SCHOOL OF INFORMATION AND LIBRARY SCIENCE FALL 2015
@Carolina NUMBER 82
THE iSCHOOL@
The UNIVERSITY of NORTH CAROLINA at CHAPEL HILL
In this Issue
On the Cover
Greetings from the Dean.............................................. 3
This issue includes retrospectives on information science and some SILS programs, as well as recent news and plans for the future. Likewise, the cover reflects the past, present, and what is on the horizon. The left edge and bottom of the collage show information tools from the past, including a card catalog, a typewriter used by Louis Round Wilson, punch paper tape, microfiche sheets, floppy disks, and the 1998 SILS computer lab. The photos in full color show SILS students using modern technology. BSIS student Jennifer Davidowitz tries out Google Cardboard with the Nexus 6 inside, which the SILS Help Desk acquired for checkout over the summer, along with a Canon Vixia HF G30 HD Camcorder and Apple Watch Sport. MSIS students Stephen Levin and Harika Boya demonstrate equipment in the SILS Digital Media Lab, which offers a wide range of tools for video and audio recording and editing, including a teleprompter with HD video camera, LED lighting kits, and video editing and screencast creation software. An eGranary pocket library chip represents the next phase for the WiderNet Project and WiderNet@UNC (Read more at sils.unc.edu/news/2015/widernet-pocket-library). The SILS Web site appears on an iPad. BSIS student Sarah Moody uses a touch screen in the Manning Hall lobby. Grant McLendon (MSIS ’15) works with the 3D printer in the SILS computer lab, and SILS master’s students Wick Shreve, Daniel Pshock, Bess Powell, and Olivia Dorsey demonstrate the lab’s collaborative workspace.
Live from Chapel Hill.................................................. 4 Upcoming Events......................................................... 5 SILS Global Outreach................................................6-7 From Information Science to Information..................8-9 The Undergraduate Program at SILS......................10-11 Proposed PSM Degree in Digital Curation..................11 CHIP at Five Years......................................................11 Alumna Profile: Jennifer Rosario (BSIS ’04)................12 Alumnus Profile: Xin Fu (Ph.D. ’08)...........................13 Alumna Profile: Mae Rodney (Ph.D. ’86)...............14-15 SILS & EPA-RTP Library Celebrate 40 Years.........16-17 Faculty Research Profile: Jaime Arguello......................18 Faculty Research & Recognition.............................19-21 Staff News...................................................................22 Career Services Update................................................23 Spring Commencement Highlights.............................23
Our Commitment to Diversity
Student News.........................................................23-25
In support of the University’s diversity goals and the mission of the School of Information and Library Science, we embrace diversity as an ethical and societal value. We broadly define diversity to include race, gender, national origin, ethnicity, religion, social class, age, sexual orientation and physical and learning ability. As an academic community committed to preparing our graduates to be leaders in an increasingly multicultural and global society we strive to ensure inclusive leadership, policies and practices; integrate diversity into the curriculum and research; foster a mutually respectful intellectual environment in which diverse opinions are valued; recruit traditionally underrepresented groups of students, faculty and staff; and participate in outreach to underserved groups in North Carolina.
Letter from SILSAA President.....................................26 Alumni Updates.....................................................26-29 Obituaries...................................................................30 Honor Roll of Donors............................................31-35 Giving Profile: Isaac Chao (MSLS ’69) .......................32 Giving Profile: Mary Jane Petrowski (MSLS ’78) ........33 Giving Profile: Tim Gunter (MSLS ’88) .....................35 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science (SILS) newsletter is published for the School’s alumni and friends. KATHERINE PERALES Editor Communications Coordinator 919.843.8337 kpearl@email.unc.edu EDGAR MARSTON Specialist ALEXANDER KRUPA Communications Assistant To ensure your contact information is correct, or to make changes, please visit: sils.unc.edu/alumni/alumni-directory
If you would like to connect with the SILS Alumni Association, contact: JOE M. WILLIAMS SILSAA President 919.962.3846 joewilliams@unc.edu
We welcome your submissions. If you’ve received an honor or award, moved to a new position, had a baby or have other news to share, please send it to: contactsils@unc.edu or mail via the U.S. Postal Service to: SILS Newsletter CB #3360 100 Manning Hall Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3360
Learn more about opportunities for giving to the School of Information and Library Science by contacting: STEPHANIE COLE 919.843.9378 sbcole@email.unc.edu Ways to Give Giving to SILS is safe and secure, easy and effective. Online Gifts Please visit giving.unc.edu/gift/sils. Check Make checks payable to UNC-CH and notate either “SILS” or a specific SILS initiative in the memo line. Mail your check to UNC School of Information and Library Science, Post Office Box 309, Chapel Hill, NC 27514-0309.
Greetings from the Dean Dear Colleagues and Friends: SILS has a long and storied history as a pioneer in educating leaders in the information and library professions. Over the past decade SILS has continued to achieve and grow even through trying economic times and declining applications and matriculations in our graduate programs. This growth has come as a result of creating new programs that attract students with a broad range of interests and recruiting faculty who have joint appointments with other units and/or are mainly supported with research grants. Today SILS offers five distinct degree programs (BSIS, MSLS, MSIS, PhD, and Post-Masters Certificate), is developing another new degree (Professional Science Master’s Degree in Digital Curation), and leads the cross-campus certificates and degree program in health informatics (CHIP). (Please see the article on the evolution of the BSIS program and sidebars on the PSM and CHIP on pages 10-11.) More than 90% of our graduates find placements in leading companies, agencies, libraries, and archives within six months of graduation. Our alumni continue to become leaders in the field, and our faculty conduct world-class research on information interaction and behavior, data curation and information management, and health, education, and library information services. We have developed partnerships with universities around the world and more of our faculty and students participate in global events and exchange programs. We thus continue our transition to be a leading information school of the 21st century in concert with UNC’s role as a leading global, public research university. In this issue, we highlight the achievements of our students, alumni, faculty, and staff and look at some of the ways SILS has evolved and continues to develop today. We include a short retrospective on the field of information science, which has been developing for more than a century and continues to find import into all aspects of modern professional work. We report on the many events and activities that took place on campus and around the world over the past year and profile several important events scheduled for the 2015-16 year. Most notably, SILS faculty are bringing two international research conferences to Chapel Hill (iPRES 2015 in November and ACM CHIIR in March), and due to the generosity of the Steinfirst family and other supporters, our biennial Steinfirst Lecture in March will serve as a springboard for a weeklong artist-in-residence program at a Durham middle school that will focus on student writing activities. A number of our alumni are profiled and highlighted in this issue. (I hope you enjoy the photos from the EPARTP Library 40th anniversary alumni reunion.) We include news of SILS students who have received recognition and who are doing interesting projects that affect people in our community and beyond. Our faculty research updates demonstrate the breadth and excellence of our school and the creative teachers and scholars who call SILS their intellectual home. In 2015, we welcomed Dr. Melanie Feinberg to the faculty. Melanie specializes in information organization and document collections and systems as human artifacts. Kaitlyn Murphy joined SILS as international programs coordinator, Martha Martin joined us as contracts and grants administrator, Cassie Ragan is our new front office administrative assistant, Katherine Perales is our new communications coordinator, and Brian Nussbaum is our new desktop support specialist. In addition to our SILS Board of Visitors and the SILS Alumni for Inclusion and Diversity (SAID) Board, we formed a new advisory roundtable, the Information Trends Advisory Board—ITAR, that includes leaders from companies that hire our students (ChannelAdvisor, SAS, CapitalOne, Credit Suisse, LinkedIn, GE, Google, Redhat, Cisco, Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC, Quintiles, EMC, and RazorFish). This board will work with SILS to create internships and placements for our students. As always, I am thankful for your generosity in supporting SILS. We profile a few specific donors and include our annual honor role of donors. All alumni are ambassadors for SILS, and I hope that you are advocates for information quality and service and recruiters for outstanding young people who would make excellent SILS students. I hope you enjoy this issue of the SILS newsletter and will stay in touch and share your news with us. Sincerely,
Gary Marchionini Dean and Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor
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Live from Chapel Hill
SILS hosted a variety of engaging speakers in 2015. Topics ranged from library history to data science to killer robots.
Andrew T. Fiore of Facebook delivered the 10th annual OCLC/Frederick G. Kilgour Lecture, “The Limits of Data Science at Scale,” on March 16 at the Carolina Club. Fiore explored how traditional and new approaches to data science can be combined to help better understand the motivations behind human behavior. Fiore leads Growth and Internet.org Research for Facebook, including a program to understand the benefits, risks, and barriers to adoption of information and communication technology in emerging markets. SILS, the UNC Curriculum in Peace, War, and Defense (PWAD), and the Triangle Institute for Security Studies (TISS) co-sponsored a talk by Mark Gubrud, Ph.D., titled “Autonomous Weapons: Information Technology and the Arms Race,” on April 7 in Manning Hall. Gubrud discussed how the issue of autonomous weapon systems, known popularly as “killer robots,” has risen to prominence and how a ban on machine decision in the use of violent force could be implemented. Wayne A. Wiegand, renowned American library historian, author, and academic, gave the 2015 Lucile Kelling Henderson Lecture on September 14 at the Carolina Club. Wiegand’s presentation borrowed its title and focus from his new book Part of Our Lives: A People’s History of the American Public Library, which explores how patrons have come to cherish their libraries, not only as civic institutions, but also as social spaces for promoting and maintaining community.
Valerie Florance, Associate Director for Extramural Programs at the National Library of Medicine, NIH/DHHS, delivered a talk titled “Workforce and Research Needs: Biomedical Big Data Science” on September 25 at the Carolina Club. SILS, the North Carolina Translational and Clinical Sciences Institute (NC TraCS), and the Carolina Health Informatics Program (CHIP) co-sponsored the talk. Florance explored some of the opportunities for biomedical informaticians, computer scientists, librarians and other information specialists in relation to the NIH’s multimillion dollar initiative Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) and the proposed future of the National Library of Medicine as the epicenter of data science at NIH. Throughout the spring and fall, SILS CRADLE (Center for Research and Development of Digital Libraries) Seminars offered faculty and students the chance to hear about research by other SILS faculty members and researchers from across UNC’s campus, as well as from visiting scholars. Speakers included Javier Hernandez-Ros, EU Fellow at UNC and Head of the Creativity Unit, European Commission, who discussed the digitization and on-line accessibility of cultural heritage collections in Europe, and Cathy Marshall, former principal researcher at Microsoft and affiliate of Texas A&M University’s Center for the Study of Digital Libraries, who argued the importance of archiving and preserving Facebook and other social media content.
Photos from top: Andrew Fiore of Facebook talks with a student after his lecture. Valerie Florance addresses the audience at the Carolina Club. Wayne Wiegand and the cover of his new book.
major lectures and ICYMI Most some talks are recorded and shared on the SILS Vimeo page, https://vimeo.com/uncsils. We have also begun livestreaming some events at http://livestream.com/unc-sils.
DigCCurr Institute 2015 draws professionals from across the country and the world The DigCCurr Professional Institute: Curation Practices for the Digital Object Lifecycle summer session at UNC drew participants from near (Chapel Hill), far (Seattle, Colorado, and Texas) and very far (New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria). The institute, which consists of the five-day summer session and a twoday follow-up session in January 2016, is designed to foster skills, knowledge and community among professionals responsible for the curation of digital materials. 4
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Elizabeth Charlton, an archivist at the Marist Archives in Wellington, New Zealand, said she was motivated to attend the DigCCurr Institute because of the opportunity to interact with the experts who conduct the lectures, labs, and discussions. “You’re really learning from leaders in the field,” she said. “The accumulation of the knowledge being shared is remarkable and the face-to-face communication is so valuable.”
Mohamed Baessa, digital repository specialist at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia, talks with other DigCCurr Institute participants. Photo by Cal Lee.
Upcoming events iPRES digital preservation conference comes to UNC SILS and the Odum Institute for Research in Social Science at UNC-Chapel Hill will co-present iPRES 2015, the premier international conference on digital preservation, November 2-6, 2015, in Chapel Hill. The conference rotates between North America, Asia, and Europe. It has not been in North America since 2009, and it will not return until 2018. iPRES brings together key theorists, researchers and practitioners to explore the latest trends, innovations, policies and practices in digital preservation. Organizers anticipate welcoming about 300 participants to the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. The conference will feature key notes, conference sessions, workshops, tutorials, poster sessions and a series of ancillary social activities. Conference topics will include but are not limited to explorations in digital preservation focused on institutional opportunities and challenges, infrastructure (organizational and technological) opportunities and challenges, innovative practice, and education and training. For more detailed information regarding the 2015 event, please visit http://ipres2015.org/.
SILS hosts first ACM SIGIR Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval The first annual ACM SIGIR Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval (CHIIR 2016) will be held on March 13-17, 2016, in Chapel Hill. The conference represents a merger of two successful past events, the Information Interaction in Context conference (IIiX) and the Human Computer Information Retrieval symposium (HCIR), which have run since 2006 and 2007, respectively. CHIIR is a forum for the dissemination and discussion of research on the user-centered aspects of information interaction and information retrieval. The conference focuses on elements such as human involvement in search activities and information seeking and use in context. SILS Professor Diane Kelly and Assistant Professor Rob Capra are serving as conference co-chairs, and several SILS faculty and Ph.D. students are working on the local organizing committee to make the conference a success. “We are excited to host the inaugural CHIIR since human information interaction and retrieval represents one of the research and teaching strengths of our school,” Kelly said. “While the topics covered by this conference have engaged information and library science researchers and practitioners for quite some time, the widespread use of information search systems in the last 15 years have really created a need for a dedicated venue to discuss issues surrounding information search and information search systems.” For more information, visit http://sigir.org/chiir2016. You can also stay up-to-date by following the conference on Twitter @ACM_CHIIR.
Steinfirst vision expands for 2016: Award-winning author Matt de la Peña will deliver lecture and spend week as artist in residence at local middle school Matt de la Peña, New York Times bestselling author of six critically-acclaimed young adult novels and two award-winning picture books, will give the Susan Steinfirst Memorial Lecture in Children’s Literature on March 13, 2016, at 3 p.m. at the main branch of the Durham County Public Library. The lecture is free and open to the public. For the first time, the biennial lecture will be paired with an artist-in-residence experience that will have de la Peña spending a week at Lakewood Montessori in Durham, helping middle school students create and refine their own writing. The Steinfirst Lecture honors the memory of Susan Steinfirst, a professor of children’s and young adult literature at SILS from 1976 to 1996. Steinfirst dedicated her life to the promotion of children’s literature by teaching future librarians and by publishing scholarly works in the field. The lecture is made possible by the Steinfirst Memorial Fund, which was established through gifts from Professor Steinfirst’s husband, Gene Story, as well as other family members and friends, in 1997. The artist-in-residence experience was partly funded by a recent gift from Professor Steinfirst’s niece, Julia Steinfirst Howard, and her husband, John. Julia Howard remains an active partner and helped SILS envision the Steinfirst expansion. The 2016 lecture is also receiving support through the Drs. Barbara and Robert S. Martin
Research Assistant program, which supports students assisting faculty members who are conducting research in the areas of children’s, young adult, or school librarianship. SILS student Glenna Matteson, the 2015-16 Martin Scholar working under the guidance of SILS Professor Sandra HughesHassell and Associate Professor Brian Sturm, is organizing de la Peña’s visit. Hughes-Hassell said de la Peña was an excellent candidate to help introduce the new artist-in-residence component. “He’s a fabulous teacher,” said Hughes-Hassell, who observed de la Peña working with teenagers who attended the Blue Ribbon Mentor Advocate program at UNC this summer. “We wanted someone who was not only an accomplished author, but who also had skills to teach kids about writing.” de la Peña’s young adult novels include Mexican WhiteBoy, The Living and The Hunted. His first picture book, A Nation’s Hope: The Story of Boxing Legend Joe Louis, was published in 2011, and his second, Last Stop on Market Street, debuted in 2015.
Author Matt de la Peña
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SILS continues to expand global outreach and education Mary Grace Flaherty conducts training for MLA at hospital in Cambodia SILS Assistant Professor Mary Grace Flaherty traveled to Cambodia over the summer to conduct training on behalf of the Medical Library Association’s Librarians without Borders. Flaherty administered sessions on evidence-based medicine and authorship skills at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital in Phnom Penh. She also provided the hospital with an eGranary server, courtesy of the Widernet Project.
Maimuna Izah and Muktar Mohammed Bunza, front row, center, and Cliff Missen, back row, center, with SILS students and guests after the SILS CRADLE Seminar.
WiderNet partnership with Nigerian Defense Academy prompts international visits, exchange
Mary Grace Flaherty, right in green shirt, conducts a training session at the Khmer-Soviet Friendship Hospital.
Visiting International Scholars In the past year, SILS has welcomed several visiting international scholars to collaborate with faculty members who share their research interests. Current scholars include: Maliheh Farrokhnia, Ph.D. candidate at Oslo and Akershus University College in Norway. Working with Professor Diane Kelly to explore user’s information needs. Yurdagül Ünal, associate professor in the Department of Information Management at Hacettepe University in Turkey. Comparing the educational programs offered at UNC with those at Hacettepe with Distinguished Research Professor Joanne Gard Marshall. Pianran Wang, Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Information Resource Management at the Business School of Nankai University, China. Collaborating with Associate Professor Brian W. Sturm to research children and young adult public library services. Ping Wang, associate professor in the School of Information Management at Wuhan University, China. Collaborating with SILS Associate Professor Cal Lee to investigate digital forensics methods and tools based on BitCurator. Houqiang Yu, Ph.D. candidate at the School of Information Management of Wuhan University in China. Working with Associate Professor Brad Hemminger and the Internactive Information Systems Lab members to conduct empirical studies on altmetrics indicators and develop methodologies and related tools for improving altmetrics. Peng Zhu, associate professor in the School of Economics and Management at Nanjing University of Science and Technology in China. Collaborating with Dean Gary Marchionini to investigate the information behaviors of mobile internet users. For more detailed biographies of current visiting scholars, visit sils.unc.edu/people/faculty/visiting-scholars.
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WiderNet@UNC and the WiderNet Project welcomed Col. Muktar Mohammed Bunza and Ms. Maimuna Izah, librarians from the Nigerian Defense Academy (NDA), to UNC-Chapel Hill in late August. The NDA has partnered with the WiderNet Project, a non-profit founded and directed by SILS Associate Professor Cliff Missen, to install Widernet’s eGranary Digital Library on NDA’s campus and create a specialized portal of resources for their students. Missen visited Kaduna, Nigeria, in June to complete the first installation and initial round of training at NDA. Bunza and Izah traveled to
the U.S. to get additional training, learn more about library systems here, and share their perspectives with UNC faculty and students. Bunza and Izah addressed students taking Missen’s course “Going the Last Mile: Information Access for Underserved Populations,” and conducted a SILS CRADLE Seminar titled, “Evaluating the Use of Academy Library by Cadets and Post Graduate Students in Nigerian Defence Academy, Kaduna, Nigeria.” In addition to time spent in the classrooms and the WiderNet@ UNC lab in Manning Hall, Bunza and Izah toured the libraries at UNC and NC State University.
