Intersections summer 2018

Intersections People

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Information

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Te c h n o l o g y

Amanda McGrory, Paralympian

Summer 2018

PAGe 12

Summer 2018 School of Information Sciences University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Published by the iSchool Communications Office. For more information or to submit story ideas, please contact brya@illinois.edu.

Dean: Allen H. Renear Editor: Cindy Ashwill Managing Editor: Cindy Brya Contributing Writers: Cindy Ashwill, Cindy Brya Photography: Cindy Brya, L. Brian Stauffer, Thompson-McClellan Photography Design: Pat Mayer 501 East Daniel Street Champaign, Illinois 61820 ischool@illinois.edu www.ischool.illinois.edu Phone: (217) 333-3280

People use information for analysis, inquiry, collaboration, and play—and in so doing, change the world. The iSchool at Illinois is dedicated to shaping the future of information through research, education, and engagement, both public and professional.

Intersections highlights our current work in these areas as well as achievements of our students, alumni, faculty, and staff.

Intersections

Contents

CDI ends successful run

7

Young researchers

10

Kameron Wells

15

Alisun DeKock (MS '07)

23

News The iSchool success story: A letter from the dean

2

Corporate Showcase engages research partners

3

Inaugural MS/IM class graduates from the iSchool

3

McDowell honored for online teaching

4

Blake named Centennial Scholar

5

iSchool hosts INDABA to increase diversity

5

Hoiem awarded prestigious NEH Fellowship

6

CDI completes successful five-year run

7

Former faculty member James “JD” Divilbiss passes away

7

2017 Downs Intellectual Freedom Award given to the Kansas City Public Library

8

The Hidden Life of a Toad receives Gryphon Award

9

Martens delivers 2018 Gryphon Lecture

9

Research Magee awarded IMLS grant for young researchers project

10

Underwood’s research shows paradox of women’s representation in literature through the ages

11

Brooks coauthors paper on social media use during Ebola outbreak

11

Features iSchool support propels Paralympian to success

12-13

Beta Phi Mu celebrates 70 years

14

Athletics and analytics make a happy combination for MS student Kameron Wells

15

Mentor program offers students a view inside the field iSchool career fair in Chicago

16-17 17

Alumni International Connections

18-19

A Family Tradition: The Hahns at the iSchool

20-21

Telling stories and touching history

22

Get to know Alisun DeKock (MS ’07), librarian and archivist at Shedd Aquarium

23

Awesome Libraries Chapter provides seed funds for library innovations

24

Remembering Laurel Grotzinger, a leader in the field of LIS

25

Three iSchool alumni named 2018 Movers & Shakers

25

Class Notes Giving

26-28

Scholarship recipient interested in pursuing career in academic libraries

29

iSchool takes top honors at BOBCATSSS 2018

29

Intersections Summer 2018

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News

The iSchool success story: A letter from the dean

“The iSchool success story is characterized by community—by those who give of their talents, time, and resources to make a difference in our world.”

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he iSchool has enjoyed another successful academic year, filled with new activities and accomplishments. This issue of Intersections shares the stories that contribute to our School’s continued excellence.

We couldn’t be more proud of Amanda McGrory, outstanding student and Paralympian, who generously presented the School with her Order of Ikkos medal to recognize the support she received during her studies. It is fitting that Amanda is featured on our magazine cover. Her determination and intelligence are inspiring, and we are honored to receive her medal, a symbol of her success.

Exceptional student support is a hallmark of the iSchool. This year, we held two inaugural events to promote career development: the Library Networking & Career Fair in Chicago and the Corporate Showcase in Champaign, the latter of which also celebrated the graduation of our inaugural class of MS/IM students. Both events were a resounding success, allowing students to share their knowledge and expertise with potential employers and gain insights into career opportunities.

Our faculty continue to teach engaging courses, conduct innovative research, and lead the field. Their impressive achievements are featured in this issue: Liz Hoiem was awarded an NEH fellowship; Kate McDowell was honored by campus with the Excellence in Online & Distance Teaching Award; and Cathy Blake was named our School’s Centennial Scholar. Equally impressive are the research initiatives of Ted Underwood, Rachel Magee, and Ian Brooks, which are also highlighted.

Another source of pride is our alumni, who make a difference daily at the community, state, national, and international levels. To some, like the Hahns, an iSchool education is a family tradition. The impact and legacy of our alumni are no better exemplified than by the accomplishments of Laurel Grotzinger (MS ’58, PhD ’64), who passed away in December. Her loss is felt deeply, but her contributions to the field and on behalf of women will endure forever.

The iSchool success story is characterized by community—by those who give of their talents, time, and resources to make a difference in our world. Thank you for your part in this ongoing effort.

Sincerely,

Allen H. Renear, Dean

Summer 2018

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Corporate Showcase engages research partners

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he first iSchool Corporate Showcase took place on April 24 at the University of Illinois Research Park. The event, which included a poster session and presentations, introduced employers to the strengths and expertise of information science professionals and celebrated the iSchool’s inaugural class of MS in information management (MS/IM) students. It attracted more than one hundred participants, including corporate partners and iSchool alumni, faculty, staff, and students.

“The Corporate Showcase was developed to help strengthen and maintain the iSchool network at the Research Park,” explained Employer Relations Coordinator Michele Plante. “The goals were to enhance our corporate partners’ understanding of the relevance of information science to their work, promote useful discussion that will generate new collaborations, and provide students with an opportunity to experience presenting to and interacting with corporations that are interested in the information sciences.”

Dean and Professor Allen Renear, Professor and MS/IM Program Director Michael Twidale, and Assistant Professor and PhD Program Director Jana Diesner presented an overview of the iSchool’s programs. Imran Khan, director of big data engineering at Gartner, discussed his positive experience in employing and working with iSchool students over the years. The showcase featured nine student posters, which were selected by a committee of industry judges to represent the work done at the iSchool.

Guests included companies such as AbbVie, AGCO/GSI, Ameren, Busey Bank,

Caterpillar, COUNTRY Financial, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Gartner, GRAIL, Graybar, Illinois Department of Innovation & Technology, Illinois Department of Revenue, HDF Group, Pixo, and John Deere.

Representatives from the University’s Office of the Vice Chancellor for Institutional Advancement, Fire Service Institute, and Fighting Illini Sports Technology attended as well.

The School plans to make the Corporate Showcase an annual event. For more information, contact Michele Plante at mplante@illinois.edu.

Inaugural MS/IM class graduates from the iSchool

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t the start of the fall 2016 term, forty-two MS/IM students joined the iSchool. By the end of the spring 2018 term, over ninety percent had earned their degree.

“The inaugural MS/IM class reflected immense diversity in terms of country of origin, gender, culture, and language in a STEM-designated degree program,” said Moises Orozco Villicana, director of enrollment management at the iSchool. “Over the past two years, this class has flourished inside and outside of the classroom. These trailblazing students have secured pre-professional opportunities across campus and at the University’s Research Park.

Their engagement has enriched the profile of the iSchool and the campus,” he said.

MS/IM graduate Pallavi Tyagi is now employed with Illumio Inc., a cybersecurity startup in the Silicon Valley. “As technology exploration engineer for Illumio’s chief technology officer, I work on prototyping solutions for their current data problems by applying machine learning and statistical analysis techniques,” she said.

In her second semester in the MS/IM program, Ashni Shah landed a data science internship with CEB, now Gartner Data Innovation Center, at the Research Park. “This internship had an equal contribution in my learning process,” Shah said. “I worked on realtime projects and implemented classroom concepts while learning more about the

field.” After graduating in December, she joined Gartner full time and is currently in the company’s rotational IT program.

Tyagi and Shah both appreciated the wide range of courses and flexibility of the MS/IM program. With only three required courses, the curriculum can be customized to specific career pathways, including data science and analytics; privacy, trust, security, and ethics; information architecture and design; and knowledge management and information consulting.

“I look forward to hearing more about the continued professional success of these students,” said Villicana.

4 Intersections Summer 2018

News

McDowell honored for online teaching

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ssociate Professor Kate McDowell (PhD ’07) is the 2018 recipient of the Excellence in Online & Distance Teaching Award, given annually by campus. The award recognizes faculty members and instructors who have demonstrated sustained excellence and innovation in online and/or distance teaching and contributions to student learning through innovative uses of technology. She received the award at the University’s Celebration of Teaching Excellence on April 12.

McDowell’s online courses at the iSchool include Literature and Resources for Children (IS 303/403); Literature and Resources for Young Adults (IS 304/404); Youth Services Librarianship (IS 406/506); Storytelling (IS 409); Fantasy Literature and Media for Youth (IS 590VV/446); Youth Services Community Engagement (IS 490YS); and Libraries, Information, and Society (IS 502).

According to nominator Linda C. Smith, professor and executive associate dean, McDowell “is unique among our faculty in teaching such a range of courses online, ensuring in particular that our online students who are interested in youth services have a rich array of high-quality courses from which to choose. She has continually adapted her online instruction, given changes in the technology available.”

McDowell has taught online since 1999 as a teaching assistant, adjunct faculty, and tenure-track faculty member. She was one of the first faculty members in the School to pilot a hybrid/dual-mode for a course— Youth Services Community Engagement— with a virtual classroom where online students participate via Blackboard Collaborate and on-campus students participate from a campus classroom.

To encourage interaction between on-campus and online students in her Storytelling course, she created rehearsal groups that meet in online chat rooms outside of the class period. Master’s student Elizabeth Isbell, who took McDowell’s

“Interaction is my pathway to impactful online pedagogy.

My goal has always been to reach students online with the same depth of content and quality of interaction as students in a graduate seminar.”

Associate Professor Kate McDowell with Provost Andreas Cangellaris

Storytelling class online, called it the best course she has taken so far. She especially appreciated having a rehearsal group to practice public speaking and the opportunity to practice using her microphone and video feed before storytelling in class.

“Professor McDowell’s use of breakout rooms helped me engage with and get to know other students, which is not always easy in an online format,” explained Isbell.

“While it was difficult at first to tell a story to an invisible and silent audience, I always received incredibly useful feedback from Professor McDowell and my fellow classmates that helped me improve my story-

telling through the duration of the class.”

“Interaction is my pathway to impactful online pedagogy. My goal has always been to reach students online with the same depth of content and quality of interaction as students in a graduate seminar,” McDowell said.

McDowell received her master’s and doctoral degrees from the iSchool at Illinois and her BA in general studies from New College in Sarasota, Florida. She regularly appears on the List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent issued by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus each semester.

Intersections Summer 2018

5 Blake named Centennial Scholar

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ssociate Professor Catherine Blake was the Centennial Scholar for the 20172018 academic year. Endowed by alumni and friends of the School, the award recognizes outstanding accomplishments and/ or professional promise in the information sciences.

