The Center for Children's Books (CCB) at the iSchool is a crossroads for critical inquiry, professional training, and educational outreach related to youth-focused resources, literature, and librarianship. The CCB houses a non-circulating research collection of children’s and young adult books, with emphasis placed on books published within the last two years. The CCB recently moved to a new home in the iSchool building at 501 East Daniel Street. 

The School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is pleased to announce the publication of Library Trends 72 (4). This issue, "Community Librarianship," discusses the evolution of the roles and responsibilities of libraries to support and serve the communities in which they exist. Anna Maria Tammaro and Crystal Fulton served as guest editors. All articles are open for public access.

Last semester, students in the Business Intelligence Group (BIG), the student consultancy group affiliated with Associate Professor Yoo-Seong Song's Applied Business Research class (IS 514), worked with Wismettac, a Japanese food distribution company. As a large global company with 47 offices in North America, Wismettac sought to study how data science and AI-based technologies could help the company's operations. 

The School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign seeks nominations for the 2024 Robert B. Downs Intellectual Freedom Award. The deadline for nominations is April 14, 2025. The award is cosponsored by Sage Publishing.

The Center for Children's Books (CCB) collaborated with the National Park Service (NPS) to launch a new Books to Parks website on Lyddie, a 1991 novel by Katherine Paterson that highlights the experiences of young women working in textile mills in nineteenth-century Lowell, Massachusetts. 

Glen Layne-Worthey, associate director for research support services for the HathiTrust Research Center (HTRC), and Isabel Galina Russell, researcher at the Institute for Bibliographic Studies at the National University of Mexico, have edited a new book, The Routledge Companion to Libraries, Archives, and the Digital Humanities, which was recently released by Routledge.

The School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is pleased to announce the publication of Library Trends 72 (3). This issue, "Feminist and Global Perspectives on an Evolving Profession: Papers Honoring Mary Niles Maack," celebrates Maack’s life and career as well as her scholarship’s influence around the globe. Maack’s colleagues, Michèle V. Cloonan and Suzanne M. Stauffer, served as guest editors.

iSchool adjunct and affiliate faculty will participate in virtual and in-person sessions of the 2024 Charleston Conference. The conference is an annual gathering that draws librarians, publishers, vendors, and others to discuss issues relating to the acquisition and publication of books and serials. 

The iSchool is pleased to announce the publication of Library Trends 72 (2). This issue, "International Perspectives on Knowledge Management Education," surveys the global landscape of knowledge management education. Kendra Albright, Frank Cervone, and Albina Krymskaya served as guest editors. 

The Center for Children's Books will host a fall book sale and open house for all ages on Saturday, November 9. The sale will include hundreds of brand-new, hot-off-the-press children’s and young adult titles at a steep discount. Staff book reviewers will be on hand to discuss their favorite books of 2024 and assist educators and community members in selecting titles for their classroom, school, or public library collections or for use as holiday gifts.