Search Results

Photo credit: Ashley Purvis With funding from the Mellon Foundation, Simmons will establish the Center for Information Literacy, which aims to promote informed decision-making and nurture civic participation. Simmons University has received a $250,000 grant from the Mellon Foundation  to establish the Center for Information Literacy (CIL). The CIL will focus on cultivating competencies related to locating, accessing, evaluating, and using information. Honing this skill set improves the public’s ability to identify trustworthy information and recognize the characteristics of mis/disinformation. Simmons’ School of Library and Information Science (SLIS)  will collaborate with The Gwen Ifill School of Media, Humanities and Social Sciences  and the Simmons University Library  on the creation of the CIL. SLIS Professor and Associate Dean Dr. Laura Saunders  will serve as the CIL’s inaugural director. Information literacy — or the ability to access, interpret, and wield information effectively — includes the related areas of news and media, social media, health, civic, and other literacies.  “The purpose and goal of the Center for Information Literacy is to empower people with the skills to access, evaluate, and use information to navigate the information landscape,” Saunders says. “The vision for the Center is a world where information literacy transcends boundaries of privilege and circumstance, where critical thinking flourishes and where every person has the tools to transform information into knowledge, opportunity, and positive change.” “The partnership between SLIS, the Ifill School and the University Library enables us to work collaboratively across the fields of library and information science, journalism, communication, and other allied fields to develop innovative curricula and engaging programming. In this way, the CIL will equip people with the skills and research needed to refine their understanding of, and approach to, information literacy instruction — especially concerning the issue of mis/disinformation,” Saunders explains. Building a Culture of Informed Citizenship With the Mellon Foundation seed funding, Simmons will launch the CIL, develop a robust evaluation plan, and create a three-to-five-year action plan. The CIL’s agenda will include curriculum-building efforts, faculty professional development, and student-driven programming.  Additionally, the CIL intends to offer students awards, internships, and fellowships at Simmons University, as well as relevant programs and events for alumnae/i, journalists, librarians, and the general public.  Simmons’ SLIS library and information science program ranks among the top in the nation, and its faculty have a long record of leadership in the area of information literacy. According to the Dean of SLIS Dr. Sanda Erdelez , “The establishment of the CIL underscores the critical role of SLIS in advancing information literacy education and our longstanding commitment to empowering individuals with the skills needed to be informed and engaged in our society.” Trained in journalism and media studies, Ifill School Dean Dr. Ammina Kothari  understands the necessity of accessible and reliable information.  “By nurturing informed citizenship, the CIL will further Simmons’ commitment to factual information and civic engagement,” she says. “Moreover, the CIL embodies Gwen Ifill’s legacy of truth-telling, responsible discourse, and academic freedom. In an era threatened by misinformation, the CIL will work toward creating a more informed society. We are truly grateful for the philanthropic support of the Mellon Foundation that enables the creation of this important Center.”  Author: Kathryn Dickason News submitted by: Alisa M. Libby, Simmons University

Dr. Lisa Fagin Davis with the medieval Voynich manuscript (Yale University, Beinecke Library MS. 408). In a talk she delivered at the 2024 Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair , SLIS faculty member Dr. Lisa Fagin Davis discussed the history of women creating, reading, and owning medieval European manuscripts. To honor Women’s History Month 2025, we spoke with her about this research and its connection to her Simmons courses. Dr. Lisa Fagin Davis , a faculty member at Simmons’ School of Library and Information Science  (SLIS), delivered a talk at the Boston International Antiquarian Book Fair on November 9, 2024 entitled “Women as Writers, Readers, and Owners of Medieval Manuscripts.” In this presentation, Davis (who was recently featured in The Atlantic magazine) explored medieval women as craftspeople (e.g., visual artists and scribes) and twentieth-century women who owned medieval objects in the greater Boston area. Here manuscripts refer to handwritten documents produced before the advent of printing in the Western world (printing was developed much earlier in China), which were assembled into a codex, or bound book. Medieval European manuscripts often feature hand-painted illustrations that accompany the text. When conducting this research, Seymour de Ricci’s multi-volume Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada , which appeared in the mid-to-late 1930s, was a key source for Davis.  “De Ricci included major collectors who owned numerous medieval objects, including J.P. Morgan, William Randolph Hearst, and Isabella Stewart Gardner, in addition to less wealthy individuals who may have possessed one or two manuscript fragments [i.e., a section or single page from a larger manuscript],” she says. “The Census lists literally dozens of women as collectors, though they have not appeared in academic scholarship.” Uncovering Hidden Networks of Women Collectors After consulting de Ricci’s Census , Davis embarked on a quest to identify these women. “Back then, women were listed with their married name, so my first step was to identify who they were as individuals. To find this out, I conducted genealogical research, examining real estate records and other kinds of historical records,” she explains.  This detective work enabled Davis to uncover a vital network of women who lived in Boston, Wellesley, and the surrounding suburbs. Many of them were Wellesley College faculty or alumnae, and others had attended local women-centered institutions, particularly Dana Hall (a private girls’ school in Boston) and Pine Manor College (a post-graduate program of Dana Hall located in Brookline, which is now Messina College within Boston College).  