A leading researcher in text mining medical literature, Blake served a year as a faculty fellow at the Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications, a research and development unit of the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). There she worked on projects in semantic knowledge representation and medical ontology research.

Her earlier focus on how people synthesize evidence from literature directly informs her computational approaches to accelerate scientific discovery. Blake utilizes her industrial experience as a software developer,

formal training in information and computer science, and more than a decade of experience in text mining scientific articles in medicine, toxicology, and epidemiology.

Her work has been published in the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, Journal of Biomedical Informatics, Environmental Health Perspectives, and elsewhere. She has also published three book chapters.

Blake is co-principal investigator on a project funded by the National Science Foundation that uses next-generation risk assessment tools to explore how the culture of an organization affects the likelihood of a disaster. She recently completed a project that analyzed data reuse at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

At the iSchool, Blake serves as associate director of the Center for Informatics Research in Science and Scholarship (CIRSS),

which studies the information lifecycle in the contexts of science and scholarship. She teaches courses in text mining, databases, evidence-based discovery, and the foundations of socio-technical data analytics. She holds an MS and PhD in information and computer science from the University of California, Irvine.

“We are delighted to recognize Cathy’s work with the Centennial Scholar award,” said Dean Allen Renear. “She has been pioneering new approaches to better integrate and advance our understanding of medical research results. This is enormously important work, and we are excited about both the results so far and the prospects ahead.”

iSchool hosts INDABA to increase diversity

Jessie Carney Smith

T

he iSchool hosted a special three-day gathering, INDABA: Conquering Racism, from April 27-29. The Indaba, which is a Zulu word used in South Africa to describe an important conference or discussion to address a problem, brought together alumni of color to talk with the iSchool community about their experiences as students, job seekers, and professionals.

The keynote speaker was Jessie Carney Smith (PhD ’64), dean of the library and Camille Cosby Distinguished Chair in the Hu-

manities at Fisk University. Smith, the first African American to earn a PhD in library science from Illinois, has been recognized for her work as a librarian, author, and educator by the Council on Library Resources, Coalition of 100 Black Women, the Women’s National Book Association, and Sage magazine.

Among her numerous awards, she received the iSchool Alumni Association’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1990.

The goals of the event included developing recommendations for welcoming more African Americans, Latinx, and Native Americans into the School and library professions.

It included presentations, panels, and sessions on conquering racism as well as culturally responsive pedagogy—what it is, why it matters, and how to incorporate it into the classroom.

The organizers were members of the iSchool’s Diversity Committee, chaired by Associate Professor Kate Williams, as well as Assistant Professor Nicole A. Cooke, program director for the MS in library and information science.

In addition to Smith, alumni who shared their experiences and expertise at the Indaba included:

• Chris Hamb (MS ’04), owner of Chrisp Media • Kathryn Harris (MS ’71), librarian for the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (retired) • Héctor Hernández (MS ’78), branch manager for the Chicago Public Library • Jerry Lewis (MS ’99), acquisitions and systems librarian for the William J. Campbell Library of the United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit • Saundra Murray Nettles (MS ’68), professor of education at the University of Illinois • Miguel Ruíz (MS ’13), information services supervisor in the Adult Services Department of the Skokie Public Library • Robert Wedgeworth (MS ’61), former dean of the School of Library Service at Columbia • Kellee E. Warren (MS ’15), instructor and special collections librarian for the Daley Library at the University of Illinois at Chicago The sessions on April 29 were sponsored

by Cooke’s grant from the Provost’s Initiative on Teaching Advancement. Videos from the event are available online at http://go. illinois.edu/indaba.

News

Intersections Summer 2018

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Hoiem awarded prestigious NEH Fellowship

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ssistant Professor Elizabeth Massa Hoiem is one of six Illinois faculty members who have been awarded National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Fellowships for 2018. It is the third year in the last four that the Urbana campus has garnered more fellowship awards than any other single institution.

In addition to Hoiem, fellowship recipients include Donna Buchanan, professor of music; Candice Jenkins, professor of English; Paul Kapp, professor of architecture; D. Fairchild Ruggles, professor of landscape architecture; and Craig Williams, professor of classics.

“Congratulations to our NEH Fellowship recipients. It is gratifying to see these exceptional scholars recognized for their academic achievements,” said Chancellor Robert J. Jones. “These prestigious fellowships are highly competitive, and for Illinois to have six faculty members named NEH fellows this year indicates the excellence of the scholarship in humanities on our campus.”

The U of I fellowships were among $12.8 million in grants awarded by the NEH for 253 humanities projects across the nation. The fellowship program supports advanced research in the humanities, and the recipients produce articles, books, digital materials, or other scholarly resources.

The NEH has received an average of 1,178 applications per year for fellowships

“These prestigious fellowships are highly competitive, and for Illinois to have six faculty members named NEH fellows this year indicates the excellence of the scholarship in humanities on our campus.” in the last five rounds of competition, according to the NEH website. Over that time, has awarded an average of 80 fellowships per year for a funding rate of 7 percent, making the fellowships among the most competitive humanities awards in the country.

Hoiem received the fellowship for her book project, The Education of Things: Mechanical Literacy in British Culture, 17521860. Using children’s literature and material culture, this book investigates ways that children learned directly from the physical world through object learning or “the education of things.” This mode of learning promised to develop what Hoiem calls mechanical literacy, a fusion of reading and writing with manual tinkering and scientific observation that was mythologized during the industrial era as indispensable for social advancement. She argues that learning-by-doing also blurred boundaries between educational play and work, and thus offered an empowering pedagogy for affluent children while justifying child labor as educational.

Hoiem teaches in the areas of reading and literacy, history of children’s literature, and fantasy literature. In her research and teaching, she explores the history of technological innovations in children’s literature—from early children’s books and toys to contemporary applications of digital pedagogy—analyzing lesser materials discovered through archival research. In addition to her book project, she is currently investigating how information is organized in nineteenth-century children’s nonfiction according to children’s cognitive development and spatial orientation, as well as how children’s nonfiction addresses ethical questions about who makes things, under what conditions, and for whom. Hoiem holds a PhD in English from Illinois.

The National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency, and one of the largest funders of humanities programs in the United States.

—Adapted from a University of Illinois News Bureau press release

7 Intersections Summer 2018

CDI completes successful five-year run

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he Center for Digital Inclusion (CDI) at the iSchool will close as a separate entity effective July 1, 2018. Its programs and initiatives will continue in the form of a distributed research model.

The mission of CDI is to foster inclusive and sustainable societies through research, teaching, and public engagement about information and communication technologies (ICTs) and their impacts on communities, organizations, and governments. The iSchool remains committed to this mission, which will continue to be fundamental to the work of faculty.

“Equitable information access, use, and capacity building remain key concerns of the iSchool in teaching, research, and engagement,” said J. Stephen Downie, professor and associate dean for research. “We believe that excellent scholarship and pedagogies will emerge from newly forming clusters and collaborations on campus—efforts that don’t fit neatly into a ‘center’ model.”

In lieu of a center, iSchool faculty members will continue to focus their research, teaching, and engagement on crucial issues

Parents, teachers, iSchool students, and CDI affiliates gather together for a Demystifying Technology workshop at Kenwood Elementary School in Champaign in 2015. This series of workshops was part of a state-funded grant to address digital equity.

of digital equity and social justice in the information professions.

Martin Wolske, CDI interim director, will collaborate with iSchool faculty and alumni to support ongoing dialogues and spark new discussions about digital equity. Wolske, iSchool senior research scientist and senior lecturer, will continue to teach courses addressing issues of social inclusion and exclusion, particularly as they relate to technology use in support of individuals and their communities; these courses include Community Engagement (IS 418), Introduction to Networked Systems (IS 451), Informal Learning Spaces and Pedagogies (IS 490IL), and

Community Informatics Studio (IS 490ST).

CDI was launched in 2013, building on the legacies of Prairienet (1994-2008) and the Community Informatics Initiative (20072012). Jon Gant, former research associate professor at the iSchool, was the CDI founding director; Gant left Illinois in 2016 to become dean of the School of Library and Information Sciences at North Carolina Central University. Through Gant’s leadership, CDI played a crucial role in the efforts of Urbana-Champaign Big Broadband (UC2B) to establish a fiber-optic broadband network in the local community, promoting equitable access to high-speed internet service.

PHOTO CREDIT: UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

Former faculty member James “JD” Divilbiss passes away

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ames “JD” Divilbiss passed away on March 25, 2018, at the age of 88. Divilbiss was a faculty member at the iSchool from 1971 to 1987. He held degrees in electrical engineering, and he was affiliated with the University’s Coordinated Science Laboratory as a principal research engineer before joining the School.

Among the courses Divilbiss introduced at the School were LS 416 Advanced Library Automation, which taught students the PL/I programming language; LS 450Y Systems Analysis (later LS 417 Techniques for Managerial Decision Making); and LIS 450CC Telecommunications. According to Ideals and Standards: The History of the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science, “[LS 450Y/LS 417] included an assignment in which the students carried Divilbiss’s handcrafted random alarm mechanisms (familiarly called ‘beepers’) as a case study in analyzing how personnel spend their time. Other faculty and students became accustomed to the beepers sounding at random intervals during classes.”

Adjunct faculty member Bob Burger (CAS ’78, PhD ’88) recalled how his studentprofessor relationship with Divilbiss evolved into a friendship that lasted over forty years.

“As an Air Force veteran and the survivor of six years of military school, I still saw JD as a formidable presence,” Burger said.

“Some of my fellow students might even have said ‘scary.’ Formidable or not, he was a superb teacher. I took every course he taught, from Library Automation to Systems Analysis and Telecommunications. Eventually I stopped being intimidated, and my wife, Ann, and I became friends with JD and his wife, Mary Jo.” “JD was a kind and generous friend behind that somewhat forceful personality, helping us with several projects over the years, from stringing cable in our house to creating a tabletop floor loom. He was a master craftsman and had the workshop to prove it. Always interesting and engaging and a personal inspiration to me, I consider it providential (he would cringe here) to have known him,” he said.

8 Intersections Summer 2018

News

2017 Downs Intellectual Freedom Award given to the Kansas City Public Library

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he Kansas City Public Library’s defense of the First Amendment earned it the 2017 Downs Intellectual Freedom Award.

The award, given annually by the iSchool faculty and cosponsored by Libraries Unlimited, is presented during a reception held at ALA Midwinter.

On May 9, 2016, the Kansas City Public Library (KCPL), in cooperation with the Truman Library Institute and the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City, hosted a talk by Dennis Ross, a former advisor on the Middle East to Presidents George H. W. Bush and Barack Obama as well as a distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. During the question-and-answer period, library patron Jeremy Rothe-Kushel asked about U.S. support for what he called Israel’s “statesponsored terrorism.” After Ross responded, Rothe-Kushel attempted to follow up and was grabbed by a private security guard, followed by an off-duty police officer, both of whom had been hired by the Jewish Community Foundation.