Cal Lee presents digital forensics work at international workshops and events In the past year, SILS Associate Professor Cal Lee has expanded the international visibility of his work applying digital forensics to archival collections, including the BitCurator environment and BitCurator Access project, through a variety of workshops and invited talks. In September 2014, Lee ran a workshop, “Applying Forensics to Preserving the Past: Current Activities and Future Possibilities,” in London with Jeremy Leighton John of the British Library and Susan Thomas of Oxford University. In October Cal Lee 2014, he conducted a workshop, “Acquiring and Processing Born-Digital Data using the BitCurator Environment,” as preconference event at iPRES in Australia, and gave an invited talk, “All Bits Considered,” at the National Library of New Zealand. In March, he gave an invited talk at the National and University Library in Zagreb, Croatia. Lee and SILS Research Scientist Kam Woods conducted a workshop on BitCurator at the Austrian Institute of Technology in May. In September, Lee taught a workshop, “Enabling Archival Functions with BitCurator and BitCurator Access” at the International Congress on Archives Annual Conference in Reykjavik, Iceland.
Summer semester in South Korea expands cultural and educational horizons Two undergraduates in the Bachelor of Science in Information Science (BSIS) program, Ana Grace Lane and Aaron Wan, studied this summer at Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), located in Seoul, South Korea. They enrolled in a four-week program called the International Summer Semester (ISS), which enabled them to take courses at SKKU alongside students from South Korea, as well as students from several other countries, including France, Mexico, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and Indonesia. Lane, an information science major and Asian studies minor, said her favorite part of the program was the cultural immersion. “It really tests your ability to adapt and navigate an unknown land,” she said. “I learned a lot about my capabilities.” Wan also enjoyed
experiencing South Korean culture first-hand. “The food, activities, and social environment were amazing,” he said. “I was also able to learn a bit of Korean to communicate with people I met along the way.” Both students credit the program with providing a new outlook on their studies. “I think this experience will help me as an information science major because it exposed me to a new perspective on technology and information use,” Lane said. Wan highlighted a class taught by Jevin West, a data scientist from the University of Washington, which exposed him to a variety of new concepts of data science and helped shape both his educational and career goals. “The experience has pushed me to have more motivation and more direction in my schooling,” Wan said.
Clockwise, from top left: Grace Lane (bottom row, second from left) and other ISS students wear traditional Korean clothes for an SKKU event. Lane and friends at the North Seoul Tower. Aaron Wan at the Mural Village.
SKKU is one of six schools with which SILS has established formal study abroad agreements. The other schools are: • Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic • National University of Singapore: School of Computing • Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Santiago, Chile • Royal School of Library and Information Science, Denmark • Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain
SILS Prague and London summer seminars open to all students, alumni, and professionals The SILS summer seminars to Prague and London are wonderful opportunities for SILS students, but they are also open to students from other library science programs and professionals with an interest in international librarianship. Both seminars last two-weeks and are scheduled for May 15-28, 2016. The seminar in London offers an in-depth view of libraries and librarianship in Great Britain. Among other experiences, participants visit libraries at both Oxford and Cam-
bridge and tour behind-the-scenes at the British Library, National Archives, Imperial War Museum, and Wellcome Library. The Prague seminar offers unique insight into how the democratization of the Czech Republic has affected the accessibility of information in both print and electronic forms. Visit sils.unc.edu/programs/ international for more information, or contact Kaitlyn Murphy, SILS international programs coordinator, at kmurphy@unc.edu.
SILS welcomes back Kaitlyn Murphy as first international programs coordinator Kaitlyn Murphy, former SILS undergraduate student services coordinator, has returned to the School from UNC Study Abroad to take on the newly created role of SILS international programs coordinator. In this position she will consult with faculty, staff, and students regarding international travel, and will be the primary contact for visiting international scholars and exchange students. She will be responsible for the development, management, and promotion of international programs in
the School, and she will cultivate relationships that will encourage international students to study at SILS and enable SILS students to study abroad. Among other initiatives, Murphy is planning events at SILS to coincide with International Education Week, November 16-20. Prior to joining UNC SILS for a second time, Murphy was with the UNC Study Abroad office, where she advised outbound students on all aspects of study abroad, including program selection, application, financial aid, billing and registra-
tion, cultural awareness and adaptation, and health and safety issues. She also reviewed student applications, made admissions decisions, and served as the primary liaison to overseas partner institutions. Murphy holds a master’s degree in higher education with an emphasis in international education from Northern Illinois University. Moved by the way in which international experiences contribute to transformational learning, she interned and lived abroad in Ireland while completing her degree.
Kaitlyn Murphy
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From Information Science to Information W hen describing SILS, I often point out that the name of our school is information and library science–with the science being singular. We have a rich and varied tradition, but a singular and integrated mission to educate the best information professionals in the world. The “science” part of library and of information emanates from 20th century movement toward systems thinking in most aspects of life and scholarship. Here, I trace some of the history of information science with an eye on the 21st century movement toward the more fundamental and directly named field of information. By Gary Marchionini SILS Dean and Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor
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The term “the information society” has been used for more than a half century and the field we know as “information science” has roots going back to the end of the 19th century when Paul Otlet and Henri La Fontaine founded the documentation movement in Europe. This movement shifted the focus of librarians from collecting historical knowledge sources to systematic management of those sources and reflected the development of scientific management practices (Taylorism) in industry. Just as the term “library economy” was used by Melvil Dewey and others to describe the operational aspects of library education, documentation emphasized new classification techniques and applications of technologies such as typewriters and micrographics to information management. S.R. Ranganathan and others began using the term library science to indicate systematic library management techniques and education. The development of telephone systems, mass production industries, and international corporations drove the need for new information management techniques and professionals in the first half of the 20th century. By 1937, Watson Davis and others in the U.S. founded the American Documentation Institute, which later became the American Society for Information Science. Global enterprise and especially the effects of World War II led to an explosion of information processing
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and management breakthroughs. The development of information theory by scientists like Alan Turing and Norbert Wiener led to analog and digital computers in the 1940s. The war drove advances in communications and intelligence gathering, management, and interpretation (cryptography, and statistical modeling that preluded data mining) as well as information control techniques (operations research) to manage huge numbers of people and supplies moving around the entire planet. Vannevar Bush’s 1945 vision of the Memex based on microform technology gave prelude to hypertext and the WWW. Claude Shannon’s seminal work on information, The Mathematical Theory of Communication, was published in 1948 and served as the base for information theory. Shannon’s work defined information as the amount of uncertainty reduced by a message, the bit (binary unit) as the fundamental unit of information, and the maximum capacity (bandwidth) of communication channels. Meanwhile, the documentation field continued to develop in Europe and the U.S. led by pioneers such as Mortimer Taube, who promoted the use of “mission-oriented” classification for scientific information management and invented coordinate indexing, and Hans Peter Luhn, who wrote one of the early papers on using computers to retrieve information in 1953 and invented Key Word in Context (KWIC) indexing. Inspired by the work of communication theorists such as Derek de Sola Price, Eugene Garfield developed citation indexes for scientific documents and launched the Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) in 1956. Large research libraries such as the Library of Congress and the National Library of Medicine (NLM) in the U.S. began investing in computers and people to automate some library operations. Winifred Sewell began a series of revisions to the Medical Subject
Headings (MeSH) in 1959 for the NLM, and Henriette Avram led the development of the MARC and RECON projects at the Library of Congress through the 1960’s and 1970’s. ARPANET was formed in 1965, which was the precursor to the Internet. The MEDical Literature Analysis and Retrieval Systems (MEDLARS, now MEDLINE) and the Educational Resources Information Center (ERIC) were established in 1964, and Fred Kilgour founded Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) in 1967, which leveraged computers and networking to share cataloging data. Throughout the 1960’s, information continued to acquire more meanings and permeate popular culture (Michael Buckland retrospectively distinguished these distinct meanings--information as thing, information as communication act, and information as knowledge in the mind–in a 1991 JASIS paper). Fritz Malchup’s (1962) classic work “The Production and Distribution of Knowledge in the United States,” influenced the use of the term ‘information society’ and scholars from many different disciplines began to migrate to library schools and research institutes that studied information science. Scholars like Gerard Salton in the U.S. invented information retrieval techniques such as vector representations for documents and queries that allowed ranked retrieval rather than earlier Boolean-based retrieval. In Europe at this time, scholars like Karen Sparck Jones pioneered natural language approaches to information retrieval and invented fundamental concepts like inverse document frequency (IDF). This period also saw the beginnings of human-computer interaction inspired by J.C.R. Licklider’s seminal paper “Man-Computer Symbiosis” in 1960; Newell and Simon’s work on the human information processing system; and Douglas Engelbart’s seminal 1962 report “Augmenting the human Intellect: A Conceptual Frame-
work.” By 1968, the American Documentation Institute (ADI) was renamed the American Society for Information Science (ASIS). The information science trends in the 1970’s and 1980’s saw increasing applications of technology to information problems, the automation of libraries (e.g., online public access catalogs [OPACs]) and other information-intensive enterprises and the development of personal computers and database management software. The intellectual trend of these decades was toward human-centered theory and services. Robert Taylor’s work on different levels of human information need (visceral, conscious, formalized, and compromised) published in 1968 reflected the importance of considering the information seeker in the overall information system. Scholars such as Marcia Bates, Tefko Saracevic, Patrick Wilson, and Nick Belkin leveraged theory from the social sciences to propose models of information seeking centered on human needs and characteristics. Many library schools in North America added information science to their name and added information science masters programs to complement their existing library science programs, while some library science programs closed (e.g., Columbia, Chicago). The UNC-Chapel Hill School of Library Science changed its name to the School of Information and
Library Science and launched its MSIS program in 1988. The 1990’s saw a rebirth of interest in libraries and expansion of information science research and practice. The development of the Internet and the World Wide Web stimulated recognition of the importance of information and library science techniques for managing the flood of Web pages and online databases. Libraries moved from bibliographic databases to full-text databases and OPACs became more integrated across library resources. Information science programs expanded to educate database administrators, Web masters, information architects, and usability specialists. The WWW and other technologies have blurred distinctions between professional boundaries just as the post-WW II explosion of ideas had blurred boundaries between different characteristics of information. By the time the new millennium dawned, information professionals were moving into leadership positions in all sectors of society with titles like chief information officer (CIO), user experience architect, and data curator. Some schools began changing their names to reflect this more general name for the field (e.g., information science, information studies, information). By 2003, the iSchool Consortium was formed with 10 prominent information science programs, including SILS. Some of these
schools are called information schools or schools of information (iSchools), some have information science, information studies, library science, or informatics in their names. This is not so much a Tower of Babel problem as a sign of growth and renewal for our schools. Today, there are 65 iSchools around the globe with more than half outside North America. Our field continues to advance and evolve and information as a phenomenon continues to acquire new meanings and applications. For example, I have argued that the WWW, social media, and behavioral economics give rise to a new kind of information that defines our personal identities in cyberspace (proflections), thus augmenting the three classic senses of information. Information is itself a fundamental phenomenon of interest and stands alone. Schools of information stand alone as meaningful and substantive entities that are critical to the education of scholars and practitioners who work across a wide range of enterprises. It is an exciting time for our field and our professions regardless of the current name we give to our programs. The School of Information and Library Science at UNC is the iSchool at Chapel Hill and we continue to be devoted to the phenomenon of information and the wide range of professional opportunities that lie ahead for our students and alumni.
How many of the above names do you recognize? How many did you read or reference during your time in school? Did any of them significantly impact your thinking about information science? Is anyone missing? E-mail your responses to contactsils@unc.edu.
THE iSCHOOL @UNC-CHAPEL HILL
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The Undergraduate Program at SILS: Looking Back, Looking Forward By Barbara M. Wildemuth SILS Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor
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ILS’ forays into undergraduate education began with the establishment of an information systems minor in fall 1996. Twenty students were admitted that semester, and 41 more in spring 1997. A few of them had been anticipating the establishment of the program, and so had reserved their last semester at UNC to take all five of the required courses for the minor, becoming our first undergraduate alums. By the middle of 1998, we had reached our planned enrollment cap of 70 active students. To serve those students, we
In May 2004, 19 pioneers graduated with a BSIS (top photo). By May 2015, 48 students received the degree (shown above).
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hired several new faculty members (including Deborah Barreau, Greg Newby, and Charlie Viles) and an undergraduate student services manager, Betty Kompst (later succeeded by Lucia Zonn). I was lucky enough to have the honor of serving as our Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs. Our goal for establishing the minor was to augment undergraduate students’ disciplinary background with basic expertise related to information systems and their role in specific organizations and in society at large. While the undergraduate minor was (and still is) successful in reaching both our enrollment and our curricular goals, it did not fully integrate undergraduate students into the fabric of the SILS community and did little to integrate SILS into the undergraduate programs offered at UNC. Therefore, we decided to develop a major in information science. The first step in establishing a new major at UNC was to submit a (112-page) request for authorization of the program, developed by Greg Newby and the SILS Undergraduate Committee. Since only four of the top 20 ILS programs at the time (Syracuse, Pittsburgh, Drexel, and Florida State) offered undergraduate degrees, we had a lot of freedom to shape our degree program in a way that would fit UNC’s strengths and culture. We solicited and received
a great deal of input during the process through focus groups with potential employers, by consulting with the other schools that offered a B.S., and through a site visit by Ray von Dran, then Dean at Syracuse. The program objectives we outlined in the plan are still in place (see sils. unc.edu/programs/undergraduate/ bsis) and include a combination of very applied goals (such as possessing practical skills for analyzing, processing and managing information) and more general goals (such as comprehending the value of information and information tools, and their role in society and the economy). In fall 2001, our plan was submitted for university review and the BSIS was approved early in 2002. At that point, the curriculum consisted of only the required courses. Over the last 12 years, the curriculum has become much deeper and richer. Some of the required courses have become prerequisites and several new courses have been added, including Foundations of Information Science (201), Retrieval and Organizing Systems (202), Human Information Behavior (203), and Information and Computer Ethics (384). Since the beginning, we’ve offered the option for a senior honors thesis and have encouraged the BSIS students to pursue relevant internships. Based on our experience with the IS minor, we hoped for rapid growth in the BSIS. The plan included enrollment projections of 35 students in the first year, 85 the next year, and 100 active students by the third year. In hindsight, we can see that that was overly optimistic. While we reached the target for the first year, we didn’t anticipate the dot-com bubble bursting in 2003 and its negative effect on student interest in technology-related careers. Even so, the growth of the major has been robust (see the graph showing the enrollment
By the end of summer, 95% of May 2015 BSIS graduates were employed or in graduate school. each fall), and is visible in each year’s graduation pictures with the increasing number of Carolina blue graduation robes. Three trail blazers graduated in May 2003, and 19 pioneers in May 2004. In May 2015, 48 students received the BSIS, and by the end of the summer, 95% had full-time jobs or were in graduate school. We currently have 61 active BSIS students, plus 40 minors, and are expecting that we will reach our goal of 100 active majors within the next five years. A number of milestones have been passed during the last 12 years. ISSUE (Information Science Student Undergraduates Empowered) was formed in fall 2003 by Trisha Crutchfield and Jennifer Bullock Rosario and was initially advised by Deborah Barreau. While the role of Associate Dean for Undergraduate Programs was eliminated in 2006, we were able to celebrate a decade of undergraduate education at SILS in 2007, with 264 alumni of the IS minor and 53 BSIS graduates. Since then, many of these alumni have become actively involved in the activities of the SILS Alumni Association (SILSAA) and the School. In fall 2011, a dual BS-MS degree was approved, and over a dozen BSIS students have taken advantage of this opportunity so far. Since 2011, Jeff Pomerantz and then Ron Bergquist have served as Coordinator of Undergraduate Programs at SILS; Tiffany Harris is the current Undergraduate Student Services Manager. As we look to the future, I believe we’ll see continued growth of the BSIS program, in terms of both enrollment and the robustness of the curriculum. We’ll be continuing to pay close attention to the articulation between our BSIS program and our two master’s degrees, looking for ways that their strengths can reinforce each other. As you talk to your college-age relatives, be sure to let them know that they can study information science at UNC!
Proposed PSM degree aims to meet educational and professional needs for digital curation SILS is currently developing a new Professional Science Master’s Degree in Digital Curation. The PSM will be offered completely online and will help meet the rapidly expanding educational and organizational needs created by the so-called data deluge of the 21st century. A feasibility study conducted in preparation for this proposed degree underscored “a shortage of digitally literate professionals and increasing demand from employers seeking professionals to manage digital collections in libraries, museums, media organizations, public offices, research institutions, hospitals, law firms, and private companies.” The number of educational initiatives in digital curation remains low, particularly those geared toward novices and midcareer professionals. The PSM proposed by SILS will be a 30-credit hour degree program providing the core skills, knowledge, and competencies to allow professionals to manage, preserve, and add value to the growing body of society’s digital assets. Among the many proficiencies gained, graduates will complete the program understanding both the theoretical and practical issues of digital curation, grasping the urgency of and need for long-term digital curation in public and private venues, and appreciating how data curation relates to and has changed scholarship, research, and business.
