News from GSLIS at Illinois
Faculty News
Efron is principal investigator on NSF grant to improve search engine technology
GSLIS has received a grant from the National Science Foundation in the amount of $408,909 to investigate the role time plays in information retrieval, specifically in the use and functionality of search engines. Miles Efron, assistant professor, is the principal investigator on the three-year project, which will investigate ways to improve search engine technology.
Palmer leads data curation work with geobiologists, Yellowstone National Park
GSLIS has received a National Leadership Grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) in the amount of $499,919 to develop a framework for curating scientific research data. The grant, “Site-Based Data Curation for Small Science,” is a two-year project led by Carole Palmer, GSLIS professor and director of the Center for Informatics Research in Science and Scholarship (CIRSS).The project team brings together experts in data curation, research library repositories, geobiology, and research site management to develop policies and processes for the curation of diverse digital data collected at Yellowstone National Park.
Cooke receives Leadership Award
Nicole Cooke, assistant professor, has been awarded the 2013 Norman Horrocks Leadership Award given by the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE). Cooke will receive her award at the ALISE Annual Conference in January 2013.
Blake co-organizes “Filling the Workforce Gap in Data Science and Data Analytics” workshop at iConference 2013
Catherine Blake, associate professor and associate director of CIRSS, is working with colleagues Jeffrey Stanton (Syracuse University) and AnnaLee Saxenian (UC Berkeley) to organize a workshop, “Filling the Workforce Gap in Data Science and Data Analytics,” at the iConference 2013. The goal of this workshop is to provide a forum for iSchool faculty who are developing programs in data analytics, eScience, eResearch, big data, and cyberinfrastructure to discuss best practices with respect to preparing students to fill the workforce need for managers and analysts to analyze big data and make decisions based on their findings.
Mak invited to lead session at Teaching Book History workshop
Assistant Professor Bonnie Mak has been invited to lead a session of the Folger Shakespeare Library’s Teaching Book History workshop series on December 13-15. Mak’s session, “The Book as Technology,” will examine methods of teaching the history and implications of the book as a physical and technological object.
Wolske to participate in Library Journal panel
On Thursday, November 29, GSLIS Research Scientist Martin Wolske will participate in the Library Journal panel, “Learn from the Best.” Wolske, who received the 2011 Library Journal Teaching Award, will be joined by two previous winners to discuss the changing nature of librarianship and the ways in which LIS education can meet those needs.
Downie organizes eighth annual running of MIREX
J. Stephen Downie, GSLIS professor, associate dean for research, and director of IMIRSEL, oversaw the 2012 Music Information Exchange (MIREX), which took place at the 13th International Society for Music Information Retrieval (ISMIR) Conference in Porto, Portugal, in October. MIREX is an evaluation campaign of music information retrieval systems and algorithms that takes place annually at the ISMIR conference. Since 2005, MIREX has evaluated 1,586 algorithm runs with over 300 run this year alone. GSLIS faculty and students also presented four papers at the conference.
Gant leads forum on Inclusive Gigabit Libraries at California Library Association
The first national forum on Inclusive Gigabit Libraries was held at the California Library Association meeting on November 2. Jon Gant, research associate professor and director of the newly established Center for Digital Inclusion, led the event as part of his work examining how libraries can lead in building next-generation Internet applications.
McDowell presents on library architecture and youth services
GSLIS Assistant Professor Kate McDowell presented a talk on “Places, Spaces, and Ideas: Public Library Architecture and Technologies for Children” at the Central Illinois Regional Children’s Librarians meeting in Peoria on November 5.
Tilley gives talk on comics and critics
GSLIS Assistant Professor Carol Tilley presented “Children and the Comics: Young Readers Take on the Critics” at the University of Arizona’s School of Information Resources and Library Science Research Brown Bag series on November 7.
Doctoral Student News
Leetaru receives award for edge computing
Doctoral candidate Kalev Leetaru earned the 2012 HPCWire Editor's Choice Award for “Best use of HPC in an 'edge HPC' application” for his April 2012 collaboration with supercomputer manufacturer SGI creating the first geographic historical visualization of Wikipedia's view of the world over the last two centuries. The award was announced and presented during the 2012 Supercomputing Conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah, this November.
Lucht presents on youth literature and race at the University of British Columbia
GSLIS doctoral student Karla Lucht presented “The Search for Hapas: Identifying Titles Featuring Mixed-race Asian Protagonists in Youth Literature” at the School of Library, Archival, and Information Studies at the University of British Columbia as an open guest lecture for the course Contemporary Literature and Other Materials for Children.
Rhinesmith publishes article on broadband adoption in special issue of International Journal of Communication
Colin Rhinesmith, GSLIS doctoral student, recently published a paper in a special issue on broadband adoption in the International Journal of Communication. The paper, "Free Library Hot Spots: Supporting Broadband Adoption in Philadelphia's Low-Income Communities," was presented earlier this year at an invitation-only academic workshop at the New America Foundation in Washington, D.C.
Roberts presents on the use of Twitter in resistance movements
Sarah Roberts, GSLIS doctoral candidate, recently presented “Wisconsin Workers Unite: The Wisconsin Union Uprising of 2011 and Twitter as a Mobilizing Platform in Resistance” at the European Sociological Association held in Bilbao, Spain in October. Roberts also gave the inaugural lecture in the Illinois Institute of Technology’s newly formed lecture series on digital humanities in September.
School News
Guide Book to Gift Books 2012 released
Now available for download, the annual Guide Book to Gift Books is an excellent resource to help choose books for holidays, birthdays, and all sorts of gift-giving occasions. Produced by The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books at GSLIS, the Guide Book selects a wide range of books appropriate for birth through high school. Each book has been annotated, and all of the selections have been reviewed and recommended by professionals at the Bulletin.
GSLIS in a Flash—Watch online now!
GSLIS master’s and doctoral students participated in the second annual GSLIS in a Flash event, where they presented lightning talks on topics of interest to the LIS community in the popular Pecha Kucha style format. Talks highlighted work in providing assistive technology in student-focused libraries, recreating documents in organizations, advances in information science as they relate to intellectual freedom, the local community wiki movement, building an online collection of nineteenth-century woodblock prints, and the ways in which the Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab illustrates applied digital literacy, composite informal learning, and the democratization of production as an emergent social role of the public library.
