Three thousand years ago, Native Americans and pioneers used a trail that stretched across Illinois from Kaskaskia in the south to Peoria in the north. These early travelers used the trail for hunting, trade, and war. Over time, with the development of cities and highways, the trail faded away, but a trace of what it used to be remains. MS/LIS student Anna Sielaff is bringing the history of the trail to life through her project, "Relive the True Mother Road: The Edwards Trace."

The National Science Foundation-funded project aims to reduce online fraud among older adults, who lose billions of dollars each year. The iSchool is co-leading a two-year, $5 million National Science Foundation (NSF) Convergence Accelerator phase 2 project to create digital tools that help older adults better recognize and protect themselves from online deceptions and other forms of disinformation.

Fourteen iSchool instructors were named in the University's List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent for Summer 2022. The rankings are released every semester, and results are based on the Instructor and Course Evaluation System (ICES) questionnaire forms maintained by Measurement and Evaluation in the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning.

It is evident that Hurricane Ian's recent devastation in Florida will impact the state economically for years to come. Tragedies such as this have motivated scientists to gain a better understanding of when such events might occur and how to cope with them once they do.

As Perry Diggs pondered the next step in his academic journey, he asked some of his former professors for advice. Recognizing his love of research and archiving, they encouraged Diggs to consider a degree in library and information science. Now enrolled in the MS/LIS online (Leep) program, Diggs is grateful for their counsel as well as for the support he has received through the iSchool's George S. Bonn Scholarship. 

MS/IM student Shivani Dhavala discusses her internship with Tesla. According to Dhavala, her iSchool coursework and internship experience is preparing her for a career as a product manager, where she can "contribute to some really fascinating products that people would use."

In 2022, Illinois became the first state in the nation to mandate the teaching of Asian American community history in public elementary and secondary high schools. The Teaching Equitable Asian American Community History (TEAACH) Act ensures that every K-12 student in Illinois learns about the contributions of Asian Americans to the economic, cultural, social, and political development of the United States. To mark the implementation of this act, the Center for Children's Books (CCB) is hosting a series of events for the 2022-2023 academic year.

Imani Barberousse's interest in medical librarianship is a natural extension of her thirty years of experience as a doula and mother. She believes that collecting and disseminating birthing stories—especially those from women of color—can help inform and improve current medical techniques to reduce the current maternal and infant death rate in the United States. 

Thirteen iSchool master's students were named 2022-2023 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 Inbar Michael earned her bachelor's degree in history with a minor in humanities and law from the University of California, Irvine.

The NSF-funded FABRIC project has made steady progress establishing the groundbreaking network testbed infrastructure to reimagine the way large amounts of data are generated, stored, analyzed, and transmitted across the world. With the required hardware, software, storage, and fiber optic connections in place, the FABRIC system is available for early users to build and test novel large-scale experiments.