iSchool MLIS students top the list of Spectrum Scholarship recipients

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

The American Library Association's (ALA) Office for Diversity announced the winners of the 2013-14 Spectrum Scholarships with six University of Washington Information School master of library and information science (MLIS) students among the 51 winners. The UW iSchool received the most awards of any MLIS graduate program in the country. Winners include: Twanna Hodge (Louise Giles Scholar), Melissa Kahili (ALA/ProQuest Bash Scholar), Aiyanna Looney (ALA/ProQuest Bash Scholar), Mario Macias, Kimberly R. Tate (NLM/MLA Scholar), and Lisa L. Tyler (OCLC Scholar). According to the ALA pre

Law Librarianship graduates find professional careers across the U.S.

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Graduates from the iSchool's #1 ranked Law Librarianship program are finding careers in colleges, universities, courts and legal firms across the country. In fact, alumni work in 38 states and the District of Columbia. More than 130 organizations currently employ iSchool graduates in the U.S. and Canada. The 2012 class is no exception: A year out, 12 out of the 14 graduates are in library careers in eight states. Alumni will convene at a reunion in Seattle that coincides with the American Association of Law Librarians annual meeting, to be held this year in Seattle on July 13.

iSchool to participate in ALA Conference

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

The American Library Association Conference, now in its 137th year, offers the iSchool an opportunity to showcase the talents of faculty and students through a variety of workshops and presentations. This year's conference theme, "Transforming Our Libraries, Ourselves," is nicely reflected in Associate Professor Joe Janes' new book “Library 2020: Today’s Leading Visionaries Describe Tomorrow’s Library," which is being released at ALA by publisher Rowman & Littlefield. Janes will sign copies of his book on Saturday, June 29.  Visit the iSchool Student Services team a

MLIS alumna in the race for Mayor of Seattle

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Joey Gray, MLIS '03, is one of nine candidates in the 2013 Seattle mayoral race. The top two winners from the August primary will be on the ballot in November.  According to her campaign website, Gray has worked in a wide variety of fields, from information systems management to environmental and transportation activism, to world class athletics. She’s a librarian and currently serves as a database and organizational change consultant for nonprofit organizations throughout the Puget Sound region and beyond. Her campaign prioritizes environmental stewardship and policies that

New chair announced for the Ph.D. in Information Science program

Monday, June 24, 2013

iSchool Associate Professor Adam Moore will join the iSchool as full-time faculty this fall and succeed Associate Professor David Hendry as chair of the Ph.D. in Information Science program. Hendry will resume his full-time role as faculty and researcher in the iSchool. Moore came to the University of Washington in 2003 with a joint appointment in the Department of Philosophy. He received his Ph.D. in philosophy from The Ohio State University specializing in ethical theory, philosophy of law, political philosophy, and information ethics (intellectual property, privacy, freedom of speec

Kara Noel wins 2013 Borgeson Award

Friday, June 21, 2013

MLIS Law student Kara Noel's paper, "The Unbundling of Legal Services and its Implications for Law Librarianship," received the 2013 Earl C. Borgeson Research in Law Librarianship Award. Noel's article will be published in the journal Legal Reference Services Quarterly. The honor carries a $1,000 prize. The Borgeson award was established in 2000 to encourage scholarly research in the field of law librarianship. Each year students in Professor Penny Hazelton's Current Issues in Law Librarianship (CILL) class each write a major paper about an important contemporary topic affecting the profess

2013 iSchool Convocation celebrates achievement and community

Monday, June 17, 2013

For the more than 300 graduates of the UW Information School, the ceremony on Sunday, June 16, was a time to celebrate with friends and family and receive well-earned recognition from faculty and staff. The Convocation keynote address was given by Kris Kutchera, iSchool founding board member and chief information officer, Alaska Airlines. Michael Eisenberg, iSchool professor and dean emeritus, gave the closing remarks and Matthew Saxton, Associate Dean of Academics, served as master of ceremonies. The 2013 graduating class included the largest number of Ph.D.s in iSchool history. The deg

