SPRING/SUMMER 2017 NEWSLETTER
Director's Report It continues to be a year of change for OU SLIS as we make decisions that will help us move forward within the constantly evolving LIS discipline. We are close to completing our strategic planning (details on next page). Our master’s program admissions are soaring, with nearly double the number of admitted students in 2017, 109 compared to 57 in 2016. As noted in this newsletter, we are offering new programs, most notably a Ph.D. program to start in fall 2018. We are also developing several Graduate Certificate programs. Our bachelor’s program is expanding, and this 2016-17 academic year had the largest BAIS graduating class ever, with 16 graduates. We have made changes to the BAIS program to make it an applied information technology and data science degree in which students learn how to use IT and data tools in a user-centered context.
OU’s College of Arts and Sciences released a report of the salaries of 2015-2016 bachelor’s graduates, and our BAIS grads were near the top with a median salary of $57,500. We think this practical, hands-on degree is an excellent choice for students and we plan to grow the program over the next three years, aiming for 200 majors by 2020. Finally, to support this growth and these new programs, we requested permission to hire three new faculty members to start in fall 2018. We want to hire specialists in youth services, Native American and Indigenous information and knowledge, and data science. The coming years will be interesting and challenging as we grow, reshape the school, and continue to provide excellent and current educations to create successful LIS professionals. Susan Burke, interim director
Special Topics Course New in Fall 2017 LIS 5970 Makerspaces: Theory and Practice Kyungwon Koh Students will develop knowledge and skills needed to become successful professionals in Makerspaces. Students will learn theories behind the Maker Movement, hands-on tools and technologies, and issues on the design and implementation of a Makerspace, such as assessing the needs of community and audience, managing a space, facilitating making and learning, and evaluating impact. The course includes site visits for different Makerspaces in Oklahoma.
The University of Oklahoma, in compliance with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations, does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sexual orientation, genetic information, sex, age, religion, disability, political beliefs, or status as a veteran in any of its policies, practices or procedures. This includes but is not limited to admissions, employment, financial aid and educational services. For questions regarding discrimination, sexual assault, sexual misconduct or sexual harassment, please contact the Institutional Equity Office as may be applicable — Norman campus at 405-325-3546/3549, the Health Sciences Center at 405-271-2110 or the OU-Tulsa Title IX Office at 918-660-3107. Please see www.ou.edu/eoo. This publication is issued by the University of Oklahoma and authorized by Kelly Damphousse, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. No copies have been printed and distributed at the cost of $0.00 to the taxpayers of the state of Oklahoma.
SPRING/SUMMER 2017
New Programs Approved New Ph.D. Program to Start Fall 2018! The Ph.D. in Information Studies will expand SLIS' vision by educating students to thoroughly understand the discipline of information studies; develop expertise in using the various research methods necessary for investigation in the field; conduct effective, sustained research; and understand the ways in which information in all its forms is produced, recorded, organized, preserved, retrieved, communicated, managed and used. slis.ou.edu/phd Graduate Certificate in Archival Studies to Start in Fall 2017! Graduate certificates are gaining popularity nation-wide as additional job credentials in
numerous fields. Our certificate in Archival Studies requires four courses and may be pursued by current students with courses counting towards both the certificate and the MLIS; by graduates of the program who wish to come back for the certificate; by graduate students in other programs; and by people who have completed a bachelor’s or higher degree. slis.ou.edu/graduate-certificates Future Certificates SLIS also is in the process of creating a Graduate Certificate in Digital Humanities, which is expected to be approved for fall 2017, and a Graduate Certificate in Data Science, expected for fall 2018. Stay tuned!
Strategic Planning SLIS began a strategic planning process in November 2015, and we expect our completed strategic plan to be available by the end of summer 2017. We underwent strategic planning for many reasons. First, our ALA accreditation requires continual planning, assessment and the soliciting of stakeholder feedback. Secondly, OU encourages informed decisionmaking through strategic planning. Finally, going through this process has allowed us to create a well-designed course of action for growth and development over the next 10 years. Our process included seven faculty brainstorming sessions; surveys of alumni, community members, and students; gathering data about library career trends; and a Town Hall meeting at the April 2017 OLA conference. The strategic directions we have identified are: 1. 2. 3. 4.
