 In the United States and Canada, a professional librarian normally has a one or two-year master's degree in library and information science, library science or information science with abbreviations such as MLS, MSLS, MIS, MS-LIS, MISt, MI, MLIS, or MILS.Many professional librarians have degrees obtained from programs accredited by the American Library Association (ALA) and can have specializations within fields such as archives, records management, information architecture, information policy, knowledge management, public librarianship, medical librarianship, law librarianship, special librarianship, academic librarianship, or school (K-12) librarianship.School librarians often are required to have a teaching credential and school librarian license in addition to a library science degree.