Inside SOIS - Spring 2011

UW-MILWAUKEE, SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES

Spring 2011

In this issue... learn about SOIS’ committment to addressing the international nature of information issues and the global scope of the SOIS Community.

SOIS nside Bachelor of Science in

Information Science and Technology

New name for undergraduate program!

SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES | UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MILWAUKEE

IN THIS issue Dean’s Note ....................................................................01 New SOIS Faculty & Staff .............................................02 SOIS Says Goodbye to Colleagues .............................02 Poet Librarian - Demske ...............................................04 New Name for Bachelor’s Program ............................06 Getting Ahead in Medical Librarianship .....................08 Alum Works to Improve Education Outcomes ..........09 QR Codes Offer Glimpse into SOIS Future ................10 SIIG Highlights Student Experiences .........................10 Sharing an Experience - Jackie Liesch.......................12 Librarian. Educator. World Travelor. - Hammer. .........13 International Librarianship Scholarship .....................14 Miller Publishes Book on Metadata ............................ 15

SOIS nsideeS nsid

Genealogy Prof. Celebrated for Updated Book.......... 15 Faculty Share Expertise with US Dept. HHS ............. 16 Cooper Cary Named Reviews Editor .......................... 16 Addressing a World of Knowledge - Smiraglia .......... 17 Research: RGIR Share IR Research Abroad .............. 18 Research: IOrg Helps Organize Symposium .............. 18 SOIS Student Orgs ........................................................ 18 Professional Development Institute ............................ 19 Faculty Updates............................................................. 19 Information. Connection. Philanthropy. ...................... 20 SOIS Graduates ............................................................. 20 Save the Date. ................................................................ 21 Upcoming Events .......................................................... 22

S p r i n g 2 0 11 V O L . 2 N o . 2 Inside SOIS is published twice a year by the School of Information Studies Interim Dean: Dietmar Wolfram Interim Associate Dean: Gwat-Yong Lie Assistant Dean: Chad Zahrt

Keep us Informed!

We invite all students and alumni to send us your updates and news for future issues of Inside SOIS. We’d love to hear from you!

ADDRESS CORRECTIONS AND UPDATES UW-Milwaukee, School of Information Studies Attn: Inside SOIS PO Box 413 Milwaukee, WI 53201 Phone: 414-229-4707 | Fax: 414-229-6699 Email: rjhall@uwm.edu

On the cover: Cedric Jackson, Proud IST Student and IT Technician provides IT support to students, faculty and staff at the School of Information Studies.

Executive Editors: Chad Zahrt Dave Bloom Writers: Dan Rude Dave Bloom Contributing Writers: Kathy Quirk Art Direction / Design: Rebecca Hall Photography: Natalie Puariea, Photographer Rebecca Hall, Contributing Photographer UWM Photographic Services: Pete Amland, Peter Jakubowski, Alan Magayne-Roshak

Inside SOIS is printed in limited quantity. All issues are available at: www.uwm.edu/Dept/SOIS/Inside Please share this publication with colleagues and please recycle!

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DEAN’S note Dear Alumni, Students, Faculty, Staff, and Friends Never has the global nature of information been more apparent than it is today. As technology enables us to more easily communicate and collaborate across borders, it also allows us to see the differences in how information is accessed and organized or, in some cases, stifled throughout the world. The information issues of a nation may be unique to that nation, but they potentially affect us all.

The Scope of our Information Community The School of Information Studies (SOIS) is committed to addressing the international nature of information issues and librarianship. This issue of Inside SOIS highlights the global scope of the School, drawing on both student and faculty experience.

Over the last year, SOIS has seen students and alumni bring their information skills to bear in a number of international contexts. In this issue, we highlight a student who, with the help of a scholarship, attended the World Library and Information Congress in Sweden, another who studied an AIDS/HIV information campaign in South Africa through SOIS’s Study Abroad program and yet another who taught information literacy skills in a shanty town in Panama as part of the Peace Corps.

Last year also saw the birth of the SOIS International Initiatives Group (SIIG), which aims to promote student and faculty interest in international issues. This group continues its activities into 2011, including a student presentation day featured in this issue.

