Hi All,

I came out of U of Maryland's Archives, Records, and Information Management in 1998, which is in their Master's of Library Science program. Being close to DC, we worked directly with Federal agencies and their records managers, archivists, etc. on various projects. In addition, some students were already working as records managers and archivists and this program was the only graduate program available that related to the field.

At the time, there were few -- if any -- graduate degree programs specific to records management or archives. Being in my mid-20s when I finished my master's degree, I hadn't had much job experience although I did work in a "records environment" before graduate school. (Truth be told, I was called the "Vault Girl" at a publishing company where I spent numerous hours doing "so-called" appraisal and purging "so called" temporary records.)

Maryland has since added another degree option, such as the Master in Information Management. Whether its the MLS degree or the MIM degree, it all comes down to what courses you take, who is teaching them, the level of exposure one gets to the "real world," and what you do with everything that you learned. 

Personally, if choosing an academic route, I found the diversity of courses to be extremely helpful. I even stayed on for 2 years to complete coursework toward a doctorate in information science. The masters courses are relatively the same as they were in 1998 although the faculty is different: http://www.clis.umd.edu/programs/archives_program.shtml 

Tanya L. Marshall, MLS
Assistant State Archivist
Vermont State Archives
26 Terrace, Redstone Building
Montpelier, VT 05609-1101 
(tel.) 802-828-0405 
(fax) 802-828-1135 
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