CHIP celebrates five-year milestone Students, faculty, alumni, and special guests gathered to celebrate the five-year anniversary of the Carolina Health Informatics Program (CHIP) on September 25 at the UNC Health Sciences Library. CHIP is an interdisciplinary research and training program that plays a key role in fulfilling UNC’s commitment to improving human health through health informatics research, data sharing, development, and education. At the anniversary gathering, Program Coordinator Larisa Rodgers Top row, from left: CHIP Program welcomed the group and provided Coordinator Larisa Rodgers a quick history of CHIP’s rapid smiles as Director Javed Mostafa addresses the room. NLM Assoexpansion, from its initial certificate ciate Director Valerie Florance offering to its current educational cheers the program’s progress. options, which include three certifiSecond row, from left: Lisa Vizer, cates (Clinical Information Science, Assistant Professor in the UNC School of Medicine (SOM), talks Public Health Informatics, and Postwith CHIP Assistant Director MSN Health Care Systems–InforDavid Gotz in foreground; Adrian matics) and the Master of ProfesMeyer, Research Associate with sional Science in Biomedical and Health Informatics. SILS Dean Gary UNC Lineberger, and Arlene Chung, Assistant Professor in Marchionini praised the program and the faculty, staff, and students whose dedication and hard work resulted in such a successful launch. the SOM, chat in the background. SILS Dean Gary Marchionini talks Valerie Florance, Associate Director for Extramural Programs at the with Andy Olshan, Professor and National Library of Medicine, NIH/DHHS, who was visiting UNC to Chair of the UNC Department deliver a lecture (see page 4), commended the program for its achieve- of Epidemiology, and Javed Mostafa. Third row: guests enjoy ments and emphasized the important role its faculty and graduates refreshments and conversation would play in the future of data science and health informatics. after the formal remarks. CHIP Director and Professor Javed Mostafa highlighted the program’s truly interdisciplinary nature, drawing together faculty from SILS, the Gillings School of Global Public Health, School of Nursing, School of Medicine, Eshelman School of Pharmacy, School of Dentistry, and Department of Computer Science. He concluded the formal remarks with a vision of CHIP’s future, which includes the introduction of a Ph.D. program in health informatics in 2016 and the renovation of space in the Health Sciences Library for a CHIP Laboratory that will foster further collaboration and innovation. For more information on CHIP, visit chip.unc.edu. THE iSCHOOL @UNC-CHAPEL HILL
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ALUMNA PROFILE
Jennifer Bullock Rosario (BSIS ’04): Managing technology to meet the needs of business
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eturning to school after several years in retail During that same time, management, Jennifer Bullock Rosario had a strong Rosario was earning ITIL interest in computers and information technology, but (Information Technology didn’t want to focus too narrowly on the technical side Infrastructure Library) certiof the industry. The Bachelor of Science in Information fication, which familiarized Science (BSIS) program, which had just been estabher with a series of best praclished by SILS when Rosario arrived on campus, caught tices for aligning IT services her attention. with the needs of business “I liked the BSIS approach to people, process, and and provided a solid foundatechnology,” she said. “I knew from my own work tion for her transition to the experience that those three need to go together. That’s information security team. what drew me to [SILS]–the fact that they seemed to Working in disaster recovery, get it. With the BSIS program, it was always important she again collaborated with the company’s partners to that you kept in mind the end user, why you were doing identify what technology supported their key processes, something, not just to support technology, but so that how to prioritize those processes for timely recovery, and tech could enable whatever business you went into.” how to best mitigate overall risks. Next, she and a small team triumphed by getting the The people, process, and technology mindset served Identity and Access Management project, which had Rosario well as she advanced through different infrastructure and operations positions with Progress Energy, been languishing for over a decade without approval, and continues to be key in her current role as Vice Pres- officially green-lighted. She was then assigned to the NERC-CIP (North American Electric Reliability ident, Manager Service Management, at First Citizens Corporation-Critical Infrastructure Bank in Raleigh. Protection) compliance project, a Originally from upstate challenge both because of its comNew York, Rosario moved to plexity and its stakes. North Carolina to manage a “The systems that run utility retail location for Gateway facilities are now required to have Computers, but after a comstrict controls from a cybersecurity pany restructuring, she opted perspective,” she said. “Basically, for a severance package and you have to look at a system that began taking classes at UNC. As part of a newly-launched –Jennifer Bullock Rosario is 40 years old and figure out how to get an anti-virus software to run academic program, Rosario on it.” Non-compliance can result in fines of up to one worked to build relationships with other BSIS students million dollars per day, per incident, but Rosario and and co-founded ISSUE (Information Science Student her team administered one of the best programs in the Undergraduates Empowered) with Trisha Crutchfield southeast, keeping fines to a minimum. (BSIS ’04, MHA ’07, MSIS ’08) to help identify netAfter the Duke/Progress Energy merger, Rosario working and career opportunities. looked outward for new opportunities and accepted Rosario also recalls many positive interactions with her VP position with First Citizens Bank in 2012. Her SILS faculty, including Professor Paul Jones, who “just current role has her once again focused on the ITIL gave you a different perspective,” and the late Professor principles of technology management for business, from Deborah Barreau. “You could always go to her for anyanticipating and managing incidents to predicting and thing,” Rosario said. “She really helped the student body implementing necessary changes. in general feel like we had support.” Rosario advises current BSIS students to constantly After graduation, Rosario went to work for Progress challenge themselves and seek out opportunities to Energy, where her previous management experience grow, and to balance their technical skills with “soft helped her quickly transition to a position on the enterskills” like communication and collaboration. “When prise monitoring team. She worked with the company’s I was student, I didn’t like team projects, but team business partners to understand the impact of its IT projects are the reality of the workforce,” she said. “You systems, and helped develop standards and procedures have to learn how to work with different people, and for its 24-7/365 command center. When the formal realize not everyone is going to pull their own weight. protocol was complete, Rosario was tapped to become How you adjust and how you handle those situations is the company’s first significant incidence manager. what will make you standout and be a differentiator.”
“I liked the BSIS approach to people, process, and technology. I knew from my own work experience that those three need to go together.”
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Jennifer Bullock Rosario in the First Citizens Bank IT command center.
ALUMNUS PROFILE
Xin Fu (Ph.D. ’08): Driving product innovations through the creative use of big data
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hile over 380 million professionals are using LinkedIn to forge connections and advance their careers, SILS alumnus Xin Fu and his team are using big data to identify ways the site can become an even more valuable resource. As Director of Data Science at LinkedIn, Fu leads data analysis efforts focused on the growth and engagement of the company, from attracting members and encouraging them to optimize their profiles, to connecting them with other members, relevant content, and new job opportunities. “My team is at the center of all these,” Fu said. “We partner closely with the product group and use data to drive the entire life cycle.” Since earning his Ph.D. and a concurrent M.S. in statistics from UNC, Fu has worked for some of the most recognizable names in the tech industry, starting with Google and then progressing to Microsoft before joining LinkedIn in 2012. Each position has given him the opportunity to examine human-computer interaction from a new angle, building on the passion that initially brought him to Chapel Hill. Fu grew up in China and completed his undergraduate and master’s degrees there. He targeted SILS for his doctoral studies based on its top national ranking, and said the School definitely lived up to its reputation once he arrived. Among his many positive experiences, Fu recalled conducting research under the guidance of Professor Diane Kelly and taking an influential user-centered design course with Professor Barbara Wildemuth. “That gave me a perspective that is still very valuable, reminding me all the time to think about the users and really try to see the world through their eyes,” he said. “That’s been super important for my career.” Fu said the person who had the greatest impact was his advisor, SILS Dean and Professor Gary Marchionini. “I learned a lot, not just through the dissertation process, but also through other interactions,” Fu said. “He was kind enough to invite many international students to his house during Thanksgiving. He took us to conferences. And just observing how well he worked with grad students and other faculty made a tremendous impression. He was my role model.” Fu settled on his dissertation topic, “Evaluating Sources of Implicit Feedback for Web Search,” after many discussions with Marchionini and a 12-week internship with Google in California at the end of his third year. After graduation, Fu returned to Google as a quantitative researcher embedded with the Google Maps
team. “I focused on understanding user experiences from a large sample perspective, examining logs to determine what people were doing on Google Maps and then trying to identify opportunities to make it better,” he said. At Microsoft, Fu joined the Bing data mining team. Rather than focusing strictly on analysis, he played a role in the end-to-end data life cycle, including collection and reformatting, which gave him a valuable new perspective on the process. Fu said he enjoys his current work with LinkedIn because he can see the positive impact it has on people. “I’m really driven by the company’s mission to connect the world’s professionals and make them more productive and successful,” he said. “We use big data to power the product, which in turn brings opportunities to our members. That –Xin Fu fundamentally makes me happy and proud. The ability to make sense out of data gives us the power to change the world, little by little.” Fu has authored over 50 refereed papers and journal articles in the areas of information organization and retrieval, Web search interface, and online user behavioral measurement. These days, his work schedule doesn’t allow him to publish as much as before, but he still enjoys applied research and sharing knowledge through talks and conference presentations, as well as serving as a reviewer for journals such as JASIS&T. Though he has lived in California since completing his Ph.D., Fu maintains a close relationship with SILS and agreed to serve on the newly formed Information Trends Advisory Roundtable (ITAR), a group of professionals who will make recommendations to help SILS courses and curricula adapt to changing conditions in the information professions. “My five years at SILS marked a turning point in my career, and I’m really grateful for the mentorship from Gary, Diane, and Barbara, and to all the people I worked with,” he said.
Xin Fu at the LinkedIn offices in Sydney, Australia.
“The ability to make sense out of data gives us the power to change the world, little by little.”
THE iSCHOOL @UNC-CHAPEL HILL
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ALUMNA PROFILE
Mae Lipscomb Rodney (Ph.D. ’86): Reflecting on a long and eventful academic library career
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uring Mae Lipscomb Rodney’s 32-years as Library Director at Winston-Salem State University (WSSU), the only constant seems to have been change. Rodney successfully led the C. G. O’Kelly Library through a number of physical transformations, personnel expansions, and technological implementations, helping it grow from a “small box” where staff members were asking for a functional typewriter, to a modern facility with high-tech resources and versatile collaborative spaces. “From the time I entered the library in 1983 until I left there in June, there was always something new coming down the pike,” Rodney said. “There was always some addition or modification that was needed, some new technology that had to be incorporated. There was so much to do, but I enjoyed what I was doing and I enjoyed the people I was working with. I always said, the library was never boring.” Rodney arrived at WSSU well-prepared for the challenges, with an MSLS, Ph.D., and more than 15 years of academic library experience at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). A native of Durham, N.C., Rodney attended NCCU as an undergraduate, initially planning to become a history teacher, but faculty encouraged her to add a library science minor because it offered more career options. She also got a job in the NCCU library after the director noticed her waiting each day for her sister-in-law, who worked in the library, so they could drive home together. This was the first in a series of “right-place, right-time” moments that helped shape Rodney’s career. After completing her bachelor’s degree, Rodney enrolled in the MSLS program at NCCU. Working in the serials department of the library made for an easy commute (“I just walked down the hall and took the classes,” she recalled), and Rodney stayed with the NCCU library for over a decade after finishing her graduate degree. She was there on the day when Edward Holley, Dean of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Library Science, came to discuss his school’s plan to begin offering doctoral degrees and its interest in recruiting African-Americans to the program. Rodney became UNC’s first, and during her time the only, African-American library science Ph.D. student. She credits the faculty for getting the program off to a good start.
“They all wanted that program to succeed,” she said. “When you have a unified team, it makes a difference. Everybody was working for the same goal. They wanted students to graduate with knowledge, with a certain level of capability and respect to become leaders in the field.” In particular, Rodney fondly remembers Robert Broadus, her dissertation committee chair, Haynes McMullen, who taught library history, Fred Roper, who along with Holley regularly conveyed his interest and desire to see students succeed, and Lester Asheim. “Dr. Asheim was such a gentlemen and scholar, and I admired him tremendously,” Rodney said. “His grace, demeanor, and authority reminded me a lot of my grandmother, who was a very strong woman. I saw the same traits in him.” After completing her coursework, Rodney returned to work at NCCU while finishing her dissertation, “The Influence of Certain Variables on Collection Use at Three Historically Black Liberal Arts Colleges.” She was promoted to head of reference, but not long –Mae Lipscomb Rodney after, the vice chancellor for academic affairs at WSSU contacted Holley in search of a library director, and Holley recommended Rodney. “Like they say, the rest is history,” Rodney said. That history includes a number of significant milestones, both for the WSSU library and for librarianship in general. Rodney managed the library during construction of an addition and extensive renovations that spanned between 1988 and 1996, and another refurbishment between 2008 and 2012 that brought additional meeting and study spaces, a larger instruction classroom, and an expanded media production lab. She oversaw the library’s transition from card to online catalogue and the rapid expansion of World Wide Web resources like NC LIVE, which in turn required the
“There was always some addition or modification that was needed, some new technology that had to be incorporated . . . the library was never boring.”
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THE iSCHOOL @UNC-CHAPEL HILL
Mae Lipscomb Rodney
library to provide computers and Internet access. The proliferation of new technology also resulted in a change in students’ mindsets, prompting Rodney and other librarians to adopt new strategies to demonstrate the value of their services. “Students came in knowing how to use computers, thinking that technology was going to answer every question they had, and that they knew how to find every answer that they needed, which was usually not the case at all,” Rodney said. Over the years, the library’s staff increased from five librarians and 10 support persons to 13 professionals, 10 technical specialists, and 10 part-time employees. Rodney is especially pleased that 10 former employees have gone on to earn library sciences degrees and two have advanced to administrative positions at other academic libraries. She hopes to soon see two complete their doctorates. She is also proud of the strong information literacy program the library developed, enabling it to offer instruction to every program on campus, provide over 360 information sessions, and embed librarians in four disciplines. To help finance the library’s improvements while still growing its endowment, Rodney and others founded the Friends of the Library Organization, which hosted annual programs and activities meant to not only fundraise, but also to inform and entertain the community. The need to provide original entertainment for some of these events motivated Rodney to try her hand at a new endeavor–playwriting. She ultimately penned three short plays there were performed: Zelda is Dead, a murder mystery based on the life of Zora Neal Hurston; Black Diamonds, a fictionalized history of her mother’s family including two daughters who attained college educations in the late 1800s; and India’s Story, a dramatization of her mother’s life and the impact she made on the community. “It was very strange, but very enlightening and uplifting to see the words that I put on paper come to life,” Rodney said. In another effort to boost the library’s endowment, Rodney compiled alumni biographies, assisted by the library staff who transformed them into video biog-
raphies, which were then presented by the WSSU’s Slater Book Society. While she is proud of these works, Rodney said the best biography she produced was for her late husband, Rev. Cedric S. Rodney, when he was retiring from his pastorate. In addition to the responsibilities she juggled at WSSU, Rodney served on national, state, and local committees, including the Salem College and Academy Board of Trustees and the NC Digital Heritage Center. She is a member of the UNC School of Information and Library Science (SILS) Board of Visitors and has been a generous supporter of SILS, especially the SILS Alumni Inclusion and Diversity (SAID) Committee. Since retiring, Rodney has been working on a collection of prayers that her late husband shared with the community, and exploring other activities like horticulture and cooking classes. She advises current and future librarians to be flexible and open to whatever the future has in store. “Be ready for change, and truly know how to make change happen,” she said. “Everything is so temporary now, you cannot be focused on one thing or think there is only one way to get something done. You have to be willing and able to hear new ideas, embrace new ideas and keep moving forward.”
Top photo: Mae Rodney at the UNC-Chapel Hill Commencment Ceremony after receiving her Ph.D. Lower photo, Mae Rodney on site during the construction of the O’Kelly Library addition. Photos Courtesy of the WinstonSalem State University Archives
SILS Alumni Inclusion and Diversity Committee promotes partnerships and leadership The fall 2013 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Homecoming marked the public launch of the SILS Alumni Inclusion and Diversity (SAID) Committee. A dynamic and visionary alumni group, the SAID committee’s mission is to help SILS create deeper partnerships with its African/African American, Asian/Asian American, Latina/o and American Indian
alumni. Engaging these important alumni constituencies via SAID is anticipated to generate new alumni leadership roles and funding opportunities critical to SILS’ mission. SAID members serve as trusted advisors, participating in strategic planning, fundraising and evaluating the School’s progress. The ultimate goal, as with any diversity initiative, is to build a workforce
that mirrors the nation’s rainbow population; to promote mentoring and professional networking opportunities; and to further encourage personal relationship development, thereby boosting recruitment from minority communities and advancing the profession. Gerald Holmes (MSLS ’85) and Samira Fazel Creel (MSIS ’04) are co-chairs of the SAID Committee. THE iSCHOOL @UNC-CHAPEL HILL
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SILS & EPA-RTP Library Celebrate 40 Years SILS and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Research Triangle Park (RTP) Library celebrated 40 years of collaboration, education, and experience on April 11, 2015. Current and former interns and staff members of the EPA-RTP Library, and SILS faculty and administrators gathered at the Carolina Club to help commemorate the milestone. Gary Marchionini, SILS Dean and Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor, and Deborah Balsamo (MSLS ’97), National Program Manager for the EPA’s National Library Network and former director of the EPA-RTP Library, welcomed the crowd and discussed the history and importance of the program. Several alumni and former staff also shared their memories of working in the Library. SILS has operated the EPA-RTP Library for 40 years and more than 300 graduate students have served as interns. Upon completing their master’s studies, those interns have gone on to become leaders in libraries and the information industry. In December 2014, SILS was awarded a new contract to continue operating the Library for the next five years. “This contract represents a highly effective and efficient partnership between a public university and a government research organization,” Dean Marchionini said. “SILS attracts experienced librarians to manage the EPA Library operations and the internships attract outstanding students to UNC-Chapel Hill. These interns not only gain practical experience in a full-service research library, but also work with library professionals to create new kinds of services to support EPA scientists and staff.” Link to more photos and read fun facts about the SILS and EPA-RTP Library at sils. unc.edu/alumni/epa-reunion. 16
THE iSCHOOL @UNC-CHAPEL HILL
First row, left-right: Selden Lamoureux (MSLS ’98), SILS Librarian Rebecca Vargha, and Dav Robertson (MSLS ’75). Fred Roper (A.B. ’60, MSLS ’62), Coyla Barry (MSLS ’75), and Alberta McKay (MSLS ‘77). Second row, l-r: SILS Dean Gary Marchionini, David Jensen (MSLS ’70), and Peg Jensen. April Errickson, former EPA Library Director and current EPA Federal Library Manager, Lara Handler (MSLS ’07), and Teri DeVoe (MSLS ’07). Third row, l-r: 2014-15 EPA Library interns Anna Loewenthal (MSLS ’15), Lisa Becksford (MSLS ’15), Ebony McDonald, and Mea Warren (MSLS ’15). Jon Simons (MSLS ’81), Pat Simons, and SILS Dean Gary Marchionini. Fourth row, l-r: Dav Robertson (MSLS ’75) and William Barrows (MSLS ’78). Barrie Hayes (MSLS ’95) and Eliza Robertson. Bob Sumner, Jr. (MSIS ’97) and Deborah Balsamo (MSLS ‘97). Last row, l-r: Julia Cleaver (MSLS ’87) talks about her EPA Library internship, with Ann Ingram (MSLS ’84), Laurie Leadbetter (MSLS ’86), and Derek Leadbetter nearby. SILS Dean Gary Marchionini addresses the crowd.
Top photo: Current and former EPA Library interns and staff members and SILS faculty and administrators gather on the balcony at the Carolina Club. Second row, left-right: Former EPA Library Clerk Creighton Wellman and current EPA Library Director Susan Forbes. Eliza Robertson, Siu-Ki Wong, Borree Kwok (MSLS ’92), and Dav Robertson (MSLS ’75). Christine Wells (MSLS ’11), Kathryn Lallinger (MSLS ’10), and Katie Jelen (MSLS ’09). Third row, l-r: Coyla Barry (MSLS ’75), Libby Smith, former EPA Library Director, and Patricia Langelier (MSLS ’79). SILS Dean Gary Marchionini, Sharon Walker, and Gerald Holmes (MSLS ’85). Billy King (MSLS ’90) and Kent Parks (MSIS ’97) with 2014-15 EPA Library interns Lisa Becksford (MSLS ’15), Meredith Hale, and Mea Warren (MSLS ’15).
