School of Information Sciences

McDowell to deliver keynotes at STOREE and IMLS conferences

Kate McDowell
Kate McDowell, Professor

Associate Professor Kate McDowell will deliver two keynotes on library data storytelling this month. 

On January 19, she will present "Goals, Motivations, Successes: Library (Data) Storytelling" at the Supporting Transparent & Open Research Engagement & Exchange (STOREE) conference at the University of British Columbia. The theme of the conference is "Storytelling for Information Professionals."

She will deliver the keynote, "Inspire, Advocate, Communicate: Library Data Storytelling," on January 23 at an invitation-only Institute of Museum and Library Services conference for state data coordinators. State data coordinators collect the requested data from local public libraries and provide it to the IMLS for its Public Libraries Survey, the institute’s definitive source on the state of public libraries in the U.S.

At both conferences, McDowell will discuss her work on the IMLS-funded Data Storytelling Toolkit for Libraries project. Participants will learn how to bring data stories to life for library advocacy of all types, "from sustaining the library to transforming its work." They will be able to use the toolkit to input data they already have from their libraries and generate data visualization and narrative structure options.

McDowell's storytelling research has involved training collaborations with advancement staff both at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and the University of Illinois system; storytelling consulting work for multiple nonprofits, including the 50th anniversary of the statewide Prairie Rivers Network that protects Illinois water; and storytelling lectures for the Consortium of Academic and Research Libraries in Illinois (CARLI). McDowell researches and publishes in the areas of storytelling at work, social justice storytelling, and what library storytelling can teach the information sciences about data storytelling. She holds both an MS and PhD in library and information science from Illinois.

Updated on
Backto the news archive

Related News

iSchool researchers present at CSCW 2025

Several faculty, students, and recent grads will present their research at the 28th ACM Conference on Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing (CSCW 2025), which will be held October 18–22 in Bergen, Norway. The online portion of the conference will be held on October 10. 

iSchool faculty and staff present at AISLE annual conference

Join the iSchool for the Association of Illinois School Library Educators (AISLE) annual conference, held October 5–7 at the I Hotel and Conference Center in Champaign, Illinois. The theme for the conference is “Libraries Build Connections.”

Downie appointed executive associate dean

The iSchool is pleased to announce that Professor J. Stephen Downie has been appointed executive associate dean. In this role, he will work closely with Interim Dean Emily Knox to realize the iSchool's strategic goals and objectives. He also will provide leadership for the internal administration of the School, coordinate the work of associate deans and assigned staff, and facilitate faculty affairs.

Stephen Downie

Join the iSchool at the 2025 ALISE annual conference

Join iSchool faculty, staff, and students for the annual conference of the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE), which will take place from October 6–8 in Kansas City, Missouri. The theme of the 2025 conference is "Decolonising Pedagogies: Agency, Identity, Practices."

School of Information Sciences

501 E. Daniel St.

MC-493

Champaign, IL

61820-6211

Voice: (217) 333-3280

Fax: (217) 244-3302

Email: ischool@illinois.edu

Back to top