[image1-right:resize-300w]Safiya Noble (MS ’09, PhD ’12) is a recipient of a 2013 INTERSECT Award for her participation in the curricular initiative, “Learning to See Systems.” INTERSECT, an effort by the Graduate College at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, seeks to encourage collaboration and innovation in interdisciplinary arts and humanities research and training. INTERSECT…

GSLIS alumna Gwen Evans (MS ’02) was named executive director of the Ohio Library and Information network, OhioLINK. OhioLINK is a consortium of 88 college and university libraries in Ohio, providing approximately 600,000 students, faculty, and staff with access to millions of books, articles, and other information sources. Evans had served as interim director of OhioLINK before being…

[image5-right]To commemorate Veterans Day, Kevin McLaughlin (MS ’04) helped organize “Called to Serve: A History of Military Service at the University of Illinois,” a month-long exhibit at the University of Illinois Main Library. McLaughlin, a senior library specialist at the University Library and a veteran, wanted to create the exhibit to honor and support veterans on campus. “I was…

At the annual meeting of Alpha Chapter of Beta Phi Mu held on November 3, 2012, the following graduates of the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign became members of Beta Phi Mu.Anthonia AhonsiBarbara A. AlvarezVictor M. BenitezLaura Anne BuchholzMeira ChefitzRobin C. DavisLinda Mary DiekmanDave J. EllenwoodKatherine C.…

Lynn Yarmey (MS '11) has been profiled in Library Journal's "Librarians Abroad" series, which highlights professionals who either work outside libraries and archives or who hold somewhat less traditional positions in libraries and archives. Yarmey, who completed the GSLIS Specialization in Data Curation, currently works for the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, as the…

The Library School Alumni Association (LSAA) at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has announced the recipients of its annual awards. Becky Lyon (MS ’72) has been selected to receive the Distinguished Alumnus Award. Each year this award is given to an alum who has made an outstanding contribution to the field…

MBMS Spotlight: Ziba Zehdar “Working in an archive and using my special collections skills and knowledge is like being a detective, investigating the story of a life once lived.” [image1-right]When Ziba Zehdar (MS ’12) goes to work at her practicum, every day is a small brush with fame. Combining her lifetime love of libraries with a background in film and media studies, Ziba puts…

[image1-right]Lizzie Johnson (MS ’10) was recently named the recipient of a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship through the U.S. Department of State Fulbright Program. The assistantship placed Johnson at the St. Kliment Ohridski University in Bitola in the southwest part of Macedonia for the 2011–2012 academic year. There, she worked with a U.S.-based professor as the on-site assistant for a…

Several GSLIS alumni have recently been elected to leadership positions in the following professional associations: JoAnn Jacoby (MS ’97), Vice-Chair/ Chair-Elect, Steering Committee of the Library Research Round Table (LRRT) of the American Library Association (ALA) M. Kathleen Kern (MS ’99), Vice-President/President-Elect, Reference and User Services Association (RUSA) of the American…

[image1-right:resize-180w]The Southeastern Conference (SEC) has awarded Carol Tenopir (PhD '84), professor and director of the Center for Information and Communication Studies at the University of Tennessee (UT), with one of its first Faculty Achievement Awards. The new SEC award program was created to honor professors from the SEC with outstanding records in teaching and scholarship. A…

James Blank (MS '97) is the recipient the of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Engineering Librarian of the Year Award. The Engineering Librarian of the Year, sponsored by IHS, highlights the accomplishments and contributions of SLA Engineering Division members to the engineering librarian profession.Blank is a technical knowledge specialist in the engineering library at Caterpillar Inc.…

Graduation is approaching, and at this time of the year, we reflect on those individuals who have made a difference in our lives. New graduates and alumni are encouraged to honor GSLIS faculty and/or staff through the LSAA Tassel Project, which was established in 2011 by the Library School Alumni Association (LSAA) to support the creation of an endowed professorship in the School. With a…

Rebecca Graham (MS '98) has been named the University of Guelph’s new chief information officer (CIO) and chief librarian. Her five-year term begins May 23. The announcement was made on March 22 by provost and vice-president (academic) Maureen Mancuso, who chaired the search committee. “Rebecca possesses the knowledge, skills and qualities that we were looking for in our next CIO…

Cyril Oberlander (MS '00), interim director, Milne Library, State University of New York, Geneseo, is the recipient of the Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) 2012 Virginia Boucher-OCLC Distinguished Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Librarian Award. The award, administered by RUSA’s Sharing and Transforming Access to Resources Section (STARS), recognizes an individual for outstanding…

Library Journal has released their annual list of Movers and Shakers for 2012 and included among those honored are two GSLIS alumni, Michelle Chronister (MS ’09) and Joshua Finnell (MS ’07). Chronister is a program analyst with the U.S. General Services Administration responsible for the social media program on USA.gov. She is being recognized for her work to increase the interaction…

“There is nothing more fun, synergistic, and fulfilling than to have a patron who is ready to dig in, excited about what they are doing, and cannot wait to tell you all about it.”Maggie Cusick’s (MS ’11) interest in special collections began during her time as an art history major at DePaul University. After visiting DePaul’s Special Collections and Archives Department for a class, Maggie fell in…

Anna Hartmann (MS ’09) has been named Advocate of the Month by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA). This monthly feature on the YALSA blog, sponsored by the Legislative Committee, highlights the advocacy work of passionate individuals on behalf of teens in libraries. As the teen services librarian at the Council Bluffs Public Library in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Hartmann…

Beth Kumar (MS '06, CAS '07), e-resources and serials librarian at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, is the recipient of the 2012 First Step Award-A Wiley Professional Development Grant presented by the ALCTS Continuing Resources Section. The award will be presented on Sunday, June 24, at the ALCTS Awards Ceremony during the 2012 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference…

The Library School Alumni Association (LSAA) is seeking nominations for three distinguished awards. The awards are given annually at the GSLIS alumni reception held at the American Library Association conference. The deadline for nomination is April 1, 2012. The Distinguished Alumnus Award recognizes an individual alumnus of GSLIS who has made an outstanding contribution to the field of library…