ALA and other conference receptions bring together alumni and friends
The reception hosted by SILS and UNC Library during the 2015 American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference was a huge success. About 80 people stopped by Bar Norcini at the Villa Florence Hotel in San Francisco the evening of June 28. SILS Dean Gary Marchionini and Deputy University Librarian Carol Hunter updated alumni and friends on the latest happenings at UNC, and current MSLS student and Carolina Academic Library Associate (CALA) Abigail Flanigan shared her experiences. While the ALA reception may have been the largest SILS gathering at a conference this year, it was not the only one. Alumni and friends also met at the ACRL Conference in Portland, Ore., [hosted by Joan Petit (MSLS ’05), Gene Springs (MSLS ’06), and David Woodbury (MSIS ’09)], the MLA Annual Meeting in Austin, Tex., and the SAA Annual Meeting in Cleveland. At press time, plans were set for SILS participation in the alumni reception at the ASIS&T Annual Meeting in St. Louis in November. If you’ll be attending conferences in 2016, look for details on SILS gatherings at sils.unc.edu/events or follow @uncsils on Twitter.
Photos, clockwise from top left: Carol Hunter, Devan Donaldson (MSLS ’08), and SILS Librarian Rebecca Vargha. Alumni and friends at Bar Nocini. CALA Abigail Flanigan. David Singleton (MSLS ’92) and David Goble (MSLS ’94). THE iSCHOOL @UNC-CHAPEL HILL
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FACULTY RESEARCH PROFILE
Jaime Arguello: Finding Ways to Make Search Results More Effective and Useful
W
hen someone enters a term into an aggregated search engine like Google, the page that appears usually displays a combination of Web results and results from other back-end systems called verticals, which focus on specific types of media, such as images, videos, or news articles. In response to vague queries or queries that can have multiple meanings, search engines will offer a variety of results, but the way the results are presented can influence a person’s interpretation of the search’s success and in some cases may lead to the wrong conclusion. “What ends up happening sometimes in aggregated search is the different verticals are skewed toward different senses naturally,” said SILS Assistant Professor Jaime Arguello. “For example, if you type in Santa Fe, that could be the city or the SUV. The Web results may “real” user behavior. To this end, the project will develop be diversified, but the image vertical may produce more approaches for automatically deciding which results to photos of the car than the city. If someone isn’t looking display and how to display them to a user in particular for the car, they’re looking for the city, they may look at context. The third goal is to the test the generalizability the images and assume the results are all about the car. of the algorithms developed on two additional domains: They won’t treat the results independently.” digital library search and news story aggregation. In early 2015, Arguello received a National Science “Dr. Arguello’s work illustrates a unique strength of Foundation career award to support his research for the information science in that it entails human-centered next five years to find ways to make these aggregated studies that serve as the basis for algorithm developsearch results more effective and useful. ment,” said SILS Dean Arguello previGary Marchionini. ously investigated “Dr. Arguello’s work illustrates a unique Knowledge gained the best methods strength of information science in that it from the project will to predict which verticals search entails human-centered studies that serve improve aggregated search systems across engines should as the basis for algorithm development.” different domains. show and where to display them to – SILS Dean Gary Marchionini Additionally, the project will develop satisfy user’s needs software tools and resources that other researchers can for his dissertation research at Carnegie Mellon Univeruse to test their own solutions. sity, but search engine presentation at the time was more Beyond his NSF-funded project, Arguello is working straightforward, with vertical results blended into Web with SILS Assistant Rob Capra to study search assisresults. Now vertical results may be offset with different tance, ways that search engines could detect when peobackground colors or borders or may be collected in ple are having difficulty and offer to help. “Particularly different locations on the page. the type of intervention we’ve been thinking about is “I’m trying to determine how these page layout called a search trail,” Arguello explained. “It would show decisions influence your perception of other results,” you how someone else searched for something similar.” Arguello said. “If for example, vertical results are shown The approach could be particularly useful if you’re as blended, do they have a greater influence than if they unfamiliar with the subject and don’t know the exact are shown off to the side. We’ve even run experiments terms to produce the results you need. “It would help in where we’ve made a very tiny change, shown verticals those moments when you’re thinking ‘I cannot possibly with a small border that distinguishes them from Web results, and even that minor change in the interface does be the first person to look for this,’” Arguello said. Arguello, Capra, and SILS doctoral students Anita appear to have an effect.” Crescenzi and Emily Vardell presented a paper on their Arguello’s current project has three main goals. The current findings, titled “Differences in the Use of Search first is to further understand how users interact with Assistance for Tasks of Varying Complexity,” at the aggregated search results. The second is to develop SIGIR 2015 conference in Santiago, Chile, in August. aggregated search solutions that are better informed by 18
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Jaime Arguello in his office in Manning Hall.
FACULTY RESEARCH & RECOGNITION Jarrahi receives Kilgour Research Grant
SILS Assistant Professor Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi received the Eleanor M. and Frederick G. Kilgour Research Grant Award in late 2014. The competitive awards support pilot projects that include preliminary work that could possibly lead to full research proposals to external agencies. Jarrahi received the grant for a project titled “Mobile Knowledge Professionals and Digital Infrastructures.” “Mobile knowledge workers are found within most industries and organizations, and Mohammad Jarrahi they often serve as leads on creative projects in design, engineering, and software fields,” Jarrahi said. “Professional success of these workers requires sophisticated sociotechnical acumen regarding the availability, uses, and potential of various different digital resources, given that, on a regular basis, they must intelligently span organizational, temporal, and spatial boundaries in order to accomplish their work. This research project will study how mobile knowledge workers assemble these different digital resources into bottom-up and emergent digital infrastructures.”
SILS faculty and students recognized at 2014 ASIS&T meeting
SILS faculty and students received significant recognition at the ASIS&T annual meeting in November 2014. SILS Dean and Cary C. Boshamer Distinguished Professor Gary Marchionini was named the 2014 ASIS&T SIG USE Award Winner for Outstanding Contribution to Information Behavior Research. Professor Diane Kelly received the ASIS&T Award for Best Research in Information Science. Kelly and Wan-ching Wu (Ph.D. ’15) received the 2014 Best Information Behavior Conference Paper Award. Ph.D. student Leslie Thomson won the Best Information Behavior Conference Poster Award, and Curt Arledge (MSIS ’14) was recognized as the winner of the Pratt Severn Award for Best Student Research Paper.
Gotz named NCDS Data Fellow
David Gotz, SILS Associate Professor and Assistant Director of the Carolina Health Informatics Program (CHIP), was named a National Consortium for Data Science (NCDS) 2015 Data Fellow. His project, “Visual Analytics for Large-scale Temporal Event Data,” will produce novel visual analytics methods for large-scale temporal event data, which is time-stamped event data found in data sets as diverse as social networking logs and electronic health records. Current methods for exploring the tempoDavid Gotz ral event data and selecting subgroups for analysis are complicated and time consuming. Gotz plans to develop software for comprehensive visual analytics of these data in a way that is simpler, more intuitive, and more efficient. In September, he discussed his work in an NCDS DataBytes Webinar, which can be accessed at data2discovery.org/databytes-webinars. Gotz also co-edited the March 2015 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, which focused on the visualization of healthcare data.
Capra, Flaherty, and Jarrahi receive UNC Junior Faculty Development Awards
Robert Capra, Mary Grace Flaherty, and Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi, assistant professors at SILS, received UNC Junior Faculty Development Awards for 2015. Capra is using the award to investigate new approaches for helping search system users when they encounter difficulty finding information. Specifically, his work focuses on providing users with “search trails” that reveal the paths, queries, clicks, and annotations of other users who have completed similar searches. Flaherty’s research project has made the Carolina Health Assessment Research Tool Rob Capra (CHART), an online health behavior assessment created by UNC researchers (chart.unc.edu), available to adult patrons at the Farmville Public Library in mid-eastern North Carolina. The goal is to developm a better understanding of the online assessment tool’s influence on health behavior and the public library’s potential as a community health promotion partner. Jarrahi’s project seeks to gain a broad understanding of mobile knowledge workers’ information practices and the role of the emergent digital infrastructures that they enact in the course of carrying out these practices.
Mellon Foundation grant supports improving access to born-digital collections SILS received a grant for $750,000 from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in the fall of 2014 to support the BitCurator Access project (access.bitcurator.net), which focuses on simplifying and improving access to the contents of disk images in born-digital collections for use by libraries, archives, and museums (LAMs). The project is developing open-source software that supports the provision of access to disk images through three exploratory approaches: (1) building tools to support web-based services, (2) enabling the export of file systems and associated metadata, (3) the use of emulation environments. Closely associated with these access goals is redaction. BitCurator Access is developing tools to redact files, file system metadata, and targeted bitstreams within disks or directories. BitCurator Access builds on the previous work of the BitCurator project, a three-year, collaborative effort between SILS and the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities (MITH) at the University of Maryland. The project developed, packaged, and documented open source digital forensics tools to allow LAMs to advance their core digital curation goals. “Many LAMs within the U.S. and internationally are using these tools and methods to generate disk images, extract metadata to support ongoing preservation tasks, and store the resulting data in dedicated servers or shared network spaces,” said Cal Lee, SILS Associate Professor and principal investigator of the BitCurator Access project. “However, there is currently very limited support for provision of access to the contents of the disk images or associated metadata.” SILS Research Scientist Kam Woods is the co-principle investigator and technical lead for the BitCurator Access project. Sunitha Misra (MSIS ’14) is the project’s software developer, and SILS doctoral candidate Alexandra Chassanoff is serving as project manager. THE iSCHOOL @UNC-CHAPEL HILL
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Tufekci Named Inaugural Andrew Carnegie Fellow SILS Assistant Professor Zeynep Tufekci has been named an inaugural Andrew Carnegie Fellow by the Carnegie Corporation of New York for her proposal “Big Data and the Algorithmic Threat to Democracy and Civil Society.” The new annual fellowship program provides up to $200,000 to scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals in the humanities and social sciences who are pursuing research on Zeynep Tufekci the challenges facing U.S. democracy and international order in the next 25 years. Tufekci will be examining how computational processes are increasingly being used in decision making in many areas of life. “I’m especially interested in areas of subjective decision making,” she said. “For instance, if you’re hiring someone, there’s really no single right answer. These are gatekeeping jobs that used to be done by humans, and now more and more, they’re being done by software. That’s a pretty significant change, and we’re just at the beginning of it.” In addition to launching her Carnegie project research, Tufekci is completing work on her forthcoming book Beautiful Teargas: The Ecstatic, Fragile Politics of Networked Protest in the 21st Century, which will be published by Yale University Press. The book will explore how digital technologies are altering the way social movements operate. “These movements can go from 0-60 very quickly, but that comes with challenges,” Tufekci said. “You don’t have the formal or informal infrastructure for what comes next, and that can make it difficult for movements to impact policy and really get what they want.” Tufekci is also working on a project funded by a National Science Foundation grant to investiage the technology interests of middle school students. She and two post-doctoral research assistants are collaborating with local schools to survey students so they can learn more about how pre-teens and teenagers conceptualize technology, how the view computing jobs, what they think people do in such jobs, how that relates to the way they see themselves, and ultimately how that influences whether they are interested in careers in computing and IT. In addition to being a member of the SILS faculty, Tufekci is an adjunct faculty member with the UNC Department of Sociology, and a faculty associate at Harvard University’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society. She is a contributing opinion writer at The New York Times and publishes essays at The Message on Medium (medium. com/@zeynep). She can also be Zeynep Tufekci gave a TED Talk, “How the Internet has found on Twitter made social change easy to organize, hard to win,” at as @zeynep. the TEDGlobal 2014 conference in Rio de Janeiro. The talk is available online at www.ted.com/talks.
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FACULTY RESEARCH & RECOGNITION Kelly named IAH Academic Leadership Program Fellow
SILS Professor Diane Kelly has been selected for the UNC Institute for the Arts and Humanities (IAH) Academic Leadership Program for 2015-16. Eight Fellows are selected annually to engage in a series of activities to help them develop leadership skills, clarify their career commitments, build a leadership network within the campus, and extend their contacts to other leaders beyond the University.
Diane Kelly
Flaherty and Burns receive grant to develop “Read & Reach” Program
SILS Assistant Professor Mary Grace Flaherty and Faith Burns (MSLS ’15) received a $5,000 Carnegie-Whitney Grant from the American Library Association to develop “Read & Reach: A Resource for Promoting Physical Activity in Storytime Programs” in the spring of 2015. The project will provide children’s librarians across the U.S. with a comprehensive list of children’s books that encourage physical activity. The online resource will include detailed descriptions of the books and information to assist librarians in developing programs that involve the books for toddler and preschool story times. Burns, who graduated in May and now works for the Durham County Public Library, will collaborate with Flaherty over the next year to build the list of books. To help spread the word about the resource, Flaherty and Burns will present a panel at the Public Library Association (PLA) Conference in April 2016.
Faith Burns, left, and Mary Grace Flaherty examine a children’s book that could potentially be used to promote physical activities during storytime.
Hughes-Hassell promotes literacy, social justice through presentations and forthcoming book
SILS Professor Sandra Hughes-Hassell (Ph.D. ’98) delivered multiple presentations around the country in 2014-15, including “Multicultural Young Adult Literature as a Counterstorytelling Tool” at the National Council of Teachers of English Annual Conference in Washington, D.C., in November 2014, “Using Multicultural YA Literature to Examine the Impact of Racism on the Lives of Teens of Color” with Julie Stivers (MSLS ’15) at the YALSA Young Adult Literature Symposium in Austin, Tex., in November 2014, and “Be the Change You Seek: Social Justice in the LIS Classroom” at the ALISE Annual ConSandra Hughes-Hassell
ference in Chicago in January. Hughes-Hassell is also completing a book, Libraries, Literacy, and African American Youth: Research and Practice, with SILS doctoral student Casey Rawson and Dr. Pauletta Brown Bracy of North Carolina Central University. Scheduled to be published by Libraries Unlimited next summer, the book will blend research on the instructional practices needed to better support African American youth with examples of successful work being done by practitioners in public and school libraries across the county.
Moore delivers invited talk at EPA-RTP Library
Reagan Moore, Director of the Data Intensive Cyber Environments (DICE) Center at UNC, SILS Professor, and Chief Scientist at the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI), gave a talk titled “Data Management: Concepts and Challenges” to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientists, researchers, and librarians at the EPA Library in Research Triangle Park on May 5. Moore described the capabilities of iRODS (integrated Rule-Oriented Data System), a highly configurable, open source data management software developed by the DICE Group and used by research organizations and government agencies worldwide. He explained how iRODS has been successfully utilized by several UNC-Chapel Hill organizations to help illustrate ways in which the EPA could manage their scientific data collections.
SILS Professor Reagan Moore at the iRODS User Group Meeting 2015 in Chapel Hill in June. The event included presentations highlighting new features available in the iRODS 4.1 release and ways in which the software has been utilized around the world. Visit irods.org/ugm2015 for more information and links to the presentation slides. Photo by Josh Coyle, RENCI.
Rajasekar Named McColl Professor
SILS Professor Arcot Rajasekar has been appointed Francis Carroll McColl Term Professor effective July 1, 2015. In addition to his appointment with SILS, Rajasekar is a chief scientist at the Renaissance Computing Institute (RENCI) and co-director of the Data Intensive Cyber Environments (DICE) Center at UNC. He has been involved in research and development of data grid middleware systems for over a decade and is a lead originator behind the concepts in the Storage Resource Broker (SRB) and the integrated Rule Oriented Data Systems (iRODS). Also in July, Rajasekar was interviewed by The Chronicle of Higher EduArcot Rajasekar cation’s Wired Campus blog about the DataBridge (databridge.web.unc.edu) project, for which he is the lead principal investigator. He explained how Databridge is working to create a one-stop shop for data sets that would otherwise be lost to the public, sets often referred to as “dark data.”
Jones receives IBM Faculty Award for Web preservation project
Paul Jones, Director of ibiblio and Clinical Professor at SILS and the UNC School of Media and Journalism, received a 2015 IBM Faculty Award for $20,000 in July. The funds will help support a project titled “Keeping the Historic Web Alive and Accessible: Preserving and Serving.” Jones intends to attack the problem of historic Web preservation using ibiblio.org as an example and employing existing virtualization and virtual machine Paul Jones management tools, in particular IBM supported VCL Apache. Jones and his team will evaluate the tools and modify as needed, eventually deploying a software environment for real world access as a part of the ibiblio.org program. The project’s findings and software will be distributed with the goal of developing a support and innovation community among archivists seeking to preserve, yet allow access to, interactive Web sites.
Missen invited to discuss bridging the digital divide at Washington Post forum
Cliff Missen, SILS Associate Professor and Director of the WiderNet@UNC research lab, was invited to discuss ways to make access to the Internet’s resources more widespread and equitable at a forum hosted by The Washington Post in Washington, D.C. on October 8. “Bridging the Digital Divide” brought together lawmakers, city leaders, and technology experts, including U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julián Cliff Missen Castro and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. To watch Missen’s panel discussion and other highlights from the event, visit wapo.st/digdivide.
SILS welcomes Melanie Feinberg to faculty Melanie Feinberg has joined the SILS faculty as an associate professor. She is teaching INLS 720, Metadata Architectures and Applications, for the fall of 2015. Feinberg was most recently an assistant professor at the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin. She is a classificationist whose research approach combines design with the humanities. Her work focuses on learning how to read and write databases to complement our engiMelanie Feinberg neering and mining of them. She received her Ph.D. in 2008 from the iSchool at the University of Washington; she has a master’s degree from the iSchool at Berkeley (2004) and was an undergraduate at Stanford (1992). In her professional career before returning to academia, she was a content strategist and technical editor, working at companies such as Apple Computer, Scient, and PeopleSoft. “I’m thrilled to be joining SILS, with its incredible faculty and students,” Feinberg said. “Everyone has been so friendly and welcoming! I’m especially looking forward to working with others at SILS who are interested in organizing information. It’s great to share my enthusiasm for the beautiful mysteries of classification.” THE iSCHOOL @UNC-CHAPEL HILL
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STAFF NEWS
New faces in Manning Hall Brian Nussbaum became desktop
support and Help Desk manager for SILS in October. Along with providing personal computing support for SILS faculty, staff, and students, he is responsible for technical and analytical assistance in support of computing needs as they pertain to academic, research, and administrative activities. He will provide training in operating systems and applications and oversee the moving Brian Nussbaum and changing equipment. Nussbaum came to SILS from UNC ITS. He had previously worked for the UNC Computer Repair Center and Dispatch Services and as the tech/ onsite manager for Intrex Computers, providing services from domain maintenance to data recovery. Nussbaum is a Lenovo and Apple Certified Technician, and has A+, Network+, and MCP certifications. He has a bachelor’s degree in computer information from Lees McRae College.
Katherine Perales assumed the role of
communications coordinator at SILS in December 2014. Originally from Kentucky, Perales holds a B.A. in English from Brescia University and a M.F.A. in creative writing from North Carolina State University. She has over 10 years of experience in a higher education communications, most recently with the UNC School of Medicine, Department of Allied Health Katherine Perales Sciences. Perales coordinates internal and external communications at SILS, including print and e-newsletter production, event publicity and media relations, Web site content development, social media management, advertising placement and design, and listserv announcements. She works with all SILS constituents to help tell the School’s story by highlighting the accomplishments and dedication of its students, faculty, staff, administrators, and alumni.
