The practicum requirement gives students the opportunity to integrate and apply the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind they have learned in the classroom in a real-world work setting. Students are eligible to request a practicum placement after completing the first two core courses, LIS 601 and 602, although many students choose to complete additional courses before undertaking the practicum.
During a placement, students interact with both library users and professionals who may become role models and colleagues. Staff at host libraries often report feeling reinvigorated by contact with students, who are coming into the profession with fresh ideas.
The iSchool partners with libraries, archives, and information agencies at UW-Madison, the Wisconsin Historical Society, colleges, universities and public library systems in Wisconsin, the Madison Metropolitan School District, as well as local and national corporations and non-profit agencies, to provide a supervised practicum or field project for all master’s students.
All students must complete a 120-hour practicum.
Information for Practicum Supervisors
Interested in learning more about supervising an iSchool field project student?
LIS 620, Field Project in Library & Information Agencies: Students interested in public & academic libraries, archives, museums, digital libraries & collections, user experience, corporate libraries, or information work outside of libraries, will take LIS 620, which is offered every semester including summer.
C&I 620, School Library Media Placement: Students in the school libraries program will register for C&I 620, which is cross-listed with LIS 620.
Requesting a Practicum Placement
The process for requesting a placement is fundamentally the same for both on-campus and online students. Students begin the process by declaring “Intent To Participate” for a specific semester by emailing iSchool Experiential Learning. Students are then invited to a restricted access list for using the MAPWA system. Normally, this is done shortly after the advising period for the semester in which a student wishes to complete the placement – e.g. Placement Requests for Spring semester placements are submitted during the Fall prior; Summer and Fall semester requests are submitted during the spring prior. Specific due dates for Intent To Participate will be announced around the time of advising.
Online students will be placed at practicum sites that are convenient to their place of residence. Online students are asked to connect with local institutions where they’d like to do the placement, and then provide successful site match information to the iSchool via MAPWA using the “self sourced site” option.
Step-By-Step Instructions:
- During the advising period prior to the semester or summer in which you wish to complete the practicum, meet with your advisor to discuss the best timing for you to complete the placement and email iSchool Experiential Learning with your Intent To Participate;
- During the open request window, students who plan on completing the practicum will be invited to complete their interest submission using MAPWA (MA Practicum Web Application); The interest window will close after the announced due date for requests (normally within 2 weeks of the iSchool advising period for fall and spring placements, and March 10 for summer).
NOTE: Summer placement requests begin March 3, so students should discuss summer placements with their advisors during the Fall advising period, or if they can arrange a meeting early in the Spring semester.
When submitting placement interest (MAPWA):
On-campus or Madison area students should signal interest in at least five possible sites from within MAPWA (see below “Current Placement Opportunities”) where they can arrange those sites in order of preference;
Online students and Madison area students seeking placements not listed in the Directory should use the “self sourced site” entry to submit their practicum site. Include contact information and site supervisor information. You will use the information you provide to contact the potential site you have identified and see if they are willing to host your practicum.
*Students who have been unable to identify an organization where they’d like to be placed should contact iSchool Experiential Learning to source a suitable practicum as soon as possible. Please understand that fully remote practicums are extremely limited.
After successfully submitting your sites of interest, you will receive an email from MAPWA confirming a successful entry and describing next steps. Two weeks after the interest window opens, you will receive another email from MAPWA notifying you to log back into the system and retrieve the contact information for your potential site supervisor. Use this information to contact the supervisor to arrange a pre-placement interview at the library/info agency. The goal of this outreach is a successful match. You then log into MAPWA a final time to confirm this match.
Placements are not considered confirmed until the student notifies Experiential Learning that there has been a successful interview.
3. Register for LIS 620.
Permission to register for LIS620 will be granted by iSchool enrollment once a successful match has been reported within MAPWA.
School Library Media
Students in the school libraries program will be placed in both an elementary school and a secondary school for a total of 120 hours. They register for C&I 620, which is cross-listed with LIS 620.
Placements are arranged by the Teaching Education Center (TEC) at UW-Madison. Students should email Professor Rebekah Willett (rwillett@wisc.edu) during or just after advising week (March and November) to indicate that they are planning to do their practicum the following semester. Dr Willett will notify the TEC, who will send the student a Qualtics survey to gather information about their placement preferences.
Current Placement Opportunities – Updated March 2025
2025 Directory of Placements
iSchool Career Services
Practicum Support
Please note that workflows at many institutions that host practicum students have changed since pandemic. We encourage students to use the Directory as a set of examples of the types of placements typically available, and to be prepared to describe the kind of work they would like to do.
The Directory is sorted by name of agency as an Excel document. Feel free to make note of your sites of interest after downloading the spreadsheet. Partners have flexibility to edit and remove their listings at any time, so sites offered in MAPWA might not match all the sites listed on the sheet.
Practicum Process Resources
Questions?
Please contact iSchool Experiential Learning.
Prospective Supervisor?
Please see this information on how to post a job or internship and the Information for Practicum Supervisors page
Practicum & Internship Awards
MA Practicum Support Fund
Fund applications are open for summer 2025 practicums. Applications for this award are open through Sunday, April 6 at 11:59pm (Central Time).
The MA Practicum Support Fund was created by the iSchool Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Committee, with support from iSchool leadership with the goal of defraying direct costs to students of unpaid MA/LIS practicums at non-profit organizations (for example, transportation costs, childcare, relocation expenses). Please fill out this form if you would like to be considered. Funding is limited, so we may not be able to help everyone who applies, but we will do the best we can. If something changes about your practicum placement after you submit an application, you may amend your award request.
Eligibility Criteria:
- MA students completing an unpaid practicum at at non-profit organization as part of LIS 620
- in good academic standing with no incomplete grades
Application Information: Complete the application form including a brief summary of your practicum, direct practicum-related costs, and financial need statement.
iSchool Diversity Internship Award
This award provides scholarship funding for students to complete otherwise unpaid internships. The iSchool provides up to two Diversity Internship Awards per academic semester.
The purpose is to:
- increase the diversity of representation in the information professions
- alleviate financial burden of unpaid internships
- support efforts to engage the broadest range of populations with information services, especially communities that are currently underserved
- provide students with additional training, experience and support that might lead to better job placements in their areas of interest.
Current iSchool students (MA, MS, online and on-campus) who have taken at least one academic year of coursework (full or part-time) are eligible.
Application deadlines: August 15 for Fall internships, January 1 for Spring and, and May 1 for Summer internships
For more details see iSchool Diversity Internship Award Information.