MA Library and Archive Studies

The University holds regular events throughout the year, including webinars and the annual on-campus Master's Expo, all of which offer the opportunity to find out more about our facilities and courses from our academic and admissions staff.

We also attend a number of education fairs both in the UK and overseas throughout the year.

For more details on how you can meet us, visit out events page .

Explore how libraries and archives organise, preserve and amplify information in a changing digital world.

Our MA Library and Archive Studies is taught in collaboration with The University of Manchester Library, a major multi-site research library with National Research Library and Archive Service Accreditation status. It includes the stunning John Rylands Research Institute and Library with its world-leading collections of archives and rare books and cutting-edge digital practices.

The course combines theory and professional practice across librarianship, archival studies, records and information management, special collections and digital collections. You will examine how libraries and archives manage information, preserve records, support discovery, engage users and respond to contemporary challenges including machine learning and artificial intelligence.

You will gain hands-on experience with archives and special collections material through coursework, teaching and optional placement opportunities.

Our teaching includes in-person sessions at the John Rylands Library, where you will work with practicing librarians and archivists and engage with rare and unique collection material. Work placements are available as an optional course unit and normally involve at least 20 days of library, archive or industry experience on a relevant project or programme, supported by academic and placement supervision.

You can shape your study through optional course units linked to areas such as rare books, information governance and compliance, exhibitions, public engagement, digital practices and heritage. You can also study units connected to art gallery and museum studies, arts management and policy, creative and cultural industries, digital media and culture, and heritage studies, subject to availability.

The aim of the MA in Library and Archive Studies is to introduce students to the theory, practice, and collections that will enable you to:

• Acquire a deep and nuanced understanding of current practices in libraries and archives, including the professional expertise and strategy skills of librarianship and the processing, management, conservation, and preservation of archives and records in all media and formats all aspects of their work around collections, curation, preservation, and analysis;
• Produce original research that reflects an understanding of the core knowledges, skills, and competencies of librarianship, archival practice, and/or records management specific areas in collections and archives, including opportunities to engage with placements in specific specialist areas;
• Gain experience with and expertise in the skills and knowledges necessary to progress in careers encompassed by, or relating to libraries, archives, in archives and libraries including leadership, management, standards, ethics, user experience, stakeholder engagement, service design, sector advocacy, collection promotion, technology, communication, and strategic planning cultural institutions, and information-centred organisations and record keeping organisations.

Outcomes

After finishing this programme of study, students receiving the MA in Library and Archive Studies will be able to:

• Define the fundamental skills of librarianship and the fundamental skills of archival practice while also identifying their intersections and synergies;
• Comprehend the traditions of how libraries and archives organise and manage information;
• Build upon the traditional ways archives process, manage, conserve, and preserve documentary records and an array of media formats Build upon the traditional ways libraries manage, develop, and use special collections, reference material, published print material, electronic resources, and other media.

Placement Experience

Work placements within the standard duration of study offered as an optional module.
The course will draw on the existing successful placement course unit SALC70300/SALC070150 which is offered by Institute of Cultural Practices to all current ICP Master's students as an optional unit. This scheme has over 100 regional and national partners who provide project-based placement in arts, cultural heritage, community and third sector organisations for a minimum of 20 days, spread over Semester 1 and Semester 2.

Placements take place between November and May, and are supported by Academic Mentoring and Supervision, Placement Mentors, professional support staff coordination and support.

Placements form part of the elective course options and are assessed in Semester 2 via placement reports, reflective accounts, and blogposts. Part-time students can choose to undertake their placement in Year 1 or Year 2. Students will therefore benefit from at least 20 days library/archive/industry experience on a relevant project or programme, hosted on site and remotely by a relevant sector business or organisation, supported by the host supervisor and an academic supervisor. There is also the potential for students to develop their own placement, subject to the approval of the course unit convenor and course director.

World-class Libraries

The University of Manchester Library is the third largest academic Library system in the UK and one of only five designated National Research Libraries. Consisting of more than ten million items and operating across almost twenty sites, including the world-renowned John Rylands Library, Manchester offers its MA students an unparalleled research collections environment.

Sessions for the semester 1 compulsory modules will be delivered entirely in-person at the John Rylands Research Institute & Library. In each compulsory module session, students will interact with practicing librarians and archivists from the Rylands and the Main Library and occasionally from other local cultural institutions. In these sessions, students will engage directly with rare and unique material from the collections of the Rylands (e.g., items of world-historical cultural significance in media ranging from parchment to photographs) or with important sector-standard technologies (e.g., the electronic file archiving tool DROID and the International Image Interoperability Framework which undergirds digital collections of libraries and archives around the world).

Each week, students will participate in with hands-on activities that introduce core concepts through physical action and social interaction (though, always accommodating any accessibility needs of neurodiverse students or students with mobility limitations). Students will also receive lectures on the fundamental concepts and theories of libraries and archives. Students will be expected to read scholarship about that session's activities and lectures . Weekly summative assessments will include reflections that synthesise each session's activities, discussions, and reading by asking students to reflection on the session and make that reflection visible to their peers using the Canvas discussion board tool. Every other week summative assessments will require students to write authentic documents commonly produced in libraries and archives, including:

• selection policy
• collection development policy
• equality and equity impact assessment
• community engagement campaign
• repatriation agreement
• strategic plan
• grant application application

Students will be required to annotate these documents and to include citations of the scholarship that inspired the shape and aims of their plans.

Optional units are available from a range of areas within the School and Faculty and allow students on the MA to focus on a particular area of interest, such as early collections, decolonisation, cultural relations. Students will also receive group and individual tutorials including placement and dissertation supervision. Guidelines and schedules for placements and dissertations are set out transparently and in full in the joint ICP MA programme handbook. Individual and group tutorials are also offered on each taught core and elective course to support formative feedback on interim assessment plans such as essay plans or dissertation proposals. Each student will have access to academic advisement (two meetings per semester) and the office hours of all course tutors and lecturers. Additionally, students will have access to research-and-practice-based skills training from the ICP Research and Training Programme as well as from Library workshops. These extracurricular experiences offer guidance on work placement, professional practice, digital literacy, and research skills.

The University of Manchester has world-class facilities.

We have the third largest academic library system in the UK along with a £24 million learning facility.

As a student of the Graduate School, you'll have access to excellent training within a dedicated postgraduate space where you can meet with each other, access resources, organise events and participate in a thriving academic community.

Find out more on the Facilities page.

This course supports progression into professional roles across libraries, archives, special collections, records management, cultural heritage and other information-centred organisations. You will develop skills in librarianship, archival practice, records and information management, collection promotion, information governance, public engagement, digital practice and research.

Career directions may include policy and management roles in national libraries, major special collections libraries and archives, as well as broader work connected to cultural institutions, record keeping organisations and information management. The course is relevant both for graduates entering the sector and mid-career professionals already working within it.

Careers support

As a Library and Archive Studies student, you can use employability support to connect your professional interests with future career plans. At Manchester you will have access to a number of opportunities to help boost your employability, such as careers fairs, employer presentations, and workshops through the University’s dedicated Careers Service. As a student at Manchester, you would have full access to this service during your studies and for two years after you graduate.

Professional accreditation

The Library and Archive Studies MA is accredited by the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP). The course is also seeking additional accreditation from the Archives and Records Association (ARA), but ARA accreditation is not guaranteed for any cohort.