Cassie Ragan joined SILS as an admin-
istrative office support specialist in 2015. A native of Chapel Hill, Ragan graduated from UNC-Wilmington in 2010 with a B.S. in business with a concentration in marketing. She previously worked as a national account manager for Oenophilia, a wine accessory wholesale distributor based out of Hillsborough, N.C., for over two years, and briefly as a personal banker Cassie Ragan for Suntrust Bank before coming to UNC. Ragan handles a variety of responsibilities, including welcoming visitors to the SILS front office, answering the SILS main phone line, working with faculty and other staff members to coordinate events, and contributing to projects that help advance finance, student services, development, and communications objectives.
Kaitlyn Murphy is the new international programs coordinator. See page 7 for more details. 22
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Rebecca Vargha Honored by SLA for Commitment to Mentorship SILS Librarian Rebecca Vargha received the Rose L. Vormelker Award at the opening session of the Special Libraries Association (SLA) Annual Conference in Boston in June. The award is presented annually to members in good standing who teach and/or mentor students or working professionals. A press release from the SLA described the recipients of the 2015 award as “information professionals who actively work to advance the developRebecca Vargha ment of their fellow librarians and students.” Vargha has been the SILS Librarian since 2001. In addition to supervising the library’s staff, her responsibilities include collection development, teaching, liaising with departmental faculty, and reference and research assistance. An SLA Fellow, Vargha was president of SLA in 2006-2007 and has served on numerous committees and councils during her 35-year SLA career.
Martha Martin Earns Certified Research Administrator Designation Martha Martin, contracts and grants administrator for SILS, became a Certified Research Administrator (CRA) in June. CRA designation is granted by the Research Administrators Certification Council to individuals who have demonstrated the knowledge necessary to serve as an administrator of professional and sponsored research programs. Candidates must have at least three years of related experience and pass Martha Martin the CRA exam. Martin said the certification helps ensure that professionals “understand research administration from proposal submission through closeout, especially in relation to federal policies and regulations.” Martin joined SILS in April, having previously worked in the UNC-Chapel Hill Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) for the past four years. She came to UNC in 2005 after moving to Chapel Hill from NYC, where she enjoyed a successful career in media sales and marketing management.
Tammy Cox receives Hovious Award for service to staff at Carolina Tammy Cox, assistant dean of administration for SILS, was one of three UNC-Chapel Hill Employee Forum delegates to receive the Kay W. Hovious Award in June. The award recognizes exceptional service to staff at UNC. Although Cox has been at Carolina for only six years, she has an impressive 23 years of state service. She has served as Forum treasurer and has been vital to helping plan and budget for Forum events and activities. Tammy Cox In addition, she is a regular contributor to InTouch. She is currently working toward a master’s degree in adult education and plans to teach college-level courses in the future.
Career services offers new opportunities for professional development In addition to providing extensive one-on-one counsel to students and alumni seeking jobs, internships, and field experiences, SILS Career Services Coordinator Lori Haight, Ed.D., organized a variety of workshops, activities, and events to help give students a professional edge. For the third year in a row, Haight offered a fiveweek “Boot Camp” for master’s students, covering topics including resume development, telling your story, interviewing, and cover letters. New for this year was an etiquette dinner, held in March at the Ackland Art Museum, which offered social etiquette guidelines for dining, traveling, and networking. SILS connections with employers continues to grow, and ISSUE (Information Science Student Undergraduates Empowered) sponsored several sessions in the fall and spring with employers, including Athena Health, Credit Suisse, Fidelity, and GE. Several BRANCH (BSIS Recent Alumni Network of Chapel Hill) events have helped connect current students with recent alumni. Haight is also working with alumni partners to develop a new mentorship initiative (contact her at lhaight@email.unc.edu if you are interested).
From left Brittney King (BSIS ’15), Ryan Burch (BSIS ’15, current MSIS student), John Rusnak (BSIS ’15), Connie Zhu (current BSIS student), and Jeanne Marie Tan (BSIS ’15, current MSIS student) were among the 17 undergraduate and graduate students who attended the SILS etiquette dinner at the Ackland Art Museum.
SILS co-sponsored this fall’s Computer Science & Information Technology Career Week in September, which gave students the opportunity to engage with employees and recruiters from CapTech, Capital One, Cisco, Google, IBM, and many other top companies.
2015 Spring Commencement SILS hosted its annual spring commencement on May 10 in the Great Hall of the Frank Porter Graham Student Union. Faculty, staff, family, friends, and alumni gathered to celebrate the accomplishments of 48 Bachelor of Science in Information Science (BSIS) students, 29 Master of Science in Information Science (MSIS) students, 50 Master of Science in Library Science (MSLS) students, and five Doctor of Philosophy in Information and Library Science (PhD) students. The event also included the presentation of the 2015 Deborah Barreau Award for Teaching Excellence to SILS assistant professor Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi and the 2015 Distinguished Alumni Award to Tim Bucknall (MSLS ’89). The ceremony began with a welcome from Katherine Lynn Meyer (BSIS ’13, MSIS ’15). Susan Dumais, Distinguished Scientist at Microsoft and Deputy Managing Director of the Microsoft Research Lab in Redmond, Washington, delivered the commencement address, “Shaping Our Information Futures with Purpose, Passion and Persistence.”
SILS Associate Professor Claudia Gollop presented Diversity Advocate Certificates to Kai Ewing, Morgan McKeehan, and Alexander Poole. The Elfreda Chatman Research Award was presented by Associate Professor Brian Sturm to Elizabeth Brooke Guthrie and Katherine Lynn Meyer. Professor Helen Tibbo announced Aaron Steven Kirschenfeld and Rachel Danielle Walton as recipients of the Dean’s Achievement Award for the highest quality masters’ papers submitted during the prior academic year. William Cross (MSLS ’11), immediate past president of the SILS Alumni Association, presented the Outstanding Service to the School Award to 2015 BSIS graduate Brittney L. King and Mary Elizabeth Peterson (BSIS ’13, MSIS ’15). Prior to the recognition of the graduates, SILS Dean Gary Marchionini announced the presentation of the Edward G. Holley for the Good of the Order Award to SILS Executive Assistant Susan Sylvester (MSLS ’05). Read more and link to more photos at sils.unc. edu/news/2015/sils-commencement.
Above, SILS Assistant Professor Jaime Arguello, right, who received the 2014 Deborah Barreau Award for Teaching Excellence, presents 2015 recipient Mohammad Hossein Jarrahi with his certificate. Left, students turn their tassels at the end of the cermeony.
STUDENT NEWS BSIS students receive scholarships Two $1,000 merit-based scholarships are awarded to newly admitted BSIS students in the fall and spring semesters. In spring 2015, Ellanor Jordan and Lincoln Sward (BSIS ’15) were selected for the scholarships. Emily Crockett and Luman Ouyang received the scholarships in the fall of 2015. “I am very grateful for such a generous award,” Jordan said. “It means a lot that my professors and advisers see my passion for information science. I appreciate the unwavering support SILS demonstrates toward its undergraduate students.”
Baker & Taylor Scholarships help six students explore librarianship abroad Six SILS master’s students had the opportunity to study librarianship in Europe thanks to the Baker & Taylor Scholarships for SILS summer seminars. Rebecca Williams and Anne Harding each received full scholarships, and Sara Thomas, Ebony McDonald, Sara Paschal, and Olivia Dorsey received partial scholarships. Three of the students attended the seminar in Prague, which SILS administers with Charles University, and three students took part in the London seminar, conducted in partnership with University College London. “I never had the chance to study abroad as an undergraduate, and I would not have been able to participate in a program like this without financial support, so I am extremely grateful that Baker & Taylor once again made it possible for students to take advantage of this fantastic opportunity,” Harding said. THE iSCHOOL @UNC-CHAPEL HILL
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STUDENT NEWS
Kreft’s research on police body camera data garners award and attention
MSLS student and CALA Abigail Flanigan received the 2015 Jan Merrill-Oldham Professional Development Grant, awarded by the Preservation and Reformatting Section (PARS) of the Association for Library Collections & Technical Services (ALCTS) to support travel to the ALA Annual Conference.
Justin Kreft, a master’s student studying information science and public administration, received the fall 2015 Elfreda Chatman Research Award for his master’s proposal outlining plans to gather and analyze data to help agencies estimate the data storage and information retrieval impacts of police body camera systems. His research was profiled in the July 7, 2015, edition of endeavors, the online magazine of research and creative activity at UNC.
Students receive scholarships to attend MER Conference
Ahmed uses AIMS grant to conduct research in Morocco
Flanigan awarded professional development grant
Zekun Hu, first-year doctoral student, and Halley Hair (MSLS ’15) were awarded scholarships to attend the 2015 National Conference on Managing Electronic Records (MER) in Chicago. The scholarships, funded by MER sponsors Cohasset Associates, cover the cost of conference registration, as well as meals and receptions. In return, scholarship winners arrive early and help run the conference.
Hale races to another victory Meredith Hale was the overall female winner of the Cardinal Track Club’s Four on the Fourth race held over the Fourth of July weekend. Hale, who is earning a dual degree in information science and art history with the intention of becoming an art librarian, has been running for 17 years. She has placed first in a number of races, including the Green Jewel 50K and the Inland Trail Marathon.
Lopez awarded ALA Spectrum Scholarship Natalia Lopez, a first-year MSLS student, was awarded a 2015 Spectrum Scholarship from the American Library Association. Offered through the ALA’s Office for Diversity, the Spectrum program aims to increase the number of racially and ethnically diverse professionals working as leaders in the field of library and information science to better position institutions at the core of today’s culturally diverse communities.
New master’s students receive scholarships from international honor society Becca Greenstein and Alena Principato, two first-year MSLS students, were presented with Sarah Rebecca Reed Scholarships for fall 2015. Beta Phi Mu, the international library and information studies honor society, awards only two of these scholarships annually to outstanding new library or information students.
Sumayya Ahmed, a SILS doctoral candidate, spent three months in Morocco this summer with support from an American Institute of Maghrib Studies (AIMS) grant. Ahmed’s research focuses on documentary heritage as it relates to the digital preservation of Arabic, Amazigh (Berber), and Islamic manuscripts in North Africa (the Maghrib). Her proposed dissertation is titled “Documentary Heritage Disclosure: The Case of the Hassan II Prize for Manuscripts and Archival Documents in Post-colonial Morocco.”
Brennan presents research at JCDL Doctoral Consortium Kathy Brennan, Ph.D. student and teaching fellow at SILS, participated in the proceedings of the Joint Conference on Digital Libraries (JCDL) Doctoral Consortium in Knoxville, Tenn., in late June. Brennan presented an abstract of the preliminary approach she plans to take for her dissertation research, titled “User relevance assessment of personal finance information: What is the role of cognitive abilities?” Her overall objective is to develop an understanding of how people read and evaluate information about personal finance that takes into account their individual cognitive differences.
Murillo accepts position with Novozymes, invitation to participate in international data diplomacy workshop
Doctoral candidate Angela P. Murillo has accepted a full-time R&D information scientists/research scientist position at the Research Triangle Park offices of Novozymes (novozymes.com), a biotech company based out of Copenhagen, Denmark. She had been working part-time in their R&D department since November 2014. Her new role intersects her many interests and expertise as an earth scientist, information scientist, and researcher. Murillo has also been asked to participate in the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) Data Diplomacy Workshop at the New York Academy of
Warm Welcome: Fall orientation provides information, fellowship, and recognition for SILS grad students
SILS hosted its annual fall orientation for new graduate students on August 17. The day included presentations on professional values, career services, international opportunities, and available resources. Breakfast in the sculpture garden was provided by the Information & Library Science Student Association (ILSSA) and lunch on the lawn in front of Manning Hall was co-sponsored by SILS and the SILS Alumni Association (SILSAA). Just before lunch, SILSAA President Joe Williams (MSLS ’01) presented the Elfreda Chatman Research Award to MSIS student Justin Kreft, and John Blythe (MSIS ’09) presented the Beta Phi Mu Epsilon Chapter Scholarship to MSIS student Bess Powell and MSLS student Colin Post. The fun continued into the evening with campus tours and a dinner at Mediterranean Deli organized by ILSAA, which hosted activities for new and returning students each day for the rest of the week. 24
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Top photo, breakfast in the sculpture garden. Above and left, lunch in front of Manning Hall.
Medicine in October 2015. As described by the WUN, data diplomacy is an emerging cross-disciplinary idea that addresses the role of diplomacy and negotiation in relation to data access and sharing, as well as the impact of data on diplomatic relationships among nations and organizations. Murillo is participating as a representative from the International Council for Science - Committee on Data for Science and Technology, Early Career Data Professionals Working Group (ISU CODATA, ECDP). She has been Core Member of the CODATA ECDP Working Group since 2011.
Ramdeen publishes article in GeoResJ, receives fellowship, accepts invitations to deliver talks Doctoral candidate Sarah Ramdeen had an article published in a special issue of GeoResJ focused on rescuing legacy data for future science. Ramdeen’s article, “Preservation challenges for geological data at state geological surveys,” introduces geological collections and provides examples of preservation challenges surrounding these collections. The article suggests future research directions, including collaborations with library and information scientists, archivists, and museums curators. Ramdeen was also awarded a Research Data Alliance/U.S. fellowship. She is working with mentor Ruth Duerr on documenting metadata standards related to provenance and context of research data. Preliminary results were presented at the 6th RDA Plenary in Paris in September. Additionally, Ramdeen has been invited to give two talks. The first is at the Geological Society of America’s annual meeting in November at a session titled “Transforming the Life of the Geoscientist from Planning to Post-Submission: Cyberinfrastructure as an Agent of Change.” The second will be delivered at the American Geophysical Union’s fall meeting in December as part of a union session titled “Going, Going, Gone: Future Proofing the 20th Century Record of Our Science.”
Tayag and collaborators drive project aimed at transforming LIS through social justice
Doctoral student Elnora Kelly Tayag is part of an inter-university working group that is developing the Social Justice Collaboratorium (SJC) project, an online collaborative space that connects students, faculty, and librarians to one another and to materials related to social justice in a LIS context, including research, teaching, professional activities, and community work. Tayag’s collaborators include RaShaunna Brannon and Myna Morales (University of Illinois Urbana Champaign), LaVerne Gray (University of Tennessee-Knoxville), Miraida Morales (Rutgers), and Mario Ramirez (UCLA)–all current ALA Spectrum Doctoral Fellows. As part of the development process, the students organized a Social Justice Design Symposium on June 6-7, hosted by the University of Maryland and generously funded by ALA and IMLS. The symposium brought together people who have been researching and working in the area of social justice and LIS to inform the design and co-develop the SJC. The symposium takeaways will guide the creation of a working prototype of the SJC that addresses needs, confronts issues, and explores the intersections of social justice. The team will be conductParticipants in the Social Justice Design Symposium ing user testing on the dialogue during the June event in Maryland. prototype this winter.
Thomson wins ASIS&T SIG-USE travel award Leslie Thomson, a third-year doctoral student studying information practices, won the 2015 ASIS&T SIG-USE Student Conference Travel Award, which includes a $500 check and assistance with the cost of conference registration. While at the ASIST Annual Meeting, Leslie will present at the SIG-USE Symposium, present a paper during the main conference, and present a poster during the devoted poster session.
Vardell authors book on Affordable Care Act Doctoral student Emily Vardell is proud to announce the publication of her first book, The Medical Library Association Guide to Answering Questions about the Affordable Care Act. The book is designed to serve as a practical guide for librarians seeking to learn more about the Affordable Care Act (ACA); locate authoritative, nonbiased information regarding the ACA; and serve patrons searching for ACA information for personal or research purposes. Vardell edited the volume, which includes chapters on health insurance literacy, how to answer ACA reference questions, and an annotated bibliography of ACA resources for consumers and researchers.
COYL hosts banned book reading
The Coalition of Youth Librarians (COYL), a SILS student organization, hosted a banned book reading on September 29 in front of Manning Hall. It was one of many events on campus organized by the UNC Center for Media Law and Policy to celebrate First Amendment Day, which is observed during National Banned Books Week. Chancellor Carol L. Folt kicked off the reading by sharing a passage from Look Homeward, Angel by UNC alumnus Thomas Wolfe. SILS students then spread across the Manning Hall lawn to share excerpts from their own favorite banned books. Susan Brown (MSLS ’01), Director of Chapel Hill Public Library and SILS Distinguished Alumna, was also on hand to distribute full sets of the library’s Banned Book Trading Cards.
Above, SILS Dean Gary Marchionini, Chancellor Carol Folt, and Dr. Cathy Packer listen as COYL president Jeanne Stroud introduces some of the banned books that will be read. Left, SILS student Becca Greenstein reads from King and King. THE iSCHOOL @UNC-CHAPEL HILL
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Letter from SILSAA President
Dear SILS Alumni:
It is that time of year at Carolina again! As I write, fall is in the air and campus is teeming again with new and returning students, faculty, staff, family, friends and, of course, alumni. This summer marked the installation of a new SILS Alumni Board. I am honored to be serving as this year’s president and am looking forward to another active year of alumni events. In fact, our board members got off to an early start this year by meeting and welcoming SILS grad students at the fall orientation lunch. It was a beautiful afternoon to spend sitting at picnic tables in the grass in front of Manning Hall, sharing lunch and getting to know all the new students. I also had the privilege to deliver the spring/summer Elfreda Chatman Research Award at orientation on behalf of the board. This year’s Chatman Award went to MSIS student Justin Kreft for his master’s paper proposal “Measuring Impact of Body Worn Cameras (BWC) on Data Management and Record Retention for Law Enforcement Agencies.” Now that the fall semester has begun, new SILS CALAs have started working in positions and projects across the University Libraries, gaining on-the-job skills and experiences and sharing their own insights and ideas with new colleagues. Programs like the CALAs and SILS field experiences, which place SILS students in real-world projects and positions, really help to set our program apart. They also help prepare our students to succeed after graduation. The Alumni Board will also be working hard this year to create events and programs for students, including another popular speed networking event and SILS reunions at conferences and meetings. I hope to meet many of you at this year’s upcoming events! In the meantime, if you have a field experience placement idea for a SILS student, or would like to participate in another event, please contact Lori Haight, SILS Career Service Coordinator, at lhaight@email.unc.edu. Finally, remember that distance no longer makes it hard to stay connected to your SILS friends and colleagues– there are lots of ways you can stay involved! Consider reconnecting with SILS through Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Flickr, or the SILS alumni e-mail listserv. I hope you all have a wonderful and productive year. On behalf of the Alumni Board, we all look forward to meeting and working with many of you in the coming months and years. Thank you for all you do to make the SILS community what it is today! Best wishes,
Joe M. Williams (MSLS ’01), SILSAA President
Stay Connected to SILS! facebook.com/uncsils twitter.com/uncsils vimeo.com/uncsils flickr.com/photos/uncsils Join the UNC SILS Alumni Association group on LinkedIn For information on upcoming SILS events at conferences and on campus, visit sils.unc.edu/events.
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Sign-up for the SILS alumni listserv by sending a message to contactsils@unc.edu with the subject SUBSCRIBE TO SILS-ALUMNI. Once you have subscribed, you can send/receive through sils-alumni@listserv.unc.edu. Visit sils.unc.edu/news for the latest news and for expanded stories on many of the faculty, students, and alumni featured in this newsletter. You can also subscribe to our newsfeed at sils.unc.edu/rss.
