Health Science Librarian (HSL)

• Students should take a college preparatory curriculum.
• High School courses would include literature, computer technology, foreign language, and Medical Terminology.
• Shadow a Medical Librarian or work in a college library.

• A Master’s Degree from a school accredited by the American Library Association is required to become a Health Science Librarian. Graduate programs can be completed in 1 – 2 years.
• At UW-Milwaukee, an application to the Master’s of Library and Information Science program must be made to the UWM School of Information Studies (MLIS) AND to the Graduate School.
• A MLIS degree requirement is 36 credits. If a Master’s or Doctorate degree in another field has been completed, then the MLIS requirement will be reduced to 30 credits. A proficiency requirement with either passing a comprehensive examination or completing and successfully defending a thesis is mandatory for obtaining the MLIS. A grade of “B” must be maintained.
• UW-Madison requires a 42-credit minimum for a Master of Arts Degree. Up to 9 graduate credits of electives may be applied to the Master’s Degree from a field outside library science. Practicum experience of at least 40 hours is also required.
• Graduate courses in scientific literature, biomedical communication, health informatics, electronic and print resources, database searching, organization and management, cataloging systems, bibliographic instruction, online course and web design, medical terminology, anatomy, epidemiology or biostatistics are suggested.

Educational Institutions

University of Wisconsin – Madison
University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee

• A Master’s Degree from a school accredited by the American Library Association is required to become a Health Science Librarian. Graduate programs can be completed in 1 – 2 years.
• A prerequisite of a Bachelor’s Degree in Arts or Science in any field is acceptable for most graduate school admissions. Preferable would be a Bachelor’s Degree in biology, pre-medicine, chemistry, nursing, Computer Science, Education, or Information Services.
• At UW-Madison the criteria for admission include: three letters of recommendation; undergraduate program that includes liberal arts and sciences, with a specialization in a major discipline, an applied science, or a profession; 90 semester credits in liberal arts and sciences, including a major; and competencies in the use of microcomputers (word processing, spreadsheets, electronic mail, and database management software packages).
• The Graduate School at UW-Milwaukee requirements include: Bachelor’s Degree from an approved institution and an undergraduate GPA of at least 2.75; satisfactory scores on the Miller Analogies Test or Verbal and Quantitative Aptitude portions of the GRE; and two letters of recommendation about the applicant’s likelihood of success in the Library Science Program.

American Library Association
50 East Huron Street
Chicago, IL, 60611-2795
202/628-8410 or 800/545-2433
www.ala.org/

American Medical Informatics Association
4720 Montgomery Lane, Suite 500
Bethesda , MD, 20814
301/657-1291
www.amia.org

Health and Science Communications Assoc.
PO Box 31323
Omaha, NE, 68132
402/915-5373
hesca.net/

Medical Library Association
65 E. Wacker Place, Suite 1900
Chicago, IL, 60601-7246
312/419-9094
www.mlanet.org

U.S. National Library of Medicine
8600 Rockville Pike
Bethesda, MD, 20894
888/346-3656 (FIND – NLM)
www.nlm.nih.gov