GSLIS News: 1996

Spasser Awarded Pratt-Severn Student Research Award—Mark Spasser, a doctoral student at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, was announced as the 1996 winner of the Pratt-Severn Student Research Award at the annual conference of the American Society for Information Science (ASIS) in October. His paper, "The Enacted Fate of Undiscovered Public Knowledge," reports on the results from a citation context analysis of the ways in which Don Swanson's ideas about knowledge fragmentation have been incorporated into the work of subsequent authors. Spasser was commended for his effective use of citation context analysis in bringing forward new findings of interest to the information science community. The Pratt-Severn Award was established in 1996 by the Pratt Institute of Information and Library Science through a bequest from alumnus David Severn and offers a cash prize to the winner to recognize and encourage student research in the field of Information Science. The award is presented at the annual conference of the American Society for Information Science (ASIS).

Linda C. Smith Named GSLIS Centennial Scholar—Professor Linda C. Smith was named the third Centennial Scholar at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The award carries with it a cash grant to be used to support the scholarship and teaching of the awardee. Professor Smith's research includes information systems design, the impact of new technologies on reference and information services, and education in library and information science. She has widely published in all of these areas. Smith was also named as Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the ASIS Outstanding Information Science Teacher, and has twice been a finalist for the UIUC Award for Excellence in Graduate and Professional Teaching. The Centennial Scholarship was established by the generosity of alumni and friends of GSLIS to honor the centennial of the School's founding in 1893. The Scholarship is a special contribution to the continued excellence and growth of the School. Donor's names are inscribed on a sculpture in the School's building at 501 East Daniel, Champaign, Illinois 61820.

D'Angelo Winner of Beta Phi Mu Scholarship—Barbara D'Angelo was the winner of the 1996 Sarah Rebecca Reed Beta Phi Mu Scholarship for a beginning Library and Information Science student. Ms. D'Angelo is a magna cum laude graduate of Emmanuel College with a major in Spanish. She also has been an active member of the Friends of the Boston Public Library, a member of the Board of Directors, and has worked in literacy programs. She is also developing an Internet homepage for the Friends group. Ms. D'Angelo is also involved in the Internet Public Library project operated by the University of Michigan. She believes that "libraries must be well-funded, open, and able to expand their ability to provide patrons with access to the evolving ways of disseminating information." Ms. D'Angelo entered the master's degree program at GSLIS in Fall 1996. The Sarah Rebecca Reed Scholarship for a beginning student at the Master's level accepted in an American Library Association accredited program is named for a teacher, librarian, Director of the School of Library Science at Emporia Kansas State College, and the 25th President of Beta Phi Mu. In 1968 she was honored by ALA and Beta Phi Mu with the Award for Distinguished Service to Education for Librarianship. This dynamic leader was characterized as one for whom "there was no such thing as impossible," and "through leadership of rare excellence she made a permanent contribution to humanity. Therein lies her immortality."

Williams Honored by American Society for Information Science—Professor Martha E. Williams of the Coordinated Science Laboratory, and the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois was awarded the 1995 Watson Davis Award by the American Society for Information Science (ASIS). She was the second person in the 50+ history of ASIS to be recipient of both the Award of Merit and the Watson Davis Award. She was cited as having "served as President of ASIS and as a member or chair of the Planning, Executive, Awards and Honors, Research, Annual Meeting, Publications, and Education Committees at one time or another. She is an advisor to the University of Illinois Student Chapter of ASIS. She won the Award of Merit, ASIS' highest award in 1984 and for over 20 years has been the editor-in-chief of the Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST). ARIST was first published in 1966, with major support from the National Science Foundation and System Development Corporation. ARIST was designed to encompass the larger communication role in which information science plays such an important role. Martha Williams has served as editor of ARIST since Volume 11 in 1976, guiding and directing the publication, and the information science profession, into appropriately broad but integral areas consistent with an expansive view of information science.

"During her presidency, Martha E. Williams initiated a broad, multi-disciplinary review of information science as a discipline, 'ASIS 2000,' to better define the different components and constituencies of information science. As Martha said in her inaugural address, 'the value ASIS affords is in the cross-fertilization of ideas and the opportunity to learn how principles, technologies and techniques can be applied in new settings. ASIS is the only society to represent the interests of this diverse group of professionals, whose common concern is information.

"Martha E. Williams has addressed and defined the fundamental nature of information science as editor of ARIST, as a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as a member and Chair of the Board of Regents for the National Library of Medicine, as Chair of the National Online Meeting, and as a member, representative, and leader of ASIS throughout her career. In appreciation of all Martha's accomplishments and the leadership she has provided to ASIS and the information science field, ASIS hereby awards her the Watson Davis Award."

The Watson Davis Award commemorates the founder of ASIS. Since 1976 it has been conferred upon ASIS members to recognize their outstanding, continuous contributions and dedicated service to the Society. Watson Davis Award winners embody the spirit and accomplishments of ASIS over the years.

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