Steve Woolfolk, KCPL’s director of programming, intervened, noting that discourse is accepted and encouraged at a public event held in a public library. He was physically injured by the officers and arrested.

R. Crosby Kemper III, KCPL executive director, said the private security guard was not acting on behalf of the library and had no right to remove a patron for asking a question. When the charges against Woolfolk were not dropped, KCPL went public with the incident. In September 2017, a municipal court judge found Woolfolk not guilty on all charges.

Woolfolk has been lauded for his actions by the American Library Association (ALA), Urban Libraries Council, and Missouri Library Association. He was awarded the 2017

Steve Woolfolk, KCPL director of programming

Lemony Snicket Prize for Noble Librarians Faced with Adversity, established by the best-selling author and the ALA to recognize individuals who have “faced adversity with integrity and dignity intact.”

In addition, the KCPL received ALA’s 2017 Paul Howard Award for Courage, given biannually for “unusual courage for the benefit of library programs or services.”

According to nominator Kate Williams, associate professor at the iSchool, “Giving the Downs Award to the Kansas City Public Library, especially these librarians, will help educate many people nationwide and beyond as to the special roles of the public library, the police, and private security forces in a democratic society, and the boundaries we all navigate to protect free speech and intellectual freedom.”

The Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award is presented to acknowledge individuals or groups who have furthered the cause of intellectual freedom, particularly as it affects libraries and information centers and the dissemination of ideas.

Granted to those who have resisted censor-

ship or efforts to abridge the freedom of individuals to read or view materials of their choice, the award may be given in recognition of a particular action or long-term interest in, and dedication to, the cause of intellectual freedom. The award was established in 1969 by the iSchool’s faculty to honor Robert Downs, a champion of intellectual freedom, on his twenty-fifth anniversary as director of the School.

With Libraries Unlimited, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, assuming cosponsorship of the award in 2012, ABC-CLIO has been dedicated to supporting the Downs Award for more than thirty years. As a publisher committed to advancing library professional development and independent critical thought, Libraries Unlimited and the entire ABC-CLIO family are strong advocates of intellectual freedom rights and the dissemination of all ideas. The iSchool at Illinois is honored to share sponsorship with Libraries Unlimited and appreciates the contributions it and the other imprints of ABC-CLIO have made in defending intellectual freedom through the years.

The Hidden Life of a Toad receives Gryphon Award

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he Hidden Life of a Toad, written and illustrated with photographs by Doug Wechsler, and published by Charlesbridge, is the winner of the 2018 Gryphon Award for Children’s Literature.

The Gryphon Award, which includes a $1,000 prize, is given annually by the Center for Children’s Books (CCB). The prize is awarded to the author of an outstanding English-language work of fiction or nonfiction for which the primary audience is children in kindergarten through fourth grade, and which best exemplifies those qualities that successfully bridge the gap in difficulty between books for reading aloud to children and books for practiced readers. With a core of regular committee members, the award has become a way to contribute to an ongoing conversation about literature for inexperienced readers and to draw attention to the literature that offers, in many different ways, originality, accessibility, and high quality for that audience.

“We’re big fans of nonfiction for transitional reading, and Wechsler’s beautiful book

exemplifies that genre’s advantages,” said Deborah Stevenson, CCB director and editor of The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (BCCB). “This outstanding early reader follows the life of toads with accessibility and enthusiasm, all the way from the embryonic state to their adult life. The text varies in length and vocabulary difficulty from page to page, giving new readers a chance to stretch their skills while offering places to hone what they have already mastered; stunning close-up photos of toads and their milieu support the text and encourage kids to correlate image elements with words.”

Three Gryphon Honors also were named: • Dog on a Frog? (Scholastic), written by Kes and Claire Gray and illustrated by Jim Field • King Flashypants and the Evil Emperor (Holt), written and illustrated by Andy Riley • Sam the Man & the Rutabaga Plan (Dlouhy/Atheneum), written by Frances O’Roark Dowell and illustrated by Amy June Bates

The Gryphon Award was established in 2004 as a way to focus attention on transitional reading. “Kids who've mastered decoding words and letters are at a crucial ‘What’s next?’ stage, and the Gryphon Award answers that question,” Stevenson said. “It’s our mission and our pleasure to draw attention to the amazing books in a variety of genres that serve readers who are starting to stretch their reading muscles and find books to learn from and love.”

This year’s award committee consists of Stevenson; Kate Quealy-Gainer, BCCB assistant editor; and adjunct faculty member and longtime school librarian Elizabeth Bush, BCCB reviewer.

The award is sponsored by the CCB and funded by the CCB’s Gryphon Fund. Income from the fund supports the annual Gryphon Lecture as well as the Gryphon Award for children’s literature. Gifts may be made to the fund by contacting Jill Gengler in the iSchool Advancement Office at (217) 265-6252 or gengler@illinois.edu.

Martens delivers 2018 Gryphon Lecture

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arianne Martens (MS ’06), iSchool research fellow and assistant professor of library and information science at Kent State University, delivered the 2018 Gryphon Lecture, “The Forever Fandom of Harry Potter: Fan Fiction, Festivals, and Charitable Works,” on March 2. The annual lecture is sponsored by The Center for Children’s Books at the iSchool.

According to Martens, while J.K. Rowling (and related corporate entities) have not always been supportive of fan activities, it is the fans’ immaterial and affective labor around the series that is largely responsible for its success. In her lecture, she discussed how and why fans contribute their labor in

support of Harry Potter, and the tensions that arise between fans and the corporations who own him.

Martens’ research covers the interconnected fields of youth services librarianship and publishing, and the impact of interactive reading technologies. Prior to joining the faculty at Kent State University, she was vice president of North-South Books in New York. She is the author of Publishers, Readers, and Digital Engagement (Palgrave Macmillan).

View Martens’ TED talk on Harry Potter fandom in a digital era: www.mariannemartens.org

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Research

Intersections Summer 2018

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Magee awarded IMLS grant for young researchers project

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ssistant Professor Rachel M. Magee has been awarded a three-year Early Career Development grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS grant RE-07-18-0054-18), under the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program, which supports “developing a diverse workforce of librarians to better meet the changing learning and information needs of the American public by enhancing the training and professional development of librarians, developing faculty and library leaders, and recruiting and educating the next generation of librarians.”

The IMLS-funded project, “Young Researchers: Collaborating with Youth and Libraries for Community Based Scholarship,”

builds on a pilot study Magee conducted in 2016-2017, in which a small group of teens in Illinois learned how to help design, implement, analyze, and report on original research.

“Working with teens in the pilot study for the Young Researchers project was inspiring and demonstrated that youth can substantively contribute to the way we design and conduct research about their experiences,” said Magee. “These teens worked together for eight months, and their timely research investigating how their peers decide what to trust on social media shows that teens have important questions to ask and answer through the original research process.”

The new grant will allow Magee to expand the project to five partner public library sites across the U.S., connecting teens from diverse backgrounds during afterschool camps or summer camps in order to explore the research process.

The project will conclude with a public curriculum and workshop series for library and information science professionals on implementing co-research.

“The next phase of this work will involve collaborating with teens across the country

to develop studies about their priorities,” Magee explained. “This will provide an opportunity to better understand how teens develop complex research literacies, to further techniques for effective informal learning, and to create and share resources that all libraries can use to help teens understand the research process.”

In addition to the Young Researchers project, Magee continues her work on the App Authors project with Associate Professor Kate McDowell and Assistant Professor Deborah Stevenson, director of The Center for Children’s Books. App Authors is a threeyear project to develop curricula for appbuilding in school and public libraries. Like App Authors, the Young Researchers project will advance scholarship on designing informal learning opportunities in libraries as well as support youth literacy development.

Magee is a youth advocate who teaches about and researches youth technology and information practices, informed by her background as a public librarian. She holds a PhD in information studies from Drexel University and a master’s degree in information resources and library science from the University of Arizona.

Intersections Summer 2018

11 Underwood’s research shows paradox of women’s representation in literature

through the ages

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hile the issue of gender equality is more prevalent in modern times than in the Victorian era, a new study shows that in literature, the number of women characters and women authors has declined rather than grown over the years.

Professor Ted Underwood led the research, which used machine learning to analyze the presentation of gender in more than 100,000 novels from 1703 to 2009 in the HathiTrust Digital Library.

According to Underwood, “By 1960, women had lost half the space they occupied in nineteenth-century fiction, even though gender roles had become more flexible.”

He and his fellow researchers, David Bamman, assistant professor of information science at the University of California, Berkeley, and Sabrina Lee, a graduate student in English at Illinois, recently published

their findings, “The Transformation of Gender in English-Language Fiction,” in the journal Cultural Analytics. Using an algorithm Underwood and Bamman had built for another characterization project, they discovered shifts in the words that characterize gender as well as a decrease in the number of gendered words.

Their work was recently featured in the Smithsonian.com article, “Women Were Better Represented in Victorian Novels than Modern Ones.” As Underwood points out in the article, “Although literary historians have talked about women’s departure from the novel at certain points before, nobody has done the kind of broad-scale work that would demonstrate continuous trends.

That’s where machine learning comes in.”

This research was funded by the Workset Creation for Scholarly Analysis and Data Capsule (WCSA+DC) grant through the

HathiTrust Research Center (HTRC). The HTRC is a collaboration between the University of Illinois, Indiana University, and the HathiTrust to enable advanced computational access to the HathiTrust Digital Library database, a collection of just under 14 million digitized volumes.

Underwood is the author of Why Literary Periods Mattered (Stanford, 2013) and the upcoming Distant Horizons: Digital Evidence and Literary Change (University of Chicago), and his articles have appeared in PMLA, Representations, MLQ, and Cultural Analytics.

He is currently finishing his upcoming book, Distant Horizons: Digital Evidence and Literary Change.

Learn more about Underwood's research: youtu.be/EtuzUVZaUMI

Brooks coauthors paper on social media use during Ebola outbreak

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he 2014 Ebola virus epidemic that originated in West Africa and spread to other parts of the globe was the deadliest Ebola outbreak in history. During this period, a frightened public turned to social media and internet search engines for information and to share news of the outbreak. According to a team of international researchers, including iSchool Research Scientist Ian Brooks, understanding the social media activity around a health crisis, like the 2014 Ebola outbreak, can help health organizations improve their communication strategies and prevent misinformation and panic.

Their paper, “Fear on the networks: analyzing the 2014 Ebola outbreak,” was published in December in the Pan American Journal of Public Health (41, 2017). In addi-

tion to Brooks, researchers included lead author Marcelo D’Agostino (Department of Communicable Diseases and Health Analysis, Pan American Health Organization [PAHO]), Felipe Mejía (international consultant, Bogotá, Colombia), Myrna Marti and David Novillo-Ortiz (Department of Knowledge Management, Bioethics, and Research, PAHO), and Gerardo de Cosio (Department of Communicable Diseases and Health Analysis, PAHO).

