Quick Summary

Management and leadership training is essential for library professionals at all levels. This article covers core curriculum, specialized courses, and career paths from collection management to budgeting. Leadership skills benefit all library roles, from public librarian to archivist, and proper pathway planning can prevent unfocused curriculum mistakes.

MLIS Management and Leadership Pathway: Curriculum Guide

Management and leadership are vital roles in any library and require extensive training and strong knowledge of the topics. From budgeting to collection management, the running of information centers involves a diverse list of responsibilities that depend upon decisive and well-experienced leaders. 

During a master of library and information science (MLIS) education, students will learn about management and leadership in various settings. Many will also have the opportunity to tailor their curriculum to a management and leadership pathway, allowing them to focus on careers with a governing focus. 

As a former MLIS student, I have the experience necessary to guide you through the type of courses and topics typical of a management and leadership pathway. In addition, I will provide insight into what to avoid and what to expect when navigating this often complicated curriculum. 

Core Courses

As with any MLIS focus, an average leadership and management curriculum begins with required or “core” courses. These are the first courses you will take in your MLIS journey and help provide a foundational understanding of library and information science thought. 

Some common courses include information literacy, information communities, and management. For those looking to expand their knowledge of library or collection management, a dedicated management and/or leadership pathway may be available. If not, students can meet with an advisor to discuss the best courses to take to match their interest in the subject. 

While completing my MLIS at San Jose State University, I chose to take electives more randomly, forgoing a specific pathway choice. However, this led to an unfocused curriculum and some regrets on my end. 

I recommend combing through your school’s offered pathways and researching those that interest you most. Try to align your personal and professional passions with your educational path. This will lead to a more cohesive learning experience and ultimately a professional plan more in line with your personality and interests. 

Comparing MLIS Programs with Management and Leadership Curricula 

Program	Credits	Format	Tuition*	Details
University of Rhode Island (Kingston, RI)	36	Online	$33,048	Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) with a track in Libraries, Leadership, and Transforming Communities
San Jose State University (San Jose, CA)	36	Online	$20,448	Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) with optional pathway in Leadership and Management
University of Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, IL)	40	On Campus, Hybrid, Online	$14,578/year for Illinois residents and $27,530/year for nonresidents	MS in Library Science with pathway available in Management and Administration of Libraries and Information Organizations
University of Southern California (Los Angeles, CA)	36	Online	$59,184	Master of Management in Library and Information Science (MMLIS)

*Tuition rates as of 02/10/2026 are estimated based on available information and are subject to change 

Electives 

After completing the required introductory courses, students will be given the chance to choose electives fitting their interests or chosen pathway. For a leadership and management focus, courses will reflect the duties and responsibilities of leaders in libraries and information centers. 

While course topics will vary from program to program, the general themes remain the same. Courses on library management, marketing, communication, and budgeting are all examples one might come across in this pathway. Topics relating to diversity, ethics, and collections may also be touched upon due to their close relationship with management roles. 

Management Courses 

Collection management and library management courses are essential to a leadership and management MLIS curriculum. 

As implied by the name, collection management involves the selection, purchase, and organization of a library’s collection. Students enrolled in a collection management course will get a chance to learn about the day-to-day operations of upper management in libraries and how collections are carried out from inception to completion. 

In one of my collection management courses, we were prompted to create a book collection master list based on our library’s information needs. This involved studying patrons’ stated interests as well as important statistics such as circulation and language needs. 

Assignments like these helped put me in the role of library leader, where I made vital choices similar to those made by real working librarians. I learned how to make the best decisions for a library and its users, as well as what pitfalls may come my way. Even if you’re considering other MLIS curricula, I recommend taking at least one management course in order to strengthen decision making and leadership skills that can be applied broadly across the library landscape. 

Library management courses are similar to those in leadership but provide a more general understanding of library work. Along with topics like collection management, students learn about how to solve disputes and ways in which communication can be improved. 

During my MLIS program, I took a course focusing on hypothetical problems in libraries and how to respond to them. In one assignment, we were tasked with settling a dispute between two coworkers in a public library setting. Based upon our readings and best judgement, we plotted out how we would resolve the issue and why we chose our method. 

