Postgraduate Studentships - Search for funding opportunities.
Postgraduate Studentships - Search for funding opportunities.
Study Details: 1 year
This course is aimed at graduates from any discipline who are curious about libraries and information, and desire a professionally oriented course that builds practical knowledge and skills to work in academic, public, school, health, prison, and workplace libraries.
You will develop the core competencies of librarianship defined in the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) Professional Knowledge and Skills Base, including leadership, management and strategic service design.
You will learn how information is managed, organised, governed and made available to users, how to be a reflective practitioner and the ethical principles and values that underpin the library and information profession.
Research-active academic staff will involve you in conversations about cutting-edge developments in library research, including scholarly communication, information behaviour, the role of artificial intelligence in library services, archival practices and the provision of library services to diverse communities. You will learn how to apply current practices in librarianship, for example how to apply the principles of cataloguing, classification, metadata and controlled vocabularies, how to teach information literacy and how to design library spaces.
Our modules are developed in partnership with professionals from all library sectors, and most feature opportunities to hear from and interact with library experts. A core aspect of the programme is the opportunity to visit library and information services, meet with practitioners, and learn about the very latest practice - often from our alumni.
We work with organisations such as Sheffield Central Library, Sheffield Hallam University, National Fairground Archives, Weston Park Museum, York University, Nottingham Libraries, Tapton School, and CILIP Prison Libraries Group to provide in-person and virtual experiences. There is a strong emphasis on building the skills that employers tell us they want from graduates, such as independent inquiry, problem-solving and working collaboratively.
When you graduate you will be digitally literate, imaginative and a critical thinker - ready to advance in the library and information profession.
Minimum 2:1 undergraduate honours degree in any subject.
Our Librarianship MA programme has been designed for people who want to enter the profession or who are preparing to take the next step up in their careers. A postgraduate qualification in library and information management is essential for many roles, particularly management roles, in the library and information profession.
This programme will enable you to develop the skills and competencies desired by employers, those defined by CILIP’s Professional Knowledge and Skills Base and the Sheffield Graduate Attributes.
There is a core employability and professional development strand woven throughout the course, aligned with current job role descriptions in the sector and feedback from our professional networks. For example, students have taken part in employability exercises with applications and mock interviews, and have been supported with developing professional networks,through attending conferences and professional events to develop awareness of the scholarly communication landscape.
Our graduates are highly successful in gaining professional posts in a range of sectors, and six of our alumni were recognised as future leaders of the profession in the CILIP125 list.
Our graduates have gone on to secure roles such as:
You’ll need 180 credits to get a masters degree, with 105 credits from core modules, 15 credits from optional modules and a dissertation (including dissertation preparation) worth 60 credits.
Core modules:
Information Organisation
Libraries, Information and Society
Information Literacy
Public, School, and Prison Library Services
Academic and Workplace Library, Information and Knowledge Services
Management for Library and Information Services
Research Methods and Dissertation Preparation
Dissertation
Optional modules - one from:
Information Governance and Ethics
Business Intelligence
Database Design
User-Centred Design and Human-Computer Interaction
Archives and Records Management
A QS world top-100 university Studying at the University of Sheffield means you’ll get the future that follows a degree from a Russell Group Universit...
Wed 29 Apr 2026