Faculty of Information and Media Studies , Western University Application Deadline: immediately Western University invites applications, nominations, and expressions of interest for the position of Dean, Faculty of Information and Media Studies with the appointment to be effective summer 2025. This is an exciting opportunity to advance current and future initiatives. Founded in 1878, Western University is a member of the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities and ranks among the top 1% of universities worldwide. Established in 1996/97, the Faculty of Information and Media Studies (FIMS) is a vibrant, non-departmentalized Faculty comprising approximately 1,300 undergraduate and 340 graduate students, more than 42 full-time faculty members and 26 non-academic staff. Dedicated to the advancement of knowledge about media, communications and information technologies, FIMS offers three undergraduate and eight professional or research-based graduate programs in Media Studies, Library & Information Science, Journalism and Communications, and Health Information Science. The Dean is the chief academic officer of the Faculty and a member of the University’s senior leadership team. Reporting to the Provost and Vice-President (Academic), the Dean is accountable for the Faculty’s strategic vision, for ensuring the academic quality and integrity of its programs and operations, for championing fundraising efforts and outreach, and for enhancing the Faculty’s research profile. The ideal candidate will be an excellent scholar ideally appointable to the rank of Professor. They will have significant proven, administrative experience earned in a complex environment as demonstrated through the development of collaborative internal and external relationships, experience with, or an interest in, fundraising, applied experience and deep theoretical knowledge in their field, as well as sound fiscal management abilities.

Associate Professor Kate McDowell has been awarded a $578,677 grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS grant RE-256709-OLS-24 ), under the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program , which supports “developing a diverse workforce of librarians to better meet the changing learning and information needs of the American public by enhancing the training and professional development of librarians, developing faculty and library leaders, and recruiting and educating the next generation of librarians.”   The three-year grant is an extension of the Data Storytelling Toolkit for Librarians project, which helps librarians present data in story form using narrative strategies. The new project, “Implementing the Data Storytelling Toolkit for Libraries,” is a collaboration with the Public Library Association (PLA) that will combine PLA Benchmark: Library Metrics and Trends, a tool for data-driven planning and advocacy in public libraries, with innovative data storytelling instruction and lessons learned from the original project. Assistant Professor Matthew Turk and Teaching Assistant Professor Jill Naiman will serve as co-principal investigators.   According to McDowell, while libraries have access to more data tools than ever, they face the challenge of translating data into stories that resonate with key stakeholders and demonstrate the value and impact of library services for their communities.   “Libraries are more effective when library staff understand and serve real, measurable community needs. Being able to better tell the story of their work will, in turn, help libraries secure funding and resources to continue to serve their communities into the future,” said McDowell . “ The Data Storytelling Toolkit for Librarians makes the connection between data and the stories that can have real impact.”   McDowell’s storytelling research has involved training collaborations with advancement staff both at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Illinois system; storytelling consulting work for multiple nonprofits, including the 50th anniversary of the statewide Prairie Rivers Network that protects Illinois water; and storytelling lectures for the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI). McDowell researches and publishes in the areas of storytelling at work, social justice storytelling, and what library storytelling can teach the information sciences about data storytelling. She holds both an MS and PhD in library and information science from Illinois.

School of Information Science, University of South Carolina Application Deadline: 23 September 2024 The library and information science profession is rapidly changing and future information professionals will need expertise in data science, machine learning, and application of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. The iSchool is expanding its faculty to address the growing need for information professionals trained to understand and apply AI technologies in various information organizations including libraries, museums, government organizations, and private corporations. Recognizing the transformative potential of AI to society and the significant impact on libraries and information organizations, the iSchool is seeking applicants for a full-time tenure-track position at the rank of either Associate Professor or full Professor focused on AI related to library and information science to begin August 16, 2025. We seek scholars whose research, teaching, and impact in the field will advance one or more dimensions of AI in libraries and information organizations, including but not limited to: Design: Conceptualizing, creating, and evaluating AI-based designs, such as innovative tools or curricula used in libraries, government, and other information organizations. Practice: Analyzing the potential and complexities of AI as it relates to libraries, librarianship, and teaching and learning. Ethical and Societal Implications: Interrogating the ethical, historical, and cultural impacts of AI including considerations of privacy and bias.