Boston-based art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner, c. 1888, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons “These women traded manuscript fragments with one another or gave them as gifts to each other. They would also gather in someone’s home for a type of salon, where they discussed their collections,” Davis says. “It’s a lovely story of women supporting one another and finding community in the early twentieth century … And I like the idea of them gathering, discussing their medieval manuscripts … I would have loved to be a fly on the wall and eavesdrop on their conversations.” Revealing these hidden networks, Davis’ research offers a nuanced perspective on women’s history and art history in the greater Boston area. Toward the end of her book fair talk, Davis turned to the most famous female art collector of the city, Isabella Stewart Gardner , whose collection, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum , lies in close proximity to the Simmons campus. “I also addressed Gardner’s ‘frenemy’ type of relationship with Belle da Costa Greene, who directed J.P. Morgan’s library, which is now the Morgan Library and Museum  in New York,” Davis says.  Librarian Belle da Costa Greene, c. 1910, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. As explored in a current Morgan exhibition, “Belle da Costa Greene: A Librarian’s Legacy,”  Greene was a Black woman who passed as White among New York’s upper strata. This decision afforded her certain privileges and opportunities that she would not have otherwise enjoyed because of her race. The exhibition celebrates Greene’s impeccable connoisseurship, which enabled J.P. Morgan to amass one of the finest medieval manuscript collections outside of Europe. Tamar Evangelestia-Dougherty ’03MS, ’23HD , the inaugural director of the Smithsonian Library and Archives, wrote the Afterword for the catalogue that accompanies the exhibition .  During the research process, Davis realized that the relationship between Gardner and Greene was very different from the supportive networks of women collectors in the Boston area.  “Gardner and Greene famously hated one another,” she says. “On the surface, they were very nice, since they were women of dignity and elegance. But in their correspondence [with other people] they reveal their mutual disdain for each other.” Reading the letters that Gardner wrote to her mentor, art historian Bernard Berenson, Davis encountered Gardner’s many insults toward Greene (including racial insults). In turn, Greene’s letters to Berenson — the two were lovers — coined a pejorative alternative name for her rival: “Was-abella.”  Diversifying the Field of Medieval Studies Certain historical shifts may account for why Americans, including American women, collected medieval artifacts between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  “In that time period [circa 1880s to 1940s], there was a growing interest in the medieval world. Rich individuals like Morgan, Hearst, and John Paul Getty were trying to establish themselves as men of stature, which they did by aligning themselves with a sophisticated European background, and part of that included owning a piece of the Middle Ages,” Davis says. One example of the medieval revival is relatively close to Simmons’ campus. The Hammond Castle in Gloucester exemplifies “an obsession with a medieval aesthetic.” As Davis explains, modernity’s infatuation with the Middle Ages had economic and racial overtones. “Major collectors like Morgan, Getty, and Hearst were immersed in American Exceptionalism … they were capitalists to the core. But they still craved a centuries-old White, Christian ancestry.” Amid the Gothic revival, the Medieval Academy of America (MAA), a community of scholars who study the Middle Ages, was established in 1925. Davis currently serves as the organization’s executive director. In recent years, she has shepherded significant changes that have helped diversify the MAA and the field of medieval studies.  For example, the MAA now offers an annual Article Prize in Critical Race Studies , The Belle da Costa Greene Award  (research funds for faculty of color), the Inclusivity and Diversity Book Subvention Program , and other forms of support and recognition for scholars and areas of scholarly study that have been marginalized within medieval studies at large.  “We want to value and promote the work of medievalists who have been under-represented in the field, including BIPOC and LGBTQ+ medievalists … We are also expanding the field geographically to include Asia and Africa,” Davis says. “It is very exciting, and hearing these different voices and perspectives has enriched our discipline.” Beyond the academy, diversifying medieval studies helps counter disturbing trends in the political sphere. “Even to this day, White supremacists appropriate the Middle Ages for their own agendas. They are obsessed with medieval purity, which is very dangerous,” Davis says. By dismantling a purist view of the medieval past, scholars counter these pernicious mythologies. Davis is especially excited about the MAA’s centennial conference , which is scheduled to take place at Harvard University in March 2025. “It’s going to be our biggest conference ever, and it will be amazing. There will be all kinds of special events, performances, and exhibitions. Our team at Harvard and other Boston-area colleagues did a phenomenal job with the programming,” she says.  Honing Librarianship with Medieval Studies In her SLIS courses, Davis introduces graduate students to medieval manuscripts from a librarian’s perspective, focusing on collecting, archiving, and curatorship. She explains how modern booksellers routinely dismembered manuscripts (i.e., pulled them apart, page by page), and sold them as individual leaves to maximize profits. This way of selling manuscripts as fragments circles back to Davis’ book fair talk — this is how women in the Boston area would have acquired these objects.  Another topic that Davis addresses is provenance, or the history of ownership. Knowing who owned manuscripts and other works of art is useful for authenticating materials. (In other words, it can help curators detect modern forgeries). Even more importantly, “I tell my students that, as a curator, you need to know that the objects in your care have been legitimately acquired,” Davis says. “At some point along an object’s long journey to the United States, it may have been acquired illegitimately … this often happens during times of major upheavals, like wars and ensuing destruction and looting.”  Davis’ own research has led to several repatriations. “I did a repatriation case for the Boston Public Library. When I informed them of my findings, they immediately called the Department of Homeland Security to start repatriation proceedings. It’s the right thing to do,” she says. With more than 500 US institutions owning medieval manuscripts and/or fragments, provenance research is an important skill for librarians to have in their repertoire.  