IGNOU MLIS Project (MLIP-002): Guide Eligibility, Proforma, Synopsis, Report Format and Submission Dates

IGNOU MLIS Project: what MLIP-002, MLIP 2 and MLIP002 all mean

Every IGNOU MLIS Project is registered under one course, MLIP-002, titled Project Work/Dissertation in the July 2022 Programme Guide of the Faculty of Library and Information Science, School of Social Sciences. The Guide calls it “a full course of 4 credits” whose purpose is to let you develop skills in the areas of your other MLIS courses. Students search for it as “MLIP 2 project”, “MLIP-2” and MLIP002; all of them are this one course.

On “MLIP full form”: none of these four documents expands the letters. Read MLIP as the course number of the MLIS project, the way MLII-105 is the number of the internship, and write the code exactly as your registration record shows it on the proforma and the report cover.

Where the project sits in the 40 credits

MLIS has ten courses of 4 credits each: eight compulsory courses and two electives chosen from six. The Prospectus lists MLIP 2 among the compulsory courses, beside MLII 105 Internship, and the Programme Guide’s text calls Project Work/Dissertation the seventh core course and the internship the eighth. One small gap: the Guide’s own components table has no row for MLIP-002 at all, so a reader of that table alone could take the project for optional. It is not; the Handbook adds that no candidate is exempted from it. With one credit defined as 30 hours of study, a 4-credit course implies about 120 hours of your time, our arithmetic from the Guide’s definition.

Built from the Common Prospectus July 2026 (sections 3.23 and 8.10) and the MLIS Programme Guide.

Two papers from the same Faculty, fifteen years apart

The rules for the IGNOU MLIS Project come from two documents of the Faculty of Library and Information Science. The newer one is the MLIS Programme Guide of July 2022, which covers MLIP-002 in a short annexure: guide qualification, synopsis address, report order and pass mark. The older one is the Project/Dissertation Work Handbook for MLIP-002, dated 2007-08 and still hosted on eGyanKosh, which carries every form you sign. When students search for the IGNOU MLIP 002 PDF, this Handbook is the file they mean.

What changed between 2007-08 and 2022, and what still applies

Built line by line from the two documents named in the column heads.

The video is from BK Sahni’s YouTube channel. Where any video and the official documents differ, the documents decide.

Who can be your IGNOU MLIS project guide under the 2022 rule

You pick your own guide for the IGNOU MLIS Project: the 2022 Programme Guide says a student may choose her or his guide, and that the proposal must carry the guide’s bio-data. What most pages leave out is the pay-scale line printed after both qualification clauses.

Read clause (b) with its history and the doubt mostly clears. In 2007-08 the same route asked for library experience “in a lecturers’ grade or its equivalent”, so the library route carried a pay grade in 2007-08 as well. A librarian with an MLIS who is below Assistant Professor Scale or Pay Level 10 is therefore the case to settle with the Programme Coordinator before the bio-data is signed. A guide above that scale, such as an Associate Professor, meets it: the clause is headed “minimum qualification”.

Two older rules still sit in the paperwork. The Handbook caps a guide at five MLIP-002 students, and the proforma asks how many the guide already has. It also says the Faculty approves the names of external guides before the study begins, and the proforma carries a separate “Supervisor: Approved / Not Approved” box. If you need the general pattern across programmes, see guide eligibility rules across IGNOU programmes.

Guide bio-data checklist

• Full name, designation and institution, with the official address
• Qualification route: PhD in LIS, or master’s in LIS with library work or LIS teaching
• Present pay-scale or Pay Level, written out, since the proforma asks the bio-data to mention it
• Years of relevant experience
• Number of MLIP-002 students now under this guide
• Whether the guide is an academic counsellor of the IGNOU MLIS programme, and if so the Study Centre name and code (being a counsellor is asked, not required)
• Signature and date of the guide, in original

IGNOU MLIS project topics that grow out of your two electives

The 2022 Guide sets one topic rule for the IGNOU MLIS Project: you work in an area related to any area of your own courses of study. Those are your compulsory courses plus the two electives you picked at registration, so half the choice is already behind you. The Handbook names seven types of project work, asks for topics “preferably from the emerging areas of library and information science”, and allows a topic tied to a core or an elective course. The work itself starts once approval arrives; the Guide says it “may be carried out” on receipt of approval.

One gap is built into MLIS. MLIE-102 Research Methodology is an elective, while the project is compulsory, so a student can reach a users’ survey without having studied sampling or questionnaires. If you plan a survey and did not take MLIE-102, read its units on eGyanKosh before drafting the methodology.