American University Washington, DC: College of Arts and Sciences - Literature Application Deadline: 20 September 2024 Literature in the College of Arts and Sciences at American University invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor beginning August 1, 2025. Applicants should have a PhD or an anticipated PhD completion by August 2025 in any humanities discipline or allied field, such as information studies, media studies, communications, or science and technology studies. We also welcome applicants whose scholarship and teaching focus on questions of technology as they intersect with critical race theory, gender and sexuality studies, disability studies, and issues of social justice. The successful candidate will have the capacity to approach technological questions through interdisciplinary and critical thinking that is informed by humanities-based approaches. Candidates should be enthusiastic and effective teachers and must be strongly committed to excellence in scholarly research. We welcome applications from candidates engaged in high-quality scholarship in areas that offer new perspectives in understanding the complex interactions of technology, culture, and textual production, including the history and theory of science and technology, artificial intelligence and information technology, digital humanities, game design, new media studies, computer science, digital arts, informational literacy, internet studies, or other related fields. The candidate would teach and develop courses for our MA Program in Literature, Culture, and Technology, as well as undergraduate courses. We are especially interested in applicants who could serve as a bridge between the literature department, computer and data science, the game design lab or other departments working on questions of artificial intelligence, new media, and/or new technologies. The teaching load is two courses per semester, with research, mentorship, and service expectations. The annual salary range is $87,000-99,000, and benefits are competitive. Review of applications will begin September 20th, and will continue until the position is filled, subject to on-going budgetary approval. American University is a student-centered research institution located in Washington, DC, with highly-ranked schools and colleges, internationally-renowned faculty, and a reputation for creating meaningful change in the world. Learn more about American University .

Jiangping Chen assumed the position of interim executive associate dean and visiting professor on August 16 at School of Information Sciences University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign . In this role, she will work closely with Dean Eunice E. Santos to realize the iSchool’s strategic goals and objectives. She also will provide leadership for the internal administration of the School, including oversight for the work of associate deans and assigned staff as well as the coordination of faculty affairs. Chen’s position will become permanent following approval by the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. Chen comes to the iSchool from the University of North Texas (UNT), where she served as Regents Professor and chair of the Department of Information Science. Her accomplishments include growing and shaping the department with a focus on educational programs and strategic research directions.   “Professor Chen’s expertise is well aligned with our current needs. She will contribute significantly to the creation of well-formulated strategies to support our School’s phenomenal growth, while emphasizing innovation and efficiency,” said Santos.   Chen conducts research in information science, data science, and library science, and her expertise includes information retrieval and access, digital libraries, information services, information management, and data analytics. She is the founder of UNT’s Intelligent Information Access (IIA) Lab, which explores methods for access, interaction, and analysis of large, distributed, heterogeneous, multimedia, and multilingual information. She currently focuses on applying data science techniques to information problems and misinformation. Her research has been supported by prestigious funders, such as the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the National Science Foundation.   Chen is adept at graduate and undergraduate instruction, developing and teaching courses in information science and data science. These courses include Introduction to Information Science, Digital Libraries, Information Architecture, Data Analysis and Knowledge Discovery, Research Methodology, Natural Language Processing, Data Modeling, and Web Database Systems.   Her professional contributions include authoring numerous publications, including a monograph on multilingual digital libraries,  journal articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings as well as giving invited presentations and talks. She is actively involved in several organizations, and she has served as co-chair of the ALISE Council of Deans, Directors, and Chairs; editor-in-chief of The Electronic Library ; and general chair of 2018 ACM/IEEE Joint Conference on Digital Libraries.   “I am very excited to join the iSchool,” said Chen, "I look forward to working with the wonderful faculty, staff, and students, and making my contributions to the School’s vision and strategical goals."   Chen holds a PhD in information transfer from Syracuse University, a master’s degree in information science from the Library of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a bachelor’s degree in information science from Wuhan University.

The Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)  has awarded SC&I Assistant Professor of Library and Information Science Jessica Yi-Yun Cheng  (PI) and her colleagues Rhiannon Bettivia (Simmons University, co-PI) and Michael Gryk  (University of Connecticut, co-PI) funding to support the project “ Storytelling Across Time: Building a Community Around Provenance (B-CAP) .” The project was awarded $150,000. The project is one of the 85 awards, totaling $22,533,904, the IMLS is funding this year  to support libraries and archival services across the country. The FY 2024 awards were made through the IMLS’s National Leadership Grants for Libraries  and the  Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program . Cheng’s project will be funded through the National Leadership Grants for Libraries Program . According to the IMLS, this program “supports projects that address critical needs of the library and archives fields and have the potential to advance practice in these professions to strengthen library and archival services for the American public. Program goals include generating results such as new models, tools, research findings, services, practices, or alliances that will be widely used, adapted, scaled, or replicated to extend and leverage the benefits of federal investment. The National Leadership Grants for Libraries program received 146 preliminary proposals requesting $38,098,986.60. IMLS invited 85 institutions to submit full project proposals, and of these, awarded  50 projects  totaling $13,206,160.” "The National Leadership Grants for Libraries and Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program are vital in advancing library services across the nation,” said IMLS Acting Director Cyndee Landrum. “The funding supports libraries, staff, and projects that exemplify excellence in the library field and community service, driving innovation and improving access to information for all.” Cheng’s project, according to the abstract, “will address the need to create integrated, flexible, and comprehensive approaches to provenance documentation across types of collections. Provenance is the story of how something has come to be, whether it be physical, digital, or even an abstract idea. While the importance of provenance crosses disciplinary boundaries, current practice lacks collective conversation and scholarship. “The project will plan events bringing together 100 research and practitioner experts from across many disciplines over the course of 24 months. At these events, participants will share their expertise on current provenance debates, such as disciplinary silos, temporality, and persuasiveness. The project will result in a community of practice to clarify foundational provenance challenges and support future work on improved models and documentary approaches. Ultimately, the work will promote greater transparency and accountability in the management and curation of cultural heritage, digital data, and e-science collections.” Cheng, Bettivia, and Gryk will host three in-person events and four webinars to convene experts from various disciplines to discuss issues surrounding provenance.  They have identified three themes from their prior lines of work relating to provenance, and these will be the three main themes in their events: disciplinary challenges, temporal challenges, and persuasiveness challenges. “The challenges with provenance need to be addressed now,” Cheng et al. wrote. “Addressing the systemic issues will take time, and the current social and technical conditions are exacerbating these provenance issues: computers and AI are increasing the situations in which decisions are made by computers, at speeds that move too fast for human documentation. Vaccination rates are dropping. People are losing trust in the validity of cultural heritage collections. Newspapers, especially smaller, local ones, are closing at record numbers, with back issues and institutional data often winding up in the local library, which has to construct provenance to tell the story of local papers of record."  The Institute of Museum and Library Services is the primary source of federal support for the nation's libraries and museums. The IMS advances, supports, and empowers America's museums, libraries, and related organizations through grantmaking, research, and policy development. IMLS envisions a nation where individuals and communities have access to museums and libraries to learn from and be inspired by the trusted information, ideas, and stories they contain about our diverse natural and cultural heritage. Learn more about the Library and Information Science Department  at the Rutgers School of Communication and Information on the website .

Rutgers University Application Deadline: 15 October 2024 The Library and Information Science (LIS) Department in the School of Communication and Information (SC&I) at Rutgers University, New Brunswick, invites applications for an Artificial Intelligence tenure track appointment. The position is part of a cluster hire at Rutgers in the Computational Social Science: Social Inequality and Democratic Participation track within the Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (CDSAI) cluster hire supported by the Office of the Chancellor. Ideal candidates would be world-class AI researchers who advance the field of scholarship in areas such as Human centered AI; fairness in AI; AI & algorithmic bias; bias in big data; applied contexts of AI design and use in areas such as social media analysis, network analytics, knowledge discovery, science of science, research, reference, library database environments/ contexts, knowledge management, future of work, health care delivery, clinical decision support in health settings, in ed-tech, or among particular target populations such as young children or the aging; AI governance and oversight; social implications of AI. We will give special consideration to candidates whose work addresses and advances understanding of social inequalities and democratic participation in the context of AI systems, in keeping with the goals of the cluster hire (Computational Social Science: Social Inequality and Democratic Participation track). Inquiries about this position can be sent to Prof. Sunyoung Kim, search committee chair, at sk1897@comminfo.rutgers.edu .