In her course “The Medieval Manuscript: Charlemagne to Gutenberg” (LIS 464), Davis’ favorite aspect is the final project. The class rebuilds a medieval manuscript that had been dismembered and dispersed during the early twentieth century. Each student receives a page or (digital) image of a page from different libraries, and they catalog it themselves. Then the students work collaboratively to assemble images of the codex in the proper order. For this assembly, they use a manuscript software called Fragmentarium .  “There is a moment in the class where we push the button, and the whole thing comes together. The students always cheer and burst into applause,” Davis says. “They know that we did something important. This object no longer exists — it has been irreparably destroyed. But by using their librarian skills and digital tools, they’ve done reparative work, which is incredibly rewarding.” In her discussions with SLIS students (most of whom are not medievalists), Davis contemplates the significance of these premodern European objects in North America. “They [medieval manuscripts] matter precisely because they are not part of our cultural patrimony … In Massachusetts, Indigenous communities like the Wampanoags were decimated. You cannot go outside and see their monuments and works of art,” she explains. “But by holding this medieval artifact in your hand, you become part of a longer chain of human history. This brings history to life, and it is really powerful.” Davis also finds contemporary resonance in these old artifacts. “Our current political climate is very Orwellian,” she says. “Something may have happened recently, but people are already denying that it happened; they are contradicting the historical record. And as a medievalist, I will fight against this denial of history.” Enshrining truth, critical thinking, and sound interpretation, medieval studies correlates with the key principles of library and information science (LIS) and information literacy. “Librarians will save the world,” Davis says. “The work of librarians and archivists is crucial for keeping us honest.”  Author: Kathryn Dickason News submitted by: Alisa M. Libby, Simmons University

When a patient has an organ transplant, clear, accessible information can make all the difference. That’s why Transplants.org turned to Heinz College Trustees Professor of Management Science and Healthcare Informatics Rema Padman , a health care analytics and informatics expert, and a team of Heinz College graduate students to analyze patient education materials from transplant centers across the U.S. With the mission of improving outcomes and access for transplant patients, Mace and Padman evaluated a variety of topics that were important to patients. Transplants.org identified the transplant patient handbook as one critical aspect of care that could potentially be improved to meet the evolving needs of patients. Mace partnered with Padman and the Heinz College student team on a semester-long capstone project to produce an in-depth comparative analysis of patient materials across U.S. organ transplant centers. The interdisciplinary student team analyzed 100 handbooks from 23 transplant centers, large and small, across the U.S. The result, powered by natural language processing and generative artificial intelligence methods to produce models with data-driven evidence, demonstrates the current state of organ transplant patient educational materials in the U.S., highlighting the challenges in maintaining consistency, completeness, and currency of the content. By building awareness of the discrepancies in the content for a complex patient population, this effort is anticipated to inform and influence transplant centers in the development of future patient education handbooks that best serve transplant recipients everywhere. Padman, who advised the student team throughout the project, emphasized the significance of this kind of applied learning. “This was an opportunity for students to engage deeply with a real-world health care challenge using cutting-edge AI and analytics methods,” Padman said. “Their work not only supports better outcomes for patients and health systems, but also showcases how technology, analytics, and policy can be aligned in the service of public good of great societal value.” This text is a short version of the original news post by Jennifer Monahan (Carnegie Mellon University)

Associate Professor Shannon Oltmann For translating her research on censorship and intellectual freedom into practical guidance for library workers, Shannon M. Oltmann , associate professor in the School of Information Science at the University of Kentucky (UK), has been named the 2024 recipient of the Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award . The award is given annually by the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and is co-sponsored by Sage, a global academic publisher of books, journals, and library resources. A self-described “free speech maximalist,” Oltmann is passionate about intellectual freedom, freedom of speech, libraries, and information ethics. She is the author of Practicing Intellectual Freedom in Libraries and editor of The Fight Against Book Bans: Perspectives from the Field . Her work has been funded by the American Library Association (ALA) and Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). Oltmann has presented practitioner-focused webinars and conference presentations to national and regional audiences, including the ABC-CLIO, Alabama School Library Association, Texas Library Association, and Kentucky Public Library Association. She has also given invited talks related to intellectual freedom to the Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives, Pierce County Library System, Illinois Reaching Across Illinois Library System, and ALA. At UK, Oltmann has taught special topics courses in Master of Science in Library Science program focused on intellectual freedom, information ethics, and the core values of librarianship, and she has supervised independent studies and given guest lectures in other courses on these topics. “Dr. Oltmann actively promotes and embodies the spirit of intellectual freedom through her research and teaching, offering guidance and an increased understanding of this principle of librarianship not only to her students and academic colleagues but also to library workers across Kentucky and the United States,” wrote Sarah Barriage, associate professor in UK’s School of Information Science, in her letter of nomination. Oltmann will be honored at the Intellectual Freedom Awards reception held during the 2025 American Library Association Annual Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . The reception will be held on June 27 from 7:30–9:00 p.m. in Philadelphia Marriott Salon E. The Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award is presented annually to individuals or groups who have furthered the cause of intellectual freedom, particularly as it affects libraries and information centers and the dissemination of ideas. It 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.

