SCHOOL OF INFORMATION AND LIBRARY SCIENCE
@Carolina FALL 2021
NUMBER 88
MESSAGE FROM THE DEAN 2021 has been a pivotal year for SILS as we transition from fully-remote learning to a mix of remote and face-to-face classes, and as we begin our reflections and celebrations marking our school’s 90th anniversary. The COVID pandemic has disrupted our personal and professional lives on so many different dimensions and continues to affect our physical actions and emotional states. Our school has certainly become good at teaching, learning, and serving virtually. We continue to grapple with the challenges of working in hybrid modes that juggle time (synchronous and asynchronous) and space (remote and face-to-face). We have leveraged technology and human adaptability to triage and, in some cases, improve learning, teaching, discovery, and service. These adaptations are arduous and demanding for all. Therefore, as we transition toward post-pandemic conditions, we must continue to adopt successful techniques and strategies, but also attend to and put in place services for our physical and mental health needs. We do so with cautious optimism as well as your continued good wishes and support. Although we have been challenged on multiple fronts, our school continues to excel, innovate, and inspire. The fall of 2021 saw our enrollments bounce back strongly, resulting in a historic number of credit hours taught in the fall 2021 semester. SILS won a 5-year contract renewal to continue operating the RTP EPA Library. This contract has been in place for more than 45 years and supports a world-class scientific library that provides engaged learning internships for SILS students. The Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP) continued to expand with more that 100 applications from faculty and students around the campus and the world applying to affiliate status, a new podcast, and a regular stream of high-impact articles, commentaries, and virtual events. The Carolina Health Informatics Program (CHIP) continued to grow enrollments and create innovative health service systems and techniques. Faculty continue to submit and receive research grants, publish high-impact articles and books, and give invited talks and keynote addresses (virtually). These accomplishments have been acknowledged in several ways: SILS’ overall ranking in the new 2021 U.S. News and World Report rankings stands at #2 with our health information ranking at #1, and our QS international ranking is #2. The Graduate School Review completed in 2021 highlighted the many ways that SILS contributes to the reputation and impact of the UNC-Chapel Hill campus, and we look forward to our ALA reaccreditation visit in the spring of 2022. In 2020-21, we also realigned our research space in Manning Hall with existing labs refining their space utilization (Interactive Information Systems Lab, Visual Analysis and Communications Lab, Community Equity, Data & Information Lab) and the establishment of the Equity in Making Lab/ Data and Society Innovation Collaboratory. This year also brought our first virtual commencement ceremony and the initiation of the new Center on Technology Policy set to launch as this newsletter goes to press. Our development efforts were also highly successful with new research gifts, cash gifts, and planned gifts demonstrating the importance our alumni and friends give to our school and its people. These transitions provide context for the events and activities dedicated to our 90th anniversary. An anniversary committee led by Susan Sylvester that includes faculty, staff, and alumni have initiated various celebratory events as we mark an important milestone in SILS history. These weekly events include virtual ‘Ask Me Anything’ panels with SILS faculty and staff, alumni talks, a series of SILSAA-organized career nights, a homecoming
open house, an updated SILS historical timeline with media that includes photos and a reflective Henderson Lecture by Fred Roper, and a year-long symposium on AI and Knowledge Work. These activities are highlighted in the pages that follow, and I hope that each of you are able to participate in one or more throughout the 2021-22 academic year. As we navigate the challenges and uncertainty of a global pandemic, social and economic strife, and environmental disruptions, we must remember that we are in this together and need to help each other meet the challenges as well as the opportunities we face. I am inspired by how our students, faculty, staff, and alumni have adapted and achieved, and know we are resolute in our collective strength as we look to 2022 and beyond. We know that many challenges lie ahead and aim to move forward with cautious optimism to adapt prudently, to build upon our historical excellence and impact, to continue educating world-class information professionals and create innovative solutions to information problems. Be sure to offer your good words and positive deeds to others in any way you can. Stay safe, stay productive, stay compassionate, and be well.
Dean Gary Marchionini introduces the UNC School of Information and Library Science 2021 graduates at one of the Carolina commencement ceremonies held at Kenan Stadium on May 15. Photo by John Gardiner, UNC-Chapel Hill.
Gary Marchionini Dean and Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor
Letter from the SILSAA President Dear SILS Alumni,
2021 has been one of the most hopeful years I can recall. As campus welcomes back students and begins to teem with life again, our school celebrates a milestone: 90 years of educating information and library professionals. This is another year like no other; but where 2020 left us all separated from one another, 2021 promises a way out of isolation and back to participating in our community again. In July, we welcomed a new SILS Alumni Board; I am thrilled to be serving as this year’s President and would like to introduce you to the rest of the Board. Hillary Fox (Past President), Anita Jotwani (Vice President), Meggie Lasher (Secretary), Jennie Goforth (Communications Director), Meghan O’Riordan (Treasurer), Rachel~Anne Spencer (SAID Representative), Helen Sharma (ILSSA Representative), and of course, Dean Gary Marchionini and Executive Assistant Susan Sylvester join me in our mission to connect the alumni of the SILS Community. It’s looking to be a year full of alumni activity: the SILSAA-sponsored Homecoming event in September saw many alumni and current students turning out to learn about SILS faculty’s current research. We heard from the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life; the Interactive Information Systems Lab; the Data and Society Innovation Collaboratory; the Data Analytics & Interaction Space; and even got to explore some virtual environments in the Virtual Reality Room. Thanks to Susan Sylvester for organizing an event that inspired us to come together and keep learning as an alumni community! Our other activities to support students this year retain the best of what we learned in 2020, as we continue to virtually bring in alumni from around the country to speak in our upcoming Career Trek week in November. These sessions will focus on school and academic libraries, as well as careers around data. In the spring, we will host sessions centered on careers in user experience, public libraries, and a special session on unexpected career journeys our alumni have taken after SILS. We will also be hosting a ‘How to Interview Virtually’ talk in the spring, bringing in hiring managers to coach students on how to show up and bring their best, even on Zoom. To keep the 90th anniversary celebration going, SILSAA is also hosting an Alumni Lecture Series. Ericka Patillo kicked that off with a lecture that spoke to the need to prepare students for workplaces that aren’t always inclusive places, and how we can create approaches that improve retention of a diverse community of information professionals. Kate Moran then spoke about the challenges of doing UX work remotely, and how she’s supported her team and others through the challenges of the pandemic. More lectures will follow for the rest of the year; this spring, Bob Anthony, Dani Cook, and Ashlee Edwards will continue these conversations. It is an honor to be able to bring you this series so we all can continue growing as professionals. We hope that you will join us and keep strengthening the SILS community as we reunite. We are always here for you, and we are so happy to welcome you back.
Erin Carter
Erin Carter (MSIS ’14) SILSAA President
Keep in Touch Sign-up for the SILS alumni listserv by sending a message with the subject SUBSCRIBE to contactsils@unc.edu. Once you have subscribed, you can send/receive using sils-alumni@listserv.unc.edu. Find links to update your contact information at sils.unc.edu/alumni/stay-connected.
@uncsils sils.unc.edu 4
UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS)
ON THE COVER Close-up of a graphic, shown in full at left, designed by UNC Creative to help publicize SILS 90th anniversary around campus.