Rutgers University Application Deadline: 15 October 2024 Candidates should have an outstanding record of scholarship in archival studies, theory of building and curating physical and digital archives, critical archival studies, and digital preservation. Applicants should have a demonstrated record or strong likelihood of top-tier peer-reviewed publication and evidence of or preparation for effective teaching. Applicants at the rank of Associate Professor or above should provide evidence of leadership in research, instruction, and service; a record of external funding is a plus. Responsibilities of tenure-track and tenured faculty members include undergraduate and graduate teaching assignments, an active program of research in the candidate’s area of scholarly expertise, and service contributions in accordance with the university policy for tenure‐track and tenured appointments.

Rutgers University Application Deadline: 15 October 2024 Candidates should have an outstanding record of research in information retrieval (e.g., in venues such as SIGIR). Areas of focus include but are not limited to research on information retrieval, storage and dissemination occurring in contexts such as search systems, social media and ecommerce platforms, chatbots, large language models, natural language understanding, virtual reference, user experience design. Responsibilities of tenure-track and tenured faculty members include undergraduate and graduate teaching assignments, an active program of research in the candidate’s area of scholarly expertise, and service contributions in accordance with the university policy for tenure‐track and tenured appointments . Review of applications will begin October 15, 2024, and will continue until the position is filled. Inquiries about this position can be sent to Prof. Kaitlin Costello, search committee chair, at k.costello@rutgers.edu .

You’re invited to attend a  FREE  webinar on the theme  “Future of (Meta) Data."  Join us to learn and update your knowledge on the topics covered in a series of presentations that will help define the smart web enabled by AI and present a picture of the future web data environment. This is a part of the 60th anniversary commemoration of the iSchool at Sunkyunkwan University (SKKU). Experts will be invited to share their opinions and experiences on research data and metadata at a two-part online event that we will be hosting. The speakers represent important global initiatives pertaining to metadata and research data, including DCMI (Dublin Core Meta Initiative), FAIR , RDA (Research Data Alliance), and CODATA (ICA Committee on Data). PUBLIC WEBINAR –  FREE AND OPEN TO ALL :   *Please reserve your spot at the following link:  https://forms.gle/8e8BMgcYLz97z371A 1st Webinar Friday, September 6, 2024 9:00-10:30 am Seoul (8:00 am Beijing, 10:00 am Melbourne) (Sept. 5, 8:00-9:30 pm New York, 5:00-6:30 pm Los Angeles) Zoom Meeting ID:  892 199 1480 Passcode: 32501 Speakers : Dr. Marcia Zeng : Professor, Kent State University, Ohio  Generating Smart (Meta)data for Diverse Cultural Heritage (CH) Entities -- Exploring the Opportunities and Challenges in the New Era of AI Dr. Peter Leonard : Assistant University Librarian for Research Data Services, Stanford Libraries  The “Transformers Moment” for Metadata Dr. Inkyung Choi : Associate Research Scientist, OCLC Research “Library (meta) data evolution: connected and shared” Q&A sessions will follow. 2nd Webinar  * detailed information TBA Friday, September 27, 2024 4:00-5:30 pm Seoul (9:00 am Berlin, 3:00 pm Beijing, 5:00 pm Melbourne) Zoom Meeting ID:  892 199 1480 Passcode: 32501 Speakers :  Dr.  Jildau Bouwman : (Senior Scientist, TNO, The Netherlands) “Unlocking the power of health data": – FAIR Implementation case study Prof. Luiz Olavo Bonino : (University of Twente, The Netherlands) FAIR Digital Objects Overview Dr. Erik Schultes : (Senior Consultant, Go FAIR Foundation, The Netherlands) Putting FAIR Digital Objects to Work for Metadata Prof. Barend Mons : (University of Leiden Medical Center, The Netherlands)   FAIR Principles  "Then and Now" This event is free and open to the public. * The webinar program is organized by the SKKU Institute for Information Management.

