U.S. News and World Report ranked the University of Washington as one of the top schools in the country for library and information studies. The UW was ranked 4^th, with only two-tenths of a point separating the UW Information School’s MLIS program from the top programs at the University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign and the University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill. Syracuse University was ranked 3^rd on the list.

The University of Washington once again ranked 1^st in Law Librarianship.

In the greatest change in rankings in recent years, the University of Washington jumped from 9^th to 2^nd place in Services for Children and Youth.

The University of Washington was ranked 3^rd in Digital Librarianship, 3^rd in Health Librarianship, 4th in Information Systems, and 7^th in School Library Media.

U.S. News ranked the 50 master's degree programs in the United States that are accredited by the American Library Association (ALA). The rankings are based solely on the results of a fall 2008 survey sent to the dean of each program, the program director, and a senior faculty member in each program. The questionnaires asked individuals to rate the academic quality of programs at each institution as outstanding (5), strong (4), good (3), adequate (2), or marginal (1). Scores for each school were totaled and divided by the number of respondents who rated that school. Specialty rankings are based solely on the nominations of program deans, program directors, and a senior faculty member at each program.