IN THIS ISSUE EPA contract extension, U.S. News & World Report rankings, and GiveUNC outcomes ..............................................................6-7 CITAP Updates and Gary Marchionini reappointed dean of SILS..................................................................................................... 8-9 Francesca Tripodi makes headlines ........................................ 10 Mohammad Jarrahi research on flexible work ................... 11
CB #3360, 100 Manning Hall Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3360
New Makerspace in Manning Hall .......................................... 11
GARY MARCHIONINI
Students, alumni and faculty awards and research .... 14-15
Celebrating SILS graduates ................................................. 12-13
Dean & Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor 919.962.8363 gary@ils.unc.edu
Zeynep Tufekci co-authors Lancet paper ............................. 16
Learn more about opportunities for giving to SILS by contacting:
PhD alumni Alexandra Chassanoff and Colin Post win SAA Preservation Publication Award ............................................... 18
ANNE WEBB
Professor Mary Grace Flaherty retires .................................... 19
Associate Dean for Development 919.962.3499 Anne_Webb@unc.edu Online Gifts Visit giving.unc.edu/gift/sils Checks Make checks payable to UNC-Chapel Hill and notate “SILS” or a specific SILS fund name or number in the memo line.
Tressie McMillan Cottom signs book deal ............................ 17 Meredith Foltz (MSLS ’76) establishes student support fund for public librarianship ................................................................ 18
Cal Lee and Kam Woods to lead new redaction software project with $300K NSF grant ................................................... 20 Master’s curriculum changes to launch in 2022 ................. 20 Adjunct professor Stephen Pearson memorial and alumni obituaries ......................................................................................... 21 SILS celebrates 90 years ........................................................ 22-23 Page 11: Read about the new makerspace in Manning Hall.
Mail your check to: UNC School of Information and Library Science PO Box 309 Chapel Hill, NC 27514-0309
The UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS) publishes this news magazine annually for the School’s alumni and friends. Design and composition of the 2021 edition by Katherine Perales, former SILS communicatons coordinator, and Susan Sylvester (MSLS ‘05), SILS executive assistant.
The Data and Society Innovation Collaboratory lab in Manning Hall hosts a variety of equipment and technology, such as the 3D Printer pictured above. Celebrating 90 Years of Informed Impact
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New federal contract extends long-term partnership between SILS and EPA The UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS) has been awarded a federal contract to continue operating the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Research Triangle Park (RTP) Library through the year 2025. The new contract, announced in early March, extends a relationship between the School and the EPA that has lasted more than 45 years. Through this unique partnership, SILS employs a full-time staff of professionals to operate the EPA-RTP Library, as well as manage agency-wide subscriptions to journals and other information resources. The partnership also provides SILS master’s students with internship opportunities that include stipends and full-tuition support. “SILS and the EPA-RTP Library have long been a model of how a public university and a government research organization can work together to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes and optimal results for the people they serve,” said SILS Dean Gary Marchionini. “SILS operates the library at maximum efficiency, maintaining a staff of experienced librarians who provide exceptional service to the researchers and staff at the EPA. The internship program helps SILS attract outstanding students, and the hands-on, professional experience interns acquire has been the bedrock of successful careers.” More than 425 graduate students have interned at the EPA-RTP Library since the program began in 1975, and many have become leaders in the library and information science field and beyond. The EPA-RTP Library hosts an extensive collection of materials with a particular focus on atmospheric and air pollution. Library staff manage a collection of approximately 2,000 journals, 7,000 books, 18,000 print documents, and 150,000 microfiche documents. In addition, the EPA-RTP Library is one of three EPA repository libraries responsible for housing physical copies of EPA produced reports related to air quality and health. The Library supports approximately 3,000 researchers and contractors at the RTP site and other EPA locations. Its outstanding service earned national recognition in 2010 and 2017 when it received the Federal Library and Information Network (FEDLINK) Small Library/Information Center of the Year Award. One of 25 libraries in the EPA National Library Network, the EPA-RTP Library is the only location to be staffed by university personnel. The new contract between SILS and the EPA will enable the Library to devote additional resources to research impact services, an area that has been growing in demand over the last several years, said EPA-RTP Library Director Anthony Holderied. “This contract gives us the opportunity to expand the scope and depth of our research impact services, so we can not only help individuals and teams track how their work is being utilized and applied, but also demonstrate the impact that the science produced by the EPA as a whole is having on the global research community,” Holderied said. 6
UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS)
Accomplishing this goal will require enhanced technical services, including more thorough data visualization and analysis and the development of specialized applications, databases, and search processes to meet the specific research needs of the EPA, Holderied said. Like many organizations, the EPA-RTP Library has been operating remotely for nearly a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Holderied said the Library’s five full-time staff members and its interns have worked tirelessly to ensure they have been meeting their patrons’ needs during this unusual time, and a recent review showed their efforts have been successful. Highly complex research support requests were up about 20 percent last year and the Library served an additional 225 patrons in 2020 compared to the previous year.
“This contract gives us the opportunity to expand the scope and depth of our research impact services, so we can not only help individuals and teams track how their work is being utilized and applied, but also demonstrate the impact that the science produced by the EPA as a whole is having on the global research community.” -Anthony Holderied, EPA-RTP Library Director
Exterior view of the building where the EPA-RTP Library is housed.
SILS rises in latest U.S. News rankings The UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS) has again been recognized as one of the top schools in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. SILS tied for the #2 spot in the 2022 Best Graduate Schools rankings of library and information studies programs, released on March 30, 2021. SILS ranked #1 for health librarianship and in the top 10 for all specialties, including archives and preservation, digital librarianship, information systems, school library media, and services for children and youth. “Our high rankings overall and in the specialty areas really demonstrate that SILS is a great choice for graduate education, no matter what type of information professional you want to become,” said SILS Dean Gary Marchionini. The School also rose to #2 on the 2021 QS World University Rankings of library and information management programs from around the globe.
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Best Library and Information Studies Program (tied)
U.S. News & World Report, 2022 Best Graduate Schools
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Best Library and Information Management Program 2021 QS World University Rankings
for Health Librarianship U.S. News & World Report, 2022 Best Graduate Schools
TOP 10 for all other Specialties #2 Digital Librarianship (tied) #3 Archives and Preservation
#7 Information Systems #9 School Library Media (tied)
#5 Services for Children and Youth (tied)
U.S. News & World Report, 2022 Best Graduate Schools
SILS surpasses GiveUNC goal Thanks to our alumni and friends who showed their support for SILS by making a gift during GiveUNC on March 30. We blew past our goal of 40 gifts in 24 hours, unlocking an additional $7,500 from our Board of Visitors. Ultimately, SILS received 88 gifts, more than double our initial target. Special thanks to recent graduate Radhika Jagani (BSIS ’20) and current PhD student Jiaming Qu (MSIS ’19) who appeared in some of the promotional materials for the event, including the graphic to the right. The university has scheduled the next GiveUNC for March 29, 2022. Celebrating 90 Years of Informed Impact
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CITAP provides resources to bridge tech, power and people From podcasts to panel discussions, UNC’s Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP) launched a multitude of resources over the past year to support the understanding of how modern technology interweaves in society. Reflecting on the power of technology to mobilize participatory culture On January 19, CITAP hosted a virtual panel to discuss the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and what that moment meant more broadly for our politics, information, media, and society. As experts whose work addresses many of these issues, CITAP researchers are committed to helping make sense of the threat to democracy, and when possible, suggesting where the process of repairing our republic might begin. The panel featured CITAP faculty and affiliates including Tressie McMillan Cottom, Alice Marwick, Deen Freelon, Daniel Kreiss, Shannon McGregor, Francesca Tripodi, Rachel Kuo, and Becca Lewis.
