The iSchool is pleased to announce that Kyungwon Koh will join the faculty in August 2018. She is currently an associate professor in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Oklahoma.
Koh's areas of expertise include digital youth, the maker movement, learning and community engagement through libraries, human information behavior, and competencies for information professionals.
"Research on contemporary youth, who were born into and have grown up in this technology-rich society, is significant to all information science and technology researchers and practitioners," she said. "Today's young people reflect most explicitly the changes in the current information environment with the rapid developments in technology. This generation's preferences and approaches are shaping the future of the information world."
Koh has received several research grants and awards, including a 2016 IMLS National Leadership Grant; 2016 ALA Midwinter YALSA Paper Presentation Winner; 2014 IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Program Early Career Development Grant; 2010 Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship; and 2010 ALISE Research Grant Award. Her work has been published in leading journals in library and information science, such as JASIS&T, LISR, Information Research, JRLYA, Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, and Library Trends. She is currently a co-chair of the ALISE Youth Services SIG. Koh earned her MS and PhD in library and information studies from Florida State University and BS in library and information science from Yonsei University in South Korea.
"I am looking forward to further developing my scholarship and contributing to the field of digital youth in this intellectually stimulating and prestigious academic environment," Koh said.
"Kyungwon Koh is working in areas of vital significance to the well-being of our youth and our communities, analyzing critical trends and exploring the effectiveness of new strategies for shaping services," said Professor and Dean Allen Renear. "Most exciting for me is that she is also helping us see that digital youth is the best lens we have for viewing and understanding the future. Our School has always had very strong faculty in youth services and digital youth, and we are delighted that Kyungwon is joining us and making it stronger still."