Issue #84 by Michael Seadle (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) On 15 July 2024 Vladimir Moskovkin  published an entry on the “ LSE Impact blog ” entitled “Tracing the origins of ‘publish or perish’”.¹ The same post had appeared earlier on the “ Leiden Madtrics blog ” under the title “​​Origin and evolution of the ‘publish or perish’ phenomenon”, which may indicate the level of interest in the topic.² Eugene Garfield  questioned the origin of the phrase in 1996, and Moskovkin was not the first person to seek its origin. The author traces the origin back through various iterations to the nineteenth century Swiss art historian Carl Jacob   Burckhardt , who wrote about “veröffentlichen oder untergehen” (“publish or perish”), even though today “... German-language literature exclusively uses the English-language term ‘publish or perish’ when dealing with the above phenomenon.”¹     The phrase was relatively harmless, until “... the moment came when science officials decided to use the impact factor of a journal as a criterion for the career development of a scientist and evaluation of scientific research results, and then the real publication race under the slogan ‘publish or perish’ began.” Moskovkin speculates that this happened when a commercial publisher acquired Garfield’s Institute for Scientific Information “... and then the journal impact factor was put at the service of commercial publishers, who began to monopolise the market of scientific periodicals.”1 This led to the rewards systems in universities that became dependent on high impact journals, which then allowed publishers “... to drive up the price of journal subscriptions …” and created an interest in Open Access.¹    The problem is how to disentangle academic rewards from a reliance on publishing in high impact factor journals, which has become a key mechanism for assigning value to articles that university administrators probably do not read or understand. The situation could possibly change if open access publications could compete fairly without article processing charges that not every author can pay. But the fact would remain that administrators are relying on a measure of the number of citations, which is equal to holding a popularity contest to judge value. The best universities rely on the judgment of peers who read the articles to make hiring and promotion judgments.  1 : Moskovkin, Vladimir M. “Tracing the Origins of ‘Publish or Perish.’” Impact of Social Sciences  (blog), July 15, 2024.   https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsocialsciences/2024/07/15/tracing-the-origins-of-publish-or-perish/ . 2 :  “Origin and Evolution of the ‘Publish or Perish’ Phenomenon,” June 4, 2024. https://www.leidenmadtrics.nl/articles/origin-and-evolution-of-the-publish-or-perish-phenomenon .

Issue #83 by Michael Seadle (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin) Avi Staiman wrote a post in “The Scholarly Kitchen”¹ on 22 July 2024 about “Woefully Insufficient Publisher Policies on Author AI Use Put Research Integrity at Risk.” He begins by saying: “There is broad consensus in scholarly publishing that AI tools will make the task of ensuring the integrity of the scientific record a Herculean task.”² His goal is a better understanding of what the tools can do and how to understand them. He writes: “While 76% of researchers reported using AI tools in their research in the OUP [Oxford University Press] survey, only 27% reported having a good understanding of how to use these tools responsibly.”²  Such numbers are not encouraging, but a key question is what does “understanding AI” really mean? A similar question could be asked about how many scholars actually understand the proofs behind the statistical theorems. A similar proportion may never have made an effort to prove the statistical theorems that are the basis for results they cite. Nonetheless the parallel between understanding AI and understanding statistical tests represents an oversimplification. Contemporary scholars take the results from statistical programs for granted in part because such tests have been around for a long time and have become integral to modern scholarship. The real issue may not be so much the degree of understanding as the trust that results from decades of reliable statistical tests.  Staiman wants “... to make a clear distinction between ‘substantive’ and ‘non-substantive’ use. For example, using AI tools to clear up spelling and grammar is clearly a non-substantive use, while relying on AI for data analysis would very much be ‘substantive’.”² This distinction makes sense because grammar and spelling are readily provable, and spelling and grammar correction tools are already embedded in word processing tools. Staiman recommends the European Union’s AI Act as a model for publishers because of its risk levels, which range from minimal to unacceptable. His recommendation is that publishers cooperate to set up common policies based on this model in order to give authors clear and rational guidelines that will help them avoid research integrity problems.   1 :   https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/ 2 : Staiman, Avi. “Woefully Insufficient Publisher Policies on Author AI Use Put Research Integrity at Risk.” The Scholarly Kitchen, July 22, 2024. https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2024/07/22/woefully-insufficient-publisher-policies-on-author-ai-use-put-research-integrity-at-risk/ .