Jessica Williams (MS '13) joined the School on August 16 as a graduate student coordinator and academic advisor. In this role, she will provide academic advising and program planning for students enrolled in the MS/IM program, as well as work with Michael Twidale, professor and MS/IM program director, and others to continue to evolve the program. 

Alumna and longtime staff member Jill Gengler (MS '99) has been named director of alumni affairs for the iSchool. In her new role, she will manage alumni engagement and programming, collaborating closely with other units in the iSchool and on campus.

The iSchool at Illinois is involved in a partnership that has received a research grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services for an extension of the Data Capsule service, which enables remote access by the HathiTrust Digital Library to other collections managed by research libraries. The partnership is led by the School of Informatics and Computing at Indiana University. 

The iSchool welcomed two new lecturers this summer. Elizabeth Wickes (MS '16) began her position as lecturer on June 16, and John Weible began his position as senior lecturer on July 16. They will contribute to the development and teaching of information technology-related courses for both the MS/LIS and MS/IM programs.

Thanks to a summer program at the University of Illinois, Melanie Nernberg, an undergraduate student from California, can work with an iSchool faculty member and learn about the graduate school experience. 

The K-12 LIS licensure program hosted its third annual Summer Getaway: Professional Development for School Librarians from June 12-14 at the School. Over forty Illinois school librarians and iSchool MS students attended this unique professional development opportunity.

Last month five iSchool students traveled to Moscow with their instructor, Ellen Knutson (MS '02, PhD '08), to learn about community engagement in Russian libraries and to experience Russian culture. They completed the trip as part of the Community Engagement course (IS 418), which explores the multiple ways that information professionals in libraries and other settings learn about, collaborate with, and provide service and outreach to community members.

The iSchool at Illinois seeks nominations for the Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award. The deadline for nominations has been extended to October 10, 2017.

Each year, the School recognizes a group of outstanding students for their achievement in academics as well as a number of attributes that contribute to professional success. The following student awards were presented at the School's Convocation ceremony on May 14, 2017.

The iSchool Scholars-in-Residence program allows international researchers the opportunity to work with faculty and students on specific research projects, offer guest lectures, and participate in research activities at the iSchool and University of Illinois. Current scholars-in-residence include Ya Gao, Chul Wan Kwak, Han (Hannah) Liu, Jing Yuan, Xi Zhang, and Yigang Zhou.