Ashtabula County Joint Vocational School

Ashtabula County Joint Vocational School

Ashtabula County Joint Vocational School

Posted on: November 25, 2011 - 2:27 pm
by Admin

Students interested in pursuing a career that explores the intersection of law and information should consider a career in law librarianship. Legal librarians not only work in law schools, but also work in sectors of state and federal governments, courts, and corporations. According to U.S. News & World Report, who gathers nominations from program deans, directors, and faculty across the country, the three top schools for law librarianship are the University of Washington, the Catholic University of America, and the University of Texas.

University of Washington

U.S. News ranks the law librarianship program offered through the University of Washington Information School as the best in the country. The program, housed within the Library and Information Science program, awards students the degree of Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS)with a Special Certificate in Law Librarianship.

While the program is designed for those with an earned Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree, students enrolled in the regular MLIS program who have an interest in law librarianship are not prohibited from taking offered courses geared specifically for the field (such as Legal Research and Law Library Administration), although most law librarianship positions will require that students hold a J.D. In addition to taking core MLIS courses and courses in law librarianship, students also engage in supervised fieldwork at either the Marian Gould Gallagher Law Library or the King County Law Library.

Catholic University of America

According to U.S. News & World Report, the Catholic University of America offers the second-best program in the nation for students interested in pursuing careers in law librarianship. Rather than requiring that students hold an earned J.D. degree before studying law librarianship, Catholic University offers a joint J.D./M.S.L.S. (Master of Science in Library Science) through a partnership between the Columbus School of Law and the School of Library and Information Science.

Students may finish the joint J.D./M.S.L.S. program in three or four years by completing the required law school core curriculum and a series of law electives, 12 of which may be from the library science curriculum. The degree requirements for the M.S. L.S. are reduced to 27 (from 36) in order to facilitate completion of the joint degree.

University of Texas

Recognized by U.S. News as the top school in the country for students preparing for careers in archives and preservation, University of Texas at Austin also earns kudos as the third best law librarianship school in the country. Much like Catholic University of America, students interested in law librarianship at Texas pursue a joint degree from the School of Information (from which they earn a Master of Science in Information Studies) and the School of Law.