In 1930, the IU School of Education began offering library science courses for school librarians. In 1938 the curriculum was expanded and courses were added to the regular school year. In 1947 the library science program became the Division of Library Science within the School of Education. Undergraduate classes were offered during the division's first two years, and a graduate program began in 1949. In 1966 the Division of Library Science became a separate school called the IU Graduate Library School. The name was changed to the IU School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) in 1980. In 2013 SLIS merged with IU School of Informatics to create the IU School of Informatics and Computing.

The Division of Library Science began offering courses at the IU Downtown Campus in Indianapolis in the 1950s. In 1993 a SLIS office opened in University Library, and an associate dean in SLIS was appointed to manage the SLIS program at IUPUI. With the 2013 merger, the SLIS program at IUPUI became a department within the School of Informatics and Computing.