LIS Practicums and Capstones at UNCG

A Guide for Sites and Supervisors

In UNCG's MLIS program, students have the opportunity to complete a Practicum at any time during their degree program after they complete our LIS 600: Foundations of Library and Information Studies course.

Students take a Capstone course during their final semester in the MLIS program. They have two options for the Capstone. Option A involves doing a Field Experience (Practicum/Internship). Option B is a Project-Centered/Action Research Project during which students will work on a project in coordination with your institution; students will design the project during their penultimate semester and implement it during their Capstone.


Expectations of Students

Our students are working toward “meeting expectations” on our Departmental Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs). When designing a practicum or capstone field experience, they should use the PLOs to design something that builds upon skills they will need for their “dream job.” To help you help them as they do this, the PLOs can be found here.

To complete a practicum or a capstone field experience, students must work at least 120 hours with the institution. This work may take a number of different forms and should be negotiated between the site supervisor and the student. Examples of work students accomplish include, but are not limited to:

  • Training modules
  • Shadowing professionals at the institution
  • Completing professional-level tasks with and/or without supervision (e.g., program planning, cataloging, reference, finding aid creation)
  • Reading relevant literature or watching relevant presentations to learn more about the assigned tasks
  • Presenting on the work completed during their practicum/capstone



Expectations of Sites

In all these experiences, we depend on the institution and its representative(s) to act as supervisors/mentors for our students. Some things to keep in mind:

  • Our students are learning to be information professionals. Ideally, the tasks you assign them should be what you’d require of your employees with an MLIS or equivalent.
  • The site supervisor should have an MLIS or similar degree or a comparable level of experience. If you are unsure as to whether you can serve as a supervisor, please contact the Practicum Liaison, Sonia Archer-Capuzzo (smarcher@uncg.edu).
  • Training and mentoring student volunteers takes time throughout the semester. We are grateful for your investment in our students!
    • If one person cannot take on acting as the student’s sole supervisor, consider whether other staff members can take on some of the responsibility in a formal or informal fashion.
    • If your library simply does not have the resources to truly mentor one of our students for a practicum, it is ok to say no. Please be clear that this is why you cannot take on the student, as it can help the student and the Practicum Liaison choose another option.
  • The UNCG Library and Information Science (LIS) Department is here to support you and your student volunteer. Please feel free to reach out to the Practicum Liaison (smarcher@uncg.edu) with questions or concerns at any time.