by the close of the program that academic libraries were where she belonged, longing to work in a small academic library where she could “wear many hats.” She got a position at her alma mater Luther College as a sabbatical replacement, near the end of which had COVID hit. During COVID, she got a reference and instruction librarian position at Jamestown, and soon after was promoted to Director of Libraries at the recommendation of the previous, outgoing, director. When asked how SLIS prepared her for this role, she said:

“The connections and foundation of people who are invested in your success as a student is a foundation I still draw on. Things like the librarians in the UI system, LISSO, our professors: it was the people, the connections, and the role models, that let me believe I could become a library director ten years before I ever thought I would.”

Her advice to SLIS students is two-fold: take a wide range of classes and join your professional library organizations! “There will be stuff beyond what you think you’re interested in that you’ll be interested in… joining, especially your local, library associations is how you build community… you should talk to every librarian you can! My favorite thing about librarians is how much they love being librarians. I've never had a librarian who didn’t want to tell me about their library.”

For more about Amanda, and her current projects, visit our website: https://slis.uiowa.edu/slis-alumni

Tomorrow, on September 11th at 3:00, SLIS students can gather at the ICPL front desk for a behind-the-scenes tour of the...
09/10/2026

Tomorrow, on September 11th at 3:00, SLIS students can gather at the ICPL front desk for a behind-the-scenes tour of the library.

The University of Iowa School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) has been accredited by the Chartered Institute o...
09/08/2026

The University of Iowa School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) has been accredited by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP). SLIS is the first and only North American iSchool to house an MLIS accredited by both the American Library Association (ALA) and CILIP, expanding both the alignment of its coursework and its international standing.

For more about CILIP and from our director, read the full article:

https://slis.uiowa.edu/news/2026/09/university-iowa-slis-earns-cilip-accreditation

My name is Mallory Becker, I am a research assistant with professors Vamanu and Newman, and I will begin my first semest...
09/08/2026

My name is Mallory Becker, I am a research assistant with professors Vamanu and Newman, and I will begin my first semester in the School of Library and Information Science this fall. So far, I have enjoyed my experience, and all of the staff and faculty have been very kind, welcoming, and supportive. It is rewarding to meet people who have such a driving passion for the field. I want to work in a public library setting after graduation, and when I am not doing coursework, I enjoy reading, running, and spending time with my family. I am always looking for a good book recommendation! And I am enthusiastic to begin my first semester and my graduate assistantship opportunity, which will give me insight into the field of public librarianship, specifically as places of resilience and how they advocate for community members by adapting to the needs of each and every person in the space and beyond.

For this week's Spotlight Sunday, we had the pleasure of speaking with Christine DeZelar-Tiedman. Christine is currently...
09/06/2026

For this week's Spotlight Sunday, we had the pleasure of speaking with Christine DeZelar-Tiedman. Christine is currently working at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities as their Cataloging Policies and Practices Librarian.

Christine knew leaving our MLIS program in 1994 that cataloging was where her heart belonged, finding a job after graduation at the University of Idaho and staying there for five years before finding her current position. Her favorite part of her job right now is getting to still work in the catalogs, finding herself still learning from the collections she aids in and oversees. She has managed to resist the admin track, learning through interim positions that the collection is still where she belongs, and finding a rare blend of her interests in her current position, where she still gets to work on policy and use her experience as a resource, without management.

Her advice to new library professionals had to do with flexibility. She believes that success “is part your own doing, and part luck,” and there is some importance in being flexible with your first position. While not everyone is capable of being flexible geographically, being flexible with the types of position you're open to, and what sort of library, can help you find something new that you might also love. She views this kind of open mindedness as an extension of lifelong learning, and a leg-up against the current job market.

For the full article on Christine, and on many of our wonderful alumni, visit our website:
https://slis.uiowa.edu/slis-alumni

We asked the current LISSO board what advice they'd give their fellow SLIS students going into this academic year.Start ...
09/03/2026

We asked the current LISSO board what advice they'd give their fellow SLIS students going into this academic year.

Start the SLIS portfolio early! Trying to cram it in right before graduation will be stressful.

Try to find activities to do with classmates that aren't school related.

Seek out work and volunteer opportunities in your area of interest, to beef up your resume.

Ask professors for help as soon as a problem arises, don't wait until the end of the semester to ask for help!

Come to LISSO events! This is a great way to meet fellow library science students!

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125 S. Washington Street , Ste 3087
Iowa City, IA
52242

Telephone

+13193355707

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