Examining the impact of disinformation
Carolina established CITAP in 2019 with a $5 million gift from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and support from Luminate and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Learn more at citap.unc.edu, follow CITAP on social media, or subscribe to its newsletter at citap. substack.com. @unc_citap @unc_
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CITAP recently published a Critical Disinformation Studies syllabus to prompt disinformation researchers to rethink many of the assumptions in this nascent field. The syllabus draws from historical case studies—Japanese incarceration, the Welfare Queen, the Central Park 5, AIDS/ HIV—to examine how the state, the media, and the political establishment regularly use disinformation to reinforce inequality. Each section includes recommended readings, with some offering audiovisual material and primary sources. The intended audience is graduate students, faculty, and researchers interested in disinformation, but it can be adapted for undergraduate audiences as well. The syllabus is the work of CITAP principal investigator Alice Marwick, CITAP postdoctoral research fellow Rachel Kuo, CITAP graduate research assistant Shanice Jones Cameron, and Data & Society
UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS)
researcher Moira Weigel. Read more and download the full syllabus for free on the CITAP website. Creating conversation In June, CITAP launched a podcast, “Does Not Compute,” which provides a platform for scholars and researchers studying technology, misinformation, disinformation, identity, social media, and the variety of other forces shaping our world to discuss the context of humanity’s complex relationship with technology. “On Does Not Compute, [we] pry into the black boxes and get to know the people behind the code to understand technology platforms in context,” says the podcast introduction on the CITAP website. “Together, we’ll explore how old inequities get reinvented on new platforms, how unexpected communities unite for good (and harm), and how media manipulators play on our identities and emotions to spread lies.” Through each of the projects undertaken by CITAP faculty and associates, a shared goal is at the forefront of the center’s work. “CITAP’s researchers are committed to advancing equity and justice in their work. Questions of technology and democracy are relevant to policymakers, journalists, students, and many others outside of our academic fields, and we’re proud to offer resources that make our research accessible to many audiences,” says Kathryn Peters, CITAP Executive Director. “Podcasts, events, and syllabi allow us to uphold democratic norms, make sense of public life online, and understand how new technologies maintain old inequalities and biases.”
Photo by John Gardiner, UNC-Chapel Hill.
Gary Marchionini reappointed dean of SILS Gary Marchionini, Dean and Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor at the UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS), has been reappointed to serve as dean of the School for another five-year term. Marchionini, who has served in the deanship since 2010, is in his 23rd year at Carolina. Robert A. Blouin, Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, formally announced the reappointment on April 1, 2021, with the following message: “The review committee submitted a glowing recommendation of Dean Marchionini and cited his many accomplishments at one of the University’s most rapidly growing schools. Notably, under Gary’s leadership, SILS has seen record growth in grants submitted and received, with faculty winning significant research support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH), The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and Institute of Museum of Library Services (IMLS), among others. During Gary’s tenure, the school has received several grants that embody the spirit of the University’s strategic plan, Carolina Next: Innovations for Public Good, and opened new doors for campus collaboration. Among them was a $5 million gift from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as well as additional support from Luminate and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, to establish the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP) in 2019. This new research hub brings together Carolina’s world-renowned experts in information science, media and journalism, communication and law to help answer defining questions about the changing nature of society and politics in the digital age. We are already seeing that model inspire other campus leaders to follow suit. SILS has also expanded its faculty in both numbers and areas of expertise, as Gary has welcomed five new tenure-track and two teaching assistant professors since 2016. Among them are National Book Award finalist and 2020 MacArthur “genius grant” winner Tressie McMillan Cottom. In addition, SILS has negotiated joint faculty appointments with the School of Medicine, Health Sciences Library, and Eshelman School of Pharmacy. SILS has seen increased enrollment in its Bachelor of Science in Information Science program and developed a new a Certifi-
cate in Applied Data Science in partnership with the College of Arts & Sciences. All of these successes have helped SILS maintain its longstanding reputation for excellence, keeping it at or near the top of competitive rankings from organizations like U.S. News & World Report, which recently named it the #2 school in the nation. One tangible example of how Gary and SILS have impacted our daily lives is from 2007 when then-Professor Marchionini used a Google Research Award to develop the Information in Life Video Series. The series established what would become the UNC-Chapel Hill YouTube channel, which now has over 3.6 million views. Prior to coming to UNC-Chapel Hill, Gary was a professor in the College of Library and Information Services at the University of Maryland and a member of the Human-Computer Interaction Laboratory. A recognized expert in human-information interaction, interface design and testing, and digital libraries, he has published over 200 articles, chapters and reports in a variety of books and journals. I would like to thank the search committee, chaired by Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer Michael Barker, and the members listed below for their time and diligent attention on this review: • Jay Aikat, Chief Operating Officer, Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) • David S. Ardia, Professor, UNC School of Law • Deen Freelon, Associate Professor, Hussman School of Journalism and Media • Javed Mostafa, Professor, SILS and UNC School of Medicine • Arcot Rajasekar, SILS Professor and Chief Scientist at RENCI • Fred Stutzman (PhD ’11), Founder and CEO of Freedom • Helen Tibbo, SILS Alumni Distinguished Professor • Kelsey Urgo, SILS Doctoral Student and Research Assistant • Anne Webb, SILS Associate Dean of Development • Elaine Westbrooks, Vice Provost of University Libraries and University Librarian Under Gary’s leadership, SILS remains poised to continue its trajectory of growth and success, and I’m delighted he will continue in this role.” Celebrating 90 Years of Informed Impact
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Francesca Tripodi makes headlines with recent research on Internet inequality and misinformation For Francesca Tripodi, Assistant Professor at the UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS), much of the summertime was spent discussing her recent research publications. In June, Tripodi was featured by Carolina’s online publication, The Well, in an article about “How to improve your media literacy skills.” Tripodi explains how authors of misinformation and disinformation exploit algorithmic loopholes to bring their problematic content to the top of search results and offers advice on how people can shape their online queries to retrieve more reliable information. “Our keywords matter,” Tripodi says in the article. “The kinds of keywords that we query is a part of media literacy that we’re not paying enough attention to.” Tripodi was also interviewed by NPR for a segment titled, “Experts Call It A ‘Clown Show’ But Arizona ‘Audit’ Is A Disinformation Blueprint.” Tripodi is quoted in the online story, explaining how using the word “audit” gives the process more credibility. Later in the summer, Tripodi’s research made headlines again with her recently
published paper examining why biographies about women who meet Wikipedia’s criteria for inclusion are more frequently considered non-notable and nominated for deletion compared to men’s biographies. The publication, titled “Ms. Categorized: Gender, notability, and inequality on Wikipedia,” appears in the June edition of New Media & Society and offers new insights and analysis to help explain why women account for just 19% of the 1.5 million biographies about notable writers, inventors, and academics on Wikipedia. The paper created a buzz on social media and caught the attention of several news outlets. Tripodi discussed her findings on NPR’s “All Things Considered” on July 13 and with MarketPlace Tech’s podcast on July 27. In both interviews, Tripodi explains how discouraging these deletions can be for editors who are trying to make Wikipedia more equitable. She also highlights Wikipedia’s heavy influence on Google searches and AI interfaces such as Apple’s Siri and Amazon’s Alexa. “When women go missing from
Francesca Tripodi in front of Manning Hall. Photo by Johnny Andrews/UNC-Chapel Hill
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Wikipedia, that absence reverberates throughout the 21st century in pretty much any way we go to learn about something,” Tripodi says in her NPR interview. “So discrediting the significance of women subjects holds really wide implications.” Tripodi also published research on the use and spread of online misinformation on COVID-19 by ReOpen, an active group of coronavirus skeptics. The article, titled “ReOpen demands as public health threat: a sociotechnical framework for understanding the stickiness of misinformation,” was published by the Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory journal on August 10. In the article, Tripodi concludes her research supports the idea that misinformation is connected to the epistemological nature of knowledge production. Tripodi also notes that if we want to understand why misinformation is believed and shared, we need to combine data-driven analytics with a sociotechnical approach to audience ethnography. Most recently, Tripodi and a team of fellow researchers from MIT, Stanford University and University of Washington have been awarded $750,000 from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The grant will be used to adapt lessons learned about teaching information literacy in schools to help those considered the most vulnerable to misinformation campaigns, such as rural and indigenous communities with limited access to high-speed internet, military veterans, older adults and military families. In addition to her appointment with SILS, Tripodi is a senior faculty researcher with the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP) and an affiliate at the Data & Society Research Institute.