SOIS’s international scope is not merely reflected in our student activities; our faculty members are regular international conference attendees and collaborators with colleagues throughout the world, as exemplified by the Research Group in Information Retrieval (RGIR) trip to South Korea and the Information Organization Research Group (IOrg) trip to Taiwan.

I am proud to be taking on the role of Interim Dean during this exciting time for SOIS and hope to further support its global focus. I thank our previous Interim Dean Hope A. Olson for maintaining the high standards of the School during her tenure and wish her the best of luck during her sabbatical.

Thank You! Interim Dean Dietmar Wolfram

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SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES | UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MILWAUKEE

New Faces at SOIS! M E E T O U R N E W FA C U LT Y & A C A D E M I C S TA F F

Toby DEUTSCH

Jessica HUTCHINGS

ACADEMIC ADVISOR Toby earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from UW-Milwaukee in 2004 and began working at UWM shortly there after.

Before joining the School of Information Studies, he held a position as an admissions advisor for the Department of Recruitment and Outreach on campus.

His duties as an admissions advisor had him traveling across the states of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois visiting high schools, presenting to groups and attending college fairs in promotion of UWM. In his past role, Toby had also been an instrumental part of both New Freshmen Orientation and Parent Orientation. Toby has been an advisor in the School of Information Studies since early 2011.

ACADEMIC ADVISOR Jessica comes from an academic library background with experience in reference, instruction, digital collections, access services and management.

She has research interests in common reading initiatives; the effects of e-books in the library and the importance of networking and participation in professional organizations in the LIS field. Jessica is very active in the Wisconsin Library Association and is currently serving as a member of the WLA Board of Directors, as chair of the WLA Support Staff Section, and on several planning committees and task forces. In her spare time, Jessica loves to travel, scrapbook, research genealogy and spend time with her two Shiba Inu puppies and husband.

Farewell...

SOIS Says Goodbye to Esteemed Colleagues In December, SOIS said goodbye to two valued professors, Dr. Tomas Lipinski and Dr. Elizabeth Buchanan who both move on to academic leadership positions.

Lipinski has moved to Indianapolis to take over as executive associate dean of the School of Library and Information Science at the Indiana University – Purdue University Indiana (IUPUI). Lipinski was the former director of the MLIS program at SOIS.

02 | Inside SOIS

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Angela SADOWSKY ACADEMIC ADVISOR Angela earned a Bachelor of Arts from St. Norbert College in 2008 and her Masters in Communication from UWM in 2010. Angela has been with SOIS since early 2010, working closely with the advisors as an undergraduate advising assistant. She became an associate advisor in late 2010. Angela enjoys meeting with students and providing guidance and resources to help students take advantage of all the great opportunities SOIS and UWM have to offer.

Gwat-Yong LIE INTERIM ASSOCIATE DEAN June 2010, Dr. Gwat-Yong Lie commenced her responsibilities as interim associate dean of SOIS. Lie comes from the Helen Bader School of Social Work where she has served as Associate Professor since 1996. She also has experience in administration, having served as Associate Dean of Academic Programs and Student Services for the Graduate School at UWM. At the Helen Bader School of Social Work, Lie has dedicated her career to pursuing social advocacy and activism. She has been very effective in winning grants and attracting funding to UWM. Since 2001, she has been principal investigator and project administrator for a joint UWM-City of Milwaukee partnership to study child welfare. She has also worked with Health Care for the Homeless in Milwaukee to study and prevent addiction and substance abuse.

“The service component of social work and library science was one of the big reasons we chose Dr. Lie,” said Professor Hope Olson. “Dr. Lie’s track-record for community service is unmatched.”

Lie works with faculty in the areas of research and funding. Since 2008, SOIS has begun to cultivate three distinct research tracks: information policy, information organization and information retrieval. The School, along with the university, has made significant strides in achieving acclaim as a research institution. “Dr. Lie will continue to help promote our research agenda. We anticipate that with her commitment to academic and community outreach, she will provide great leadership and insights for SOIS.” said Olson.

Buchanan, associate professor and former director of the Center for Information Policy Research, leaves SOIS to begin her position as the endowed chair and director of UW-Stout Center for Applied Ethics in Menomonie, WI. SOIS also bids adieu to our Communications Specialist, Dan Rude, who leaves SOIS to take a position as marketing specialist with the American Library Association in Chicago, IL.