The research team analyzed Twitter tweets, Facebook posts, and Google trends as well as other internet resources from March-November 2014. They found that in most cases, news agencies have more engagement with the public in social media than do health organizations. In addition,

spikes in activity around a topic can be used to signal to health authorities an outbreak may be underway. They concluded that during an outbreak, health organizations need to not only improve their communication strategies but also to make sure that news agencies are using their communications as reporting sources.

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iSchool support propels Paralympian to success

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hroughout her racing career, Paralympian Amanda McGrory (MS ’18) has had many fans cheering her on, but she considers her fans at the iSchool to be particularly special. At Convocation in May, she presented the iSchool with the Order of Ikkos, a medal given to Olympic and Paralympic medalists to pass on to organizations or people who have supported them on their journey.

McGrory is an elite competitive athlete, having won seven Paralympic medals and over 25 marathons. Understandably, this requires an intense training schedule that lasts year-round. The iSchool made sure that she was able to continue competing while also pursuing her MS/LIS degree.

According to McGrory, athletics taught her discipline, especially with her schedule.

This discipline was vital to her success in graduate school. In addition to her training and classes, she also worked as a graduate assistant for the School’s Instructional Technology and Design Office and Help Desk.

“The iSchool is amazing and has been so incredibly supportive of me,” she said. “I competed in the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games eight months after I started my graduate program. Everyone—my coworkers in my assistantship, my instructors, and the administration—has been willing to work with me and do anything they could to help me succeed. They allowed me to tailor the program to what I needed in order to keep competing. I can’t think of a better place for my Ikkos medal.”

McGrory was drawn to Illinois for her undergraduate study because of the rich legacy of the adaptive sports program at the University. In the 1940s, Tim Nugent pioneered Illinois’ wheelchair athletics program, and nearly 70 years later, Illinois is the undisputed leader in collegiate adaptive sports.

While earning her bachelor’s degree in

psychology, McGrory participated on two sports teams.

“Sports have been a huge part of my development as a person. Competing has helped build my self-confidence and my independence. That’s why I really love working with adaptive sports programs whenever I can to help get kids started,” she said.

McGrory loves working with children, especially in her role as a coach at the Illinois Track Camp held each summer—the same camp she attended when she was 12 and 13 years old. She also gives talks in schools and supports programs that help defray the cost of sports equipment for students.

“One of the hardest things about adaptive athletics is the huge barrier to entry because of the cost of the equipment,” she said.

“Every adaptive sport requires a different piece of specialized equipment, and that is not cheap. Even a basic, entry-level racing chair can be close to $2,000, which is a huge commitment for a family—especially one with a young child who might not like it or will probably outgrow it in just a few years.”

McGrory is interested in museums and archives and hopes to work in one of these settings after graduation. She is now completing an extended internship at the U.S. Olympic Committee headquarters in Colorado Springs, assisting the archives with selecting artifacts to appear in the U.S. Olympic Museum set to open a few blocks away in 2019. This 60,000-square-foot museum will include interactive exhibits through which visitors can attempt to train like the athletes, be transported to opening ceremonies, and can learn about life-changing developments in sports medicine. The museum will also be home to the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame.

“At the same time I was applying for the internship, I received an email from someone else who had no idea I was applying to work in the archives. They asked if I would be willing to donate any of my own items to the museum, so I might just put together my own exhibit!” she laughed.

–Adapted from a story by Kim Schmidt, Office of Institutional Advancement

Career Highlights Seven-time Paralympic medalist –One gold, two silver, four bronze Ten-time IPC Athletics World Championships Medalist –Three gold, three silver, four bronze Current American record holder for the Boston Marathon –1:33:13 at the 2017 marathon 2017 Champion of the Tokyo Marathon Three-time winner of the Chicago Marathon Two-time winner of the London and NYC Marathons

“I competed in the 2016 Rio Paralympic Games eight months after I started my graduate program. Everyone—my coworkers in my assistantship, my instructors, and the administration— has been willing to work with me and do anything they could to help me succeed.”

Amanda McGrory competes in the 1500 meter at the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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PHOTO CREDIT: UNIVERSITY ARCHIVES

Beta Phi Mu celebrates 70 years

First Beta Phi Mu Initiation, 1948

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eta Phi Mu, the library and information studies honor society, celebrates its seventieth anniversary this year. It was founded at the University of Illinois in August 1948 by a group of leading librarians and library educators to recognize and encourage scholastic achievement among library and information studies students.

The name Beta Phi Mu comes from the initials of the Greek words Bibliothekarios philax mathesis, meaning “librarians are the guardians of knowledge.” The society’s motto is “Aliis inserviendo consumor,” which translated from the Latin, means “ consumed in the service of others.” Eligibility for membership in the honor society is by invitation of the faculty from institutions where the ALA, or other recognized accrediting agency, has accredited or recognized a professional degree program.

Professor Emerita Kathryn Luther Henderson (MS ’51) was a founding member and the first secretary of the Beta Phi Mu

Alpha Chapter at Illinois. Later she served as the chapter’s faculty advisor. In the spring 2008 issue of The Pipeline, a Beta Phi Mu publication, Henderson reflected, “My greatest joy has been to welcome into membership many of the outstanding students I have been privileged to work with and to see them take on leading roles in Beta Phi Mu at the national and Alpha Chapter levels.” Her husband, William T Henderson, served as president of the Alpha Chapter in its twenty-fifth year and was the chapter’s secretary-treasurer for many years.

Today there are 38 active chapters of Beta Phi Mu across the country, and more than 30,000 individuals have become members.

Alpha Chapter will hold its annual meeting on Saturday, October 27, 2018, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the iSchool. The initiation ceremony for new members will be held at 11:00 a.m. with a luncheon at noon, followed by a talk by Lynne M. Thomas (MS ’99), head of the Rare Book &

Manuscript Library at Illinois. Thomas’ talk is titled “The Accidental Time Traveler” and discusses the intersection of time travel and rare books. The meeting and talk will also be available online. A renewal and invitation notice will be sent in September. Any alumni who have received an invitation to join at any point in time but are not yet members are welcome to join now by contacting Linda Smith, Alpha Chapter secretary/ treasurer (lcsmith@illinois.edu).

To celebrate the seventieth anniversary, Beta Phi Mu members are asked to consider making a donation, in a multiple or division of seventy, to the Alpha Chapter Beta Phi Mu Award Support Endowment Fund. To contribute to the fund, visit the iSchool’s online giving page at ischool.illinois.edu/giving or contact the Advancement Office at (217) 300-5746 or ischool-advancement@ illinois.edu.

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Athletics and analytics make a happy combination for MS student Kameron Wells

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ameron Wells is combining his love of athletics with his interest in data analytics as a student in the iSchool’s MS in information management (MS/IM) program.

A Champaign native, Wells graduated in 2017 with his bachelor’s degree in computer science from Knox College, where he was a four-time letterwinner and starting catcher on the school’s baseball team.

“Sports have been a huge influence in my life,” said Wells, whose father played basketball for the University of Illinois. “Growing up, I played basketball and picked up golf in high school, but my true love has always been baseball.”

He is still involved in baseball but now as coach. He serves as head coach of the Edison Middle School varsity baseball team in the fall and the Judah Christian High School varsity baseball team in the spring.

According to Wells, his interest in data analytics developed naturally. “I was that kid obsessed with the stats on the back of base-

ball/basketball/football trading cards.” After earning his MS/IM degree, he wants to get into the field of sports analytics, preferably using data driven-decisions to help player and team performance.

“The data analytics concentration in the MS/IM, coupled with the flexibility of the program, allow me to tailor my degree to these goals,” he said. “The degree was intriguing to me because it’s geared to the twenty-first century. Companies are just starting to figure out that they need people with information management backgrounds, and of course, the University of Illinois was ahead of the curve by creating this degree program.”

In addition to being a coach and student, he is a graduate data analyst with the U of I Division of Intercollegiate Athletics Sports Technology Department.

“I’m working with all twenty-one varsity teams, the ticketing department, social media department, and athletic training

staff on various projects to enhance Illinois Athletics,” said Wells.

His ultimate “end goal” is to be the director of baseball research and development or director of baseball operations for a professional baseball team. Last summer, Wells had the opportunity to work with the Baltimore Orioles on a project using data to help drive team decision making and personnel evaluations. He hopes to find a similar internship with a professional team this summer.

In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends, playing intramural sports, attending sporting events, spending time outside, watching TV, and reading.

“Since I was a kid, I always envisioned myself attending the University of Illinois,” Wells said, “so when the opportunity presented itself, it was something that I couldn’t pass up. The iSchool is one of the top schools of its kind in the nation with some of the best faculty a student could ask for. Coming here for my MS/IM degree was really a no-brainer.”

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Mentor program offers students a view inside the field

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hanks to the iSchool’s mentor program, students can interact with professionals in the field and receive valuable insight into careers in libraries, government, nonprofits, and industry. In the semester-long program, mentors connect with students online or in person—or both. Below are four alumni-student mentoring pairs who participated in the program during the 2017-2018 academic year.

Annie Miskewitch (MS ’05), deputy director of the Schaumburg Township District Library, was the mentor for master’s student Katie MacKendrick. Miskewitch became a mentor to get more involved with her alma mater and offer aspiring and future leaders in the field a chance to have authentic conversations about public libraries. “I wasn’t sure which facet of librarianship I wanted to pursue, but I knew I wanted to do something with public service,” MacKendrick said.

“Annie was a perfect fit as my mentor because she has worked in so many different capacities in a public library setting and

Katie MacKendrick and Annie Miskewitch

“I was happy that my experiences—the hard lessons I struggled through and the victories I sailed through—were able to be of interest and provide guidance.”

Annie Miskewitch could offer advice about working in these roles as well as general advice about applying to jobs in the field.” It was a positive experience for Miskewitch as well. “I was happy that my experiences—the hard lessons I struggled through and the victories I sailed through—were able to be of interest and provide guidance.”

For Chris Lehman (MS ’13), senior system engineer at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), the mentoring program was as much of a learning experience for him as it was for his mentee, master’s student Ajit Dhobale. “I found out that Ajit had volunteered at a ‘Data Science for Kids’ event in India, which piqued my interest, as I had been looking for something

similar for a volunteer teaching opportunity at the local middle school. Ajit put me in touch with the creators of the curriculum in India, and I ended up teaching a group of middle school kids how to build a friend predictor based on their curriculum,” he said. At NCSA, Lehman helps develop and maintain the central database and surrounding application code that facilitates access and use of the Blue Waters supercomputer by researchers from all over the world. Dhobale signed up for the mentor program for the chance to be paired with an experienced data science professional like Lehman. “The program was very well structured into four sessions—three Skype calls and a half-day job shadow. Chris took me to one of his daily

Ajit Dhobale and Chris Lehman

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team meetings at NCSA, and I was able to interact with his colleagues. The program has been really fantastic,” Dhobale said.