Reaffirm our continued commitment to excellence in education for libraries and archives Strengthen and expand our focus on information/data science Expand our community engagement initiatives through research, teaching and practice Become an iSchool by 2025
As a school, SLIS is in great shape. We have the third-largest master’s program in OU’s College of Arts and Sciences, our master’s and bachelor’s programs both have growing student bodies, and our faculty are productive, with scholarly output and funded grants. As part of our strategic direction, we are requesting three national searches for new faculty next year. This is extremely important, as we have had faculty members leave in recent years and we must replace them to be able to effectively engage with our increasing enrollments. The new positions will be for specialists in youth services, Native American and Indigenous information and knowledge, and data science. What is an iSchool? This is an international consortium of information schools at the university and college level. The LIS field has been moving in this direction since the late 1980s, and at this time, half of the ALA-accredited MLIS programs are situated in iSchools. All top-ranking ALA accredited schools are members. The iSchool focus is on the relationships between people, information and technology. As the future of the profession, we feel that joining the consortium will raise the reputation of OU and open our focus to the interdisciplinary study of information and data in a highly technical world. To apply to the consortium, we must have had an active Ph.D. program for three years with graduates, and the school’s faculty must have a high level of research activity and external grant funding. page 2
SPRING/SUMMER 2017
Faculty, Staff and Student News Grants and Awards Jenifer Fryar received the OU College of Arts and Sciences 2017 Outstanding Staff Award. SLIS student Matt Cook tied for first place in oral presentations at OU’s 2017 Student Research and Creativity Day. A $1,000 Health Literacy Grant was awarded to the Ada Public Library, thanks to a successful grant proposal written by current SLIS student Amber Beaman. These are Institute for Museum and Library Services funds awarded through the Oklahoma Department of Libraries. SLIS professor Kun Lu was awarded a Presidential International Travel Fellowship for $1,000 to attend the 2017 iConference in Wuhan, Hubei, China.
Jenifer Fryar and Kelvin White, associate dean
Presentations “Makerspaces in Libraries: Creating Change through Active Partnerships with Communities.” Moderator: Kyungwon Koh. Speakers: June Abbas, Leanne Bowler, Heather Moorefield-Lang, and Rebekah Willett. ALISE Webinar. May 3, 2017 Rubenstein, E. L., Abbas, J., Koh, K., Martens, B. (2017). Community connections and collaborations: Stories, strategies, and relationship building. Panel at the Annual Meeting of the Association of Library and Information Science Educators Annual Conference, January 17-20, Atlanta, GA. Kim, Yong-Mi and Dursun Delen. ”Comorbidity disparity among the diabetes patients who received the hemodialysis procedure: Comparison between Caucasians and African Americans.” 2017 OU Health Disparities, Social Science & Humanities Symposium. Samis Education Center, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. April 14, 2017 Rubenstein, E. L. (2017). Your public library: A place to learn about health? Poster presented at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the Association of Library and Information Science Educators, January 17-20, Atlanta, GA.. Also presented at the 2017 OU Health Disparities, Social Science & Humanities Symposium. Samis Education Center, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. April 14, 2017. OLA 2017 Conference Rubenstein, Ellen and Shari Clifton. “Reaching Patrons with Health Literacy.” Burke, Susan, moderator. “Diversity Outreach.” Miller, Robin. “Cyber Citizenship Corners: Are Public Libraries Creating Informational Spaces for Immigrants on Their Websites?”