The iSchools Organization is delighted to announce a new iSchools Community. The iSchools Asia-Pacific Future Information Leaders Network (FIL Network)  was established in 2024 by the Asia-Pacific regional iSchools in collaboration with the iSchools Board. The goal of this AP-iSchools community is to help students build their own network for international collaborations and to promote the activities of member schools for future generations to lead the information field. It aims to foster a collaborative environment among AP-iSchools students and to provide them with opportunities to engage in various activities and events that enhance their skills in intercultural communication, collaboration and cooperation in the information field.   This new community is the 10th iSchools community  alongside the Doctoral Students Group , the Women’s Coalition , the Black Coalition , the Climate Action Coalition,  the Qualitative Research Group , the AP Next Generation Committee , the Digital Memory Group , the  Indigenous Research Collective , and the Community Informatics Group .

The iSchools Organization is happy to announce that the Faculty of Management at Dalhousie University, Canada , joined the iSchools at the Basic Level. Dalhousie University, Canada Dalhousie University’s Faculty of Management offers graduate programs including the ALA-accredited Master of Information (MI) (which can be taken with a thesis, or as a combined degree paired a degree in law (JD), environment (MREM), business (MBA), or public administration (MPA)), the MSc Business with an information systems concentration, the PhD in Information, the PhD in Management, and the Interdisciplinary PhD. Undergraduates can declare a Major in Managing Data and Information, and all Dalhousie undergraduates benefit from a suite of information-focused electives. Alumni work across sectors in Canada and around the world, from libraries and archives to government, healthcare, and the private sector. Dalhousie University, Canada Dalhousie provides a student-centered, research-intensive environment with close faculty mentorship and strong ties to national and international partners. Students benefit from flexible program delivery, interdisciplinary learning, professional development training, and applied, work-based experiences through practicums and client-facing projects. Faculty members are most frequently appointed to the Department of Information Science and/or the Department of Management Science and Information Systems. Located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and situated in Mi’kma’ki, the ancestral and unceded territory of the Mi’kmaq, Dalhousie information scholars are part of a diverse academic community committed to advancing the study and responsible practice of information in society. The iSchools organization was founded two decades ago with roots dating back to the late 1980s. The iSchools educate thought-leaders of the future, and their researchers focus on enhancing the lives of people, the productivity of companies, the innovation cycles of industries, the design of technologies, the policies that govern technology and information use, information services to communities, and much more . The iSchools organization currently consists of more than 130 iSchools worldwide.

Issue #104 by Gary Marchionini  (UNC School of Information & Library Science) The rhythms of academic life revolve around the start and finish of classes. iSchools follow different academic calendars organized into semesters, quarters, or terms of various length, however the excitement and anticipation that defines the beginning of an academic period is always book-ended by celebration and reflection at the end of classes and for many students graduation to the next phase of life. The events and practices we develop around these critical milestones vary across campuses, but there are common motivations and elements that serve to build community, set expectations, celebrate learning, and share interests. These events and practices have always been important to school culture; however, they are especially important in the post-COVID era for face-to-face and hybrid programs. This posting focuses on one end of school year event that celebrates learning and brings together students, faculty and staff.   Over the years, schools have used various welcome back programs to orient and energize students in the new year. Formal convocations welcome and inspire new students. Faculty ‘five-minute madness’ presentations may be used to give students a chance to meet faculty and quickly hear first-hand about their classes and research. These are fun and high-energy events whether face-to-face or virtual settings. Food events ranging from lunch to ice-cream socials give students, faculty, and staff a chance to meet each other in casual settings to build 1-1 rapport and community. Talks and orientation programs are also used to inform and unite a school community.   Throughout the term, special lectures, brown-bag lunches, reading groups, or ‘ask me anything’ forums by faculty or alumni continue to build and maintain school culture. When these events are recorded and made available, they also help to extend participation over time and document the culture and experience of a school.   All these events and practices lead to the culmination of an academic year when students graduate or prepare for extended breaks from classes to work, travel, or simply recover from the academic grind. In addition to formalized commencement ceremonies, many schools have long traditions of holding end-of-term or end-of-year programs to highlight key elements of the school year and celebrate learning. These programs take many forms, including symposia, fairs, showcases, poster sessions, and open houses. They provide students with opportunities to organize and present their work among peers, experience a ‘mini conference’ atmosphere in a familiar setting, and look beyond their own specific interests and expertise to see the breadth and depth of the information field.   Events from the beginning of an academic cycle to the conclusion reflect the values, culture, and content important to the school and to the information field. Last week, I attended the Annual Symposium on Information for Social Good¹ at UNC and was impressed by the range of topics and creative approaches students took to explain their work and what they learned this year. This year, the presentations were organized into panels from graduate students across the school (25 concurrent sessions across the day), undergraduate posters from the information ethics course (8 teams), graduate student practicum posters (19 teams), and term projects from students in various courses (19 teams). Most faculty and students were able to participate in the day’s events, and the energy and passion students showed served to raise spirits and focus attention on ideas and action to make the world a better place. Here are a few examples of titles for each of the types of presentation selected to show both topical range and the theme of information for social good. See the website¹ for a complete listing of the full 71 presentations.   