Mohammad Jarrahi publishes new research on flexible work and algorithmic management Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi, Associate Professor at the UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS), is lead author on two recent articles examining how new technologies are shaping the future of work. In “Flexible Work and Personal Digital Infrastructures,” published in the July 2021 edition of Communications of the ACM, Jarrahi and his coauthors review the benefits and risks of expanding flexible work arrangements for both employers and employees. “Flexible work arrangements reduce commutes and can enable workers with care-responsibilities to stay in the workforce,” the article explains. “However, flexible work arrangements often come entwined with precarity cloaked in emancipatory narratives.” In addition to unpredictable workloads and fluctuating pay rates, many employees with flexible arrangements are responsible for assembling and maintaining their Personal Digital Infrastructures (PDIs), tools and technologies such as laptops, smartphones, cloud services, and software needed to do their jobs. Rather than a one-time expense, this is likely to become an ongoing burden as workers constantly reconfigure their PDIs to suit the shifting technology landscape, client demands, and task requirements. While transferring this overhead to workers may provide short-term savings for employers, it can also present many
challenges, as security and interoperability issues interrupt workflows, information exchanges, and team interactions, ultimately hurting productivity and the bottom line. The article concludes that employers must invest more in PDI management and design to both improve conditions for flexible workers and to maintain organizational efficiency. “Algorithmic Management in a Work Context,” published by Big Data & Society on July 1, explores how the rapid development and application of machine-learning algorithms can influence existing power and social structures within traditional work settings. Co-authors for this article include current SILS PhD student Eliscia Kinder and alumnus Will Sutherland (MSIS ’17). Algorithmic management, in which automated systems make decisions based on data and usually without human oversight, has played a significant role in the expansion of platform-mediated gig work. This includes cloud-based consultants and freelancers who offer professional services online and workers providing offline services such as food delivery, rideshare, and home repair facilitated by platforms like Grubhub, Lyft, and HomeAdvisor. Workers who receive good reviews are given more opportunities while poor performers receive fewer assignments or may be barred from platforms entirely. Increasingly, algorithmic management
Mohammad Jarrahi
practices are expanding to more standard work settings. Companies are using algorithms to filter job applicants, evaluate employee performance, and identify which actions will have the largest impact on worker morale. Jarrahi and his coauthors examine how algorithmic management evolves through organizational choices and how it increases the power of managers over workers while simultaneously decreasing managerial authority. They also discuss how technical competencies and attitudes can shape the implementation and impact of this new approach. “While public concerns today focus on machines taking jobs from humans, care and concern is also needed around how these machines will contribute to the management of human actions,” the authors explain in the article’s conclusion.
New makerspace lab opens in Manning Hall In 2021, UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS) Professors Maggie Melo and Arcot Rajasekar launched the Data and Society Innovation Collaboratory lab, located in Manning Hall. The lab is a data-centered design, testing, fabrication and making laboratory geared towards a hands-on research experience for students. Serving as both a research lab and makerspace, the lab provides a milieu where students can explore form-meetsfunction technologies and materials. Within the workspace, students have
access to electronics and fabrication tools to explore advanced data-centric systems through independent study, course work, and for Master’s projects. Additionally, it provides a creative and integrative testbed for studying STEM learning and inclusion as part of Melo’s NSF CAREER Award for a project titled, “Equity in the Making: Investigating Spatial Arrangements of Makerspaces and Their Impact on Diverse User Populations.” Within the lab space, students integrate electronics to design and test novel ideas using technology such as 3D printers,
laser cutters, sewing machines, soldering stations and virtual reality devices. The ability to test out work and projects is one of the draws that brings students to participate in the lab. “When you’re in a makerspace, there’s more opportunity for you to learn through exploration,” says Rachel Rodney, a first year SILS PhD student who works in the lab. “So, you can try a bunch of different tech. It’s a safe space to fail fast so you can keep prototyping and building.”
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Celebrating Our Graduates The UNC School of Information and Library Science celebrated its 2020 and 2021 graduates, as well as graduates from the Carolina Health Informatics Program (CHIP), at its first ever virtual commencement on May 13, 2021. Watch the full ceremony on the SILS YouTube channel at youtube.com/ uncsils. The event included a welcome from Mara Negrut (BSIS ’21), remarks from SILS Dean Gary Marchionini and SILS Alumni Association President Hillary Fox (MSLS ’14), and reflections from the 2020 and 2021 SILS Distinguished Alumni Award recipients Kathryn Cole (MSLS ’07), Meredith Evans (PhD ’06), Nathaniel King (MSLS ’09), and Jennifer Manning (MSLS ’91). SILS also recognized its Class of 2021 at the University-hosted commencement ceremony at 2 p.m. May 15 in Kenan Stadium. SILS grads shared the field with graduates from the Kenan-Flagler Business School, School of Government, and School of Law.
“I am especially pleased and confident to be sending SILS graduates into a world increasingly more dependent on equitable access to information and knowledge,” said SILS Dean Gary Marchionini in his introduction from the main stage at Kenan. “Graduates, with your critical and human-centric perspectives on information and technology that you have acquired through your SILS education, I am certain that you will help us navigate the challenges ahead and seize opportunities for advancements and innovations that will not only create a more connected world, but also a more just and equitable one. Go forth to create, assess, manage, share, and use information and knowledge to make the world a better place.” For the members of the Class of 2020, the University planned a three-day celebration Oct. 8-10, including a first of its kind commencement ceremony in Kenan Stadium with a keynote address by Coach Roy Williams.
