A record fifteen iSchool master’s students were named 2020-2021 Spectrum Scholars by the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services. This "Spectrum Scholar Spotlight" series highlights the School's scholars. MS/LIS student Anthony Martínez holds a BS in business administration and marketing from Idaho State University.

Doctoral candidate Kirstin Phelps successfully defended her dissertation, "Collective Leadership for Community Action: A Case-Based Inquiry into Supporting Digital Literacy Initiatives," on August 14.

MSLIS student Nada Abdelrahim discusses her practicum experience at the Newberry Library.

Master's students Jerilyn Tinio and Hailey Vasquez have been selected to participate in the 2020-2022 Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Kaleidoscope Diversity Scholars Program. With the goal of attracting MS/LIS students from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups to careers in research libraries and archives, the Kaleidoscope Program offers financial support to scholars as well as leadership development through the ARL Annual Leadership Symposium, a formal mentoring program, career placement assistance, and a site visit to an ARL member library.

iSchool faculty, staff, and students presented their research at the Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL 2020), which was held virtually August 1-5. The event brought together international scholars focusing on digital libraries and associated technical, practical, organizational, and social issues. 

A record fifteen iSchool master's students were named 2020-2021 Spectrum Scholars by the American Library Association (ALA) Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services. This “Spectrum Scholar Spotlight” series highlights the School’s scholars. MS/LIS student Ashley Mitchell holds a BS in psychology from Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Athena Tang, an incoming student in the BS in information sciences (BS/IS) program, was drawn to the iSchool because of her interest in human-computer interaction and user experience. A sophomore from Walnut, California, Tang is pursuing a dual degree in graphic design. In the spring semester, she took Social Aspects of Information Technology (IS 202) and Design of Usable Interfaces (IS 351), which gave her a better idea of what to expect as a student in the iSchool's new undergraduate program.

Members of Associate Professor and PhD Program Director Jana Diesner's Social Computing Lab will present a tutorial, paper, and posters at the 6th Annual International Conference on Computational Social Science (IC2S2), which will be held virtually from July 17-20. The conference brings together academic researchers, industry experts, open data activists, and government agency workers to explore challenges, methods, and research questions in the field of computational social science.

MS/IM student Manshi Shah discusses her summer internship at Salesforce.

MS students Katherine Howell and Randi Proescholdt and recent graduate Patty Templeton (MS '20) are spending this summer as Library of Congress Junior Fellows. This competitive internship program, which is being held remotely for the first time, provides students with the opportunity to explore digital initiatives and increase access to the institution’s collections while working under the direction of library curators and specialists in various divisions.