St. John’s University’s 57-credit dual degree (M.A./M.S.) Public History/Library and Information Sciences (American Library Association (ALA)-accredited) program is one of only a dozen nationwide. Through our interdisciplinary and digital-savvy approach to instruction, you will prepare for a career helping colleges and universities, libraries, archives, and museums across the world identify, document, interpret, preserve, and facilitate real or virtual access to buildings and landscapes, artifacts, electronic and paper record and documents, and other cultural resources. We offer mixed-mode instruction featuring face-to-face courses on the Queens and Manhattan campuses along with fully online courses.
The end-of-program assessment for the Library and Information Sciences degree is an ePortfolio, which includes assignments from the classes and your reflections on them showing educational growth and understanding from the program. More information on the ePortfolio and its guidelines can be found here.
Courses
This dual degree program allows you to apply four courses (12 credits) to both master’s degrees: HIS 401 Modern Historical Research; and 9 credits from among HIS 404/LIS 253 Oral History, HIS 510 History of Material Culture, HIS 512 History as Visual Record, HIS 506 U.S. Museums and Historic Sites, or HIS 525 Advanced Topics in Public History.
The credit distribution for the dual degree program is as follows:
Public History Courses
| Course Information | Total Credits |
| HIS 401: Modern Historical Research | 3 credits |
| HIS 500: Introduction to Public History | 3 credits |
| Public History Electives (select four): -HIS 404: Oral History -HIS 510: History of Material Culture -HIS 512: History as Visual Record -HIS 525: Advanced Topics in Public History -HIS 506: U.S. Museums and Historic Sites | 12 credits |
| HIS 980: Internship in Public History | 6 credits |
| HIS 981: Public History Capstone | 3 credits |
Library and Information Science Courses
| Course Information | Total Credits |
| Library and Information Science Core: -LIS 203: Information Organization -LIS 204: Introduction to Library and Information Science -LIS 205: Information Sources and Services -LIS 239: Research and Evaluation Methods -LIS 240: Management of Libraries and Information Centers | 15 credits |
| Library and Information Science Electives (select four): -LIS 238: Web Design for Libraries and Information Centers -LIS 245: History of Books and Printing -LIS 249: Archives and Manuscripts: Basic Function and Current Issues -LIS 257: Archives and Digital Represetnation -LIS 302: Genealogical Sources and Services | 12 credits |
| LIS 269: Library and Information Science Internship | 3 credits |
Career Outcomes
By completing both master’s degrees, you become a trained practitioner of “living history,” able to master changes in research, publishing, image reproduction, and other areas of digitization. The changing nature of libraries, museums, historic sites, heritage tourism, and historical research requires professionals who are adept at facilitating information exchange, coping with an overload of information from diverse sources, sensitive to ethical issues related to collecting and exhibiting cultural property, as well as intellectual property issues, and who can be strong advocates for cultural institutions and information resources.
Recent graduates of the Public History/Library and Information Science program have completed internships and/or obtained jobs with the following institutions:
- National Park Service
- Walt Whitman Birthplace
- Queens Botanical Garden
- UNICEF Archives
- The Poppenhusen Institute
Contact
Kristin M. Szylvian, Ph.D.
Director, Public History
Associate Professor of History & Library and Information Science
[email protected]
James Vorbach, Ph.D.
Director of Library and Information Science
Associate Professor of Library and Information Science
[email protected]