Black honored as GSLIS Centennial Scholar

Alistair Black
Alistair Black, Professor Emeritus

Professor Alistair Black has been named the GSLIS Centennial Scholar for 2014-2015. The Centennial Scholar award is endowed by alumni and friends of GSLIS and given in recognition of outstanding accomplishments and/or professional promise in the field of library and information science.

A member of the GSLIS faculty since 2009, Black’s research interests include the history of librarianship and information management; the history of corporate magazines, corporate libraries, and information bureaux; and the history of library design. Presently, he is writing a book on library design in Britain in the “long” 1960s. He is the recipient of the 2013 Library History Essay Award for his article, “Organizational Learning and Home-Grown Writing: The Library Staff Magazine in Britain in the First Half of the Twentieth Century,” which appeared in Information & Culture, Volume 47, Number 4 (2012).

At GSLIS, Black teaches courses in information history, library buildings and society, historical foundations of the information society, public library history, and libraries in film. With Associate Professor Bonnie Mak, he is co-chair of the GSLIS History Salon, a forum for the exchange of ideas about the history of books, libraries, and information.

“This is a wonderful surprise. I am honored by my colleagues’ recognition of my work and wish to thank them for the strong intellectual climate they collectively provide, from which I have benefited immensely. I am tremendously grateful to GSLIS for supplying a ‘space’ conducive to developing my research interests,” said Black. The award will support Black’s work on his new book as well as work on conference presentations concerning his research on the pre-1960 history of corporate magazines and British librarians in the United States.

Black is author of the following books: A New History of the English Public Library (1996) and The Public Library in Britain 1914-2000 (2000). He is co-author of Understanding Community Librarianship (1997); The Early Information Society in Britain, 1900-1960 (2007); and Books, Buildings and Social Engineering (2009), a socio-architectural history of early public libraries in Britain. He also co-edited Volume 3 (covering 1850-2000) of the Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland (2006).

Currently, Black is the general editor of the journal Library Trends. Previously he served as North American editor of Library and Information History (2009-2013); editor of Library History (2004-2008); chair of the IFLA Section on Library History (2003-2007); and chair of the Library History Group of the UK Library Association (1992-1999).

“GSLIS has the enormous good fortune of having one of the world’s leading historians of librarianship and information management as a member of our faculty,” said Allen Renear, GSLIS dean. “Alistair’s scholarship is not only masterful in its erudition and perfection of context and detail, but replete with insights that critically advance our understanding of the fundamental institutions and practices of the information society. His works delight as well as instruct and are, needless to say, as valuable to the larger world of historical scholarship as they are to our own field of library and information science. Like everyone else, I am eager to see what he does next.”

Black holds a PhD from London Metropolitan University. Prior to joining the GSLIS faculty he taught at Leeds Metropolitan University from 1990 to 2009.

Updated on
Backto the news archive

Related News

iSchool researchers to present at CHI 2025

iSchool faculty and students will present their research at the ACM Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2025), which will be held from April 26 to May 1 in Yokohama, Japan. 

Kemboi receives the Research and Advocacy Social Justice Award

PhD student Gladys Kemboi has received the 2025 Research and Advocacy Social Justice Award from the Office of Diversity & Social Justice Education in the Office of Student Affairs. She was presented with the award at the Social Justice Awards Ceremony, which was held on April 8 in the Illini Union. The annual event honors and celebrates the work and dedication of University of Illinois community members seeking to create a more inclusive and equitable campus.

Gladys Kemboi

Garnes receives Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement

Carolyn L. Garnes (MSLIS '72) has received the 2025 Coretta Scott King-Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement from the American Library Association (ALA). The annual award, named in honor of award-winning children's book author Virginia Hamilton, is presented in odd years "to a practitioner for substantial contributions through active engagement with youth using award-winning African American literature for children and/or young adults, via implementation of reading and reading-related activities/programs."

Carolyn L. Garnes

Wang wins grand prize at Research Live!

Informatics PhD student Olivia Wang won the Grand Prize at the 2025 Research Live! competition, which was held on April 8 in the Campus Instructional Facility Atrium. At the event, which is hosted by the Graduate College, thirteen finalists presented their graduate research in three minutes or less to a general audience. Wang received $500 as the Grand Prize winner.

Olivia Wang