June Abbas
Yong-Mi Kim page 3
Publications by Faculty, Student Awards, Other News Martens, Betsy. 2017. “New Grounds for Ontic Trust: Information Objects and LIS.” Education for Information 33 (1): 37-54. Lu, K., Cai, X., Ajiferuke, I., & Wolfram, D. 2017. “Vocabulary Size and its Effect on Topic Representation.” Information Processing and Management, 53(3), 653-665. Lu, K., Joo, S., Lee, T., & Hu, R. (In Press). Factors that Influence Query Reformulations and Search Performance in Health Information Retrieval – A Multi-level Modeling Approach. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology Lu, K., Mao, J., & Li, G. (Accepted). Towards Effective Automated Weighted Subject Indexing: A Comparison of Different Approaches in Different Environments. Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology Mao, J., Cao, Y., Lu, K., & Li, G. (Accepted). Topic Scientific Community in Science: a Combined Perspective of Scientific Collaboration and Topics. Scientometrics Valencia, K.R., & Lu, K. 2017. Mining Scholarly Articles for Citation Contexts – A Pilot Study in Information Science Domain. In Proceedings of iConference 2017. Wuhan, Hubei, China. (Poster)
SLIS Student Awards: Dr. Frances Laverne Carroll Student Paper Winner - Shannon Hawkins Floyd Elliot Cobb Scholarship – Alyssa Deeds and Kay Bjornen H. W. Wilson Scholarship - Jesse Stallings, Gayle Ooten, and Sarah Davis Irma Rayne Tomberlin Award – Sarah Davis and Erica Argyopoulos Jesse Lee Rader Scholarship – Jayanna Greenwood Lotsee Patterson American Indian Scholarship — Deidre Fears and Rebecca Gordon Mary Angus Sherman Scholarship – Galen Webb Mildred Laughlin Award – Sarah Fox Nannie B. Trammel Scholarship – Amber Beaman and Marianne Myers OSLA Scholarship – April Harden-Akbas Roberta Roads Allen Scholarship – Graduate student: Ida Etemad, Undergraduate student: Amber Elizabeth Wong SLIS 75th Anniversary Scholarship – Nicole Tracy SLIS Career Scholarship – Gina Cash, Katelyn Sanders and Susan Adams-Johnson Other Scholarships and Awards: Director's Scholarship to the Rare Book School for the 2017 course season: Jonathan Self The Mr. & Mrs. W.O. Wethington Scholarship Fund from OU’s Graduate College: Clinton Girkin OLA Scholarships: Laqueta Lewis, Aaron Pope, Sarah Davis, Kay Bjornen and Kristin Haddock American Library Association Spectrum Scholarship: Marikit Fain Tulsa City County Library's 2017 Allie Beth Martin Scholarhip: April Hardin-Akbas page 4
Betsy Martens and Sarah Fox
SPRING/SUMMER 2017
Congratulations to the spring 2017 OU SLIS Norman and Tulsa MLIS and BAIS graduates! Best of luck in your new careers — keep us posted! MLIS December graduates: Norman 10, Tulsa 5; May 2017 graduates: Norman 23, Tulsa 11. BAIS graduates: fall 2016 4, spring 2017 12. Jenifer Fryar in the SLIS office will be retiring in July after 10 years at SLIS. Congratulations on a well-earned retirement! Kelly Damphousse, dean of the OU College of Arts and Sciences, will be leaving OU this summer to become the chancellor of Arkansas State University. As dean, he was always very supportive of SLIS, and we will miss him, but wish him all the best in his new position. Kay Boies, executive director of the Oklahoma Library Association for 33 years, has announced her retirement. Congratulations, Kay! Thanks for all of your work for Oklahoma Libraries through OLA.
Janie Allen in the SLIS office retired in June 2017 after 19 years with SLIS and 36 years with OU. Congratulations on your retirement, Janie!
We are sad to announce that Danny Wallace, SLIS director from 2000 to 2005, passed away on Dec. 16, 2016.
ALUMNI NEWS: Aiden Street, class of 2004, was named to Library Journal's 2017 Movers & Shakers. More here. Aiden also was named the OU SLIS Outstanding Alumni of 2017 Sara Martinez, class of 2004, had a new book published in January of this year: The Chicano Movement: A Historical Exploration of Literature. Greenwood. ISBN-13: 978-1610697071 Denise Stephens, class of 1993, was appointed vice provost and university librarian at Washington University in St. Louis. More here. Kathryn Lewis has been named the 2018-19 president of the American Association of School Librarians. More here. SLIS alumni Rebecca Spence, Leah Weyand, and Molly Dettmann with librarian Adrienne Butler, are launching the first Oklahoma Teen Book Convention, to be held in October 2017. SLIS alumna Anne Masters, executive director of the Pioneer Library System, retired in January 2017 after 10 years in the position and 16 years with Pioneer. Prior to that she worked in school libraries for more than 30 years. Her replacement as executive director for Pioneer is also an SLIS alumna, Lisa Wells. Congratulations both Anne and Lisa! More here. We would love to hear your news! Keep us posted at slisinfo@ou.edu. Aiden Street, Library Journal 2017 Mover and Shaker and winner of this year's OU SLIS Outstanding Alumni 2017, with alumna Kathryn Lewis, recently named president of the American Association of School Librarians. page 5
to