A planning table: the seven types are the Handbook’s; the course pairings are our reading of the MLIS course list and are not an IGNOU rule.

Twelve MLIS dissertation topics from the Handbook’s own list

Appendix I of the Handbook gives 33 illustrative areas. The twelve below still read as current; turn any of them into your own title by adding a place, a group and a period.

Students who look for IGNOU MLIS project topics online often meet this same list, which is widely reproduced. It is a starting set of MLIS dissertation topics, not a menu you must pick from.

The MLIP 2 project synopsis, part by part

A synopsis for the IGNOU MLIS Project is prepared with your guide and states the objectives, the methodology and the other details of the study. The Handbook’s checklist in section 6.0 is the clearest version of the IGNOU MLIS project synopsis format, and sections 3.1 and 3.3 add four items to it.

Built from sections 3.1, 3.3 and 6.0 of the MLIP-002 Handbook (2007-08).

The synopsis is typed in double space on A4 paper. It travels with three other papers: the Proforma for Approval of Project Proposal (Appendix II) signed and dated by you and your guide, the guide’s bio-data signed by the guide, and the guide’s Consent Letter (Appendix III). The Handbook is blunt that proposals “incomplete in any respect will be rejected straight way”.

Students who type “IGNOU MLIS synopsis PDF” are usually after one of two things: the official checklist, which is section 6.0 of the Handbook, or a filled example, which is our watermarked sample above. Neither replaces your own text.

1. Settle a topic tied to your MLIS courses with your guide.
2. Write the synopsis on A4 in double space, covering every part in the table.
3. Fill Appendix II; you and the guide each sign and date it.
4. Get the Appendix III consent letter signed and dated.
5. Attach the guide’s signed bio-data, stating the present pay-scale.
6. Send the packet to the Programme Coordinator, MLIS, Faculty of Library and Information Science, SOSS, IGNOU, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi 110068, with “MLIP-002” written large on the envelope. The 2022 Guide also accepts a soft copy at the e-mail address it prints, ignnoulis@gmail.com.
7. Use one route. The Guide asks for either the hard copy or the soft copy, and the Handbook asks you to send one copy and keep another.

Appendix II, read box by box

The Proforma for Approval of Project Proposal (MLIP-002) is Appendix II of the Handbook. When it comes back marked approved, that signed form is the approval record of your IGNOU MLIS Project: it is bound into the report and uploaded with it. Copy the blank form from the Handbook and fill it in this order.

Built box by box from Appendix II of the MLIP-002 Handbook (2007-08).

The two other forms you sign

Two desks at Maidan Garhi, and only one takes e-mail

An MLIS student deals with three IGNOU offices for one 4-credit course, and two of them sit on the same Maidan Garhi campus. A paper sent to the wrong one costs time, because it does not reach the desk where the IGNOU MLIS Project is looked for.

The report desk has had three names over the years: the Handbook’s section 4.3 addresses the Director (SR&E), its schedule in 4.7 and its points in 6.0 name the Registrar (SR&ED), and the 2022 Guide says Registrar (SED). The address, Maidan Garhi, New Delhi 110068, has not changed. The project fee is paid through your Samarth login by the date IGNOU notifies: 30 November 2026 for the December 2026 exams.

After you post it: approval, comments and a second attempt

A written communication of approval or non-approval is sent to you, the Handbook says, and the Programme Coordinator’s office is the place to ask about it. The current documents print no waiting period. The 2007-08 schedule allowed about two months, a synopsis by 30 November and approval before 31 January, but that schedule was for one session and is history now. If status is what you need, see how to check IGNOU project status.

If the synopsis is not approved, the comments for reformulating it come to you. The Handbook’s section 3.5 then asks for three things together: the revised synopsis, a fresh Appendix II proforma, and a copy of the earlier proforma that carries the Programme Coordinator’s comments.

The IGNOU MLIS Project on a 24-month clock

The IGNOU MLIS Project has no published synopsis deadline today; the July 2022 Guide prints no dates at all. Two dates do bind you. The project fee for the December 2026 exams must be paid by 30 November 2026, according to IGNOU’s announcement of September 2026. And MLIS runs for a minimum of one year and a maximum of two, so your registration decides which exam cycles are left.

For the December 2026 cycle as dates are announced, follow the December 2026 submission date tracker.

Your MLIP 002 project work dissertation in IGNOU’s order

The 2022 Guide sets the form of the report first: typed in double space on A4 paper, bound, with a certificate from the guide that the work was done under her or his supervision. It then lists 13 parts and says the report should “generally” follow them. The MLIP 002 project work dissertation is assessed on this report, so the order matters, and an IGNOU MLIS Project that skips parts reads as unfinished.