ALUMNI UPDATES Barbara Bonomo Newnam (MSLS ’67) was awarded “Emeritus Staff Status” for outstanding service 19852011 from the Board of Trustees at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. She was the librarian at NCSSM until her retirement in 2011.
Barbara Newnam
Tim Dempsey (MSLS ’80) published No Fear: Tales of a Change Agent or Why I Couldn’t Fix Nortel Networks in 2014. The book, a business memoir describing the fall of Nortel Networks from Dempsey’s perspective as the former head of organization development, received a favorable review in the April 21, 2015, edition of the Toronto Globe and Mail. In 2015, Dempsey published Schneid’s: A Novel, a coming of age story set in Queens, NY, during the 1960’s. Christie Degener (MSLS ’84) became Interim Director of the UNC-Chapel Hill Health Sciences Library in August. In her 31 years at the HSL, Degener has held eight positions in the resources management department, including both assistant and acting head of the department, as well as several positions in the areas of cataloging services, serials, selection and access, and acquisitions services. Mitchell (Mitch) Whichard (MSLS ’81) retired in June after more than 35 years with the UNC-Chapel Hill Library. After serving in the U.S. Navy, Whichard earned his undergraduate degree in journalism from UNC and worked for the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., before returning to Carolina to earn his master’s degree in library science. He became the reference and non-print (now called the Media Resources Center) librarian in January 1980 and remained in that position until becoming the interim head of circulation in Davis Library in 1993. Even after becoming the permanent circulation librarian, he continued to act as collection development librarian for the MRC from 1993-2004. Dr. Gregory A. Crawford (MSLS ’84), Ph.D., has been appointed Interim Director of the Penn State Harrisburg School of Humanities. The School offers undergraduate and master’s degrees in humanities, English, and communications, and undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral degrees in American Studies. Crawford had previously been with the Penn State Harrisburg Library for 22 years, serving as director for the last 10.
Kathryn (Katy) Johnston (MSLS ’89) has been appointed the Director of the Cardinal Meyer Library at Marian University in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
Steven Gee (MSIS ’01) and Angela Hon (MSIS ’01) welcomed another son, Jason Gee, on August 11, 2014. He was 7 lbs. 14 oz. and 21 inches long.
the award for her dissertation: “Books Across Borders and Between Libraries: UNESCO and the Politics of Postwar Cultural Reconstruction, 1945-1951.”
Deborah (Kriebel) Haynes (MSIS ’92) graduated with Honors in Theology from the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, Penn., in May 2015 with a MAMS degree. She is now approved and awaiting call as a Diaconal Minister in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. SILS classmate Elizabeth (Roberts) Finney (MSLS ’92) attended the graduation to celebrate with Haynes and her family.
Jeff Bollinger (MSIS ’03) has co-authored a book, Crafting the InfoSec Playbook: Security Monitoring and Incident Response Master Plan, which was published by O’Reilly Media in May. The book demonstrates a data-centric approach to distilling complex security monitoring, incident response, and threat analysis ideas into their most basic elements, enabling IT and security professionals to develop their own threat intelligence and incident detection strategy.
Dr. Beth Ellington (MSIS ’05, Ph.D. ’12) has been appointed Assistant Professor in the Computer Information Systems and Supply Chain Management Department in the Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University.
Dr. Miriam Intrator (MSLS ’03), Ph.D., received the 2015 Phyllis Dain Library History Dissertation Award from the Library History Round Table of the American Library Association. Intrator, who earned her Ph.D. in modern European history at The City University of New York, received Deborah Haynes and Elizabeth Finney
Steven Cramer (MSLS ’94), Business Librarian at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, won the 2015 PrivCo Prize for Excellence in Business Librarianship. The prize is awarded to a librarian who best embodies the core value of the profession, as selected by an independent committee of leading business librarians committed to the adoption of best practices. Dr. Lynn W. Zimmerman (MSLS ’96), Ph.D., Professor Emerita from Purdue University Calumet’s College of Education, has been selected to serve as a Fulbright Scholar for the 2015-2016 academic year. In the fall of 2015 she will be at Baranovichi State University in Baranovichi, Belarus, where she will be teaching students in the English language teacher program. During the spring of 2016 she will be at the International Relations Institute of Moldova in Chisinau, Moldova, teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in English related to culture and intercultural communication. Tim Shearer (MSLS ’97) was appointed Director of Library and Information Technology for the UNC-Chapel Hill Library in May. Shearer will lead a comprehensive technology program for the Library and will manage the LIT department, including planning, budgeting, and setting policy. Harry Ahlas (MSIS ’01) and wife Victoria welcomed a second daughter, Valerie, on August 11. She joins sister, Anna.
Joan Petit (MSLS ’05) was promoted to Associate Professor with Indefinite Tenure at Portland State University, where she serves as Communications and Outreach Librarian. Ben Carter (MSLS ’06) became Director of the Uncle Remus Regional Library System in July. The system is composed of nine member libraries in six counties with regional offices in Madison, Ga. One of the members, the Monroe-Walton County Library, was the public library of Carter’s childhood.
Gerald Holmes (MSLS ’85) receives multiple honors for contributions to the library profession and diversity Gerald Holmes, Reference Librarian and Diversity Coordinator for University Libraries, University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), and co-chair of the SILS Alumni Inclusion and Diversity (SAID) Committee, has received four major honors in the last year, recognizing his contributions to the library profession and his promotion of diversity within it. In 2014, Holmes was named the American Library Association Achievement in Library Diversity Research Honoree. In 2015, he received the Black Caucus of the American Library Association Distinguished Service to the Library Profession Award. The award, which Gerald Holmes was formally presented at the 9th National Conference of African American Librarians in August, honors individuals who have made significant and extraordinary contributions in service to the library profession. In November, the UNC-Chapel Hill General Alumni Association will present Holmes with the Harvey E. Beech Outstanding Alumni Award, which recognizes black alumni who have been stellar leaders within the University community and/or within their local communities. Holmes has also been chosen for the North Carolina Library Association Distinguished Library Service Award for the 2014-2015 biennium. Holmes’ career has focused on the development of early career librarians, and through that work he has consistently encouraged individuals from underrepresented backgrounds to choose the library profession. As a member of the UNCG Libraries’ administrative faculty, he led the creation of the Libraries’ Post MLS Diversity Residency Program and its Diversity Committee. As the Diversity Coordinator, he took on the additional responsibility as a co-principal investigator for three Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) grants designed to recruit and prepare minority librarians for serving their communities in Julie Stivers (MSLS ’15), Rose Dawson (MSLS’86), the 21st Century. As a credit to his work, 55 Gerald Holmes (MSLS ’85), and SILS Professor Sandra librarians from underrepresented populations Hughes-Hassell (Ph.D. ’98) at the National Conference of African American Librarians in August. are now working. THE iSCHOOL @UNC-CHAPEL HILL
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ALUMNI UPDATES Teri DeVoe (MSLS ‘07) was promoted to Program Officer for the LSTA Grants to States program at the Institute of Museum and Library Services, in Washington, D.C. In her three years at IMLS, she has supported both the Discretionary and Grants to States programs in the Office of Library Services. She will now oversee a portfolio of 10 Teri DeVoe at the Library of Congress over Labor states as well as the U.S. Territories and Day weekend, to celebrate the National Book Festival, the Freely Associated which IMLS helps sponsor. States. Kari Kozak (MSLS ’07) received the 2014 Arthur Benton University Librarian’s Award for Excellence. The award is given biennially to a University of Iowa Libraries’ staff member who has demonstrated outstanding commitment and/or leadership in furthering the mission of the libraries in providing service to the university community. Heather McCullough (MSIS ’07) delivered the keynote address, “Connection, Creativity, Community: Making Meaning through Digital Scholarship,” at Albright College’s Teaching and Learning Showcase in Reading, Penn., on May 28. She is the Associate Director for Instructional Programs at the Center of Teaching and Learning at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Sarah Carrier (MSIS ’08) was appointed North Carolina Research and Instruction Librarian by the UNC-Chapel Hill Library in June. Carrier will coordinate research and instructional services for inquiries related to North Carolina, with a particular focus on the holdings of the NC Collection. Dr. Teresa Church (Ph.D. ’08) was a featured reader at the Carolina African American Writers’ Collective (CAAWC) 20th Anniversary celebration at the Durham County Library on July 12. Church is a member of CAAWC, a Raleigh-based workshop and readers’ group that includes poets, writers, journalists, editors, publishers, artists, photographers, educators, librarians, archivists, and literary consultants. Emily Hurst (MSLS ’08) was hired as the Head of the Research and Education 28
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Department at the Tompkins-McCaw Library for Health Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University in January. Amanda Ross (MSLS ’08) and Meg Tuomala (MSLS ’10) were selected to participate in the 2015 Archives Leadership Institute at Luther College. Funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission, ALI@Luther provides advanced training for emerging and innovative leaders in the archival profession. Abbey Thompson (MSLS ’08) was appointed head of the Music Library at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, Ill., and to the rank of assistant professor. She is responsible for reference, circulation, library instruction, and collection development. She works in partnership with SILS alumna, Elizabeth Hille-Cribbs (MSLS ’10), who has been the catalog (music) librarian at NIU since 2013. Annie (Hughes) Thompson (MSLS ’08) was appointed Director of the Jennifer Ann Wilson Dental Library (WDL) at the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry at the University of Southern California on May 1. One of the few stand-alone academic dental
libraries in the country, the WDL is located within the School of Dentistry and primarily provides information resources and support for faculty, students, and staff. Katrina C. Vernon (MSLS ’08) started as Staff Development Manager for the Wake County Public Library (WCPL) system in May. In this newly developed position, she is responsible for the recruitment and training of staff. She had been an adult services manager with WCPL since 2012. Thomas Jones (BSIS ’09) has started the Master of Studies in Law (MSL) program at Wake Forest University and has been awarded a Merit Scholarship. He will focus on cyberlaw and cyberlawmaking. Jennifer Townes (MSLS ’09) recently had a book published with co-author Emy Nelson Decker titled Handbook of Research on Disaster Management and Contingency Planning in Modern Libraries. Townes is a Reference and Instruction Librarian at the Atlanta University Center, Robert Woodruff Library. Luke Miller (MSIS ’10) has authored his first book, The Practitioner’s Guide to User Experience Design, which was published by General Assembly in January.
Jason Griffey (MSLS ’04) named Berkman Center Fellow Jason Griffey (MSLS’04) has been named a fellow of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. He will explore communities’ engagement with open, inexpensive hyperlocal digital networks, with special emphasis on bridging inequality of information access. “I’m most excited about connecting with the people associated with the Berkman Center, and by extension the library community in the Boston area,” Griffey said. “Berkman has a history of supporting the mission of libraries, but I’m really excited about the opportunity to spread the word about the amazing work that libraries are doing and make connections between them and the other fellows. I’m also looking forward to finding people to collaborate with on my own project, and see what new voices and minds can bring to it.” Griffey is a librarian, technologist, and founder/principal at Evenly Distributed LLC (http://evenlydistributed.net), which provides consultation to libraries in need of expertise in strategic technology planning and building projects. Since graduating from SILS, Griffey’s career path has kept him on the forefront of new and innovative processes to help libraries and their patrons.
He was selected by the Library Journal in 2009 for the “Trendspotters” category in its Movers & Shakers issue. In 2012, Griffey initiated an open-source project called LibraryBox, Jason Griffey a “portable digital file distribution tool” designed to connect locations with limited Internet connectivity with digital information. He received a Foundation Prototype grant from the John S. & James L. Knight Foundation in April 2014 to help further develop and expand the geographic distribution of LibraryBox. Griffey was one of eight winners of the Knight Foundation News Challenge for Libraries grant in January 2015 to help launch the Measure the Future Project, which will develop and distribute open source code and hardware that will provide actionable statistics about the use of the physical spaces in the library. Prior to founding Evenly Distributed, Griffey was an associate professor and chief digital strategist for the library at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Adam Rogers (MSLS ’10) was named a “Community Builder” on the Library Journal’s annual Movers & Shakers list. The journal’s profile of Rogers highlights his leadership of the NC State University Hunt Library Maker space, which features 3-D printing, scanning, and laser cutting, electronics prototyping kits, and workshops. Sarah Arnold (MSLS ’11) was appointed Instructional Technology Librarian for the UNC-Chapel Hill Library in July. As a member of the Library’s UX Department, she will serve as the content strategist for the Library’s online instructional tools. Mike Nutt (MSIS ’11) was appointed Director of Visualization Services for NC State University Libraries in April. Nutt will represent the Libraries in the visualization community and provide leadership in developing and advancing visualization services in concert with researcher needs. Elizabeth (Koehler) Overberg (MSLS ’11) started a new job this summer as the High School Media Specialist at Zionsville High School in Zionsville, Ind. Shannon Harris (MSLS ’12) was selected by the American Library Association for its 2015 Class of Emerging Leaders. The program is designed to enable library staff and information workers to participate in project planning workgroups, network with peers, and serve the profession in a leadership capacity early in their careers. Marla Sullivan (BSIS ’12) accepted a new position as an Instructional Designer at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina, in Charleston, S.C. Previously, she had worked at the Friday Center on UNC’s MOOC initiative. Dani Brecher Cook (MSLS ’13) competed on Jeopardy in April. Also in the spring, her team at Claremont Colleges Library (CCL) won the 2015 Library Instruction Round Table (LIRT) Innovation in Instruction Award. Presented at the ALA 2015 Annual Conference in San Francisco, the award recognized the Visual Curriculum Mapping project created by librarians at the CCL. In addition to applauding the project’s initiatives and success throughout the Claremont Colleges, the awards committee noted the work that the project team put forth in making the mapping templates available under a Creative Commons license. Megan England (MSLS ’13) was named a Rising Star at the annual New Jersey Library Association (NJLA) Conference Honors
Two new SILS distinguished alumni recognized Susan Brown (MSLS ’01), Director of the Chapel Hill Public Library (CHPL), and Tim Bucknall (MSLS ‘89), Assistant Dean for Electronic Resources and Information Technology at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG), received the SILS Distinguished Alumni Award in 2014 and 2015 respectively. The award is presented by the SILS Alumni Association to those who have made outstanding achievements in library or information science at the national, state, or local level, and who have demonstrated exceptional service to the profession and to SILS. Brown began her appointment at the CHPL in May 2013. She had previously served as Marketing Director for the Lawrence Public Library in Kansas, where she led the “Banned Books Trading Card Project,” which invited local artists to create trading cards inspired by a banned book or author. The project received national media coverage and Brown was honored for her leadership with the 2013 John Cotton Dana Library Public Relations Award, the most prestigious award of the American Library Association. The project continues annually during Banned Books Week at the CHPL.
Bucknall is the founder and convener of the Carolina Consortium, an open coalition that enables libraries in North Carolina and South Carolina to use Susan Brown their bulk purchasing power to obtain favorable pricing on a variety of electronic resources. He also developed Journal Finder, the first open URL link resolver and knowledge base to go Tim Bucknall into production in the U.S. Bucknall and his team at UNCG additionally developed NC DOCKS, an institutional repository shared between seven libraries at mainly mid-sized and smaller schools in the UNC system that provides an affordable repository solution. He received the NCLA RTSS Significant Achievement Award in 2001 and the ACRL’s Academic/ Research Librarian of the Year Award in 2014.
and Awards Reception in April. England, an Atlantic City Free Public Library Teen Services Librarian, was one of just three librarians in the state to receive the award. In addition, the Atlantic City Library’s Teen Advisory Group (TAG), which England coordinates, was the recipient of the NJLA’s Library Service Group Award.
received the Gene J. Williams Award, which recognizes a paper on an archival topic written for a graduate-level course by a North Carolina student.
Hunter Janes (MSIS ’13) and Sara Trettin (MSLS ’13) participated in the fall 2014 Education Game Jam, a White House challenge in which 100 developers from across the country had to create and launch educational video game prototypes in 48 hours. Trettin was part of the event planning team and Janes was part of TeamWolfshark from Red Storm Entertainment. Jaycie Vos (MSLS ’13) attended the Oral History Association Annual Meeting in Madison, Wis., in October 2014. She presented a paper and chaired a roundtable discussion with fellow SILS alumna Virginia Ferris (MSLS ’14). In March, Vos and Rachel Walton (MSLS ’15) were honored at the Society of North Carolina Archivists 2015 Annual Conference. Vos was recognized for receiving the Michelle Francis Scholarship, which provided travel funds to help her attend the conference, and Walton
Carla Y. Davis-Castro (MSLS ’14) became an information research specialist at the Library of Congress in May, just one year after graduating from SILS and the UNC School of Government. Dr. Laura Sheble (Ph.D. ’14) was named runner-up for the 2015 iSchools Doctoral Dissertation Award for her dissertation, titled “Diffusion of Meta-Analysis, Systematic Review, and Related Research Synthesis Methods: Patterns, Contexts, and Impact.” Lisa Becksford (MSLS ’15) became the Learning Services and Educational Technologies Librarian at Virginia Tech in August. Dr. Kaitlin Costello (Ph.D. ’15) has been appointed as a tenure-track assistant professor in the Department of Library and Information Science at Rutgers University. Morgan McKeehan (MSLS ’15) was selected for the National Digital Stewardship Residency program in New York, and will be working on preservation of digital art for Rhizome at the New Museum from September 2015-June 2016. THE iSCHOOL @UNC-CHAPEL HILL
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In Deepest Sympathy SILS extends condolences to the friends and loved ones of alumni, former faculty, and friends of the School who passed away during the previous year. The following were drawn from obituaries published between September 30, 2014, and September 30, 2015. Charlotte Chapman (MSLS ’67) - September 11, 2015 Robert Toombs Ivey Jr. (MSLS ’76) - March 18, 2015 Kathryn Cross Conner (BSLS ’46) - April 20, 2015 Marion Middleton Johnson (BSLS ’44) - May 12, 2015 Elizabeth Seelinger deBedts (BSLS ’52) - December 4, 2014 Elizabeth Grant Kelly (MSLS ’68) - January 7, 2015 Eugenia Carol Devir (MSLS ’65) - July 9, 2015 Sarah Mackey Kinnear (MSLS ’75) - May 24, 2015 Kate James DuVal (BSLS ’47) - October 24, 2014 Leslie Wayne Loftus (MSLS ’74) - July 19, 2015 Harold Steve Farlow (MSLS ’80) - January 4, 2015 George Stradley McFarland (MSLS ’63) - December 4, 2014 Margaret “Peggy” Shinnick Federhart (MSLS ’80) - May 19, 2015 Richard Perry Matthews II (BSLS ’49) - February 1, 2015 Celeste Johnston Fleming (MSLS ’50) - October 18, 2014 Caroline McClevy Robertson (BSLS ’49) - July 27, 2015 Elizabeth Sandifer Gattis (BSLS ’42) - January 26, 2015 Lucile Althar Tindol (ABLS ’34) - February 12, 2015 Robert Coleman Gibbs (MSLS ’59) - April 28, 2015 Martha Croxton Tyson (MSLS ’73) - December 24, 2014 Nancy Comfort Heilbronner (BSLS ’44) - December 22, 2014 Renowned NC Historian and SILS Alumnus William S. Powell William Stevens Powell (BSLS ’47), the acknowledged dean of North Carolina historians, died April 10, 2015, at age 95. Powell was the author or editor of more than 100 books, pamphlets and articles about North Carolina and its history. As a professor at Carolina from 1973 to 1986, he taught North Carolina history to more than 6,000 students. Thousands more learned about the state through Powell’s carefully researched William Powell reference books: The North Carolina Gazetteer, the six-volume Dictionary of North Carolina Biography and the Encyclopedia of North Carolina. His First State University: Pictorial History of the University of North Carolina remains a go-to reference for the University’s first 200 years. SILS frequently presents First State University as an appreciation gift to visiting lecturers and distinguished alumni. Read more at sils.unc.edu/2015/news/powell.
