Associate Professor Emily Knox testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary on September 12. She was one of five witnesses offering testimony for the hearing "Book Bans: Examining How Censorship Limits Liberty and Literature." 

The effective use of data storytelling could positively impact public library managers' approaches to data collection and their advocacy for libraries, according to Associate Professor Kate McDowell. However, cultural roadblocks to data storytelling must be addressed for the process to be successful, McDowell discovered in a recently completed study.

Fifty iSchool instructors were named in the University's List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent for Spring 2023. 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.

iSchool Assistant Professor JooYoung Seo is developing a data visualization tool that will help make visual representations of statistical data accessible to researchers and students who are blind or visually impaired.

On September 15, 1963, four little girls had their lives cut short in a bomb blast at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. This tragic event, which drew international attention to the civil rights movement in the U.S., is a pivotal moment in The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, the Newbery Honor-winning book by children's author Christopher Paul Curtis. Next week, several organizations, including the iSchool's Center for Children's Books (CCB), are partnering on events for young people in Birmingham to mark the 60th anniversary of the bombing.

Former students, colleagues, and friends will gather to celebrate Professor Emerita Linda C. Smith's contributions to the field of LIS at a virtual symposium on Thursday, September 28, at 12:00 p.m. Central Time.

Several iSchool researchers will be playing an active role in projects that recently received funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).

Assistant Professor JooYoung Seo has been awarded a $649,921 Early Career Development grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, under the Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian Program, which supports "developing a diverse workforce of librarians to better meet the changing learning and information needs of the American public by enhancing the training and professional development of librarians, developing faculty and library leaders, and recruiting and educating the next generation of librarians."

Assistant Professor Elizabeth Hoiem, Assistant Professor Madelyn Rose Sanfilippo, and Associate Professor Jodi Schneider are among the twenty faculty from the University of Illinois System who were selected for the 2023-2024 cohort of the Public Voices Fellowship.

Peter Darch has been promoted to the position of associate professor in the School of Information Sciences, effective August 16, 2023.