Panel Examples “Informed Consent Is a Myth”: The Ethics of Third-Party Data Collection in Libraries “The Machine Strives for Nothing”: Redefining Work in the Age of AI AI as an Accessibility Tool for Blind and Low Vision Users: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Universal Access to All Knowledge? Balancing Information Access & the Law in the Internet Archive Number One Party Anthem: Popularity Bias in Music Recommendation Systems   Undergraduate Poster Examples Biometric Boundaries: Bias, Privacy and the Panopticon Effect Misinformation Epidemic: A Public Health Crisis in Plain Sight Preserve or Perish: How Copyright Kills Gaming   Practicum² Poster examples Ackland Art Museum Statistics and Data Collection Practices Data Governance Oversight Group Program Effectiveness Review Fair Share: Challenging Inequity in Property Tax Assessment   Project Fair Presentations Pollen, Pollution, and People: Monitoring Environmental Triggers Now You See Me: Invisible Disabilities in Librarianship Helping Students Stay on Task with Arduino Patient Portals & Medication Adherence in the Elderly   As we prepare for commencement ceremonies next week, this culminating day of celebration of learning illustrates the power and potential of iSchools to innovate, critically evaluate, and address real-world problems. 1 :  UNC School of Information and Library Science. (25. April 2025). UNC School of Information and Library Science. Retrieved from 2025 Symposium on Information for Social Good and Scholars Showcase: https://sils.unc.edu/event/2025-symposium-social-good/ 2:  The Practicum requires teams of students to work with an organization within or beyond the school to address a specific practical problem Feature Stories solely reflect the opinion of the author.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Application Deadline: May 21, 2025 The School of Information Studies (SOIS) , the iSchool at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM), invites applications for a Lecturer position in Information Science & Technology. This is a 9-month instructional academic staff position (Teaching Faculty II) to teach both face-to-face and online courses at the Bachelor’s and Master’s level. SOIS offers several educational programs: a Bachelor of Science in Information Science and Technology (BSIST); a Masters of Science in Information Science and Technology (MSIST) degree in partnership with the Department of Computer Science; an ALA-accredited Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS); several coordinated graduate degree programs, including Health Informatics; transcript-designated concentrations within the MLIS Archival Studies, Public Libraries, Information Organization, and Information Technology; post-masters Certificates of Advanced Study in Archives and Records Management and Digital Libraries; and a PhD in Information Studies. The School has a strong research faculty, more than 900 students, and state-of-the-art information technology. SOIS faculty organizes three research groups: the Research Group for Information Retrieval, Knowledge Organization Research Group, and the Social Studies of Information Research Group. SOIS is committed to excellence through diversity of thought, race, gender and community. We seek candidates who value and demonstrate an appreciation for diversity in all forms, in addition to providing the necessary support to those communities for an inclusive learning arena.

University College Dublin, School of Information and Communication Studies Application Deadline: 2 May 2025, 12pm noon Irish time Applications are invited for a permanent post of a Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Information and Communication Studies within UCD School of Information and Communication Studies. The School of Information and Communication Studies (ICS) is a diverse, interdisciplinary and fully research active school. The School is committed to high quality interdisciplinary research and teaching on information related areas and ranks among the top 50 Library and Information Studies programmes worldwide in the QS rankings. ICS is now looking for an Assistant Professor to conduct high quality research and teach on our Library Association of Ireland (LAI) accredited Masters in Library and Information Studies (MLIS) and other undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.   The appointee will be expected to undertake undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and to supervise Masters and PhD students. The appointee will diversify and enhance the academic activities carried out by other colleagues in the School and will work collaboratively with them in the delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes and administrative tasks as well as growing postgraduate research in ICS.   95 Lecturer/Asst Professor Above the Bar (7943) Salary Scale: €64,112 - €101,524 Per Annum Appointment will be made on scale and in accordance with the Department of Finance guidelines.   Closing date: 12:00 noon (local Irish time) on the 2nd of May 2025.   Applications must be submitted by the closing date and time specified. Any applications which are still in progress at the closing time of 12:00 noon (Local Irish Time) on the specified closing date will be cancelled automatically by the system. UCD are unable to accept late applications.   UCD do not require assistance from Recruitment Agencies. Any CVs submitted by Recruitment Agencies will be returned.   Note: Hours of work for academic staff are those as prescribed under Public Service Agreements. For further information, please follow the link:  https://www.ucd.ie/hr/t4media/Academic%20Contract.pdf

Issue #104 by Gary Marchionini  (UNC School of Information & Library Science) A March 2025 report from the Knight Georgetown Institute entitled “Better Feeds: Algorithms that put People First—A How-To Guide for Platforms and Policymakers”¹ integrates inputs from an impressive team of experts on recommendation  systems that power social media, search, entertainment, and most e-commerce services. The report is organized into 6 sections and includes a useful abstract and background to frame the problem. One section provides a primer on recommendation systems for lay audiences, and the second section explains research on how and why today’s recommendation algorithms are tuned to maximize predicted user engagement as the key signal for what users experience in their information feeds rather than signals that benefit people over time. Another section overviews government and corporate policy in the US and EU, and the last three sections present guidelines for national and global policy makers and for designers and product teams. Although the policy discussions and guidelines have US and EU examples, I believe that information professionals around the world will benefit from the ideas in this report. Equally importantly, I believe we have crucial roles to play in making these systems more helpful to humanity.   Recommendation algorithms have been designed to maximize advertising and sales revenue streams, and they have been wildly successful in generating enormous advertising and direct sales revenue for platforms. They do so by using personalized feeds for users that reinforce impulse and emotional response. These feeds ultimately lead to a wide variety of individual and societal side effects, including personal angst; social disruptions; and local and global debates, legislation, and reactions. The authors argue that it does not have to be this way---that thoughtful design and policies can lead to algorithms that are satisfying and helpful to people over long periods of time, while also benefitting the companies and institutions that use them over the long term.    