iSchools - a Timeline
"The iSchools also share a vision of the future for information education and research."
The Audacious Vision of Information Schools (2011) - Harry Bruce
"Information Schools believe that expertise in all forms of information is required for advances in science, business, education, and culture."
Bruce, 2009
2025
130 Schools
The iSchools
"Affiliation with the iSchool movement is considered a positive affirmation of the quality and impact of the creative work, scholarship, research and academic programs of a member school."
Bruce, 2009
20th iConference hosted by the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering at Indiana University Bloomington from 18 - 22 March 2025
In the last decade the growth continued and the term of iCaucus became less accurate for the size of the network. Therefore the "iSchools" is the current designation for this era of the organization.
2017
First iConference in Asia: School of Information Managment (Wuhan):​
2018
The Departamento de Ciencia de la Información at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana joins as first South American member
2015
57 Schools
"The movement is now global, including schools from thirteen of the United States as well as Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland and Singapore."
Bruce, 2009
The iCaucus
2014
First iConference in Europe hosted by the Berlin School of Library and Information Science (Berlin)
2009
The Berlin School of Library and Information Science, the Information School at the University of Sheffield and the School of Information Management at the University of Wuhan joining as first Non American Schools.
Due to the growth the informal name of "Gang of 10" became unwiedly and was replaced with "the iSchools Caucus", more casually reffred to as the iCaucus.
2012
2015
The School of Computing and Information Systems at University of Melbourne joins as first Austrailian member.
The College of Computing and Information Sciences at Makerere University joins as first African member
2005
"Few, if any, information-oriented conferences we attended over the last several decades came even close to hosting so effectively such a wide variety of disciplinary and professional perspectives.”
Debons and Harmon, 2006, pp.19
"Most iSchools have a reasonable mix of basic and applied research, [...] So, from diverse origins, a collection of schools emerged with highly overlapping visions."
Gary, 2009
Gang of X
18 Schools
The former Dean of the School of Library and Information Science at University of Pittsburgh started the formation of a network between Information Schools in North America - informally referred as "Gang of 3"
#1 iConference
28 - 30 September 2005 at School of Information Sciences and Technology at Penn State University
2003
Gang of 10
Illinois: Graduate School of Library and Information Science
North Carolina: School of Library and Information Science
Florida: College of Information
Indiana: School of Informatics
Texas: College of Information
2001
Gang of 5
Washington: Information School
Michigan: School of Information
Gang of 3
Pittsburgh: School of Library and Information Science
Syracuse: School of Information Studies
Drexel: College of Information Science and Technologie
​
1988
