A group of cross-disciplinary experts gathered in Chicago on April 5 and 6 for a national forum on text data mining research. The forum, Data Mining Research Using In-copyright and Limited-access Text Datasets, was coordinated by iSchool faculty and staff and funded by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (grant LG-73-17-0070-17). 

Assistant Professor and MS/LIS Program Director Nicole A. Cooke will be the keynote speaker at the inaugural Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Research Panel and Luncheon at the University of South Carolina. The event, which is hosted by the University's College of Information and Communications, will be held on April 13.

A new website celebrating the accomplishments that women have made during the University of Illinois' 150-year history includes three women with iSchool connections: Katharine Lucinda Sharp, Linda C. Smith (MS '72), and  Lian Ruan (MS '90, PhD '11).

Assistant Professor Emily Knox will give a presentation on trigger warnings on April 9 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Her talk, "Trigger Warnings: History, Theory, Context," will provide an overview of the multiple histories of trigger warnings as well as context for understanding how and why trigger warnings are used.

Associate Professor Victoria Stodden will present her research on reproducibility at the University of Delaware Department of Computer & Information Sciences Distinguished Speaker Lecture on April 6. The theme for the lecture series is "rising stars in a scientific world of convergence."

According to Stodden, the rate of production, collection, and analysis of data, and the speed at which computational infrastructure is changing (e.g., technologies for cloud computing, network capabilities, and high performance computing systems) implies a need for extreme agility in computationally enabled research. 

Professor Emerita Betsy Hearne, former director of The Center for Children's Books, taught children's literature and storytelling at the iSchool for many years. She is the author of Choosing Books for Children: A Commonsense Guide, the folktale anthology Beauties and Beasts, fiction for both children and young adults, and picture books—one of which, Seven Brave Women, won the Jane Addams Children's Book Award. Hearne has reviewed books for almost forty years and has served as the children's book editor for Booklist and The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (BCCB). Her honors include a National Teaching Award from the Association of Library and Information Science Education (ALISE), the Anne Devereaux Jordan Award from the Children’s Literature Association, and the University Scholar Award and Graduate College Outstanding Mentor Award from the University of Illinois. Next month Hearne will receive an honorary degree, Doctor of Humane Letters, from her alma mater, The College of Wooster.

As participation in library publishing grows, the development of a strong evidence base to inform best practices and demonstrate impact is essential. To encourage research and theoretical work about library publishing services, the Library Publishing Coalition (LPC) gives an annual Award for Outstanding Scholarship in Library Publishing. The award recognizes significant and timely contributions to library publishing theory and practice. The LPC Research Committee is delighted to announce that this year's award recipient is Daniel G. Tracy (MS '12), information sciences and digital humanities librarian at the iSchool and assistant professor at the University Library, for his article, "Libraries as Content Producers: How Library Publishing Services Address the Reading Experience."

Associate Professor Kate McDowell is the 2018 recipient of the Excellence in Online & Distance Teaching Award, given annually by the University of Illinois. The award recognizes faculty members and instructors who have demonstrated sustained excellence and innovation in online and/or distance teaching and contributions to student learning through innovative uses of technology. She will receive the award at the University’s Celebration of Teaching Excellence on April 12.

Assistant Professor Jodi Schneider, CAS student Janina Sarol (MSIM '17), and undergraduate Linxi Liu will discuss their research at the European Conference on Information Retrieval (ECIR 2018) in Grenoble, France. Sarol will present their paper, "Testing a Citation and Text-Based Framework for Retrieving Publications for Literature Reviews," at the conference’s Bibliometric-enhanced Information Retrieval workshop on March 26.

The following iSchool faculty, staff, and students will participate in iConference 2018, which will be held March 25-28 in Sheffield, UK. The annual event brings together scholars, researchers, and information professionals to share insights on critical information issues. The theme of this year's conference is "Transforming Digital Worlds."