The report summarizes the thorny and evolving policy environment in the US and EU. The EU’s Digital Services Act foregrounds transparency, choice, and risk assessment at a general level. For example, the DSA requires platforms to offer users an alternative algorithm to the predicted engagement model. This is an important step toward transparency; however, today’s implementations typically offer only a chronological feed that users often tire of and revert to the default predicted engagement feed. The DSA is a good start, and we must continue to develop other alternative feed models that are user-centric and make the settings and controls easy to understand and use.  US legislative policies are mired in debates between innovation, immunity from liability, and the First Amendment rights to free speech, resulting in a plethora of legislation and court challenges with child safety prominent in many of the legislative discussions and proposals.   The report provides an interesting set of recommendations for system design, implementation, and policy. For algorithm design they look beyond chronological feeds as the solution. Chronological feeds are suboptimal for users because they may amplify non-relevant content, incentivize spam-like postings, are not workable for all kinds of platforms, and decrease positive engagement. The authors recommend three recommendations tuned to signals that are not limited to engagement metrics. These include a) Bridging across communities and points of view (diversity of engagement and commentary is a positive signal rather than ‘more like I like’). b) Surveys about what people explicitly like and do not like about items and the overall experience—clearly, these take time for users to complete and depend on good design as well as user education to understand the benefits of investing that time.  c) Incorporating content quality factors (e.g., toxic language, source reputation, etc.) without descending into the morass of content moderation debates on subjective factors. The report recommends that platforms make these alternative long-term user value-oriented feeds the default setting rather than existing personalized predicted user engagement feeds.    These design issues are squarely within the scope of information science research and practice. Information scholars have important ideas and practices to contribute to recommendation system design that is human-centric and long-term value driven rather than short-term platform driven algorithms and metrics. For example, although it is more expensive to gather, direct expressions of user preferences are far superior to inferred preference data based on actions (e.g., click, like) executed by a group of users with some assumed similarity to an individual (e.g., location, age). Information scholars are skilled at developing elicitations (e.g., surveys, easy to understand and use control settings) that are effective and inviting and we can educate and encourage people to understand that taking a bit of time to provide explicit feedback or to be thoughtful about what default and optional controls are selected is in their best long-term interest. These skills will be valuable if platforms begin to follow the advice of reports like this to benefit long-term user value that also in turn benefits the platform’s long-term success.   Another design recommendation is to encourage more design transparency, including public disclosure of what input data is used and what weights are assigned (acknowledging that some of these techniques are competitive advantage---weights for example could be reported as quartiles rather than specific settings). Likewise, platforms should disclose metrics used for long-term user value as well as metrics used to evaluate internal product teams.  Information scholars’ expertise in open systems can be helpful in organizing and reporting disclosures, and especially in assuming roles as data auditors for these metrics and disclosures.    Other recommendations in the report are to use long-term holdout experiments to assess user preferences and performance rather than only simple, short-term A-B testing that is the standard today. Platforms should regularly report retention metrics, user satisfaction, and summaries of harms or benefits.  Additionally, the report recommends that platforms regularly publish samples of highly disseminated content and samples of highly consumed content and publicly disclose aggregate harms to high-risk populations.   This report is one of the many timely and thoughtful considerations of the current state of the digital information exposome. We increasingly live, work, and play in both analog and digital worlds and information scholars are well-prepared to participate in investigating effects and impacts from a human-centric perspective and to help humanity understand and thrive in these environments. 1 :  Moehring, A., Cooper, A., Narayanan, A., Ovadya, A., Redmiles, E., Allen, J., . . . Arnao, Z. (2025). Better Feeds: Algorithms That Put People First. Knight–Georgetown Institute. https://kgi.georgetown.edu/research-and-commentary/better-feeds/ Feature Stories solely reflect the opinion of the author.

iConference 2025 - our 20th anniversary iConference in the annual series was organized by the Indiana University Bloomington, USA. The Virtual Academic Program took place 11-14 March 2025 and the onsite Academic Program in Bloomington, USA took place 18-22 March 2025. This year's iConference attracted more than 400 participants worldwide, with 41% to participate in the virtual part of the conference only and 59% to participate onsite in Bloomington, USA as well. Out of over 430 submissions in total, 32% of all submitted Full Research Papers, 51% of all submitted Short Research Papers, 73% of all submitted Research Posters, 51% of all submitted Chinese Research Papers and 80% of all submitted Spanish/Portuguese Research Papers have been accepted, concluding in 54 virtual academic sessions and 64 onsite academic sessions. The organizers would like to congratulate the iConference 2025 Award winners, who have been announced at the iConference 2025 Keynote, 11 March 2025: Best Full Research Paper Award (1.000 USD) ID 359   Does Google dream of electric memes? From human to computational culture   by Smith, Alexander O ; Joh, Una; Hemsley, Jeff Best Short Research Paper Award (500 USD) ID 202   The Promoting Effect of Internet Use on the Physical Health of Chinese Older Adults: An Empirical Study Based on the Difference-in-Differences Model by Sun, Haoyuan; Fu, Zhenkang; Pu, Zhengtong; Zhu, Qinghua Best Chinese Research Paper Award (1.000 USD) ID 555   Research on the Framework of Action for Libraries to Contribute to the Realization of the Goals of Sustainable Development in Society ——Using IFLA SDGs Stories as Examples  by Tang, Qiong; Ma, Yunzhe; He, JiaYu Best Poster Award (300 USD) ID 181   The impact of Economic Sanctions on China-U.S. Scientific collaboration: Evidence from the Civilian Universities on the U.S. Entity List  by Lu, Chao;  Xiao, Chengrui iConference 2025 was the first onsite conference in the North American Region since 2019. Authors from 26 countries submitted their work. More than 480 reviewers from 36 countries evaluated these submission. Track Chairs of 16 nationalities in all iSchools regions were involved on the program consisting of paper and poster presentations, workshops, student symposia, doctoral and early career colloquia. The iConference organizers and the iSchools organization would like to thank all track chairs, reviewers, moderators and presenters for their invaluable contribution to the great success of iConference 2025. According to the regional rotation, next year's iConference will take place in Europe. We are happy to announce that our iSchool at the Edinburgh Napier University will be our iConference 2026 host. The dates will be announced soon. (Follow #iconf26 on Social Media for updates.)

