The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books (The Bulletin) has announced the 2025 Blue Ribbon awards, its annual selection of the best works in children's and young adult literature. Blue Ribbons are chosen annually by a committee of reviewers for The Bulletin and represent what they believe to be outstanding examples of youth literature.

The iSchool at Illinois is pleased to announce the publication of Library Trends 74 (2) "Libraries, Library Services, and Persons Living with Dementia." Authors present research on the growing field of library services for people living with dementia and their caregivers, while a number of articles detail current library services that include reading, physical resource provision, and reminiscence.

Kyu-Been Chun joined the iSchool this month as a coordinator of student and academic affairs. In his new role, he will support PhD students with their academic affairs, ensuring that they have the resources and guidance they need throughout their doctoral journey.

The iSchool at Illinois is pleased to announce that The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books has released their highly anticipated 2025 gift guide, just in time for holiday shopping.

The University of Illinois is expanding its nationally acclaimed portfolio of online graduate programs with a new opportunity for creative problem-solvers and technical thinkers. The Master of Science in Game Development is a fully online degree built for students who want to turn their passion for interactive media into meaningful careers across game development, animation, simulation, and other interactive media industries.

Each fall, an interdisciplinary team of students at the University of Illinois comes together to create an escape room. The class project is the culmination of a collaboration between two courses: Designing Immersive Adventures – Escape Rooms (Theatre 402/Game Studies and Design 490) and Makerspace – Escape Rooms (Informatics 418). 

Cindy Brya has been appointed assistant dean for communications and marketing. In her new role, she will lead the iSchool’s Communications and Marketing team, provide counsel to the dean, and shape the overall communications strategy.

iSchool faculty and students will present their research at the 27th International Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group (SIG) ACCESS Conference on Computers and Accessibility (ASSETS 2025), which will be held in Denver, Colorado, October 26–29, 2025. This conference allows researchers to present their scholarship on design, evaluation, use, and education related to computing for people with disabilities and older adults.

The iSchool at Illinois is pleased to announce the publication of Library Trends 74 (1), titled “Genres and Their Uses in Cultural Documentation: Exploring Generic Access to Creative Worlds.” Pushing back against the notion of genres as “inferior” classifications due to their ambiguity, this issue instead explores how genre classifications facilitate access to creative works in libraries and beyond.

Eleven iSchool instructors were named in the University's List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent for Summer 2025.