Find photos, videos, and more details about the SILS Class of 2020 and Class of 2021 at sils.unc.edu/people/2020-grads and sils.unc.edu/people/2021-grads. Bachelor of Science in Information Science (BSIS) 2021 Graduates Amore Arielle Allen Elizabeth Anna Allen Mohammed Abdullah Alshanteer Jared Andrew Beavers Darius Jordan Brown Bobby Jack Cain III Erica Chen Yige Chen Ariel Ann-Chi Chien Alexandra Haines Churchill Genivieve Christina Crites Amy Luo Deng Aman Kishor Depani Jennifer Dominguez-Ayona Zara Ehsan Nadira Eley O’Reilly Shaaheen Farahmand Cameron Nicole Fisher Firoz George V Justin Hackeling
Ryan Michael Haynes Yifan He Ryan Franklin Hughes Eva Michelle Janowski Joshua Kutac Chandlar Kristin Lanier Wesley Michael Leonhardt Jonah David Lewis Yixuan Li Katherine Jane Lindrum Johnathan Earl Long Coleman Raymond Manchester Nicholas Lee Mewshaw Lorenzo Muranelli Jaelynn Brantley Murray Anne Sophie Nachman Mara Negrut Jayce Andrew Ost Natalie Marie Perez Shelby Lane Poliachik
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Davis Yirong Qian Arshnoor Kaur Sangha Neerja Shah Katelyn Mary Shepard Danielle Rose Shirilla Carmen Francesca Silva Alec Matthew Smir Matthew James Stevens Carissa Ting Tai Eshika Noor Talukder Joseph M. Taylor Mai Xe Vang Rebecca Wade Tanvee Wakankar Bridget Wallace Tyler Joe Ward Hannah Cameron Williams Madelyn Williams Rachel Elizabeth Wock Jennifer Ying
Doctor of Philosophy (Phd) Kimberly Hirsh “Where’d You Get Those Nightcrawler Hands? The Information Literacy Practices of Cosplayers” Advisor: Sandra Hughes-Hassell
Master of Science in Information Science (MSIS) Yuepeng Chen Christopher Hugh Cosgrove Mary Hannah Currin Yimei Fan Criss Guy Cassidy Ray Harding Carrie Hill
Ziyang Jiang Michelle Erin Johnson Wanzhou Li Zhenmin Li Chloë T. Maddock Stacy Stephanie McDonald Kennedy McGuinness
Adrienne Frances Olson Lidia Jo Morris Hao Pei Ruoyang Qin Jeffery M. Robbins Madeline H. Snipes Zhuofu Wang
Ximing Wang Goulin Wang Lindsay Woods Kai Yan Gefei Yang Haocheng Zhao
Nicole Tavitian Pawelski Mara Katherine Plantholt Karly Richardson Aramis Shancez, Jr. Gavin Merritt Shelton Emily Simmons Florence Gregorie Sloan Kari Margaret Spencer Allyson Annette Take Leah Christine Tams Sarah Elizabeth Wall
Kiana Lynne Webster Carolyn Grimes Welker Ashley Pauline Marie Werlinich Jenna Wine Rachel Nevada Wood Alexander Peter Youngman Shi Zhang Lulu Zilinskas
Master of Science in Library Science (MSLS) Frank Alford Taylor Alaska Barrett Ariel Angelina Bates Megan Kathleen Boland Jade Marie Bruno Illiana Teresa Burgos Laura Vivian Carroll Jess Marie Epsten Mary Margaret Everist Ann Sophia Fisher Katherine Rose Greene
Olivia Jameson Megan Elizabeth Kean Allison Michelle Kittinger Katherine Amelia Ledson Zhu Li Xinyao Liu Jacob Whitcomb MacDonnell Gillian Shea McCuistion Kelly Nicole Miller Kayla Catherine Olson Mary Ann Orrell
Professional Science Master’s in Digital Curation and Management Lisa Lawless
Brandon Young
SILS 2021 graduates pose outside of Kenan Stadium on May 15. Photo by Lara Bailey, SILS Graduate Student Coordinator.
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Awards and Achievements Dean’s Achievement Award Laura Carroll “Have You Heard Any Rumors Lately? Depictions of Librarians in Video Games.” Advised by Casey Rawson Kennedy McGuinness “Climate Chat: An Integrative Review of Emerging Literature in the Field of Online Climate Change Communication.” Advised by Amelia Gibson.
SILS Undergraduate Honors Thesis Yifan He - “Evaluating Collaborative Filtering Algorithms for Music Recommendations on Chinese Music Data” (Graduating with Honors)
Elfreda Chatman Student Research Award Jess Epsten
Carolina Academic Library Associate Iliana Burgos
Outstanding Service to the School Award
Criss Guy Kayla Olson Kiana Webster
Jess Epsten
SILS Diversity Advocate Certificate Jade Bruno Jess Epsten Allison Kittinger Mara Plantholt Emily Simmons Kari Spencer Sarah Wall Jenna Wine
Carolina Academic Library Associate Adrienne McNair Mara Plantholt
Environmental Protection Agency Library Internship Mary Currin Mary (Meg) Everist Kelly Miller Jenna Wine
Mara Negrut - “Self-Presentation Strategies in the Platform Profiles of Successful Freelancers” (Graduating with Highest Honors)
2021 Distinguished Alumni Award Recipients Nathaniel King (MSLS ’09) is Director of the Marydean Martin Library at Nevada State College. His team received national recognition as a recipient of the 2020 Excellence in Academic Libraries Award from the Association of College and Re- Nathaniel King search Libraries (ACRL). Nevada State College is the first Hispanic Serving Institution to win the college category. Additionally, it is the first academic library in the state of Nevada to be honored with the award. The Library impressed the award committee with its supportive workplace culture, innovative approach to library services, and dedication to supporting the academic success of the college’s students.
14 UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS)
Jennifer Manning (MSLS ’91) is a Senior Research Librarian at the Congressional Research Service in Washington D.C. Her primary subject areas are Congressional history and procedure, legislative branch operations, and legislative data. Jennifer Manning She also serves as U.S. liaison to a European Union-based organization of parliamentary research services and participates in data exchange projects with the Inter-Parliamentary Union in Geneva. Prior to matriculating at SILS, she graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a double major in political science and international studies. She currently serves as Chair of the SILS Alumni Inclusion and Diversity (SAID) Committee and as a member of the University’s Alumni Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity (ACRED).
Faculty Recognition The SILS commencement ceremony traditionally includes the presentation of the Deborah Barreau Award for Teaching Excellence. This year, SILS also elected to recognize an additional faculty member with a special proclamation for excellence.
2021 Deborah Barreau Award for Teaching Excellence Yue (Ray) Wang (Faculty Award)
Megan von Isenburg and Sarah Cantrell
Yue (Ray) Wang
(Adjunct Awards)
Proclamation for Excellence in Education Leadership May 13, Two Thousand Twenty One
W W
hereas Casey R awson has consistently demonstrated exceptional instructional skill, dedication, and effectiveness.
Casey Rawson
hereas Casey R awson has engaged students in meaningful community building experiences, both inside and outside the classroom.
