2023 Best Value Library Science Schools
Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing
Finding the Best Library Science School for You
In 2020-2021, 6,538 people earned a degree or certificate in library science, making the major the #34 most popular in the United States.
Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.
The Best Value Library Science Schools ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. This report analyzed 51 schools in the United States to see which ones offered the best value programs for library science students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.
When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.
Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.
Top 10 Best Library Science Schools
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Ivy Tech Community College. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Library Science Schools list. Ivy Tech Community College is a very large public school located in the large city of Indianapolis.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Ivy Tech Community College are $8,927 per year. Library Science majors at Ivy Tech Community College take out an average of $16,000 in student loans while working on their egree.
Ivy Tech Community College also claimed a spot on our Best Library Science Schools list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools in this category.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Sam Houston State University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Library Science Schools list. SHSU is a very large public school located in the distant town of Huntsville.
SHSU undergraduate students pay an average of $18,752 in tuition and fees each year.
Read full report on Library Science at Sam Houston State University
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Out of the 51 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the city of Denver, CU Anschutz is a public college with a very large student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at CU Anschutz are $26,376 per year.
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Out of the 51 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, San Jose State University landed the # 5 spot on the list. San Jose State is a very large public school located in the city of San Jose.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at San Jose State are $19,732 a year.
On top of its placing in our value ranking, San Jose State also did well on our Best Library Science Schools list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.
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With a ranking of #6, Texas A&M University - Commerce did quite well on this year’s best value schools for library science students. Located in the distant town of Commerce, Texas A&M Commerce is a public college with a large student population.
Texas A&M Commerce undergraduate students pay an average of $22,266 in tuition and fees each year.
Full Library Science at Texas A&M University - Commerce Report
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Texas Woman’s University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Library Science Schools ranking. Located in the medium-sized city of Denton, TWU is a public school with a fairly large student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at TWU are $18,186 a year.
Read full report on Library Science at Texas Woman’s University
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With a ranking of #8, LIU Post did quite well on this year’s best value schools for library science students. LIU Post is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Brookville.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at LIU Post are $39,290 per year.
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Clarion University of Pennsylvania came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Library Science Schools ranking. Clarion University is a small public school located in the remote town of Clarion.
Clarion University undergraduate students pay an average of $16,052 in tuition and fees each year.
Read full report on Library Science at Clarion University of Pennsylvania
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With a ranking of #10, Northeastern State University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for library science students. Located in the town of Tahlequah, NSU is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at NSU are $15,755 per year.
Read full report on Library Science at Northeastern State University
Request InformationLibrary Science by Region
View the Best Value Library Science Schools for a specific region near you.
| Region |
|---|
| Southeast |
| New England |
| Rocky Mountains |
| Plains States |
| Middle Atlantic |
| Far Western US |
| Southwest |
| Great Lakes |
More Library Science Rankings
Library Science Related Majors for Library Science
Library Science Majors to Study
| Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Library & Information Science | 5,950 |
| Library & Archives Assisting | 467 |
| Other Library & Archives Assisting | 121 |
Most Popular Majors Related to Library Science
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Education | 327,871 |
| Social Sciences | 205,984 |
| Psychology | 195,678 |
| Communication & Journalism | 120,571 |
| Family, Consumer & Human Sciences | 55,820 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.
- The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
- Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
- Credit for the banner image above goes to John Cummings.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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