As community engagement manager for the Normal Public Library, Laura Golaszewski (MS ’11) works to build new relationships with community members as well as to strengthen and sustain existing relationships. Her mentee, master’s student Lydia Frank, has a mutual interest in public engagement and recently accepted a position in a public library in Utah. “Laura gave me valuable feedback on my resume, shared stories from her career and insights about working in public libraries, and was very enthusiastic about participating in the program and talking with me,” she said. “I’m looking forward to starting my professional career.” The program was also advantageous for Golaszewski. “It’s an easy way to stay involved with the future professionals in our field, and it helps you to stay current.”

Carolyn Kinsella (MS ’03) is the district librarian for Minooka Community High

“The program was very well structured into four sessions— three Skype calls and a half-day job shadow. Chris took me to one of his daily team meetings at NCSA, and I was able to interact with his colleagues. The program has been really fantastic.”

Ajit Dhobale School, a large high school with two campuses. While her primary role is teaching information literacy to students, she also needs to stay at the forefront of innovations, manage two collections, and perform all other administrative duties needed to keep the two libraries running smoothly. Master’s student Amanda Weber wanted to be paired with a school librarian in order to learn more about that career path and find out if it was right for her. “The mentor program allowed me to not only talk to a school librarian, Carolyn, but also to shadow her for a day and complete a practice job interview that helped me get my current assistantship,” Weber said. Kinsella’s advice to future

school librarians is to be passionate about their profession, advocate for school libraries, and “love the students first and foremost, because if you do, then you will love your career.” She was happy to participate in the mentor program. “As someone who is nearing the end of her school library career, I want to make sure there are strong people in the field for the future.”

Professionals who are interested in participating in the program or would like to request more information should contact Michele Plante, employer relations coordinator, at (217) 333-1102 or mplante@illinois.edu.

iSchool career fair in Chicago

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he inaugural iSchool Library Networking and Career Fair was held in March at the Loyola University Library. Participants included eighteen recruiters representing all sectors of libraries, industry, and professional organizations as well as eighty-five students, including ten students from other universities in Chicago. Following the fair, the School hosted an informal networking reception for alumni, students, and employers.

Master’s student Shannon Buchanan visits a booth at the fair.

Alumni

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International Connections

iSchool alumni are working in a variety of positions around the globe—currently in more than thirty countries. The following is a sample of where some of the School’s graduates are employed as well as how the iSchool prepared them for their careers.

Szarina Abdullah (PhD ’89)

Daryl Green (MS ’10)

Xiao Hu (PhD ’10)

MALAYSIA

ENGLAND

HONG KONG

My doctoral research was in the field of bibliometrics, under the supervision of the late Professor (F. W.) Lancaster. Lancaster was the magnet that drew international students, myself included, to the School. From him I learned to be a good supervisor and mentor as well as a good host to people from foreign lands.

Following the completion of my PhD and return home to Malaysia, I organized the first workshop on bibliometrics for Malaysian librarians in collaboration with UNESCO. I taught and conducted research while serving as a professor of the Faculty of Information Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). I also led a team of researchers to conduct three national bibliometrics projects for the Ministry of Science and Technology in Malaysia. I retired from UiTM in 2012 after 37 years of service. Currently I am a principal consultant at my former students’ firm, Wisdom Synergy, and carry out some charity work.

I am the librarian of Magdalen College at Oxford. Magdalen is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford and was founded in 1458. The collections in my care range from pre-foundation to the modern, circulating library, and I also oversee the operation of the College’s historic and modern archive.

The iSchool gave me the tools and background knowledge that I needed as a fledgling librarian. My first post, in St. Andrews (Scotland), required a lot of lone working, and the contacts that I developed both in the iSchool and in the work that I did for the Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Illinois gave me the confidence to embrace my career in rare books librarianship. Nowadays I still stay in touch with a number of my iSchool tutors and peers, as a source for giving and receiving advice.

As an assistant professor in the Division of Information and Technology Studies at the University of Hong Kong, I teach, conduct research, and provide services to my faculty and my field. I am also the program director of our Master of Science program in Library and Information Management.

The iSchool trained me how to teach, conduct sound research, and guide my PhD and master’s students. It also enabled me to find excellent collaborators, many of whom are former classmates and professors. I am very grateful for the generosity of folks in the iSchool. Even after my graduation, I could still call and seek help. My experience and connections with the iSchool have helped and will continue to help me excel in my work.

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Andrew Kaniki (MS ’81)

Simone Sacchi (PhD ‘15)

Hong (Helen) Xu (PhD ’96)

SOUTH AFRICA

NETHERLANDS

CHINA

I work for the National Research Foundation (NRF), which is similar to the National Science Foundation in the U.S. I am the executive director of the Knowledge Advancement and Support directorate that is responsible for research grants to drive research/knowledge generation—the design/drafting, implementation, and management of research/knowledge production funding interventions, instruments, and programs. These include both national and bilateral or multinational African and international grants. The directorate is also charged with facilitating the development of new fields of knowledge and support for “vulnerable disciplines.” Prior to joining the NRF, I was on the faculty at the University of Natal (now the University of KwaZulu).

Throughout my career, the iSchool’s prestige and reputation gave me confidence and opened the doors for me to work with the best. I taught, researched, and published in LIS; served on an International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) interest group; and belonged to national professional associations in Zambia and South Africa. Regardless of my transition into research management, I still continue to serve the profession. For instance, I am currently the chairperson of the National Council for Library and Information Services, which advises the Ministers of Arts and Culture and Education and also has overseen the development of a national policy for library and information services in South Africa.

I am the head of international projects for LIBER, the Association of European Research Libraries. In this role, I oversee a portfolio of collaborative projects, including work in prominent EU-funded initiatives related to the European Open Science Cloud; scholarly communication and open access; open science training; and text and data mining.

I am a co-PI on the HuMetricsHSS pilot project, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, a collaboration between EU and U.S. organizations to rethink from a value-based perspective the metrics and indicators in humanities and social sciences. I also provide strategic support to the LIBER executive director, identifying new partnerships and developing project proposals, making sure they align with the LIBER Strategic Directions and the research library agenda in Europe.

My education at the iSchool not only provided me with thorough preparation as a researcher but also the hands-on experience of working on funded, collaborative research projects. Combined with my previous experience in research libraries in Italy— where I held an eight-year tenure as systems librarian and digital repository manager at the University of Bologna—my graduate studies at the iSchool formed the basis for my success, first as the head of scholarly communication services at Columbia University in the City of New York and then at LIBER, the most prominent association of European research libraries.

I have been the university librarian and associate university librarian for library services at Duke Kunshan University since 2015.

Prior to my current position, I served as the associate university librarian at City University of Hong Kong Library and as the head of the East Asian Library at the University of Pittsburgh. I have taught in universities in China and the U.S. My research interests cover scholarly communication, user study, bibliometrics, and library management. I serve on the editorial boards of several academic journals and am very active in the field, nationally and internationally.

The systematic training I received at the iSchool has provided me a comprehensive understanding of the field and a solid foundation in research, teaching, and management. My advisor, the late Professor F. W. Lancaster, and the chair of my dissertation committee, Professor Linda Smith, have been very important and influential role models for me in maintaining critical and deep thinking in the development of librarianship, being sensitive and open to research trends, paying attention to details, and being aware of cultural and other differences. Through their actions as well as their words, they have also taught me to be patient with, considerate and kind to, and responsible for students, colleagues, and patrons.

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A Family Tradition: The Hahns at the iSchool

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degree from the iSchool has become somewhat of a family tradition for the Hahns. Four members of the family are alumni, two are current students at the School, and their family connections to the field run deep.

The library was an important part of the Hahn siblings’ childhood.

Their grandmother, Joan Hahn, was a tutor at the library in their hometown of Arlington Heights, Illinois. In addition, their uncle and aunt, James and Lynn Hahn, have been prolific writers of young adult nonfiction. It’s not surprising that one or more of the Hahn siblings would wind up studying library and information science (LIS).

The first Hahn to enroll in the iSchool was Jim (MS ’07, CAS ’11). While earning his bachelor’s degree in history at Illinois, Jim worked in the University’s History/Philosophy Library. After graduating in 2003, he found a job at the Harper College Library in the Chicago suburbs.

“Around the time I was thinking of applying to graduate school, I remember reading a Library Journal article that mentioned how librarians are also involved in instruction in academic libraries. That article really motivated me to pursue a graduate degree in LIS,” Jim said. “I was thinking of either becoming a writer, a teacher, or a librarian. It is very strange how life works out, since my current job allows me to be all three!”

Now a tenured librarian in the Undergraduate Library at Illinois, Jim develops and evaluates technologies that enable undergraduates to discover library resources and services, coordinates orientation programs at the library for first-year and transfer students, and assists with instruction/information literacy programs.

“When I was young, I enjoyed finding drawing books and computer books in our hometown library. Memorizing the sections of the Arlington Heights Library was an experience that definitely echoes to this day as I research and develop wayfinding services for academic libraries,” he said.

The next family member to come to the iSchool was Dan (MS ’11).

“One early memory I have of the magic of libraries is my brother Jim dialing into the library catalog on our MS DOS-based computer. To this day I’m still astonished by this,” Dan said.

Dan worked part time in two public libraries in the Chicago area after receiving a bachelor’s degree in English from Northern Illinois University. He decided to earn an MS/LIS degree to become better qualified for a full-time library position.

“It wasn’t until after I had received my bachelor’s degree that I really came to rely on the public library as a resource, not only for peace and quiet from a rowdy household but also to pursue my interests and start my career,” Dan explained.

As an eLearning professional at Illinois, Dan supports the campus in using centrally supported software for online learning. He credits his experience as a graduate assistant for the iSchool’s Help Desk and Instructional Technology and Design Office as playing a significant role in preparing him for the environment in which he works today.

Dan met his wife Melissa (current PhD student) in 2013, when she began her doctoral studies at the iSchool. They married in March 2016. Melissa received her BFA in photography from Ohio State and her MAT in art education from Tufts University in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. She came to Illinois for graduate study in art education but made the switch to LIS after taking Christine Jenkins’ class, History of Children’s Literature.

“My experience in Christine Jenkins’ class as well as my interactions with Kate McDowell and Carol Tilley made me feel that switching to LIS made sense, and I was excited for the change,” she said. “In the field of LIS, I am especially interested in children’s literature, picture books, and visual literary.”

