Kyungwon Koh

• Director, C-U Community Fab Lab

Library and information sciences, with a focus on youth services, learning, and community engagement; the maker movement and design thinking in libraries; information behavior and literacies; and engaged scholarship.

• 2024-2025 Public Voices Fellowship, a national initiative by the OpEd Project
• 2022 AASL (American Association of School Librarians) Research Grant for excellence in manuscript, Librarian-teacher co-teaching and the role of school librarians in facilitating inquiry and maker learning. Authors: Dr. Kyungwon Koh, Dr. Xun Ge, and Julia Petrella
• Teachers Ranked as Excellent by Their Students (Fall 2022, 2020, and 2023)
• Winner of the 2016 YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) Midwinter Paper Presentation. Competencies Needed to Provide Teen Library Services of the Future: Survey of Professionals in Teen Learning Spaces. Authors: Drs. Kyungwon Koh and June Abbas.
• Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship (2010), presented by Beta Phi Mu, the library and information studies honor society.   

Kyungwon Koh is an associate professor and the director of the Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab in the School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois. She obtained her MSLIS and PhD from Florida State University's iSchool and a BS from Yonsei University's Department of Library and Information Science in South Korea.

Koh has been the recipient of several research grants and awards, including the 2022 AASL (American Association of School Librarians) Research Grant, the 2024/2022/2020/2016 IMLS National Leadership Grants, 2016 ALA YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) Midwinter Paper Presentation Winner, 2014 IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Program Early Career Development Grant, 2010 Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, 2010 ALISE Research Grant Award, and more. Her work has been published in leading information sciences journals, such as JASIS&T, LISR, Information Research, JRLYA, JELIS, and Library Trends.

• Summer 2025 - Independent Study - IS589KOH
• Fall 2025 - Make-Design-Learn in Libraries - IS582MDO
• Fall 2025 - Independent Study - IS589KOH

By appointment, please contact professor

Koh, K. (May 7, 2025). Hands-On Intelligence: A Priority for Education and Tech Policies. 

Koh, K. (January 14, 2025). Library Makerspaces Help Enrich Our Communities. Chicago Sun Times. 

Koh, K. (October 2, 2024). Necessity, Not a Relic: Why We Need Libraries Now. The Opinion Pages. 

Koh, K., Ge, X., & Petrella, J. B. (2022). Librarian-teacher co-teaching and the role of school librarians in facilitating inquiry and maker learning. School Library Research, 25. 

Koh, K., Xun, G., Lewis, K., Simmons, S., & Nelson, L. (2020). Fostering Information Literacy through Autonomy and Guidance in the Inquiry and Maker Learning Environments. Proceedings of the 2019 Connected Learning Summit. pp. 94-101. 

Koh, K., Snead, J. T., & Lu, K. (2019). The processes of maker learning and information behavior in a technology-rich high school class. The Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology. 70(12), 1395-1412. DOI:10.1002/asi.24197

Koh, K., Abbas, J., & Willett, R. Makerspaces in Libraries: Social Roles and Community Engagement (2018). In V. R. Lee & A. L. Phillips (Eds.), Reconceptualizing Libraries: Perspectives from the Information and Learning Sciences. Routledge.

Koh, K. (2015). Radical Change theory: Framework for empowering digital youth. Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults. 5. 

Koh, K. & Abbas, J. (2015). Competencies for Information Professionals in Learning Labs and Makerspaces. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science. 56(2). doi:10.12783/issn.2328-2967/56/2/3. 

Koh, K. (2013). Adolescents’ information-creating behavior embedded in digital media practice using Scratch. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology. 64(9), 1826-1841. doi:10.1002/asi.22878

Koh, K., Seo, J., Chen, S., & Cox, E. (2025). Engaging With Information Beyond Vision: Hands-on Approaches to Computational Thinking for Blind and Visually Impaired Learners. iConference 2025.

Koh, K. (2025). The Impact and Value of Makerspaces in Public Libraries. Library Makerspaces Research Showcase. [Keynote]. 

Koh, K. & Seo, J. (2025). Promoting Computational Thinking Skills for Blind and Visually Impaired Learners Through Accessible Library Makerspaces. Library Makerspaces Research Showcase. 

Koh. K (2025). Co-Teaching and the Role of School Librarians in Facilitating Maker Learning in Schools.  Library Makerspaces Research Showcase. 

Koh, K., Balasubramaniam, G., Knox, E., & Zalot, A. (2024). Evaluating the value and impact of makerspaces on public libraries. 2024 ALISE Annual Conference.

Seo, J., Koh, K., Cox, E., Chen, S. (2024, June). Playful and tactile computational thinking programs for blind and low-vision teens in makerspaces. Presentation at the Symposium, Learning Environments Designed For and With Learners with Disabilities, the 2024 International Society of the Learning Sciences (ISLS) the Learning Sciences (ICLS).

Huvila, I., Douglas, J., Gorichanaz, T., Koh, K., & Suorsa, A. (2020, October). Conceptualising and studying information creation: from production and processes to makers and making. Panel at the 2020 ASIS&T Annual Meeting.

Koh, K. (2018, May). The Process of Learning by Making and the Role of Information. NSF 2018 STEM for All Video Showcase. Video

Lewis, K. R., Dousette-Frederickson, J., Ge, X., Koh, K., Nelson, L., & Simmons, S. (2018, May). Learning in Libraries: Guided Inquiry and Making. Video

Koh, K. & Young, T. (2017, May). Youth STEAM Learning by Making in Libraries and Museums. NSF 2017 STEM for All Video Showcase. Research & Design for Impact. Video