Glenda Pearson, M.Lib.'74, puts heart in the art of librarianship

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Glenda Pearson’s workday starts at 3:15 a.m. tending rescued animals on a six-acre spread -- from wallowing hogs spared the slaughterhouse to ducklings found abandoned in a box along the I-90 corridor. She catches the 6:20 Vashon Island ferry to Seattle and by 7:30 a.m., the witty, warm woman is finally in her ground-level office at Suzzallo Library, where, among files and piles of good-old-fashioned paper documents, there sits a golden medal strung on a purple ribbon that announces her as the 2013 recipient of the UW Distinguished Librarian Award. She pulls it out when a visitor comes ca

MSIM student applications impress panel of industry judges

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

What if you could leave all of your information in one place and apply various applications to the data instead of being in the “export/import business” of moving information from one application to the next? That was the challenge Research Associate Professor William Jones presented to his group of 16 Master of Science in Information Management (MSIM) students spring term. As an incentive, Jones organized a group of faculty and industry experts (pictured left) to evaluate the applications built by the students and provide prizes to the winners. The class split into five teams a

iSchool graduates its largest group of PhDs

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

The graduating class of 2013 includes one group noted for its size. They are small in number, but they are mighty. This year, the commencement ceremony will include eight PhD in Information Science students whose work reflects the wide-range of topics that is the hallmark of the iSchool. From creating commercial-worthy applications like LemonAid to researching information systems in Indigenous and border communities, the graduates earned their degrees over the course of five to seven years of study that included coursework, practica, and research focused on understanding human involvement w

New book imagines the future of libraries

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Assistant Professor Joe Janes asked 30 experts and practitioners of library science to describe their vision of what the library will be in the future. The resulting book, Library 2020, was published this month by Rowman & Littlefield to coincide with the annual American Library Association (ALA) conference. It is available as an e-book or hardcopy from the publisher and other book sellers. According to the publisher's webpage, "contributors including Stephen Abram, Susan Hildreth, Marie Radford, Clifford Lynch, and Library Journal’s The Annoyed Librarian were asked to descr

Capstone 2013: Innovation, Creativity and Community Engagement

Friday, June 7, 2013

The iSchool’s signature Capstone event featured 85 projects from 202 graduating students. Projects were judged to determine which had the most potential for commercialization and social impact. Attendees were encouraged to vote for the audience choice awards.  Held annually, Capstone showcases the breadth of skills and expertise students develop in the B.S. in Informatics (INFO), M.S. in Information Management (MSIM) and the Master of Library and Information Science (MLIS) programs. Students create posters to demonstrate how they use technology, analysis and problem solving as too

Bryce Newell awarded Google Policy Fellowship

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

iSchool Ph.D. student Bryce Newell will spend the summer at the Samuelson-Glushko Canadian Internet Policy & Public Interest Clinic (CIPPIC), which is housed at the Centre for Law, Technology and Society at the University of Ottawa in Canada's capital city, Ottawa. Established in 2008 and offered to fewer than 30 students each year, Google Policy Fellows are selected based on a candidate's passion for technology and their academic achievements, research and writing skills. iSchool Ph.D. student Lassana Magassa was a Google Policy Fellow in 2012. Google Fellows spend the summer workin

NSF grant to explore social media use in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing

Monday, June 3, 2013

iSchool Professor Robert Mason and the SoMeLab team, along with HCDE Assistant Professor Kate Starbird, have received an NSF RAPID grant for $73,000 to explore social media use and networks in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombing in April. The project, entitled Social Media: Learning from the Boston Marathon Bombing, will address research questions concerning the social media paths and mechanisms through which information about the event traveled, how people mobilized to share information, and how information flows and mobilization for this event differs from similar flows and mobilizati

iSchool joins DCMI as inaugural Institutional Member

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Dublin Core Metadata Initiative (DCMI) is a not-for-profit organization committed to the development and open availability of resources that support a healthy global metadata ecosystem. Assistant Professor Joseph T. Tennis will represent the Information School on the DCMI Oversight Committee, which oversees the activities of DCMI and its Executive and contributes to the promotion of the Initiative through liaisons with the public and private sectors. Regional Members and Institutional Members help shape DCMI by bringing their institutional perspectives to the work agenda of the Initiat