Following a distinguished 21-year career at SC&I, Radford, an interdisciplinary researcher whose scholarship is in the intersection of LIS and Communication, will retire on July 1, 2025. Logo Rutgers University Professor of Library and Information Science Marie L.  Radford , an expert on qualitative methods, academic libraries, interpersonal communication within library contexts, virtual and traditional reference service, and postmodern approaches to media stereotypes of librarians/libraries, will retire from Rutgers University effective July 1, 2025.   The SC&I Library and Information Science Department  will celebrate Radford’s career and legacy at a luncheon on April 30, 12-2 p.m. at the Rutgers Club.   “Marie Radford’s impactful scholarship, teaching, and service has been widely recognized throughout the field,” said Chair of the Library and Information Science Department and Associate Professor Rebecca Reynolds . “Her theoretical work brings philosophical and social science perspectives on communication very insightfully into information science and librarianship scholarly research. Additionally, she has authored, with Lynn Silipigni Connaway, an impactful  information science research methods text  now in several editions, used by scholars throughout the field in our research and teaching, which I myself have used in my coursework with students, and as a reference. We were also thrilled to celebrate her monumental mentoring contributions in her prestigious  Rutgers–New Brunswick Chancellor Award for Excellence in Mentoring   last year. Further, personally, as a new Chair, Marie was unceasingly generous in her provision of time, resources, advice, and wisdom and continues to offer key insights and institutional knowledge into department and SC&I initiatives. Marie is a dear colleague, mentor, and friend, and it is hard to imagine life in the department and school without her positive energy, encouragement, insight, and solidarity.”   A life-long resident of New Jersey, Radford earned a bachelor’s degree in English education from The College of New Jersey, an M.S.L.S. . from Syracuse University, and a Ph.D. from SC&I. She began her career working as a librarian in the New Jersey public schools for 8 years. She then spent 11 years working at William Paterson University’s Cheng Library before she began teaching at the Pratt Institute in New York City and then at Rutgers.   At Pratt, Radford served as acting dean of the School of Information and Library Science for two years before she returned to Rutgers in 2004 as an associate professor. She was tenured in 2007 and promoted to full professor in 2014.   During her years at SC&I, Radford served as Chair of the Department of Library and Information Science  twice (for a total of 6.5 years) and as Director of the SC&I Ph.D. Program for one term (3 years).   As the recipient of multiple awards for research and writing during her years at Rutgers, Radford said she is most proud of having been the recipient of the 2010 ALA/RUSA Mudge Award for distinguished contributions to reference and the 2024 Chancellor Award for Excellence in Mentoring from Rutgers University.    Radford has published extensively in high impact LIS journals and she has published 12 books, including monographs, edited volumes, and textbooks, the latest being “Research Methods in Library and Information Science,” 7th ed. with Lynn S. Connaway (2021), “Conducting the Reference Interview,” 3rd ed., with Catherine Sheldrick Ross and Kirsti Nilsen (2019), and “Library Conversations: Reclaiming Interpersonal Communication Theory for Understanding Professional Encounters” with Gary P. Radford (2017).    With Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Radford was co-PI of the "Seeking Synchronicity" and "Cyber Synergy" grant projects totaling over $1 million, funded by IMLS, Rutgers, and OCLC.  These grants studied interpersonal communication in live chat "Ask-a-Librarian" services, which has continued to be one of the major areas of her research.   During her career Radford has given frequent keynotes and presentations at national and international library and communication conferences, and since 2015 she has also served as co-director of the LIDA (Libraries in the Digital Age) biennial conference, held in Croatia  (the next one will be May 19-21, 2025 in Dubrovnik).   Radford has taught mainly in the Master of Information  and Ph.D. Program  at SC&I, in-person, via Zoom, and asynchronously. Since 2014, she has taken MI students to England for a summer study abroad course "British Collections and Archives."   Radford’s teaching focus at the Ph.D. level has been in Qualitative Methods, Theories and Issues in LIS, and Information Science. In MI, she has taught many courses including Management Principles in Information Organizations, Transformative Library Leadership, Information Sources and Services, Human Information Behavior, and Interpersonal Communication for Information Professionals At the undergraduate level, for the Information Technology and Informatics major , she has taught Retrieving  and Evaluating Electronic Information.   Radford has worked with many Ph.D. students and has guided nine to completion of the Ph.D. as Dissertation Chair, and is currently advising  two more. She has been a member of 18 additional Ph.D. dissertation committees at Rutgers and two more outside of Rutgers.   Radford has been active in many scholarly Library and Communication Associations, including the American Library Association, the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE), Association for Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T), the National Communication Association, and state organizations such as the New Jersey Library Association, New Jersey Communication Association, and the New York State Communication Association.   She is also a Past-President of the SC&I Alumni Association, and currently its treasurer, and she has been on the executive board since 1993, except for two years when she was Interim Dean at Pratt.   