History of Program

1901 License

Current Licensing Requirements

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction developed new content guidelines for school librarians and new rules for licensure in 2018. Each campus in The Cooperative has developed programs to address these new content guidelines and rules.

Students will no longer apply for the 1901 license and then take three additional courses to earn the 1902 license. Instead, they will complete all coursework and then apply for the 1902. Students who previously completed the 1901 license and need to complete courses to earn the 1902 license should contact the program director (Sarah Beth Nelson, nelsons@uww.edu) for advice on how to proceed.

In summary, the rule changes are:

  • Those who have a bachelor’s degree or higher but not a teaching license will be able to get the 1902 license as an initial teaching license.

  • There will no longer be two stages of licensure (1901 and 1902). The courses for both will be combined into the 1902 license with slight modifications to the courses required. The practicum will be the last course in the program.

  • No master’s degree is required. The majority of the courses can be completed at the undergraduate level.

Pre-2018 Requirements

Prior to fall 2018, becoming a school library media specialist in Wisconsin was a two-stage process, available to those with an existing teaching license.

1901 license (non-renewable)

The 1901 license qualified the holder as a school librarian for five years. The school librarian had to complete the full, renewable 1902 license during their first five years with the 1901 license.

1901 License Requirements:

  • Hold or be eligible for a teaching license in an area other than school library media services

  • 21 credits of coursework plus supervised practicum experiences (3 to 6 credits).

1902 license (renewable)

This license was done after completing the library practicum and resulted in a renewable license added to an existing teaching license.

1902 License Requirements:

  • Have held an educator license for at least three years

  • Have completed the 1901 license

  • Must be completed in full within five years of the 1901 license

This license was available through three courses in the The Cooperative program.


This process is no longer in place. All students now work toward the 1902 license without the intervening step of the 1901 license. However, there may still be some students who earned the 1901 license and need to take courses to complete the 1902. These students should contact the program director (Sarah Beth Nelson, nelsons@uww.edu) for advice on how to proceed.

IMLS Grant

WISE: Where Information Specialists Empower 21st Century Learners (WISE) was designed to support teachers from rural and underserved school districts who want to obtain the education necessary for licensure as a school library information specialist. The WISE proposal grew out of the University of Wisconsin System School Library Education Consortium’s (UWSSLEC) 902 distance programs that began in the late 1990s. The grant ran from 2009 to 2013.

At the time of the grant, the UWSSLEC was a consortium of faculty from five separate school library licensure programs in the University of Wisconsin System: Whitewater, Superior, Oshkosh, Eau Claire, and Madison. UWSSLEC engaged permanent faculty in all five collaborating campuses through an agreement signed by the Provosts at each campus that allowed creation of a virtual System department. They agreed to share graduate courses while maintaining autonomy and support for the separate on-campus programs and courses. The essential purpose was to provide teachers access to professional preparation regardless of their location.

Teachers seeking a school library license through the UWSSLEC program were asked to select a home campus from one of the five UWSSLEC universities. They took a series of seven (21 credit hours) graduate-level initial courses—all offered by the Consortium in hybrid form and mediated through the Desire2Learn platform. The UWSSLEC offered year-round programming by dividing the course rotation over three semesters (Summer, Fall, and Spring). Each course was sponsored at one of the home campuses and all UWSSLEC students attend the on-campus session at the campus sponsoring the particular course. For example, Digital Tools was offered at UW-Oshkosh while Information Literacy was offered at UW-Whitewater. The capstone experience for the initial license was a practicum course managed at the students’ home campus with placement located as close to a student’s permanent address as possible.

UWSSLEC sought funding from the Institute of Museums and Library Services (IMLS) in 2007 and again in 2008 to strengthen its ability to promote 21st Century skills and assist schools in isolated sections of the state to keep technology and information literacy programs staffed by highly-qualified, licensed professionals. The WISE grant ($1.5 million) was approved and the Consortium selected scholars and began to implement WISE activities in late spring 2009.

In this Laura Bush 21st Century Librarians grant from IMLS, UWSSLEC collaborated with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, area educational agencies and the state professional association and accomplished three goals:

  • Re-conceptualized the curriculum to prepare school librarians who are nimble in new information environments, skilled at collaborating to educate the 21st century learner and accomplished in creating environments conducive to formal and self-directed learning;

  • Addressed the needs of rural and underserved schools by educating 53 teachers from these settings as school librarians through full and partial scholarships; and

  • Advocated the roles, expectations, recruitment and evaluation of school library information specialists through an Administrator’s Toolkit.