Built from the project annexure of the MLIS Programme Guide (July 2022) and section 4.1 of the Handbook.

Preface and Index appear in both official orders and are the two parts most often missing, and generic dissertation templates often leave them out. A Preface says why you took up the study and how the report is arranged; it is not a second Introduction. The 2022 order also moves Objectives after the Review of Literature, so the objectives grow out of the gap the review finds. Students who search for an MLIS project report PDF usually want exactly this order on paper, which is what the report format template in the documents section gives.

80 to 120 pages against 20,000 words

Section 4.2 of the Handbook gives the only length rule for the MLIS dissertation: about 80 to 120 double-spaced typed pages, not exceeding approximately 20,000 words excluding appendices and exhibits, with 10 per cent variation either side. The 2022 Guide does not repeat it, so agree the figure with your guide. The two numbers sit uneasily together, and the table shows why.

Plan to the word cap, then let tables and front matter take the page count where it goes. Bind the report as a volume on A4, typed in double space, in English. The Handbook says the report is not returned, so keep a copy.

The reference style the Handbook prints

Section 4.1.1 asks for all references in one alphabetical list under References and Bibliography, with a pattern for each kind of source. The 2022 Guide names no style, so this is the only one an official MLIS document prints.

Data you collected, words you wrote

IGNOU’s Appendix IV asks you and your guide to certify that the matter in the report is genuine work done by you and has not been submitted elsewhere. That one page sets the standard for the MLIS dissertation: the data are yours, the analysis is yours, and the guide signs that it is so.

The study type decides what data you need. A users’ survey or field study rests on data you collect; a survey of literature, or a bibliographic or bibliometric study, rests on published sources by design, and that is a valid MLIP-002 project of its own kind. Problems start when the two are mixed up: a survey title with no survey behind it.

One PDF, one Rs 300 fee: the report reaches SED

Once the synopsis is approved, the report of your IGNOU MLIS Project goes to the Registrar (SED) by the route SED notifies for your cycle: its online upload page, used for June 2026, or one hard copy by insured registered post, insured speed post or by hand, with “PROJECT REPORT – MLIS” written on the top of the envelope (Handbook, section 6.0). SED’s June 2026 upload page set the conditions an online report has to meet.

Do not upload the synopsis on SED’s portal; the page itself says synopses do not belong there. For screen-by-screen upload and envelope steps, use the MLIS report upload and envelope steps.

Fifty per cent, a viva question and a second chance

MLIS exams have two parts, continuous evaluation at 30 per cent and the term-end exam at 70 per cent, and the IGNOU MLIS Project sits outside both: the Programme Guide says there is no assignment for MLIP-002 and no continuous evaluation for project work. The report is assessed, and it needs 50 per cent.

Divisions are awarded on the aggregate: 60 per cent and above for First, 50 for Second, 40 for Third. MLIP-002 alone needs 50, ten points above the degree’s own floor, and its marks count in the aggregate. To work out your own figure, try the IGNOU percentage calculator.

Whether there is a viva for MLIP-002

The Handbook says the report is evaluated by the Faculty or an external expert and that “there will be no viva-voce”. The 2022 Guide says nothing either way. SED’s June 2026 upload page, written for all programmes, says vivas are conducted by the faculties under Regional Centre guidelines and asks students to contact their Regional Centre. Ask yours whether MLIP-002 has a viva in your cycle, and be ready to explain your method and findings if it does.

If the report does not pass

Under section 4.5 of the Handbook you may complete the project within the programme’s time frame after working in the suggestions on the earlier report, on payment of an additional amount; past that time frame, within the next two years, again with a payment. Confirm the amount with SED first. No candidate is exempted from the project.

MLIS students ask, the documents answer

Last look before your IGNOU MLIS Project leaves your desk

Run this list once for the synopsis packet and once for the bound report of your IGNOU MLIS Project; each line is drawn from the Handbook, the 2022 Guide or SED’s upload page.

• The guide meets clause (a) or (b) of the 2022 Guide, and the bio-data states the pay-scale
• Appendix II has every box filled, both signatures and both dates
• Consent letter, bio-data and one synopsis copy are in the envelope, or attached to the one e-mail
• The title on the proforma, the synopsis and the report cover is word for word the same
• The report follows the 13-part order, with Preface and Index
• Approved proforma, approved synopsis and signed certificate of originality are bound in
• Rs 300 paid with the exam form, and the receipt kept

ignouproject.com is an independent service and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or acting for Indira Gandhi National Open University. Rules, fees and dates are set by IGNOU; the Programme Coordinator, MLIS, your Regional Centre and SED have the final word.