Many of Radford’s colleagues and former and current students expressed gratitude for her many contributions to the field, university, school, and their personal success during Radford’s long and distinguished career.   “I've learned an immeasurable amount about research, mentoring, and academic life from working alongside Dr. Radford, a luminary in our field,” said Associate Professor of Library and Information Science Kaitlin Costello . “She's had such an impact on me and so many others, and I find myself saying: ‘I learned this from Dr. Marie Radford’ often when I'm giving others advice. I'm excited to see what Dr. Radford does with the next chapter and wish her all the best in her retirement!”   “Marie has been an outstanding colleague, mentor and friend,” said Director of the Master of Information Program and Teaching Professor of Library and Information Science Lilia Pavlovsky . “We've known each other since we met as Ph.D. students at SC&I (then SCILS). I will always carry with me the lessons I learned from her and hope to always be her friend!  Her presence on the faculty will be missed by all.”   SC&I Associate Professor of Library and Information Science Charles Senteio said, “I, alongside my colleagues at LIS, SC&I, and well beyond, wish Marie the very best in her well-deserved retirement, but we will miss her. I vividly remember first meeting Marie on February 6, 2016, during my campus visit, my very first trip to any Rutgers campus. I recall our one-on-one meeting on the 3rd floor of the SCI building when she shared her enthusiasm for Rutgers. I noted her authenticity, and I recall thinking that if I got an offer and decided to come to Rutgers, I could always go to Marie with my questions.   “Shortly after coming to Rutgers Marie became department chair and I noted her unwavering dedication to both the field of Library and Information Science and to those she has mentored. Marie has left an indelible mark on the profession. Through her guidance, and with the wisdom shared in her books, she has empowered countless individuals to improve their communication and LIS skills, specifically in how to connect more deeply with others. As a proud member of the Rutgers community and a champion of New Jersey, her legacy will continue to inspire future generations of librarians, students, and scholars. We are grateful for the lasting impact she has made, both at Rutgers and in the wider LIS field.”   Ph.D. student Dan Houli said, “Dr. Marie Radford has been more than an advisor. She has been a mentor, a continuous source of encouragement, and a friend. From my very first day at student orientation, starting my Ph.D. journey at SC&I, she welcomed me with warmth and genuine curiosity about my area of research. Her Qualitative Methods class was one of the turning points for me, shifting my perspective and ultimately enhancing my approach to research. Balancing full-time work and family, there were moments when I questioned whether I could keep going, but Marie always believed in me even at points when I had stopped believing in myself. Her patience, kindness, and deep commitment to her students are what make her truly exceptional. Marie has not only helped to shape my academic path but also reinforced my passion for the field. Her impact to those around her will be felt long after her retirement, and I am forever grateful for her guidance.”   Radford’s Ph.D. advisee Vanessa Kitzie, now an associate professor at the School of Information Science, College of Information and Communications, University of South Carolina, said, “Marie Radford is the most dedicated advisor and mentor I’ve encountered. Now that I’m on the other side of things as a professor, I’m so appreciative of the time and care she devoted to her students while leading impactful research and taking on major administrative roles. It’s a thankless job, yet she did it with generosity and brilliance. Her feedback was always thoughtful, her encouragement unwavering, and her influence on my work, mainly through her interdisciplinary application of critical theory and communications theory, including Goffman’s concept of stigma, was tremendously impactful to my development as a scholar. Beyond all that, Marie is simply a delightful human being. Who else plays in a band and was first on the scene to academically appreciate the genius of Parker Posey and  Party Girl ? Her retirement is well-earned, but her legacy continues to shape the field, and all of us lucky enough to have worked with her.”   Chelsea Rizzolo, MI '20 said, “Dr. Radford has been profoundly instrumental in my academic and professional development, guiding me through scholarships and internships, fostering my involvement in professional organizations, and facilitating my career transition into academia. Her dynamic teaching style also taught me the importance of infusing my personality into my work. I am so deeply grateful for her many lessons, mentorship, and support over the years. Congratulations, Marie!”   Looking forward to her retirement, Radford said her “primary ambition will be to have more fun.” Her husband, SC&I alumnus Gary Radford Ph.D.’91, is retiring on the same day (as Chair of the Communication Department at Fairleigh Dickinson University), and Radford said they have plans to travel the world and the U.S., visiting friends and relatives, and meeting new friends.   Radford added, “Our rock 'n roll band ‘ The Professors ,’ is still rocking, and we plan to have more time to make music. The band plays a blend of original songs, classic rock, and current music, and features me on keyboards, our daughter, Meg, as lead singer, and Gary on lead guitar.” Radford said she also has another book project in progress, and perhaps more to come.   “I am congratulating Marie and Gary on the occasion of their retirement,” Reynolds said, “while I celebrate Marie’s innumerable contributions to Rutgers University and the field, and meanwhile, I am looking forward to staying in contact with Marie and Gary and to the good times to come as Marie transitions to a cherished emerita faculty member.”