iSchool master's student Lisa Morrison won the award for best paper at BOBCATSSS 2018, which was held in Riga, Latvia, from January 24-26. The BOBCATSSS Symposium is organized each year by library and information science students from European universities who plan and implement both the content and the management of the conference as a part of their studies.

Morrison coauthored the paper, "Reading Data - The Missing Literacy from LIS Education," with Associate Professor Terry L. Weech. 

"The paper analyzes the syllabi from required courses in three LIS programs, and it argues for required courses to include more data literacy instruction to ensure that future librarians have the skills they will need regardless of the type of librarianship they pursue," explained Morrison. "The presentation received a really good response from the audience, with several people wanting to know more about the findings, recommendations, and plans for future research."

According to Weech, "To the best of my recollection, this is the first time the iSchool has received the best paper award at BOBCATSSS in the nearly twenty years we have been sending students."

The theme of BOBCATSSS 2018 was "The Power of Reading" and included the topics of reading skills, habits, and communication; memory institutions; and technological solutions. For the past several years, the iSchool has supported student participation in this unique library and information science event.

In addition to Morrison, other participants included:

• Rachel Bellavia, who presented the poster, "Harry Potter and the Literary Child: How the Boy Who Lived Can Augment Library Programming," coauthored with Rachel McGuire.
• Lizzy Boden, who presented the paper, "The Politics of Literacy: Libraries and Information Literacy in the 21st Century Political Context – Three National Case Studies."
• Kathryn Funderburg, who presented the poster, "Grave Witnesses: The Circulation of Manuscript Forms of Richard Rolle's Lessons of the Dead."
• Siobhan McKissic and Delaney Bullinger, who presented the poster, "Placemaking in Prison Libraries."
• Laura Rocco, who presented the poster, "To Wear a Book and Its Status on Your Sleeve: Questions of Consumption and Uncommon Textuality."
• Zohra Saulat, who presented the poster, "More Than a Memory: The University Library in Reviving a Revolution."
• KayLee Strahan and Delaney Bullinger, who presented the poster, "The Librarian's Dilemma."
• William (Billy) Tringali, who presented the paper, "It's a Magical World, But Where Is It? Nonhierarchical Cataloging in Public Libraries."