The School of Information Sciences, also The iSchool at Illinois, is a graduate school at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Its Master of Science in library and information science is currently accredited in full good standing by the American Library Association. The school is also a charter member of the iSchool initiative.The school offers the Master of Science in library and information science (MS/LIS; comparable to the Master of Library and Information Science), Master of Science in information management (MS/IM), Master of Science in bioinformatics, a Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS), and a PhD. Specializations available to MS/LIS students include Youth Services, K-12 School Librarianship, Special Collections, Community Informatics, Socio-technical Data Analytics, and Data Curation. The School's PhD program in LIS, the oldest such program in the country, is primarily oriented towards interdisciplinary research.Students seeking the MS/LIS or CAS degree can earn their degree as an on-campus student or as a distance student via the Leep online learning option. For doctoral students, at least one year of residency is required on campus. The MS/IM degree will be offered online beginning in Spring 2017.ReputationThe School of Information Sciences' MS/LIS degree has been ranked as the top library and information science graduate program in the country by U.S. News & World Report since 1996. In the Research and Markets' 2008-2009 Survey of Academic Libraries, Illinois was ranked the number one library and information science program in the U.S. and Canada. The school is also ranked first in services for children and youth, second in digital libraries, and fifth in school media library in comparison to other U.S. and Canada library and information science schools.
