School of Information Sciences

Cooke and Knox discuss their research in The Library Quarterly

Emily Knox
Emily Knox, Interim Dean and Professor

Two iSchool faculty members have articles published in the July 2017 edition of The Library Quarterly. The subject of the edition is "Aftermath: Libraries, Democracy, and the 2016 Presidential Election, Part 1."

In her article, "Posttruth, Truthiness, and Alternative Facts: Information Behavior and Critical Information Consumption for a New Age," Nicole A. Cooke, assistant professor and MS/LIS program director, addresses the phenomenon of fake news. In the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election, and now postelection, increasing attention has been paid to fake news. According to Cooke, "Fake news is not new, nor are its relatives: hoaxes, satire, algorithmic biases, and propaganda. It just has an alarming new patina." In the article, she discusses how critical information evaluation skills can aid in combating the effects of fake news and promote more savvy information consumption.

Assistant Professor Emily Knox examines the discourse of censorship in her article, "Opposing Censorship in Difficult Times." According to Knox, "In the weeks after the election it became clear to me that access to information in the public sphere would be threatened and that it was important that those on the front lines know how to respond to such threats." In the article, she discusses why people challenge books and otherwise attempt to censor information, and she argues that librarians and information professionals must recommit to supporting the principles of intellectual freedom, review institutional policies, and know their communities—local, state, and national.
 
Cooke holds a PhD in communication, information, and library studies from Rutgers University. She is an expert in human information behavior, particularly in the online context; critical cultural information studies; and diversity and social justice in librarianship with an emphasis on LIS education and pedagogy. Cooke is the 2017 recipient of the American Library Association (ALA) Achievement in Library Diversity Research Award as well as 2016 recipient of the ALA Equality Award. She is the author of Information Services to Diverse Populations: Developing Culturally Competent Library Professionals (Libraries Unlimited, 2016) and co-editor with Miriam E. Sweeney (PhD '13) of Teaching for Justice: Implementing Social Justice in the LIS Classroom (Litwin Books/Library Juice Press, 2017).

Knox joined the iSchool faculty in 2012. Her research interests include intellectual freedom and censorship, the intersection of print culture and reading practices, and information ethics and policy. Her book, Book Banning in 21st-Century America, which addresses challenges to materials in public libraries and schools, was published by Rowman & Littlefield in 2015. In 2016 she was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Coalition Against Censorship. Knox received her PhD from the doctoral program at the Rutgers University School of Communication and Information and her master's in library and information science from the iSchool at Illinois.

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