SILS Distinguished Alumna and Former Park Library Director Barbara Semonche Barbara Semonche (MSLS ’76), founder of The Herald-Sun’s news library and former director of the Park Library at the UNC School of Journalism and Mass Communication, died May 13, 2015, at age 82. Semonche served as President of the SILS Alumni Association in 1986, received the SILS Distinguished Alumni Award in 1998, and delivered the SILS spring commencement address in 2009. She was a pioneer in the field Barbara Semonche of news libraries. After earning her MSLS, she approached The Herald-Sun and created a library for the newspaper that included not only reference material, but also indexing and archiving of photographs and news stories. She managed the library until 1990, when she became director of the Park Library at UNC. Read more at sils.unc.edu/news/2015/semonche.
Long-time SILS Faculty Member Robert Newton Broadus Robert Newton Broadus died March 19, 2015, at age 92. Broadus was a professor at SILS from 1976-93 and greatly influenced many students during his tenure. He authored a widely-used book on library collection development, edited or co-edited two other books, and contributed scholarly and professional articles to books and periodicals in several academic fields. His publications were referred to frequently by writers Robert Broadus in information science and other fields. For his contributions to library education, he received an award from the American Library Association, which cited his “insatiate curiosity, . . . extensive publications, . . . acute and sophisticated sense of humor, . . . intellect.... rectitude, ...sense of purpose, and ... quiet dignity.” Read more at sils.unc.edu/2015/news/broadus.
UNC Alumnus and SILS Supporter Neil Bost Glenn Neil Bost Glenn died on February 14, 2015, at age 83. He earned his B.S.B.A. from UNCChapel Hill, and supported his alma mater throughout his life. Glenn established an endowment fund for SILS that provides critical financial support for the School’s information technology function. He had a long and distinguished career with the accounting firm of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co., now known as Neil Bost Glenn KPMG. His recognition of the potential impact of new technology resulted in the introduction of the first personal computer in the firm’s tax practice in 1982. As Vice Chairman-Tax in the firm’s NYC Executive Office, he chaired the committee that developed and implemented a firm-wide strategic plan that led to the merger of Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. and Klynveld Main Goerdeler, which at the time was the largest accounting firm merger in history. Read more at sils.unc.edu/2015/news/glenn.
SILS Distinguished Alumna Martha Harris Davis Martha Harris Davis (BSLS ’41) died July 7, 2015. She was a life member of the North Carolina Library Association and was appointed by the governor to serve 12 years on the Certification Commission for Public Librarians in NC. Her early career was spent as a children’s librarian and school librarian in various NC school systems. From 1968 to 1985, she served as Director of Rockingham County’s Public Libraries. She was also instrumental in developing one of the first on-line catalogue systems in NC public libraries. She received the SILS Distinguished Alumni Award in 1998. 30
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Former SILS Faculty Member Lee Finks Lee W. Finks died June 20, 2015. Finks earned his Master of Library Science degree from Florida State University and worked as a librarian at Emory University, the Virginia Military Institute, University of East Africa, University of Virginia, and Episcopal High School in Virginia. He obtained a Ph.D. from Rutgers University and spent the remainder of his career as a professor of library science at Emory University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina Central University.
SILS Honor Roll of Donors
Much of what SILS is and aspires to be is a result of gifts from alumni, friends, faculty, parents, students, foundations, corporations and others. Thank you! This honor roll of donors reflects cumulative gifts for SILS during the 12 months ending June 30, 2015. Additionally, the honor roll recognizes: • Planned-giving donors (living individuals who have informed us that SILS is in their estate plans) • Recent alumni donors (SILS graduates within the past five years) • Sustaining donors (monthly, recurring donors via credit card, bank draft or payroll deduction) If we have made any mistakes, please accept our apologies and contact us so that we may correct records. You can reach Stephanie Cole, director of development, at 919-843-9378 or stephanie_cole@unc.edu. SILS Planned Giving Donors
(individuals who have informed SILS that the School is in their estate plans)
Gary Fenton Barefoot ’68 Mary L. Boone ’73 Mary Whitfield Canada ’56 Stephanie B. Cole Revathi A-Davidson and Russ Tobias Davidson ’78 Melanie Dauskart Ehrhart ’67 Julia Adair Foster ’75 Vonna K. Graves and William H. Graves Katsuko Tsurukawa Hotelling ’83 Loretta Kizer Mershon ’79 and Donald Hartland Mershon Carol Streib Nielsen and T. Brian Nielsen ’93 Fred Wilburn Roper ’62 Caroline Mitchell Smith ’72 Duncan Franklin Smith ’80 Ann Cutler Stringfield ’79 Patricia Leona Thibodeau and Steven Jay Melamut ’99 Rebecca Brogden Vargha Stephen Daniel Vargha Sally Hill Wambold ’79 Kimberly Ann Warren
Anonymous (3)
Susan Grey Akers Affiliates Isaac I Tze Chao ’69 Lynda Herman Thomas ’74
Lucille K. Henderson Affiliates Revathi A-Davidson and Russ Tobias Davidson ’79 Baker & Taylor, Inc. Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund Emil Ferdinand Frey (Estate of ) Vonna K. Graves and William H. Graves
Timothy Lee Gunter ’88 and Belinda Withers Gunter Barbara L. Martin and Robert Sidney Martin ’88 The Widernet Project Stacey Miller Yusko ’03 and Mark William Yusko Yusko Family Foundation
Edward G. Holley Affliates
KPMG Foundation Susan Lane Perry ’66 The Grainger Foundation Julia Trimble and Timothy N. Diggs Edith Yakutis and Leo Yakutis ’91
Dean’s Club
ABC CLIO Larry Paul Alford ’78 Gail R. Austin and William Joseph Austin Jr. Lyn Marie Batty ’09 and David Line Batty Barbara Bayer Bertram ’92 and David Alfred Dodd Stephanie B. Cole # Melanie Dauskart Ehrhart ’67 Elizabeth Anna Evans ’82 Ann Gardner ’64 GlaxoSmithKline Matching Gifts Neil Bost Glenn + Elinor Dixon Hawkins ’50 and Carroll Woodard Hawkins Katsuko Tsurukawa Hotelling ’86 Julia Steinfirst Howard and John L. Howard Tara Buck Kester ’87 and Jack Bevel Kester Jr. Marcia Duncan Lowry and Charles Bryan Lowry ’74 Microsoft Corporation Matching Gifts North Highland
SILS’ Giving Societies SILS’ giving societies reflect our history and heritage. Recognition is calculated on gifts for SILS during our July 1-June 30 fiscal year. Legacy Society ($1,000,000 or more) Louis Round Wilson Society ($100,000 to $999,999) Susan Grey Akers Affiliates ($50,000 to $99,999) Lucille K. Henderson Affiliates ($10,000 to $49,999) Edward G. Holley Affiliates ($5,000 to $9,999) Dean’s Club ($1,000 to $4,999) Lester Asheim Affiliates ($500 to $999) Associates ($250 to $499) List symbol key Supporters (up to $249) # Sustaining Donor For more information on giving to ^ Recent Alumni Donor SILS, visit sils.unc.edu/giving. + Deceased Joyce Lanier Ogburn ’82 and Steven A. Eichner Online Computer Library Center Inc. Irene Owens ’95 Procter & Gamble Matching Gifts Marisa Lyn Ramirez ’05 and Philippe Soenen Eliza S. Robertson and W. Davenport Robertson ’75 Mae Lipscomb Rodney ’86 Mabel Marie Shaw Duncan Franklin Smith ’80 Wells Fargo Foundation Educational Matching Gifts Anonymous (2)
Lester Asheim Affiliates
Samira Ntia Akpan ’06 Tiffany E. Allen ’00 and William L. Allen III Saianand Balu ’97 # Denise Jenny Chen ’95 and Timothy Wayne Maas ’95 Sharon A. Collins and John F. Steinfirst Samira Fazel Creel ’04 and Carl Randall Alexander Creel Vicki Grey Davis and Gordon William Davis Lynn Louise Dodge ’69 Grainger Matching Gifts Pickett Murray Guthrie ’80 and Robert Guthrie Patricia Rocca Harris ’70 and Howard Stanley Harris ’71 Lindsay Ideson ’88 Phebe Weissner Kirkham ’72 John Louis LaBarre ’99 Kristin Krause McDonough ’70 Priscilla Saine Moyer and J. Michael Moyer ’83 Network for Good
Jimmy Huu Nguyen ’10 Jung Sun Oh ’10 PG&E Corporation Matching Gifts Alfonso Louis Rivellino ’67 Martha Jernigan Sims ’69 and Hunter Wilmer Sims Jr. David Wayne Singleton ’92 Jo Ann Hardison Wootten ’66 ’80
Associates
Robert Meyer Auman Julia Wallace Bambauer Gary Fenton Barefoot ’68 Sayan Chakraborty ’06 Philip Mathews Cheney ’77 Lila Teresa Church ’98 ’08 and Lewis Church Jr. ’10 Robert E. Coley ’72 # Nancy Nuckles Colyar ’87 Michol Dawson and David O. Amuda Judy Dew ’97 and Brad Allen Fannie Jones Dillard ’78 and Thomas W. Dillard Jr. ’77 Susan Dillard Donkar ’75 Mary Katherine Donohue ’89 Jeanne Walton Fox ’70 and Arthur Leon Fox Jr. Robert Coleman Gibbs ’59 + and Nancy Jean Lane Gibbs Johnson & Johnson Matching Gifts Carol Ritzen Kem ’71 Marcia A. Kochel ’97 Suzanne Marchionini and Gary Marchionini Heather Ann McCullough ’07 Kathryn McKeon Mendenhall ’76 and Larry Mendenhall Mary Jane Miller ’69 Debbie Sue Mollycheck and Laurance Robert Mitlin ’71 THE iSCHOOL @UNC-CHAPEL HILL
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SILS Honor Roll of Donors continued Barbara B. Moran and Joseph Moran Carol Streib Nielsen and T. Brian Nielsen ’83 Pacific Bulb Society Roxanne B. Palmatier ’74 Kelly Leonhardt Phoenix # Margaret Miller Pitts ’72 and William Thomas Pitts Melissa Scott Renshaw ’82 Judy Roberts Renzema ’68 Frances Sullivan Repperger ’78 Corinne Griffin Russell # Schwab Fund for Charitable Giving Edward James Sheary ’77 Beverley Jane Simmons ’76 Jon Wilber Simons ’81 Helen Margaret Sullivan ’67 Elizabeth Chiles Svee ’65 and Richard L. Svee Arlene G. Taylor ’81 Linda Kay Ter Haar ’89 and Bruce George Westlake Martha Kendrick Tesoro ’65 ’90 and Vincent James Tesoro + Arnold Trachtenberg John Edward Ulmschneider ’82 P. Sharon Walker and Gerald Vernon Holmes ’85 # Lynn Morrow Ward ’69 Jessica Lee Weber ’10 Janet Blair West ’10 and James Patrick West David Noah Woodbury ’09 #
Supporters
Patsy Bost Abell and J. Curtis Abell Catherine M. Agresto ’82 Michael Jon Albrecht ’95 Anne Davis Alexander ’76 Jean Short Allen ’69 ’87 and Charles Aubrey Allen Jr. Kristine M. Alpi and Jeffery A. Alpi ’97 Lois R. Angeletti ’76 Tracy Albers Ansley ’97 and John F. Ansley ’97 Robert G. Anthony Jr. ’82 Ann Arrowood ’83 Susan Weart Artiglia ’79 Homa Ghasemi Asayesh ’72 and Khalil Asayesh Kimberly Hoover Ashley ’00 Winston Atkins ’83 Sue James Bagnell ’82 and C. Robert Bagnell Jr. Barbara Ann Baker ’74 Benjamin Franklin Barefoot ’78 Anne Essic Barnes ’82 and Brooks Miles Barnes ’77 Mary K. Barnes ’08 Elizabeth Lee Barron ’88 Evelyn Smith Barron ’67 Kelsey Eileen Bartiss ’13 ^ Daniel Michael Beaver-Seitz ’12 ^ Peggy White Bellamy ’67 Matthew Louis Belskie ’12 ^ E. Uwe Beltz ’05 and Katherine Ann Austin Beltz
Charlotte Stumph Bennett Susan Ruth Percy Benning ’89 and Timothy Lee Benning Dale Monroe Bentz ’40 Joshua David Berkov ’07 Marcia Hall Bethea ’87 Rachel Farrell Bethune ’04 and H. Alexander Bethune ’04 Elizabeth Ann Bezera ’77 and David Roy Lent Jessica Erin Bodford Mary L. Boone ’73 Sharron Ault Bortz ’98 Katherine Anne Bouldin Gary R. Boye ’00 William Ernest Brackett III Doris Anne Bradley ’52 Madelyn McCracken Brannon ’97 & Christopher Boyd Brannon ’00 Jon Breece ’11 ^ Mary Reid Breheny ’90 Jennifer Ruth Brewer ’82 Lynda McPherson Bronaugh ’66 Virginia Ligon Brooker ’68 Kathleen Rae Brown ’91 Nancy Gilliland Brown and Alvin Maston Brown Jr. Beatrice Sears Bruce ’71 Christian Brun ’50 Leigh Ann Shumate Bryant ’94 Janice Brownfield Buck ’10 and Raymond Douglas Buck Ryan L. Burch ’15 ^ Susan Heimer Burton ’75 Bill Burton ’11 ^ Gary Daniell Byrd ’95
Sharon Howell Byrd ’77 John Joseph Callahan III ’72 and Carole P. Callahan Mary Elizabeth Cameron ’84 Sarah Bryant Capobianco ’77 Patricia Ann Carleton ’89 Alexander James Carroll ’13 ^ Evan Edward Carroll ’08 ’12 ^ Susan White Carroll ’90 Constance Carter ’65 Lucy Parker Cella ’51 Jiaoling Chen A. Benjamin Chitty ’78 Mary Kuhl Chitty ’79 Thomas Ryan Ciszek ’05 Jennifer Munro Clark Mary Sine Clark ’88 and Steve Clark Sandra Umberger Cobb ’68 Evalyn Scott Cole ’65 and Gary Lee Cole Simon Collis ’15 ^ Gloria Payne Colvin ’80 Eleanor Ilene Cook ’82 Judy Kay Cook ’77 Linda Murphy Coonley ’70 and Lewis Selkirk Coonley Jr. Nancy Walker Cowan ’65 Merle Moses Crawford and Gregory Alan Crawford ’84 Jane Folger Crutchfield and Benjamin F. Crutchfield Jr. ’67 Evelyn Hope Daniel Carolyn Niles Davis ’74 Joseph Dean Davis ’91 Natalie A. Davis ’15 ^
GIVING PROFILE
Isaac Tze Chao (MSLS ’69): Helping students chart their own course to professional success
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any graduates from SILS find long-term professional success and fulfillment working in libraries, archives, and other information institutions. Other alumni follow careers paths that lead in very different directions, but still regard the analytical and critical thinking skills they developed at SILS as invaluable. Such is the case for Isaac Tze Chao (MSLS ’69), who after working briefly as a librarian following his graduation from SILS, launched a decadeslong career as a successful restaurateur in Durham. Now, he has taken steps to help future SILS students as they chart their own unique paths toward professional success. Chao has made a major gift and additional commitment to establish and endow the Isaac and Rita Chao Fund for SILS Student Support, named for himself and his beloved late wife, Rita, who shared his generous spirit and belief in the importance
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of higher education. “I am exceedingly grateful for my SILS degree, and I am proud to help provide opportunities for other students to further their education,” Chao said. Once the fund is fully endowed, it is expected to provide support for upwards of three SILS students per year. Preference will be given to students with a deep interest in Chinese culture or language studies, in honor of Isaac and Rita Chao’s own Chinese heritage. By designating that the fund can be used for scholarships, fellowships, or assistantships, Isaac Chao has provided crucial flexibility for SILS, enabling the School to assist both undergraduate and graduate students in the most effective ways. The ability to use the fund for different types of student support will be especially important as the years progress and the availability of other assistance changes.
The Isaac and Rita Chao Fund for SILS Student Support can be used for scholarships, fellowships, or assistantships, providing important flexibility.