W T
hereas Casey R awson has shown inspired leadership over the past two years as the SILS faculty have endeavored to reevaluate and re-envision the curriculum for our master’s programs.
herefore Be it resolved that the UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS) recognizes and thanks Casey R awson for her ongoing devotion to student success and well-being, and her tireless efforts to improve the educational experience for future SILS students. Celebrating 90 Years of Informed Impact
Fall 2021 15
Zeynep Tufekci co-authors Lancet paper on coronavirus airborne transmission Zeynep Tufekci, Associate Professor at the UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS), has continued to advance discussion surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic in 2021. She asked “Why Aren’t We Wearing Better Masks?” in her Jan. 13 column for The Atlantic and blasted vaccination red tape in a New York Times op-ed. Tufekci is also co-author of a paper, “An evidence review of face masks against COVID-19,” published in the January Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The article debuted on Pre-Print in 2020 and has registered more than 370,000 views and 88,000 downloads. In April, the paper, “Ten scientific reasons in support of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2,” which Tufekci co-authored, was published in the medical journal The Lancet. The paper presents overwhelming evidence that the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes COVID-19, is predominantly transmitted through the air. Based on this determination, Tufekci and the other authors urged public health officials to amend their recommendations so mitigation efforts focus on reducing airborne transmission. “It’s essential that the guidelines to the public accurately explain transmission mechanisms and their relative importance rather than focusing on binary rules like ‘six feet’ that do not apply the same way across different contexts,” said Tufekci in an announcement about the paper from the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. Given the paper’s findings, airborne control measures such as improving ventilation and air filtration, reducing crowding and the amount of time people spend indoors, wearing masks indoors, and providing higher-grade PPE for healthcare workers need to be prioritized over “droplet measures” like handwashing and surface cleaning. “We cannot fix this situation without accurately informing the public so that people feel empowered to make decisions to better protect themselves across different contexts, and adjusting guidelines globally to fit the best available evidence,” Tufekci said. An international, interdisciplinary team of experts, led by the University of Oxford’s Trish Greenhalgh, reviewed published research and identified 10 lines of evidence to support the predominance of the airborne route. “We were able to identify and interpret highly complex and specialist papers on the dynamics of fluid flows and the isolation of live virus,” Greenhalgh said. “While some individual papers were assessed as weak, overall the evidence base for airborne transmission is extensive and robust. There should be no further delay in implementing measures around the world to protect against such transmission.” A principal researcher with Carolina’s Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP), Zeynep Tufekci has 16 UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS)
Zeynep Tufekci on a 2020 research trip to Sri Lanka.
garnered extensive praise for using her writing and influence to help improve the public’s understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic, starting in early 2020. She was named Tar Heel of the Month by the News & Observer in February 2021, and last fall, The New York Times lauded her for “Getting the Big Things Right” on a number of topics. “As a tenured professor with international influence and a moral duty, she spent most of her time the past year fighting against misinformation, despite the risks of challenging the global health authority,” N&O Higher Education Reporter Kate Murphy writes in her Jan. 29 profile of Tufekci. “Her extensive research on the social impacts of digital technology and misinformation, how humans interact with each other and the sociology of pandemics proved to be essential in her efforts to help mitigate the spread of this virus that has killed more than 2 million people.” Tufekci has been a contributing writer with The Atlantic since 2019 and has written numerous op-eds for The New York Times over several years. She also publishes a newsletter at zeynep.substack.com.
“We cannot fix this situation without accurately informing the public so that people feel empowered to make decisions to better protect themselves across different contexts, and adjusting guidelines globally to fit the best available evidence.” - Zeynep Tufekci
Tressie McMillan Cottom pens cover story for Vanity Fair, signs two-book deal with Random House Tressie McMillan Cottom, Associate Professor at the UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS), spent part of her summer interviewing musician and mogul Sean Combs and writing an expansive profile of “the original influencer,” which became the September cover story for Vanity Fair magazine. “From Puff Daddy to Diddy to Love” chronicles Combs’ sensational career, his professional growth and branding pivots, and the losses and lessons from his past that are helping him define his future. The article situates Combs as not just a successful celebrity, but an innovator who envisioned what celebrity would become. “We were still sending SMS messages on our cellular phones and two-way pagers as Combs was making hip-hop art that predated visually driven social media culture” McMillan Cottom writes. “He was a GIF machine before we knew what a GIF was or how, 15 years in the future, making viral content could turn anyone into a celebrity. . . Content is now king, and Combs was one of the first mega-celebrities to turn music, art, fashion, and branding into a content machine.” Even as it details Combs’ legacy, the article questions if Combs, who adopted the name “Love” earlier this year to signify the start of a new era, can remain relevant and influential. “It is no longer enough to look slick or create the newest dance,” McMillan Cottom writes. “Today’s celebrity has to have a position on climate change, white supremacy, LGBTQ+ equality, and politics . . . And above all, Combs is trying to do the brand iteration that made him successful in a climate that is openly hostile to what his brand represents. Combs’s ‘Black excellence’ is, in practice, a celebration of Black capitalism. And, if you have not noticed, a lot of people have labeled capitalism as enemy number one.” In addition to the Vanity Fair cover story, McMillan Cottom recently wrote a review of Savala Nolan’s book, “Don’t Let It Get You Down,” for The New York Times. McMillan Cottom also serves as a contributing opinion writer for The New York Times, where she provides a sociological perspective on culture, politics and the economics of our everyday lives. Earlier this year, she signed a two-book deal with Random House. The first book, “Basic,” will be a paradigm-shifting exploration of how white identity is created, commodified, and disseminated. The second book, titled “The Vivian,” will be a searing memoir that explores contemporary Black motherhood through the lens of McMillan Cottom’s own experiences. Random House Executive Vice President and Associate Publisher Kate Medina and Vice President and Executive Editor Jamia Wilson acquired North American and audio rights at auction from Dorian Karchmar at WME. “I am thrilled to be working on these books at this cultural inflection point and with Random House,” McMillan Cottom said. “In their own way and together, Black motherhood and whiteness’ powerful banality define our society’s foundational divisions. Kate and Jamia bring depth, breadth, and passion to our dream partnership. Their editorial acumen is matched only by Random House’s fierce commitment to books that change the way we understand the world.”
Tressie McMillan Cottom
A 2020 recipient of the MacArthur “genius grant,” McMillan Cottom is a sociologist, professor, podcaster (Hear to Slay with Roxane Gay), and writer whose work has earned critical and popular renown. Her most recent book, “THICK” (The New Press 2019) was a National Book Award finalist for nonfiction. In addition to her appointment with SILS, McMillan Cottom is a senior faculty researcher at Carolina’s Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life (CITAP) and a faculty affiliate at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. “Tressie is a force,” says Random House publisher Andy Ward. “A rigorous thinker, a beautiful writer, and a voice whose ideas could not be more essential in this moment – and beyond. All of us at Random House are honored to be working with her.”
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Meredith Foltz (MSLS ’76) establishes student support fund for public librarianship A desire to enable people to earn professional degrees, along with an urge to support the continued health and existence of public libraries, inspired UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS) alum Meredith Foltz to establish the SILS Student Support Fund for Public Librarianship. Foltz created this endowed scholarship in April with the purpose of supporting students interested in public librarianship. After completing her master’s degree at the UNC School of Information and Library Science in 1976, Foltz spent her entire professional career at the Sheppard Memorial Library, the primary public library serving Greenville and Pitt County, North Carolina. While the location didn’t change, the diversity of the patrons and their reading and information needs ensured a consistently stimulating experience, Foltz said. Over the course of her career, Foltz encountered staff members who “began working at public libraries just for the sake of employment, but who discovered an affinity for the environment, an aptitude for the work, and an enthusiasm for the mission of public libraries.” Foltz didn’t develop her own passion for public librarianship until after she graduated from SILS. Having earned a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education from Carolina, she initially planned to become a school librarian. During her coursework, she found that she especially enjoyed reference work, and a career in academic libraries became her goal. But upon graduation, both the job offers she received were from public libraries.
