Professor Emerita Linda C. Smith presented her research at two conferences this month, the International Society for Knowledge Organization (ISKO) UK Conference and the LibPMC: International Conference on Performance Measurement in Libraries.
The theme of the ISKO UK 2019, which took place in London on July 15-16, was "The Human Position in an Artificial World: Creativity, Ethics, and AI in Knowledge Organization." Smith's poster, "Artificial Intelligence in Information Retrieval: Forty Years On," revisited the four artificial intelligence (AI) concepts proposed in her early work as having particular significance for information systems (pattern recognition, representation, problem solving, learning) and traced the evolution of interest in AI in library and information science over the past forty years through an analysis of the literature indexed in Library and Information Science Source. According to Smith, "More than forty years on, we have reached that 'more distant future' and have a better understanding of the relevance of AI to achieving 'the more ambitious goals of information processing.'"
LibPMC was held on July 23-25 in Aberystwyth, Wales. The theme for the 13th international conference was "Data and Analytics: Changing the Information Landscape." Smith presented her paper, "From Measurement and Evaluation to Data Analytics: Changes in Curriculum to Prepare Library Professionals," which examines American Library Association accredited programs in order to determine the extent to which these programs are innovating to address the Association of College and Research Libraries Proficiencies for Assessment Librarians and Coordinators. Her analysis focused on enhanced coverage of proficiencies for data collection & analysis and communication & reporting through development of courses, specializations within degree programs, and other offerings.
Smith joined the iSchool faculty in 1977 and retired as professor and executive associate dean in 2019. She taught courses concerning information organization and access, reference and information services, and information sources and services in the sciences. She is a past president of the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE), Beta Phi Mu, and the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T); a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Section T: Information, Computing and Communication); and a University of Illinois Distinguished Teacher/Scholar. Smith received her MS/LIS from Illinois, MS in information and computer science from Georgia Institute of Technology, and PhD in information transfer from Syracuse University.