Melissa is a teaching assistant at the iSchool and also mother to a 14-month-old daughter, Josefina, with husband Dan. Tony (MS ’14) served in Americorps with Rebuilding Together New Orleans after receiving his bachelor’s degree in philosophy from Knox College in 2008. After his stint with Americorps ended, he wanted to find something that involved public service and technology, which led him to LIS. “The program at the iSchool was highly recommended by my brothers Jim and Dan,” he said. “They both found employment after

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From Left to Right: Collin Scott (Tina’s fiancé), Tina Hahn, Tony Hahn, Allison Hahn, Tom Hahn, Peter Hahn, Juventina Hahn holding Josefina Hahn, Matt Hahn (behind Juventina), Jim Hahn, Rachel McCool (Jim’s wife), Pete Hahn, Kristen Hahn, Melissa Hahn, and Dan Hahn

getting their degrees, and the curriculum offered exactly the type of applied computer science I was looking for.”

At the time he applied to the School, Tony held a part-time job in IT at Arlington Heights Memorial Library and also worked at the three Naperville Public Library branches.

He is now the web services manager at the Des Plaines Public Library, where he helps manage the library’s web presence— website, catalog, blog, social media, and podcast—and handles emerging technology projects and training for patrons and staff.

“I am thankful for the foundation of tech classes I took,” Tony said. “The exposure to databases and Python, for example, keep me from feeling too intimidated when I have to dive into new projects. I also enjoyed the management and business classes, because they branched into other areas of LIS.” Tony’s wife, Allison (current MS student), was recently accepted into the Leep (online) program and will start her coursework this summer. She works as a teen/adult programmer and patron assistant for the South Branch of the Mount Prospect Public Library.

“The branch is a tiny storefront location, where we pack in a collection of about 8,000 items. At least half of our collection is written in Spanish, and I order print materials for teens and adults in English and Spanish, trying to keep a balance of new, popular, and older favorite options for patrons. I also coordinate and schedule over 140 programs per year for the branch, leading about onefourth myself.”

The flexibility of the Leep program will allow Allison to keep working while taking classes online, directly applying what she learns. Plus, she said, “I have heard such glowing reviews from the rest of the Hahn family that [earning an MS/LIS] feels like common sense.”

It was her brothers’ recommendations that brought Tina (MS ’17) to the iSchool as well.

Tina earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology and education from Carleton College in 2012. Like her brother Tony, she worked in the Des Plaines Public Library, and she also worked in business research before enrolling in the master’s program.

“There aren’t many fields that lend themselves to these two very different settings, but I truly enjoyed my work in both, so I fig-

ured the underlying piece was knowing how to persevere in finding answers even when others stop,” she explained of her decision to study LIS. Tina is currently working in marketing and sales development at McMaster-Carr, where she does research on companies and industries that present opportunities to grow business. She credits the School with helping to refine her research skills as well as her written and verbal communication skills.

“We’re now four for seven on receiving MS/LIS degrees from the iSchool,” she said of herself and her siblings. “Our local library was a big part of our upbringing—it was on the same street as our house, just over the railroad tracks. On Sundays, we created our own small parade of bikes, trikes, and the Little Flyer red wagon and ventured to the library and then to my grandparents’ house.

It’s great that we’re able to continue to this shared family connection as adults and contribute to the field in a meaningful way.”

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Alumni

Telling stories and touching history

by Joseph Porto

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Joseph Porto searches through the scrapbook of a student who attended the university one hundred years ago.

slowly turn each page of Florence Lee’s large paper scrapbook, making sure not to wrinkle any of the items she placed inside.

Its contents offer a snapshot of student life in the early 20th century at the University of Illinois: a laminated orange and blue button from a homecoming football game, a brochure from the Anti-Cigarette League of America, ribbons and tickets from Dad’s Day events and dozens of photographs of scenes around campus, including personal photographs of Florence Lee with her family and friends. All of these items were either glued or, in the case of some of the flat paper items, had their corners tucked into angled slots cut into the pages. The items that Florence Lee placed in this scrapbook come from her undergraduate years at the University of Illinois—1917-20. This memento offers a window into that time.

I’m in the University’s Student Life and Culture Archives, searching for images of

Busey Hall, or the “Women’s Residence Hall,” as it was called back then. Eventually I find what I’m looking for: a photograph of Busey Hall. However, this is not an ordinary photograph: Hundreds of people are crowded in front of the building, all of them wearing flat-topped, military-style hats. A marching band sits in front of the capped individuals, encircling a flagpole. Their silver tuba and trombone bells shine brightly in the sepiatone photograph. Someone, perhaps Lee herself, printed a caption in thick white ink across the middle of the photo. It reads: Presentation of Womans’ Residence Hall to Aviators “Raising the flag.” Nov, 14, 17!

I think to myself, “Jackpot!” Luckily, Florence didn’t glue this photograph, and instead chose to place it using cuts made on the page. I remove it from its page, scan it into my computer and lightly place it back

in its original location.

This item will help illustrate an online interactive map I’m creating that chronicles events on campus during World War I. This photograph, in particular, illustrates the sacrifices students made to accommodate the soldiers-in-training who moved to campus, including the University’s female students, who waited an extra year before moving into their newly built residence hall.

My work is part of a bigger project. Mapping History at the University of Illinois is a collection of interactive maps that illustrate the University’s rich 150-year history. I hope these maps will connect students, faculty, and staff to the history of our campus, telling us new stories about the buildings and spaces we interact with every day.

Visit the Mapping History at the University of Illinois website: www.library.illinois.edu/mappinghistory

Intersections Summer 2018

23 Get to know...

Alisun DeKock (MS ’07) librarian and archivist at Shedd Aquarium

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ssistant Director of Information Services and Archives Alisun DeKock (MS ’07) is the “solo librarian and lone arranger” for Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. She enjoys the variety of her work as a librarian and archivist as well as being around some “seriously fascinating” creatures.

Where do you work, and what is your role?

At the aquarium, I oversee the entire program including budgets, purchasing, collection development, research and reference, circulation, cataloging, library moves, marketing, web presence, and anything else you can imagine. I also manage the archive and am part of a team tasked with writing and managing the electronic fish ID system that runs in many of our public areas.

What do you like best about your job?

I do such a wide variety of things that every day can be different. Working at Shedd means reference questions are always something new and sometimes unfamiliar.

Since staff don’t always have the time to research the details, I can step in and allow them to focus on what they do best—caring for our animals. Of course, the ability to be in this building every day leads to some wild opportunities. I’ve hand-fed rays, starfish, and sea turtles, and had belugas spit on me and penguins poop on me. I’ve experienced the joy that comes with watching children’s faces light up when they spy our sea turtle or see a garden eel pop up from the sand.

Why did you decide to pursue a degree in LIS? I have a long history with libraries. I volunteered at my local library as a teenager and worked in my college library for two years.

When I finished undergrad, I moved to Chicago without a job and was not quite

sure how to put my education to use. Because I had library experience, I landed an entry-level position working for law libraries and became a supervisor within a year. I had been volunteering for a few years at the Adler Planetarium when a position opened up for a volunteer manager. At the Adler, I discovered a deep appreciation of the museum environment and the amazing people who work in cultural institutions, but I realized I missed libraries.

I was thrilled to get into the Leep (online) program at the iSchool because it meant I could keep my full-time job and attend an excellent school without moving. Just as I was finishing my MS degree, my current position opened up at Shedd. This job allows me to work in a field that I love while supporting education and conservation efforts and working with fascinating co-workers— both human and nonhuman!

How did the iSchool help you get to where you are today?

Not knowing I would become a solo librarian means I’ve used many of the classes I wasn’t sure I’d need. I took cataloging on a whim during my last semester. It turned out that I not only loved the class, but I needed it. Understanding the process and logic used in cataloging has been extremely important . . . . The fundamentals are vital to learn and provide the base with which to build a career. The Leep program was much

better than those offered at other schools I considered; synchronous classes were crucial for the procrastinator in me, but many schools didn’t offer that capability.

What advice would you like to share with iSchool students?

Take classes you are interested in, not just those you think you should take. Classes you love will provide guidance toward your career path. Make connections with your fellow students—networking and “who you know” is still the best way to land an interview. School is the easiest and most comfortable place to start that network. Find nice librarians in the field you want to be in, take them out for coffee, and then mercilessly grill them on everything you want to know about what they do and how they got there.

What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?

It’s hard to get to nature from Chicago, but cycling our great network of bike paths in the area is a favorite as well as hiking and backpacking when I can really get away. My husband and I are always planning the next travel adventure. This summer we are taking a road trip to Yellowstone and the Badlands (first visits for both of us!). And—defying all cat-loving librarian stereotypes—reading with my dog curled up in my lap will always top the list of Sunday afternoon favorites.

24 Intersections Summer 2018

Alumni

Awesome Libraries Chapter provides seed funds for library innovations

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commitment to library innovations led a small group of librarians, including iSchool alumnus Joshua Finnell (MS ’07), to create the Awesome Libraries Chapter. The chapter originated from a working group of the Library Pipeline, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting structural changes by providing opportunities, funding, and services that improve the library as an institution and librarianship as a profession. Finnell, head of research and instruction and associate professor in the University Libraries at Colgate University, started the chapter with group members Bonnie Tijerina, researcher at the Data & Society Research Institute in New York, and Robin Champieux, scholarly communication librarian at Oregon Health & Science University.

“We wanted to provide an easy, nostrings attached seed fund for library projects and ideas that often fall outside of mainstream funding models,” explained Finnell. “We chose to become a chapter within the Awesome Foundation because it provided us with ready-made infrastructure, a recognizable brand for publicity and marketing, and the flexibility to create and run a chapter in line with our principles and with a global reach.”

In 2017 the chapter was launched as a six-month pilot project. According to Finnell, the Awesome Libraries Chapter is one of only four themed chapters that accepts applications from any geographic location.

“Most Awesome Foundation chapters are geographically located in an individual city and consist of approximately ten trustees (often ten friends), all of whom contribute $100 per month to fund one project a month for $1,000,” he said.

Many of the chapter’s early financial sponsors came from the Library Pipeline. Trustees

Joshua Finnell, cofounder of the Awesome Libraries Chapter

are tasked with discussing and voting on projects each quarter and providing the funding for each project, which will amount to a $300 contribution per trustee for 2018.

However, in recruiting and accepting new trustees, the chapter is committed to expanding opportunities for participation.

“Through the generosity of many individuals, several of whom wish to remain anonymous, we were able to create ‘sponsored trustee’ positions, alleviating the financial barrier of interested and qualified individuals from serving as trustees. As a result, we currently have trustees from around the globe and in almost every sector of librarianship,” said Finnell.

The first project that received funding from the chapter is a collaboration between The Warehouse Project & Gallery, a teen arts

center, and the Summit (IL) Public Library, in which teens will celebrate the library’s upcoming centennial by photographing and interviewing one hundred local residents about the library’s importance and impact on the community. The exhibit will be mounted in the library for the celebration.