She worked at Sheppard Memorial for just over 36 years, starting in 1976 and retiring in 2013. From 1976 to 1990, she worked in Meredith Foltz and her husband Gary Davis ( BSBA ‘72, JD ‘75) adult public services–reference and circulation at the main library branch. She then moved to the technical services department to supervise the acquisition and cataloging of materials for both the main and branch libraries. Foltz said she liked working with library-oriented and book-oriented people, both staff members and patrons, and helping locate materials and information for a variety of people who sometimes did not know where to start. “I worked with talented and committed colleagues, I was doing work I enjoyed and considered valuable, and I felt that other staff members appreciated my efforts and ideas,” she said.
PhD alumni Alexandra Chassanoff and Colin Post win SAA Preservation Publication Award Alexandra Chassanoff and Colin Post, graduates of the UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS) doctoral program, are the 2021 recipients of the Preservation Publication Award from the Society of American Archivists (SAA) for their handbook, “OSSArcFlow Guide to Documenting Born-Digital Archival Workflows” (Educopia Institute, 2020). The award recognizes the author or editor of an outstanding published work related to archives preservation. Chassanoff and Post’s guide makes the daunting task of selecting, implementing, and refining workflows for born-digital archival materials more achievable. The guide describes the steps commonly included in digital curation workflows, from acquisition to access and preservation, and provides a process map for readers to produce their own workflow documentation in both visual and descriptive formats. It also provides a set of case studies that illustrate how readers can use these workflows to improve institutional born-digital archives practices. The guide’s systematic approach to documenting activities for archiving born-digital material is informed by the innovative OSSArcFlow research project, a three-year empirical analysis of 12 institutions at different stages of born-digital workflow implementation and documentation. Educopia Executive Director Katherine Skinner served as principal investigator (PI) for OSSArcFlow, with SILS Professor 18 UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS)
Alexandra Chassanoff (PhD ‘16) and Colin Post (PhD ‘20)
Christopher “Cal” Lee and former Educopia Preservation Communities Manager Sam Meister as co-PIs. OSSArcFlow and the award-winning guide were made possible by support from the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Alexandra Chassanoff earned her MSIS from SILS in 2009 and her PhD in 2016. She completed a Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR) postdoctoral research fellowship in software curation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is currently an assistant professor at the School of Library and Information Sciences at North Carolina Central University. Colin Post, who earned his PhD in Information and Library Science from SILS in 2020, is now an assistant professor in Library and Information Science at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
Professor Mary Grace Flaherty embarks on retirement
Mary Grace Flaherty
Mary Grace Flaherty, PhD, joined the UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS) in 2013 as an assistant professor and became an associate professor with tenure in July 2019. Flaherty retired in June of 2021. In addition to teaching courses in resource selection, health sciences information, and seminars on public libraries, she also served as an advisor for many master’s students papers and doctoral students. Flaherty’s research centers on health information practices and resources. She has published articles in Library & Information Science Research, Library Quarterly, Journal of Consumer Health on the Internet, and the Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, among others. Her books include “Promoting Individual and Community Health at the Library” (American Library Association, 2018) and “The Library Staff Development Handbook: How to Maximize Your Library’s Most Important Resource” (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017), which received a starred review in Library Journal. Most recently, she published her book, “Great Library Events: From Planning to Promotion to Evaluation” (Rowman & Littlefield) in April, which provides guidance for every stage of an event, from defining scope and determining objectives to ensuring inclusivity and assessing outcomes. During her time at SILS, Flaherty was an active member of the University through various leadership roles. She served on multiple committees including the SILS Diversity Committee, the SILS Carolina Health Informatics Program, the Interdisciplinary Health Communication Academic Committee, and more. From 2018 until her retirement, she held the role of Faculty Liaison for SILS to the EPA Library. Between 2018 and 2020, Flaherty was a representative for the Academic Affairs Professional Schools for the University Administrative Board of the Library. Flaherty received the Donald A.B. Lindberg Research Fellowship Award from the Medical Library Association in May 2019 and the Deborah Barreau Award for Excellence in Teaching from SILS in May 2018. As a former Institute of Museum and Library Science (IMLS) fellow and Fulbright Scholar, Flaherty has over 25 years of experience working in a variety of library settings, including academic, medical research, special and public. She holds a PhD in information science & technology from Syracuse University, an MLS from the University of Maryland, and an MS in behavioral science from Johns Hopkins University.
Celebrating our 2020 retirees SILS hosted a retirement ceremony in Summer 2021 to celebrate faculty members that retired in 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic. Professors Claudia Gollop, PhD (above, right) and Paul Jones (above, left) were honored at the gathering. Celebrating 90 Years of Informed Impact
Fall 2021 19
Cal Lee and Kam Woods to lead new redaction software project with $300K NSF grant A $300,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) will support a new project at the UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS) to develop software that can identify and redact sensitive information within research-related datasets, documents, and communications. SILS Professor Christopher “Cal” Lee will serve as principal investigator and Research Scientist Kam Woods will be technical lead for the one-year (July 2021– June 2022) Computer-Assisted Redaction and Anonymization of Scholarly Communications and Products (CARASCAP) project. Antoine de Torcy will serve as the project’s software engineer. Most modern redaction software is built using the same set of core technologies, a combination of document parser, optical character recognition, and natural language processing, which identify common private and individually identifying information. These products improve slowly as developers increase document format coverage, expand pattern libraries, or adopt enhanced NLP models. “CARASCAP will introduce a new approach that adds explainability to the process,” said Woods. “This will allow archivists and other users to validate the software behaviors themselves by comparing those behaviors to actions performed by people redacting manually. Users can then create models tuned to specific redaction behaviors for collections of similar documents.” Researchers and the institutions where they work face many data privacy and sensitivity issues with their scholarly products, according to Lee. Backlogs and staffing limitations can result in materials remaining inaccessible to the public indefinitely or being released while still containing the sensitive data.
SILS Professor Cal Lee and Research Scientist Kam Woods
CARASCAP aims to help groups and individuals open and share more of their work with others, while attending to a variety of data sensitivity concerns. The project team also hopes to impact workflows used by the community of institutions producing, preserving, and providing access to scholarly communications and products. CARASCAP will build on the successes of previous projects, including BitCurator, BitCurator Access, BitCurator NLP, and RATOM, which developed and distributed open-source tools to help libraries, archives, and museums manage a diverse and rapidly growing body of digital materials. The $300,000 award is part of the NSF’s Early-Concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) program. As the NSF’s website explains, EAGER funding supports exploratory work “on untested, but potentially transformative, research ideas or approaches.”
Master’s curriculum changes to launch in 2022 After several years of work from faculty, staff, and students, SILS will officially launch a new master’s curriculum in Spring 2022. The new curriculum will provide students with additional flexibility, new opportunities for professional practice, and increased exposure to issues of equity and inclusion in library and information science. The new curriculum centers on two core courses, which all SILS master’s students will take in their first two semesters of the program. In Ethics, Values, and Society, students will explore ethical issues related to information, data, knowledge, and technology in various individual, community, and societal contexts. In Perspectives on Information, Technology, and People, students will examine the relationships between information, technology, and people from an array of disciplinary, professional, cultural, and other orientations. A course bins system will guide students’ selection of courses beyond the core. All students will take classes within a set of four bins: Information, Technology, Services & Organizations, and People & Communities. The bins system will afford our students a much greater degree of flexibility in their course selections 20 UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS)
compared to the previous curriculum, while still ensuring that students develop skills and knowledge across a broad range of competency areas. The new curriculum also includes an alternative to the research-based master’s paper which has long been the capstone assignment for all SILS master’s students. Going forward, students can choose to complete either the master’s paper or a new practicum project capstone. Practicum projects will give students the opportunity to work in a small team to apply their knowledge and skills to a real need or problem within the LIS field. For example, student teams might design and implement a family literacy event at a local public library, create a new database for public health information, assess the inclusivity of archival finding aids, or conduct a system analysis within a local government organization. If you or your organization might be interested in sponsoring a student project, or if you have questions about the new curriculum, please reach out to the MSIS or MSLS Program Coordinators: Brad Hemminger (MSIS, bmh@ils.unc.edu) or Casey Rawson (MSLS, crawson@email.unc.edu).