I found the study of issues and the subsequent decision making challenging yet enlightening; by reading about best practices and using my own judgement, I was able to plan out and think through these problems with a level head, arriving at a fair and diplomatic resolution. Stepping into the role of librarian in an academic setting gave me more confidence in my understanding of information center management. 

Diversity, Ethics, And Related Courses 

Courses on ethics and diversity issues are commonly included in leadership and management curricula. Libraries serve a wide range of patrons, and offering the proper care, respect, and resources to a community is vital to the proper management of any library. 

In one course during my program, we chose a local library to study in order to assess its demographics, patron population, and resource needs. I discovered my library had large Korean-speaking and Spanish-speaking populations; I assessed the existing collections at the library and found them inadequate for serving the patron population’s language needs and suggested allocating a portion of the budget towards Korean and Spanish language materials (books, signage, and even programming). Such resources could better meet the library’s diverse information needs and strengthen the bond between my chosen library and its users. 

Considerations 

In my professional and educational experience, I learned that leadership roles in the information realm involve a wide range of duties. Many tasks that I came across were ones that I hadn’t previously associated with upper-level library professionals, or libraries in general for that matter. 

It is important to fully explore the potential facets of any MLIS curriculum in order to cover any aspect that you may not be familiar with. For example, with leadership and management roles in libraries and information centers, budgeting and collection management are central. Although I knew librarians in management roles would likely have a hand in the development of materials management, such as choosing which books to purchase, I overlooked the necessity of budgeting. While it may seem unrelated to library functions, a responsibility such as budgeting is one that many library leaders must tackle and one that not everyone is equipped for. 

Skills Gained 

As my alma mater, SJSU highlights a focus on leadership and management in an MLIS curriculum, which comes in handy with a variety of library roles. Whether students end up in a management position is largely irrelevant. The education obtained through a leadership and management position can be applied to any number of information roles and help professionals make important decisions that will shape not only their own professional journey but the information communities in which they serve. 

Examples of some of the invaluable skills gained during a leadership and management MLIS curriculum are: 

• Information literacy: The ability and knowledge needed to search for and acquire information, aiding in library reference and user instruction. 
• Collection management: Assessing, planning, intaking, and organizing library and archives collections. 
• Decision Making: Timely and appropriate decision making in leadership and management areas, including organization, collections, weeding, conflict resolution, and more. 
• Budgeting: Proper handling of a library’s monetary resources in salary, collection management, and more. 
• People Management: Tactful and courteous interactions with library users and peers. Every information center has a patron population and staff, making careful management of personnel essential. 

Career Paths 

An MLIS curriculum based upon leadership and management opens up opportunities in a diverse range of career paths.  

• Library Management: While management positions often take years of prior experience, MLIS management curricula prepare students for a future in these coveted roles. Library managers oversee operations and handle select “big picture” decisions. Working with library directors and staff, management carries out many of the duties mentioned throughout this article, including collection management, resource implementation, hiring, and budgeting. 
• Public Librarian: The people skills and decision-making techniques involved in leadership and management curricula are perfectly suited for a career in public librarianship. Public librarians deal with diverse patron groups, coworkers, and leaders that require careful diplomacy and a knack for navigating the ins and outs of daily library activities. From reference to circulation, or storytime and instruction, public librarians hold important responsibilities that make a leadership curriculum useful. 
• Archivist: Archivists oversee the acquisition, organization, and preservation of archives. As such, they make important decisions about the materials and how to manage them, their parent organization, and the archives’ users. No matter their level in their organization’s hierarchy, archives workers benefit from proper knowledge of leadership and management practices. 

FAQ’s 

Can an MLIS degree focused on management allow you to get a position in library management straight out of school? 

Management positions require extensive experience in the field, and many are not available to recent graduates. However, a proper education in leadership and management equips professionals with the tools needed for more senior positions in the future. 

Is a leadership curriculum only useful for those interested in a career in upper management? 

No. The tools gained from a leadership and management curriculum can be applied to a wide range of careers, both in and outside of the library and information science space. If the time comes for a library professional to advance in their career to a leadership position, however, the education acquired will prove worthwhile and useful.