One of the international projects funded by the chapter is TchadEducationPlus, which aims to collect and digitize materials and distribute them free of charge to reduce the educational divide for approximately 800,000 secondary education teachers and students throughout the country of Chad.

The chapter is currently seeking projects, trustees, and sponsors; more information is available on the chapter’s website (www.awesomefoundation.org/en/chapters/libraries).

Intersections Summer 2018

25 Remembering Laurel Grotzinger, a leader in the field of LIS

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aurel A. Grotzinger (MS ’58, PhD ’64) passed away on December 15, 2017, at the age of 82. Her legacy of achievements in library and information science (LIS) includes her leadership as an administrator and her research contributions recognizing the role and influence of women in the field.

Grotzinger’s distinguished career consisted of more than fifty years at Western Michigan University, serving as a professor and administrator. She was instrumental in developing an accredited Master of Science in Librarianship as well as associated degrees, programs, and specializations. In 1979, she became the first woman to be appointed to the position of dean at WMU, expanding doctoral degree programs and strengthening WMU’s status as a major research university.

In 1994, the iSchool Alumni Association honored Grotzinger with the Distinguished Alumnus Award for her extensive contributions. She was honored for her professional accomplishments at WMU; her active involvement in a number of professional or-

ganizations; and her numerous publications, including a major pioneering monograph, The Power and The Dignity: Librarianship and Katharine Sharp, and articles on library history and women in her discipline.

According to Diana Stroud, former assistant dean for advancement, Grotzinger was engaged with the LIS program at Illinois throughout her career. She served as a committee member for the Brilliant Futures Campaign and spearheaded plans to name and establish the Endowed Chair in the History of Libraries and the Information Professions at the iSchool. Her bequest provided key financial support to launch this ongoing fundraising effort, together with gifts from Don Davis (PhD ’72), Avis Davis, Mark Tucker (PhD ’83), and Barbara Tucker.

“Laurel was a general cheerleader for library history—focusing especially on women leaders with early Illinois roots,” said Don Davis, professor emeritus of library history at the University of Texas at Austin.

Mark Tucker (PhD ’83), former dean of library science at Purdue University, agreed

with Davis. “Laurel was a leader in telling the stories of the human qualities of our profession and in creating rich perspectives for the great wide narrative of librarianship in America,” he said.

“I believe she personified the best attributes of [the School’s first director] Professor Sharp, seeking to live in flesh and blood the legacy inherited from a woman of uncommon intelligence, ambition, and leadership ability,” said Tucker. “Library education had been residing in public and state libraries; Professor Sharp transformed it by bringing it into the stimulating and diverse cultures of the modern university. Laurel grasped intuitively the meaning and the wisdom of this transition, and she sought to embody it in her own life, working first in an academic library and then devoting her career to education for library and information science and, eventually, university administration.”

“Laurel’s legacy will live on at Illinois, as will her love for library history and support for women in the field,” said Stroud.

Three iSchool alumni named 2018 Movers & Shakers

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hree iSchool alumni were included in Library Journal’s 2018 class of Movers & Shakers. The annual list recognizes fifty professionals who are transforming what it means to be a librarian.

Robin Bradford (MS ’00), collection development librarian for the Timberland Regional Library in Tumwater, Washington, has been instrumental in raising awareness about diverse books, self-published “indie”

books, and respect for readers of romance and other genres.

Roberta Koscielski (MS ’82), deputy director of the Peoria Public Library in Illinois, has spearheaded Peoria Reads!, a “one city, one book” program cofounded with Common Place Family Learning Center to bring the community together to address serious topics such as gang violence and the opioid crisis.

Chera Kowalski (MS ’09), adult/teen librarian at the Free Library of Philadelphia's McPherson Square Branch, was responsible for the initiation of training in overdose reversal and the acquisition of opioid overdose kits for staff who work in the library, which is located in a neighborhood notorious for its high rates of poverty, crime, and opioid addiction.

Class Notes

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Decade: 2010s Emily Bayci (MS ‘14) was appointed to the 2019 (John) Newbery Award Selection Committee. From the books published the preceding year, the committee selects the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.

Karen Bonarek (MS ‘16) accepted a position at Downers Grove (IL) Public Library in January 2017. She focuses on the library’s flourishing graphic novel collection.

Jessica Colbert (MS ‘17), Aisha ConnerGaten (MS ‘13), Tracy Drake (MS ‘15), Hailley Fargo (MS ‘16), Brittany Fiedler (MS ‘17), and Yan Liu (MS ‘14) were selected by the American Library Association (ALA) to participate in its 2018 class of Emerging Leaders.

Aaron Collie (MS ‘10) has accepted a digital library manager position for the Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research (FRASER) at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He previously served as the head of Digital Scholarship and Curation Services at Michigan State University.

Abigail Connick (MS ‘17) has been appointed as special collections and technical services specialist for the California State University, Stanislaus Library.

Caitlin E. Crane (MS ‘15) accepted a position as the corporate archivist/research analyst at Illinois Farm Bureau in Bloomington.

Mary Gen Davies (MS ‘11) served on the Children’s and Young Adult subcommittee of the 2018 Stonewall Book Awards.

Mary Dubbs (MS ‘13) was appointed to the 2019 (John) Newbery Award Selection Committee. This March, she celebrated one year in youth services at Hennepin County Library’s North Regional Branch in Minneapolis.

Hailley Fargo (MS ‘16), Sarah E. (Crissinger) Hare (MS ‘15), Maoria Kirker (MS ‘11), and Katrina Spencer (MS ‘16) have received Up and Comer Awards from ATG Media.

Chris Flood (MS ‘12) is the business reference librarian at the St. Charles (IL) Public Library.

She cochairs BIG (Business Interest Group, a Chicagoland SIG for business librarians); serves on the Business Development and

Education Committee for the Downtown St. Charles Partnership; is a Women’s Business Council committee member for the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce; and is the vice president for the Kiwanis Club of St. Charles.

Elizabeth (Beth) German (MS ‘09) was elected vice president/president-elect of the Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the ALA, in April 2018.

Graham Greer (MS ‘14) has accepted the position of reference librarian at The Newberry Library in Chicago.

Shelby Hallman (MS ‘17) was promoted to research librarian for engineering and entrepreneurship at North Carolina State University.

Gerone Lockhart (MS ‘16) became the theological librarian at Calvin College and Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Nicolle Mazzola (MS ‘14) is the library media center director at Westgate School in Arlington Heights, Illinois. In September, she was appointed to the editorial board for Knowledge Quest, the professional journal of the American Association of School Librarians.

Casey (Marks-McCoy) McCoy-Simmons (MS ‘14) accepted a position as program specialist at KidsTek, a nonprofit providing tech literacy classes in underserved K-12 schools across the Denver Metro Area. In March 2017, she married a fellow Illinois alum.

Felicia Minard (MS ‘16) is now a teen librarian with Montgomery County Public Libraries in Bethesda, Maryland.

Gail Murray (MS ‘15) was promoted to technical coordinator at the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, where she manages the statewide interlibrary loan platform.

Ruth D. Nelson (MS ‘14) was selected for the 2018 Illinois Humanities Council Road Scholars program, which invites Illinois writers, historians, folklorists, and musicians, among others, to share their expertise and enthusiasm with people throughout the state. She was selected as a Road Scholar based on her book, Searching for Marquette, which tells the story of Fr. Jacques Marquette, the seventeenth-century French Jesuit explorer, through monuments and artwork throughout the Midwest.

Perry Nigro (MS ‘17) began a new job as integrated library advisor for select classes in the Department of Art History at Northwestern University.

Nancy Kim Phillips (MS ‘11) is the community engagement manager at the Skokie (IL) Public Library.

Cameron Riesenberger (MS ‘16) was recently elected to a three-year term as chair of the Colorado Association of Libraries Children and Teen Services Division.

Susie (Woo) Rivera (MS ‘17) accepted a reference specialist position focusing on digital library services and 3D printing at Fondulac District Library in East Peoria, Illinois.

Ryan Ross (MS ‘10) has been named to NewsGazette Media’s annual “Forty Under 40” list of young leaders in central Illinois. He is the U of I Alumni Association’s coordinator of History and Traditions Programs and manager of the forthcoming University of Illinois Welcome Center.

Melissa Salrin (MS ‘10) recently became head of special collections and rare books at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia.

She previously served as archivist and special collections librarian at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington.

Robert Sarwark (MS ‘16) was recently awarded the 2018-2019 Houghton Mifflin Visiting Fellowship in Publishing History at Harvard University’s Houghton Rare Book and Manuscript Library. He will continue to study and interpret works included on the Catholic Index of Forbidden Books, a project he began at the iSchool in 2015 for Assistant Professor Emily Knox’s IS 502 course.

Helenmary Sheridan (MS ‘15) began a new position as the data services librarian for the Health Sciences Library System at the University of Pittsburgh.

Soraya Silverman-Montano (MS ‘11) is the 2018 president of the Nevada Library Association.

Katrina Spencer (MS ‘16) is the literatures and cultures librarian at Middlebury College in Vermont. As a member of the Reference and Instruction Team, among others, she serves the Department of Spanish & Portuguese, the

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multicultural student center, and the Gender, Sexuality and Feminist Studies Program. Her latest contribution to campus culture is a weekly column in the newspaper called “The Librarian Is In.” She is also working on a Spotify playlist for Arabic language students and has developed a diverse array of thematic displays to celebrate commemorative months.

Quinn Stitt (MS ‘16) is a readers advisory/teen librarian at Berwyn (IL) Public Library.

Madison Sullivan (MS ‘15) has been elected as the 2018-2020 member services director for the ALA New Members Round Table. She is a business research and instruction librarian at the University of Washington in Seattle and a codirector of the board of the iSchool Alumni Association.

Janet Swatscheno (MS ‘14) was selected to participate in the pilot of the SPARC Open Education Leadership Program, a new professional development initiative aimed at empowering open education leaders within academic libraries.

Laura (Fultz) Youngstrum (MS ‘15) has accepted the position of adult services librarian at the Reddick Public Library District in her hometown of Ottawa, Illinois, after serving for two and one-half years as the library director for the Berlin (WI) Public Library.

Decade: 2000s Anthony Elia (MS ‘07) has been named J.S. Bridwell Foundation Endowed Librarian and director of Bridwell Library in the Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University, effective June 1, 2018.

Kelly Fisher (MS ‘03) is marking her fourteenth academic year as the public services librarian at Eureka College in Illinois, where she is also an associate professor and Brightspace learning management system administrator.

Diane Foote (MS ‘06) has been named the next executive director of the Illinois Library Association.

Leah Gregory (MS ‘04) is happily working in her dream library job in a middle school and is considering returning to school for high school certification or instructional technology.

In 2018, Rochelle Hartman (MS ‘08) became chair of the Wisconsin Association of Public Libraries. She is also serving as an ALA councilor at large for 2017-2019.