Elaine L. Day ’88 Jane Register Deacle ’02 William Howard Deane Edith Bachelor DeMik ’70 Angela Long Dermyer ’67 Gail Marie Krepps Dickinson ’87 and Michael G. Colson Douglas S. Diesenhaus ’12 ^ Ann Upperco Dolman ’96 Devan Ray Donaldson ’08 Debra Dorzweiler and Richard Dorzweiler H. Paul Dove Jr. ’69 # David Ray Dowell ’87 Elizabeth Manire Downing ’86 Carolyn Curtis Driggs ’84 Lori Irene Drum ’91 Jan Miller Dunn and R. Joel Dunn Meghan O’Shaughnessy Dunn ’98 Kathryn Dana Ellis ’92 Raymond Alexander English ’77 Barbara Entwisle # Gladys Wensel Faherty ’68 Margaret Ann Fain ’84 Julia Grace Feerrar ’14 ^ Barbara LaPointe Ferguson and Thomas Russell Ferguson Jr. Sally Katherine Fessler ’97 and David Alan Kirkpatrick Judith J. Field and Nathaniel L. Field Christine Meek Fischer ’87 Barbara Maly Fish ’76 Sharon Quinn Fitzgerald ’86 and John R. Fitzgerald Emily Nuernberger Flaherty ’95 Helen F. Flowers and E. C. Flowers Janet Loafman Flowers ’67 and Elijah Daniel Flowers III Rebecca McGrady Floyd ’70 Meredith S. Foltz ’76 John Joseph Forbes III ’89 Julia Adair Foster ’75 Marian Girard Fragola ’08 and Jeremy Daniel Arkin Rachel Lynn Frick ’94 June Huff Fulton ’67 and James F. Fulton III Margaret Hagerty Gamm ’13 ^ and Jeffrey Gamm Sarah Garcia ’06 Laura Westmoreland Gariepy ’09 Laura N. Gasaway Janet K. Gauss ’86 and Timothy Gauss General Electric Company Matching Gifts David St. Clair Goble ’94 # Martha Butler Goff Claudia Gollop Charles Allen Gorday Jr. ’76 Michele Faye Gordon ’94 and Edgar Levy
# Sustaining Donor
Elizabeth Diane Gorman ’08 Karen Eckberg Gottovi ’72 and Daniel Gottovi Martha Anna Graham ’70 James Eber Gray Jr. ’70 Elizabeth Green Carolyn Lois Greene Elizabeth Bragg Grey ’91 # Heather A. Gunter ’15 ^ Stephanie W. Haas and Douglas F. Haas Michael C. Habib ’06 David Hall ’58 Mary Catherman Hansbrough ’92 Julianna Clara Harris ’03 and Joel Ward Harris Richard Lukens Hart ’93 Martha Mullen Haswell ’93 and Joel Wayne Haswell Deborah Kriebel Haynes ’92 Kathleen Byrne Heidecker ’96 Susan Tucker Heimbach ’03 Mary Jo Dollins Hendricks ’75 Lynn Dixon Herrick ’69 Carolyn White Heyer ’74 Linda Quinn Hickman ’66 Marion Presler Hirsch ’92 Mary Hendricks Hitchcock ’62 and David Louis Hitchcock Jr. Arthur Daniel Hlavaty ’90 Dorothy Davis Hodder ’87 Sara Cook Holloway ’90 Angela Hon ’01 and Steven Wai Gee ’01 Marguerite Eyster Horn ’72 Mary Coit Horton ’88 Heather Woodrow Houser ’73 and Ralph W. Houser Lora M. Howard and Bryan Edward Howard ’07 Cecilia Hoyos and Ismael Bastida Susan Freegard Hubbard ’64 Kerri Leah Huff ’06 Edythe Simmons Huffman ’80 Noah Garland Huffman ’08 Dawn Sanks Imershein ’00 Lois A. Ireland ’86 and Pierre Huggins Mary Sue Ittner and Robert Rutemoeller October Reyn Ivins ’87 Oliver Joseph Jaros III ’80 Whitney Nicole Jenkins ’15 ^ David Phillip Jensen ’70 Karen Jean Jeremiah ’03 Betty Wisecarver Johnson ’85 Jean Thornton Johnson ’68 David McIver Jones ’72 Leigh A. Jones ’06 Plummer Alston Jones Jr. ’91 Lauren Dare Kage ’11 ^ Michael S. Kaufman ’00 Katherine Lynne Keifer
^ Recent Alumni Donor
+ Deceased
GIVING PROFILE
Mary Jane Petrowski (MSLS ’78): Making a healthy investment in SILS
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ursuing a master’s degree at SILS was a time of discovery for Mary Jane Petrowski (MSLS ’78). First came the realization that she did not want to become a rare book librarian as she initially intended. Then, through her internship with the EPARTP Library and a part-time position with the UNC Health Sciences Library, Petrowski learned how much she did enjoy the work of a college and research librarian. This launched a career that has included appoint- Mary Jane Petrowski ments with the U.S. Department of Defense at the Army Field Station in Sinop, Turkey, the Ramstein Air Base in Germany, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Colgate University. Since 2002, Petrowski has been Associate Director at the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), where she serves as the associate director, manages ACRL’s membership recruitment and promotion and the Academic Library Trends and Statistics program, coordinates ACRL’s annual fundraising efforts, and provides advisory services. As Petrowski was contemplating a planned gift commitment to SILS, another discovery helped shape her intentions. Reading the fall 2014 SILS newsletter, Petrowski was thrilled to learn about the health informatics initiatives at SILS, from research projects connected to the Carolina Health Informatics Program, to Dr. Mary Grace Flaherty’s research on health information access in public libraries, to SILS Dean Gary Marchionini’s program involving pedometers and Fitbits. “I had no idea the School was even working in this area,” Petrowski said. “I have a Fitbit, and I was astounded to see that faculty were already thinking about the ramifications of collecting that kind of information and sharing it. I really wanted to support those efforts.” Petrowski has documented two major planed gifts, one unrestricted and one to fund the School’s health informatics endeavors. She encourages other alumni to support SILS, no matter the amount, so the School can continue attracting the best faculty and students and maintain its high national ranking. “Every gift is a vote of support for the future.”
Petrowski has documented two planned gifts, one unrestricted and one to support health informatics research and projects. Margaret Massie Kellogg ’67 and Philip Lee Kellogg Joyce Wilkerson Kennedy ’82 Matthew K. Kennedy # Barrett Michael Keziah ’10 Tera M. Kijek ’09 Emily Marie King ’08 and Nathaniel Brice King ’09 Brittney King ’15 ^ Jacqueline Nolen Kirkman ’85 Paul Klingsberg
Frances Gayle Knibb ’69 Andrew Scott Koebrick ’95 Connie Lee Koehler-Widney ’89 and Charles E. Widney Anne Connell Koenig ’89 Vivian Brown Kramer ’68 Marian Gold Krugman ’68 Kathryn Deaton Kuzminski ’71 Borree Po-Yee Kwok ’92 and Siu-Ki Wong ’92 LabCorp Matching Gifts THE iSCHOOL @UNC-CHAPEL HILL
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SILS Honor Roll of Donors continued Louise Lesher LaCroix ’69 and Frederic Skelton LaCroix ’63 Margaret Elizabeth Lafferty ’04 Selden Durgom Lamoureux ’98 Barbara L. LeBlanc ’02 Annette Maura LeClair ’80 Eva Frances Lee ’70 Daniel Lemos Hayley Caroline Linton ’15 ^ Gail Frederick Llewellyn ’67 Leslie Wayne Loftus ’74 Connie Lomax and A. Lee Lomax Eunice Gowl Lovejoy ’44 Monique Faulkner Mackey ’97 Myra Godwin Malpass ’82 May Lynn Goldstein Mansbach ’77 Rebecca Lou Carlsen Marlin ’70 and C. Vernon Marlin Susan Rogers Marston and Edgar Booth Marston III Lesley Addenbrook Martin ’80 Katherine Kyu Matsuura ’08 Mary McCormick Maxwell ’67 Jackson Lee Mayberry ’13 ^ Sharon H. Mayberry and Michael G. Mayberry Christel Ludewig McCanless ’66 Peter Hale McCracken ’95 Elizabeth Ann McCue ’89 and David Kemper McCue Carse Oren McDaniel ’65 Anne Louise McFarland ’93 Louise H. McGowin ’13 ^ Jimmy Dale McKee ’73 Cheryl Wood McLean ’79 and A. Torrey McLean III Katherine Nase McLean ’97 and William Starr McLean II H. Eugene McLeod ’72 Martha E. McPhail ’71 Loretta Kizer Mershon ’79 and Donald Hartland Mershon Susan Blevins Mikkelsen ’02 Margaret Butler Miles ’73 Virginia Harris Miller ’55 Jeanne-Marie Bright Mills ’93 Barbara Lee Edwards Mineiro ’87 Barbara Joyce Minor and John Thomas Minor ’71 Cliff Missen Erik Thomas Mitchell ’10 Michael Mitchell ’99 Giselle C. Montgomery ’15 ^ Wayne Douglas Moody Rebecca Cabell Moore ’92 Lucinda Whisenant Moose ’75 Marie Morrison ’73 Elizabeth Adams Morrissett and R. Edward Morrissett Jr. Joyce Catherine Moyers ’60 Elizabeth Hobgood Murphrey ’93
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Sara Joyce Myers ’72 Karen Lee Mary Nadeski ’78 Michelle Hatschek Neal ’67 and Peter Roland Neal ’71 Gayle Marie Neely Smith Barbara Bonomo Newnam ’67 and Robert Edward Newnam Janice Graham Nicholson ’70 Myreen Moore Nicholson ’71 Mary Roberts Nifong ’81 and Philip Smith Nifong Georgianna Hayes Niven ’57 and William Edward Niven Thomas Jones Nixon IV ’90 # Norfolk Southern Foundation Matching Gifts Anna Kemp Norris ’00 and Russell Joseph Norris Cheryl P. Oakes ’89 Hunter Ryan Ocheltree ’15 ^ Suzanna Ware O’Donnell ’00 James Walker Oliver ’78 Jennifer Ortiz and Norberto Ortiz Nor Ortiz Dorothy Hurley Osborn ’73 Margaret Brimfield Osburn ’72 Amanda Diane Parrish Jeanne Roethe Parrish ’80 Jane Amos Parsons ’49 Maria Cristina Pattuelli ’07 and Lisa R. Norberg Gayl Winchester Pearman ’76 and Michael Thomas Pearman Elizabeth Reeves Pearson ’78 Barbara Barrett Pedersen and Lee Grant Pedersen Linda R. Peepers ’93 Emily Potter Pensinger ’69 David Morton Perlmutter Karen McEntyre Perry ’76 and David Tucker Perry Patricia H. Petersen and Douglas Graham Young ’88 Mary Jane Petrowski ’78 Ann Harriman Pettingill ’71 Conway S. Phelps Shelly Plonk Phillip David Podlish ’66 L. Frederick Pohl Jr. ’66 Matthew James Poland ’13 ^ William Robert Pollard ’65 Katherine Reed Porter ’73 Sandra Webb Poston ’89 M. Gail Preslar ’77 Jane Todd Presseau ’69 Gary James Pressley ’84 Jonathan Pulliza ’15 ^ Reid Taylor Putney Jr. ’76 Lucia Johnson Rather ’57 Bobbie Newman Redding ’58 Eugenie Chazal Reid ’49
Carol Hallman Reilly ’71 Jean Rhyne ’61 Jan Colby Riley ’65 and J. Fred Riley Jennifer Gail Rish ’82 Anne Hoover Roberson ’68 Anne Kabler Robichaux ’69 and Kenneth Paul Robichaux Peter Cary Robson ’05 Edwina Rooker ’69 Frieda Beilharz Rosenberg ’78 and Donald Karl Rosenberg Ann McClure Rowley ’73 Catherine Phillips Rubin ’87 and Robert Alden Rubin Patricia Smith Rugg ’54 Marion Hanes Rutsch ’83 Susan Denise Salpini ’98 Shannon Rosenbaum Salter ’97 Elizabeth Cantonwine Schmidt ’93 Dixie Myers Scott ’77 and Earl Donald Scott Wendy Lee Scott ’82 Barbara Smith Selby ’82 Diane Shaw ’86 Caroline Lau Shepard ’77 Judy Shih-Lee ’69 Robert Willard Simpson W. Christian Sizemore ’64 Ann Harlow Smith ’51 Ann Lewis Smith ’68 and Clyde Sharpe Smith Ann Shattuck Smith ’69 Bernie Todd Smith ’73 and Clifford Weldon Smith Jr. Earl Jones Smith Jr. ’80 Leah Richards Smith and Adam Miles Smith ’01 Sara B. Solar and David L. Solar ’00 Yaxiao Song ’10 Nancy Umbarger Stanley ’66 Delia Scrudder Stark ’75 and Harold Enck Stark ’75 Walter Dean Stine ’90 Ann Barringer Story ’75 Katina Parthemos Strauch ’72 and A. Bruce Strauch Susan Cockrell Sutphin ’69 Deborah Elizabeth Swain ’99 Mary Lee Sweat ’69 Shirley Marie Tarlton ’66 Susan Akerstrom Tarr ’74 and Patrick Howard Tarr Endrina Hui Sim Tay ’02 Dorothy Glenn Teague Teresa Renee Teague ’92 Natalie Tunstall Tennant Dorothy Gilliam Thomason ’65 and Glenn Charles Thomason Angela Molin Thor ’85 Sarah McAllister Thrash ’57 Mary Wise Thuesen ’67 and Theodore Johannes Thuesen
# Sustaining Donor
Helen R. Tibbo # Pamelia Senn Toms ’67 and Frederic Earl Toms John Ray Turbyfill Jr. ’88 Walter Alan Tuttle ’71 Elizabeth Rogers Tynan ’73 United Way of Greater Rochester Keith Robert Vail ’66 Carla Stephanie Valetich ’02 Stephen Henry Van Dyk ’74 Patricia M. Vasilik ’73 K. T. L. Vaughan ’01 and James Whittaker Vaughan ’11 ^ Lucy Teresa Vecera ’56 Ruth Cartwright Vestal ’53 George Brookins Viele ’69 Karen Brown Waller ’03 Mary Louise Waller Kenneth Gaines Walter ’63 and Eva Lou Walter Charlotte Walton and Mark Minoru Koyanagi ’98 Sally Hill Wambold ’79 Yiqi Wang Elizabeth Preston Ward ’09 Marjorie Markoff Warmkessel ’78 Deborah Kay Webster ’74 Meredith Leigh Weiss ’10 Mary Burt Welker ’65 and J. Franklin Welker Jr. H. Lea Wells ’78 and Jordan Michael Scepanski Lisa Clemons Wemett ’75 Christine Wenderoth ’73 Peter Despard West Mary Lee Newby Wetzel ’72 and James Norman Wetzel Victoria Young Whipple ’94 Lynda S. White ’72 Clarence Earl Whitefield Jesse Damon Wilbur ’05 Donna Corriher Will ’84 Holly Geneva Willett ’86 Betty Hipp Williams ’65 Carolyn Norwood Williams Delmus Eugene Williams ’85 Devon Michelle Williams ’15 ^ Ronald Dale Williams Martha Jenkins Williamson ’50 Jessica Danielle Wingler ’15 Cynthia Jean Wolff ’87 John Lucas Wood ’11 ^ Cynthia Woodruff ’77 Toni Lin Wooten ’93 Beverly Bebout Worsham ’68 Elicia Timberlake Wright and Kenneth E. Wright II Meng Yang ’05 Robert Francis Yehl ’78 Barbara Yonce ’72 YourCause, LLC Trustee for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina
^ Recent Alumni Donor
+ Deceased
GIVING PROFILE
Tim Gunter (MSLS ’88): Continuing to put trust in one of the nation’s premier information schools
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hen Tim Gunter (B.S. ’85, MSLS ’88) began “I was able to see and graduate study at Carolina in the fall of 1986, he kind of experience what was one of five students to enroll in a newly launched it’s like to go through the information science master’s track at the School of program today, 25 years Library Science. It was the first time he placed his trust later through her eyes,” in what is today the School of Information and Library Gunter said. Science (SILS). Heather Gunter gradAs a UNC history major just a few years earlier, uated Phi Beta Kappa in Gunter had plans to attend law school. He joined a May 2015 and works in pre-law club and wrote a senior honors thesis on a legal Chicago at PwC–a global topic–and realized that he didn’t want to pursue law. He business solutions firm. graduated, got a job, and was exploring different gradIn 2015, Tim Gunter uate programs when a mail solicitation from the School again placed his trust in of Library Science piqued his interest. SILS, this time with his “They were starting this new program called inforwife, Belinda. A multimation science,” Gunter said. “That sounded really year, major commitment intriguing to me.” from the Gunters–which The program, which Gunter says was a “work-inwas partially matched by progress” at the time, required him to take classes that KPMG–will help fund a grounded him in information management skills while digital media lab, proalso providing him freedom to take computer science viding opportunities for and business courses. students to interact with the latest technologies affecting After internships in Research Triangle Park–at the information professions. It will also help to realize a Burroughs Wellcome, now GlaxoSmithKline, and at the new online professional science master’s degree program U.S. Environmental Protecin digital curation–the first of tion Agency Library–Gunter A multi-year commitment from its kind in the U.S.–that will began his career at Accenture, working professionals to the Gunters–which was partially enable consulting for clients in the earn a degree no matter their matched by KPMG–will help booming information techlocation or life situation. nology field. Since then, the The digital media lab and fund a digital media lab and field has steadily grown and professional master’s degree advanced, and the information realize a new online professional program are just part of a management skills Gunter science master’s degree program. larger vision to sustain SILS learned at SILS have proven as a leading research-intensive invaluable to his professional success–from his post at information school and to push it to become an idea Accenture to his own geo-spatial solutions company to and action engine for information management in the work at North Highland to his current role as partner at 21st century. KPMG, where he focuses on CIO advising and infor“Gifts like Tim and Belinda’s really help us to move mation management of energy utilities. forward, to move into more innovative areas,” Mar“Tim was a pioneer in that he saw the [master’s in chionini said. “Tim stands as the model of someone information science] program early on as an opportunity who really understands the roles that information plays to become a management consultant,” said SILS dean in all sorts of leadership activities. He has vision and Gary Marchionini. trust in the school.” As the need for able information professionals has And to Gunter, who said his gift served as a way to grown over the last quarter century, particularly in IT, repay the school for a career’s worth of valuable lesSILS has concurrently grown. The start-up track that sons, that trust is as well-placed as it was when he first captured Gunter’s interest is now the Master of Science enrolled. in Information Science (MSIS) degree program and “The school still serves the same mission—figuring enrolls 67 students. An undergraduate Bachelor of Sciout ways to make it easier and more effective for people ence in Information Science (BSIS) program, launched to get the information they need,” he said. “To me that in 2003, now enrolls another 86. is a major contribution to society.” When Gunter’s daughter, Heather, enrolled in the -Story by Morgan Ellis (UNC ’07), BSIS program, he again placed his trust in the school. University Development Office
Tim and Belinda Gunter and family at the Old Well after Heather Gunter’s 2015 graduation.
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Nonprofit Organization US Postage PAID Chapel Hill, NC Permit 177
The School of Information and Library Science The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill CB# 3360, 100 Manning Hall Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3360
SILS Project Fair SILS hosted its first annual Project Fair to showcase the work of students on April 10, 2015, in Manning Hall. More than 20 graduate and undergraduate students shared their work through poster presentations and demonstrations on laptops, tablets, and other mobile devices. Projects explored a wide range of topics, including predicting speech acts in MOOC discussion threads, transgender needs and the academic library, social tagging in digital image collections, analyzing data from the NBA, and e-textiles for youth and technology instruction. Many projects focused on providing services, such as helping to educate African-American women about their breast cancer risks, offering city and restaurant recommendations, predicting business performance on Yelp, and developing empathy through a mobile gaming app. At the end of the fair, Olivia Dorsey (BSIS ’14, MSIS ’15) won the Best Project Award for her laptop demonstration of “The Northside Memory Project,” and Julie Stivers (MSLS ’15) won both the People’s Choice Award and the Social Impact Award for her poster “The Power of Voice: Serving Youth in Custody.” Watch video highlights of the event at vimeo.com/uncsils/project-fair.
Clockwise from top left: Associate professor David Gotz and Ph.D. student Sandeep Avula view Michael Head’s project “MyBCRisk.org.” Julie Stivers dicusses her research with professor Diane Kelly. Haoyang Yan explains his research on the 3-point shot to SILS faculty Brad Hemminger and Ryan Shaw. Helen Sun, Olivia Dorsey, and SILSAA board member Doug Diesenhaus (MSLS ’12) watch a demonstration of Mark Riddle’s e-textile shirt. Yinong Zhang listens as Jyotsna Sastrula explains a project on predicting business success using Yelp that she completed with Rita Kundu and Walid Nasim (not pictured).