School of Information Sciences

Virtual symposium planned in celebration of Linda C. Smith

Linda C. Smith
Linda C. Smith, Professor Emerita and Senior Dean's Fellow

Former students, colleagues, and friends will gather to celebrate Professor Emerita Linda C. Smith's contributions to the field of LIS at a virtual symposium on Thursday, September 28, at 12:00 p.m. Central Time. The event will feature a discussion with the authors of "Library and Information Science, Interdisciplinary Perspectives: A Festschrift in Honor of Linda C. Smith," which comprises Volume 71, Issue 1, of Library Trends.

"Linda Smith modeled and trained her students in interdisciplinary scholarship, blending computer and library sciences among other disciplines, to do good. Using the tricolon of research, teaching, and service, the webinar brings together different generations of Linda's former doctoral students and colleagues from her four decades as a professor. It is a rare chance to listen, learn, and celebrate lovely stories of success," said Anita S. Coleman (PhD '96), who coedited the Festschrift and organized the symposium with Martha Kyrillidou (PhD '09).

The symposium will highlight Smith's teaching, research, and service. Panel moderators (and topics) include Colin Rhinesmith (PhD '14), founder and director of the Digital Equity Research Center (teaching); Jian Qin (PhD '96), professor in the School of Information Studies at Syracuse University (research); and Bharat Mehra (PhD '04), professor and EBSCO Endowed Chair in Social Justice in the School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alabama (service).

All are cordially invited. More details and registration information are available on the Library Trends Linda C. Smith Festschrift website and symposium web page.

Library Trends is a quarterly peer-reviewed journal published for the School of Information Sciences by The Johns Hopkins University Press. The journal explores critical trends in professional librarianship through practical applications, thorough analyses, and literature reviews. 

Updated on
Backto the news archive

Related News

New NSF award supports innovative role-playing game approach to strengthening research security in academia

A new National Science Foundation (NSF) award will support an innovative effort in the School of Information Sciences to strengthen research security by using structured role-playing games (RPG) to model the threats facing academic research environments. The project, titled "REDTEAM: Research Environment Defense Through Expert Attack Modeling," addresses a growing challenge: balancing the open, collaborative nature of academic research with increasing national security risks and sophisticated adversarial threats. 

Spectrum Scholar Spotlight: Mariana Guerrero

Eight iSchool master's students have been named 2025–2026 Spectrum Scholars by the American Library Association. This "Spectrum Scholar Spotlight" series highlights the School's scholars. MSLIS student Mariana Guerrero earned a bachelor's degree in Spanish language and literature from Rockford University.

Mariana Guerrero

PhD student Fobazi Ettarh passes away

PhD student Fobazi Ettarh passed away on January 28, 2026. Ettarh entered the doctoral program at the University of Illinois in 2022. She held an MLIS from Rutgers University and bachelor's degree in English and sociology from the University of Delaware. Prior to joining the iSchool, Ettarh served as an academic librarian at Temple University Libraries; California State University, Dominguez Hills; and Rutgers University. She was also a school library media specialist at Hawthorne (NJ) Public Schools.

Fobazi Ettarh

School of Information Sciences

501 E. Daniel St.

MC-493

Champaign, IL

61820-6211

Voice: (217) 333-3280

Email: ischool@illinois.edu

Back to top