Samantha Hines (MS ‘03) was named an inaugural member of the ALA Policy Corps.

In this role, she aims to develop strategies to advocate for community college and academic libraries and librarianship in her state and region as well as in the nation.

Melissa Jeter (MS ‘08), adult services librarian of Toledo Lucas County Public Library, along with her coworker Linda Koss, grant specialist for Business Technology Services, developed “Living Better, Spending Smarter,” a financial literacy online reference guide. Due to their work, the Toledo Lucas County Public Library was named the 2018 winner of the Award for Excellence in Reference and Adult Services, sponsored by ReferenceUSA. Dallas Long (MS ‘02) received a Fulbright Specialist grant and spent last fall in Doha, Qatar, where he trained the access services staff at the Qatar National Library in preparation for the library’s grand opening.

Juliana Perry (MS ‘09) is now an IT project manager with Penn Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Health System. She has found her LIS degree to be a great help in analyzing healthcare business processes and software.

Cathy Ritchie (CAS ‘00) is materials selection librarian at the Dallas (TX) Public Library, specializing in nonfiction. She also writes a monthly book review column for the Dallas/Fort Worth area performing arts online magazine, Theater Jones.

Rana Hutchinson Salzmann (MS ‘05) has been appointed director of education for the Society of American Archivists (SAA). She is responsible for the design, development, marketing, implementation, and evaluation of SAA’s continuing education offerings and resources for archivists and other related professionals.

Heather Moulaison Sandy (MS ‘02) was elected secretary/treasurer of the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE). She is an associate professor in the

School of Information Science & Learning Technologies at the University of Missouri.

In October 2017, Marijane White (MS ‘08) was appointed to the library faculty at Oregon Health & Science University as a linked data librarian and assistant professor.

Rachel Wightman (MS ‘09) was promoted to associate director for instruction and outreach at Concordia University in St. Paul, Minnesota. She joined the library staff of Concordia in June 2017 as a reference and instruction librarian.

Nicole Wilhelms (MS ‘08) is the library manager of Southglenn and Castlewood Libraries at Arapahoe Libraries in Centennial, Colorado.

Decade: 1990s Scott A. Collard (MS ‘99), head of Specialized Research Services at New York University, is the recipient of the 2018 Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Education and Behavioral Sciences Section (EBSS) Distinguished Education and Behavioral Sciences Librarian Award. This award honors a distinguished academic librarian who has made an outstanding contribution as an education and/or behavioral sciences librarian through accomplishments and service to the profession.

Christine Friese (MS ‘91) enjoys her job as assistant director at the Portsmouth (NH) Public Library. She is the vice president/ president-elect of the New Hampshire Library Association and continues to work on advocacy issues for libraries.

Irene Hansen (MS ‘88, CAS ‘95) recently moved to Fountain Hills, Arizona, to be near her sister and family. She served as a reference librarian for ten years at the Wisconsin Historical Society Library in Madison and hopes to find a reference and information services position in an Arizona library.

M. Kathleen Kern (MS ‘99) has been appointed incoming editor of RUSA’s journal, Reference and User Services Quarterly (RUSQ). Kern began as editor-designate in early February and will assume the position of editor on July 1, 2018.

Class Notes

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Tomas Lipinski (PhD ‘98) has received the 2018 GreyNet Award from GreyNet International, which recognizes outstanding achievement in the field of grey literature.

Patt Leonard (MS ‘93) is now editor of the AzLA Newsletter, the bimonthly newsletter of the Arizona Library Association.

James L. McMillan (MS ‘95), a senior technical support engineer for Idemia, has been elected to a three-year term on the Board of Directors of the Disciples of Christ Historical Society in Bethany, West Virginia.

Lynne Rudasill (MS ‘91) has been promoted to professor at the University of Illinois, where she serves as global studies librarian and political science subject specialist in the University Library.

Mark A. Spasser (PhD ‘98) retired after more than twenty years in health sciences librarianship. He is a distinguished member of the Academy of Health Information Professionals.

Decade: 1980s Sidney Berger (MS ‘87) was the featured lecturer at a meeting sponsored by the Bibliographical Society of America and the Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America in February 2018. The meeting, held in conjunction with the annual ABAA book fair in Pasadena, California, commemorated the twohundredth anniversary of the publication of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Berger spoke on “Frankenstein in the Popular Imagination.”

Scott G. Burgh (MS ‘86) retired in June 2017 after twenty-eight years as chief law librarian for the City of Chicago Department of Law Library.

Susan K. Burke (MS ‘88) has been named director of the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Oklahoma.

On March 1, Ann-Marie Horcher (MS ‘81) successfully defended her dissertation as part of her PhD in information systems with a concentration in security from Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She also became the program director of the cybersecurity certification offered by the College of Business Administration at Central Michigan University.

Decade: 1970s Betsy Bowers Aldridge (MS ‘76) retired from PACCAR Technical Library after twenty-four years of service. Prior to that, she worked as a librarian for the EPA, library director for Oklahoma Baptist University, and tenured assistant professor for East Central Oklahoma State University. She has served the Special Libraries Association (SLA) as treasurer for the Transportation Division and chair of the Materials & Manufacturing Division. She is looking forward to having more time to focus on raising her six-year-old grandson and reading just for fun.

Candice Baldwin (MS ‘78) retired in December as library director at Metropolitan Community College, Longview Campus Library, after working there almost fifteen years. Since graduating from the University of Illinois, she has spent twenty-eight years with community colleges, seven years with the federal government (U.S. Army), and five years with public libraries.

Diedre Conkling (MS ‘79), director of the Lincoln County Library District, has been selected as the 2018 winner of the ACRL Women and Gender Studies Section (WGSS) Career Achievement Award.

Connect with us!

Lawrence A. D’Urso (MS ‘75) retired from the Mount Prospect Public Library in October and is enjoying his new role as library patron instead of employee.

Anne Shimojima (MS ‘74) was featured as a new voice teller at the National Storytelling Festival in 2017 and recently released her first storytelling CD, Sakura Tales, with eleven Japanese folk tales.

ABA Book Publications has released a second book by Michael Widener (MS ‘74), titled Joint Tenancies: Property Leasing in Cannabis Commerce, an analytical look at landlord-tenant relations in this remarkable niche. Widener has published two dozen academic and trade publication articles while serving as an adjunct law professor and counsel to his law firm. He is a zoning adjustment hearing officer for the City of Phoenix and a member of the Arizona State Liquor Board.

Decade: 1960s Michael C. McGoings (MS ‘67) retired in July 2017 as the principal deputy chief immigration judge for the U.S. Immigration Court, completing a federal government career of forty-seven years.

Send us your news!

We’d love to hear from you! Send us your updates as well as any employment or internship opportunities, conferences of interest, or opportunities for iSchool alumni to connect in your area.

Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations School of Information Sciences 501 East Daniel Street, Champaign, IL 61820 ischool-advancement@illinois.edu (217) 300-5746 ischool.illinois.edu/people/alumni/mail

For scholarship recipient, the sky is the limit at the iSchool

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aster’s student Paige Dhyne likes to connect people with information. It was one of the reasons that Dhyne, who hails from Grand Rapids, Michigan, decided to study LIS after earning a dual bachelor’s degree in film/video production and writing from Grand Valley State University.

While initially attracted to the iSchool because of its number-one ranking, she became convinced that Illinois was the perfect fit for her after getting to know the iSchool staff, faculty, and students at a visit day last spring.

Dhyne is happy with her decision to enroll in the MS/LIS program. “I’ve never felt lost or out of place, and the breadth and depth of opportunity here is unparalleled. If I had to make the choice again, I would choose the iSchool every time.”

She is the recipient of an iSchool scholarship that focuses on recruiting exceptional students, which is made possible through contributions from alumni and friends to the Annual Fund. For Dhyne, the scholarship felt like an affirmation of her decision to study LIS, alleviating some of the “what ifs” and allowing her to make the move to Illinois.

“I am honored to have received a scholarship. Since starting at the iSchool, I now realize that I was only limited financially—the sky is truly the limit here— and the scholarship reduced my limitations.

I hope I can reciprocate that one day for someone else,” she said.

Dhyne’s research interests include academic libraries, information literacy, and knowledge and information management.

She is currently conducting a textual analysis research project with affiliated faculty member Lisa Hinchliffe (MS ’94), professor/ coordinator for information literacy services and instruction at the University Library.

“The project looks at how librarians, libraries, and research processes are mentioned in introductory-level, undergraduate science textbooks,” she explained.

At the iSchool, Dhyne is chair of the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) committee within the ALA student chapter.

“I am really interested in how the ACRL Information Literacy Framework applies to

nonhumanities disciplines. After receiving my MS/LIS, I’d love to work in an academic library and balance project management with instruction in some way. I have a passion for the sciences, biology in particular, and I’d like to work with students and faculty in that field of study, maybe as a liaison librarian or subject specialist librarian.

Ultimately, I’d like to become the director of an academic library and use my project and knowledge management to better the instructional services the university library has to offer its students.”

Working as a graduate assistant in the Undergraduate Library has given her handson experience in an academic library.

“My assistantship affords me opportunities that do not necessarily fit in a classroom setting,” she said. “My primary responsibility is to independently teach information literacy sessions at the library to undergraduate students, ESL students, and communication students. I do, however, have some project work that allows me to expand my skillset in collection development, programming, outreach, promotional media, and assessment. I also get to supervise undergraduate students too, which is a great learning opportunity for me.”

In her free time, Dhyne enjoys gaming, weightlifting, and reading, particularly YA/New Adult fantasy books. “I run a readers’ advisory blog/twitter/bookstagram surrounding that genre,” she said. “And if I’m not reading it—I’m writing it!”

iSchool takes top honors at BOBCATSSS 2018

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aster’s student Lisa Morrison won the award for best paper at BOBCATSSS 2018, which was held in Riga, Latvia, from January 24-26. The BOBCATSSS Symposium is organized each year by library and information science students from European universities who plan and implement both the content and the management of the conference as a part of their studies. Ten iSchool students presented papers and posters at this year’s event.

Morrison coauthored the paper, “Reading Data - The Missing Literacy from LIS Education,” with Associate Professor Terry L. Weech. According to Weech, Morrison’s award marked the first time the iSchool has earned the top spot at BOBCATSSS in the nearly twenty years students have participated.

“The paper analyzes the syllabi from required courses in three LIS programs, and it argues for required courses to include more data literacy instruction to ensure that future librarians have the skills they will need regardless of the type of librarianship they pursue,” explained Morrison. “The presentation received a really good response from the audience, with several people wanting to know more about the findings, recommendations, and plans for future research.”

The theme of BOBCATSSS 2018 was “The Power of Reading” and included the topics of reading skills, habits, and communication; memory institutions; and technological solutions. For the past several years, the iSchool has provided travel support for students participating in this unique library and information science event.

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