Each year, GSLIS recognizes a group of outstanding students for their achievement in academics as well as a number of attributes that contribute to professional success. The following student awards were presented at the GSLIS Convocation on May 12, 2013. Bryce Allen Award for Reference Services Presented to Carl Lehnen by JoAnn Jacoby: As a graduate assistant in Reference, Research and…

Several GSLIS master’s students were among fourteen students selected to present posters at the Midwest Archives Conference (MAC) Annual Meeting held this past April in Indianapolis. Rachel Lux took second place for her poster, “All A-Twitter: Archiving the Public Record 140 Characters at a Time,” while Sarah Hoover earned third place for her poster, “Digitization for the Digital…

Several GSLIS students and alumni presented at a series of mini-conferences held by the Illinois School Library Media Association over the past month.The following presentations and workshops were given on April 20 at Westfield Middle School in Bloomingdale, Illinois: "More Than Just a Handsome Face: Male Protagonists in YA Literature and Their Struggles with Body Issues"Leanne Brown (master's…

Five GSLIS master's students will make presentations at the LOEX Annual Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, on May 2-4, 2013. The conference, which focuses on information literacy and instruction, is a long-standing event in a field that is highly competitive for presentations and registration. Presentations include:Blogging is Half the Battle: Best Practices for Content Development,…

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…

GSLIS doctoral student Noah Lenstra was recently named recipient of the Fred S. Bailey Fellowship for Community Leadership, Service, and Activism by the University YMCA. The award supports graduate students who have shown a strong commitment to community organizing, activism, and/or service.Lenstra is the project director of eBlack Champaign-Urbana, a collaborative program focused on creating a…

Master's student Jennifer Clark is spending her spring break at the Library of Congress interviewing those involved with the National Digital Information Infrastructure and Preservation Program (NDIIPP). Clark is participating in GSLIS's Alternative Spring Break, an annual program that places master's students in professional settings for a week where they can learn new skills, work with mentors, and gain a deeper understanding of LIS concepts in practice.

GSLIS will host 14 prospective students on March 15 as part of the campus-wide Community of Scholars (COS) Campus Visit Program. The program brings admitted graduate students from underrepresented backgrounds to campus to meet with their academic programs and give them the opportunity to network with current and prospective students. GSLIS will welcome four doctoral students and ten master’s…

At the recent iConference, a group of GSLIS students and faculty earned an Honorable Mention award for their poster, "Identifying Claims in Social Science Literature." The group included doctoral student Shameem Ahmed, Associate Professor Catherine Blake, Assistant Professor Kate Williams, doctoral student Noah Lenstra, and master’s student Qiyuan Liu.The poster presented initial findings from…

Seven GSLIS doctoral students received support this fall to participate in the iSchool Doctoral Student Exchange Program, an initiative led by the iSchools Consortium and funded by the Graduate College at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The program was developed as a way to facilitate relationships within the iSchools community, provide opportunities to present research, and…

GSLIS master’s student Lucas McKeever recently received an Acorn Scholarship for volunteerism and community activism from the Acorn Equality Fund, a grassroots organization that supports gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgendered students and their allies in downstate Illinois. The $3,000 scholarship was presented to McKeever at the 14th Annual Acorn Equality Fund Breakfast on December 1,…

Doctoral student Nic Weber spent the past summer working at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) as part of their Advanced Studies Fellowships Program. The Advanced Studies Program (ASP) at NCAR allows graduate students and post-docs to work with NCAR scientists and use NCAR’s high performance computing facilities to pursue topics important to their future career. Typically, this…

Six GSLIS students are recipients of the 2012 Sylvia Murphy Williams Scholarship Fund, and all are recipients of the Spectrum Scholarship awarded by the American Library Association. GSLIS is very proud of these students—be sure to read their profiles in the ILA Reporter to learn more about each award winner!Anthony BishopLiza BookerChristina NhekThomas PadillaCharlotte RohJose Miguel Ruiz 

GSLIS doctoral student Sarah T. Roberts delivered the inaugural lecture for the Illinois Institute of Technology’s newly formed lecture series on digital humanities, which was held on September 21.Her lecture, “Digital Humanity: Foregrounding Human Traces in Technological Systems (and Why We Should Care),” addressed practical applications of technology and ethical issues involved in seemingly…

GSLIS student Karen Smith-Cox has been invited to attend the 2012 School Library Journal Leadership Summit in Philadelphia on October 26 and 27. This year’s summit, “Advocacy and the E-volution: Creating Stronger Schools Through Stronger Libraries,” will focus on discussions of Common Core State Standards and the role of libraries in fostering and empowering innovation in schools. School…

Three GSLIS students have been selected as 2012 LAMP Scholars. LAMP (LIS Access Midwest Program) is a regional initiative that encourages students from historically and statistically underrepresented groups to pursue careers in library and information science. LAMP provides scholarships, mentoring, and opportunities for professional development to students and also hosts an annual summer…

First-year GSLIS students Karen Barton and Tracy Drake participated in this year’s Summer Pre-doctoral Institute (SPI) at the University of Illinois. SPI is a campus-wide orientation program that accepts incoming graduate students from U.S. populations that are underrepresented in campus graduate programs. During the eight-week program, students enroll in an independent study, participate in…

In “Critical Issues in Juvenile Detention Center Libraries,” a new paper posted at the Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults, GSLIS CAS student Jeanie Austin (MS '09) discusses the challenges that staff face in juvenile detention center libraries and argues for libraries to take a more active role in societal and political change. JRLYA is published on a continuous basis by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) at http://yalsa.ala.org/jrlya.

Washington, DC—The Association of Research Libraries (ARL) Committee on Diversity and Leadership has selected 14 masters of library and information science (MLIS) students to participate in the 2012–2014 Initiative to Recruit a Diverse Workforce (IRDW) as ARL Diversity Scholars. Among those named is GSLIS student Thomas Padilla.The ARL IRDW offers numerous financial benefits to program…

GSLIS doctoral student Sarah T. Roberts has spent the first few weeks of this record-breaking July heat organizing a campaign to help a small community library on the South Side of Chicago. The William Leonard Public Library in Robbins provides essential services to a financially disadvantaged community but has recently fallen on hard times due to a declining tax base in the community.…