In Memoriam
SILS community mourns the loss of adjunct faculty member Stephen Pearson The UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS) is saddened to share that adjunct faculty member Stephen Frank Pearson died on March 25, 2021, at the VA Hospital in Durham, N.C. A graduate-level instructor at both Carolina and Utica College in New York, Pearson taught many required and elective classes at SILS, including INLS 382 Information Systems Analysis and Design, INLS 560 Programming for Information Professionals, INLS 582 Systems Analysis, and INLS 767 Information Assurance. He brought to his classes a wealth of experience gained from launching numerous entrepreneurial startups and opening businesses in economically challenged communities. He was committed to educating law enforce-
ment personnel in the complexities of cyber forensics through his research, writing, and his role as chief executive officer of the High Tech Crime Institute in Palm Harbor, Fla. In addition to HTCI, he was the owner of Pearson’s Holdings and Sadie’s Coffee Corner, located in Vance County, N.C. Pearson retired from the U.S. Army in 2003, having served for 20 years in various roles including as the Army’s first webmaster. He held an MBA from Webster University in St. Louis and a Doctor of Global Business Leadership degree from Keiser University in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was a long-time resident of Henderson, N.C. A brilliant and well-loved instructor, Pearson will be sorely missed by faculty and students at SILS.
Stephen Pearson
IN DEEPEST SYMPATHY SILS extends condolences to the family and friends of alumni who passed away during the previous year. The following were drawn from obituaries published from November 1, 2020 to September 30, 2021. Sheila O. Denn (MSIS ’99) – November 25, 2020 Doris A. Bradley (BSLS ’52) – November 27, 2020 Cheryl W. McLean (MSLS ’79) – January 9, 2021 Kathryn W. Creason (MSLS ’86) – January 19, 2021 James D. English (MSLS ’66) – February 3, 2021 Eva C. Metzger (MSLS ’78) – February 16, 2021 J.S. Hammond (MSLS ’71) – February 25, 2021 Virginia Beth E. Ellington (MSIS ’05, PhD ’12) – March 10, 2021 Lois B. Miller (BSLS ’42, MSLS ’66) – March 22, 2021 Mary L. Sweat (MSLS ’69) – April 10, 2021
Susan C. Klopfenstein (MSLS ’86) – April 29, 2021 Dana A. Hafertepen (BSIS ’05) – May 13, 2021 Elizabeth J. Laney (MSLS ’73) – May 13, 2021 Evelyn S. Barron (MSLS ’67) – May 26, 2021 Mary E. Thomas (MSLS ’64) – June 15 2021 Gay G. Moore (MSLS ’58) – June 19, 2021 Hattie R. Pendergraft (MSLS ’68) – August 2, 2021 Lee Ann Howard (MSLS ‘74) – August 10, 2021 Martha E. Sparks (MSLS ’68) – August 30, 2021 Benjamin F. Barefoot (MSLS ’78) – September 9, 2021
Celebrating 90 Years of Informed Impact
Fall 2021 21
Left: Louis Round Wilson, University Librarian. Center: First five SILS distinguished alums, Herman Howe Fussler, Emerson Greenaway, William Stevens Powell, Mary Elizabeth Poole and Mary Eunice Query.
Above: First five doctoral students at SILS.
Celebrating 90 Years of
Informed Impact F
or 90 years, the UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS) has educated information professionals who work across industrial, academic, business, and public service sectors. Through the decades, SILS has adapted its information and library sciences curriculum to match the demands of the times, leading us to be named one of the top information and library science schools in the country. As part of our 90th Anniversary celebration, SILS generated a historical timeline to document important milestones School of Library in the school’s history. The timeline spans more than Science classes begin on September 100 years of history that has lead to the development of SILS as we know it today. To view the complete timeline, 17, 1931. The first faculty consisted of please visit sils.unc.edu/90Next. five individuals; Director Louis Round Wilson, Susan Grey Akers, Nora Beust, Robert Downs and Donald Coney (assistant director). They were joined the next year by Lucile Kelling.
Alumni association formed as the North Carolina Library School Association and offers first tuition scholarship to a student in the school.
University approves proposed Master of School Librarianship program on December 10. The first students enter the program in 1950.
University approves school’s program leading to Master of Science in Library Science degree on March 8.
We extend a special thank you to Fred Roper (AB ’60, MSLS ’62) and Susan Sylvester (MSLS ’05), SILS Executive Assistant, for their dedicated research and work to develop the SILS historical timeline.
School begins providing library services for EPA Library in Research Triangle Park on May 6, 1974. The partnership between SILS and the EPA Library continues to this day.
1931 1935 1947 1951 1974 22 UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS)
Join us for our upcoming 90th Anniversary celebrations! Over the course of the semester, SILS has hosted a multitude of events to celebrate our 90th Anniversary, including our Homecoming weekend, alumni talks, faculty panels and more. Celebrations will continue throughout Spring 2022. To find an updated list of upcoming celebration events, please visit: sils.unc.edu/90Next.
Special thank you to our 90th Anniversary Committee:
Above: DICE team leaders, Drs. Richard Marciano, Arcot Rajasekar and Reagan Moore Right: Susan Grey Akers, first woman to hold an academic deanship at UNC - Chapel Hill.
Fred Roper (AB ’60, MSLS ’62) Susan Sylvester (MSLS ‘05) Sarah Snow (MSIS ’04) Gerald Holmes (MSLS ‘85) Kathy Brennan (PhD ‘18) Jimmy Nguyen (BSIS ‘10) Maudrie Alexis (MSIS ‘19)
Left: Fred Roper teaching The Block.
Save the Date: Spring 2022 Symposium on AI and Knowledge Work March 31st & April 1st, 2022 Friday Center
Above: Students gather in Manning Hall for orientation in fall 2021.
Visit sils.unc.edu/90Next/events for more info.
First doctoral students admitted to SILS in 1977: Jo Ann Bell, Arlene T. Dowell, David R. Jensen, T. Brian Nielsen, Delmus E. Williams (Pictured above).
The school officially changes its name to the School of Information and Library Science (SILS).
The Carolina Health Informatics Program (CHIP) and UnitedHealth launch a partnership to train and diversify the next generation of health data experts through project ENABLE.
A $5 millon gift from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and additional support from Luminate and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, helps establish the Center for Information, Technology, and Public Life.
Students return to in-person learning in fall 2021 (pictured above: students attending 2021 orientation). The fall also experienced a record number of credit hours taught in one semester.
1977 1988 2018 2019 2021 Celebrating 90 Years of Informed Impact
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