Director Updates...

Dr. Jacque du Plessis replaces Dr. Michael Zimmer as Director of the Information Science & Technology (IST) Program.

Dr. Wooseob Jeong replaces Dr. Hur-li Lee as Director of the MLIS Program.

Dr. Michael Zimmer and Dr. Joyce Latham now serve as co-directors of the Center for Information Policy Research (CIPR).

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poet

SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES | UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MILWAUKEE

Librarian

By Dan Rude

In his own words, Nick Demske’s final semester of graduate school was “anti-social.” Not accustomed to being silenced, Demske felt rather stifled from his busy schedule of taking courses, completing fieldwork at the Racine Public Library, and organizing and participating in several poetry events.

library. Interestingly enough, the library was hiring. In little time, he was an active employee at the Racine Public Library.

For Demske, the choice of the library was an obvious one. He reminisces about the intersection of his writing and library worlds coming together at a very young age.

Despite his very busy schedule, Demske had a successful final semester. Demske won the 2010 Fence Books Modern Poetry Series and had a book of poems published this past fall. Fence Books, which is run by noted poet Rebecca Wolf, is a leading publisher of modern poetry.

Demske, who graduated from SOIS in May 2010 with his MLIS, is naturally relaxed and sociable. With a poet’s command of the language, he begins by reflecting on the origins of his interest in poetry and writing. “It was a mode of expression,” he said. He admits that, though “born out of music,” his interest in writing (especially lyrics) was transferred to poetry when he couldn’t find a band.

His interest in librarianship, too, was something of an accident. After graduating from Kenosha’s Carthage College with a Bachelor of Arts in English, he sought a more adventurous life. Enrolling in an outdoor wilderness guide course, Demske sold many of his possessions and moved to Wyoming. The experience, he says, was an incredible one, but in the end, only convinced him that outdoor activities like hiking and mountain climbing were not something he wished to mix with money.

Moving back to Racine, Demske began looking for a job. The only public space he could find to write job applications was the

04 | Inside SOIS

“As a teenager, I was really into [American punk rock band] Black Flag,” he said. “One day I was at the library with my mom and I saw this [Black Flag front man] Henry Rollins book [of spoken word poetry]. There I am, genuflecting in the library. There aren’t many places where you’re encouraged to get on the floor. Anything close to the ground is valued less. It’s a taboo act, but you see it all the time at the library: people bending and supplicating. These are physical acts of shame, but not negatively. It’s more humbling than anything else.”

What is more humbling is Demske’s devotion to promoting the library as a major figure in Racine’s arts community. In 2008, along with two other friends, he helped create Bonk!, a monthly performance series that brings all type of writers, poets, and musicians to the city. Two years later, Bonk! is still alive and well, thanks mainly to Demske and the Racine Public Library, whom he convinced to sponsor the event.

In the face of all his successes, Demske channels humility. When asked about his role as a driver of the Racine arts’ scene, he praises others. “There’s an arts scene out there [in Racine] that doesn’t get recognized,” he said. “People thank me all the time, saying ‘you’re the only person doing this.’ But it’s not true. It’s just that the arts scene is very fragmented.” Demske suggested the Racine Symphony Orchestra as an excellent example of a thriving player in the Racine arts sphere.

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“As a teenager, I was really into [American punk rock band] Black Flag,” he said. “One day I was at the library with my mom and I saw this [Black Flag front man] Henry Rollins book [of spoken word poetry]. There I am, genuflecting in the library. There aren’t many places where you’re encouraged to get on the floor. Anything close to the ground is valued less. It’s a taboo act, but you see it all the time at the library: people bending and supplicating. These are physical acts of shame, but not negatively.

It’s more humbling than anything else.”

-Nick Demske, MLIS 2010 At the Racine Public Library, Demske has also been involved in several activities to promote the awareness of the arts. Among them were a write-a-thon and several fund-raising events; he has also encouraged the acquisition of small press poetry chapbooks.

In Demske’s estimation, the library has one of the better poetry collections in the area. “It’s exciting to see,” said Demske in reference to the chapbooks. “To see these books get checked out is a treat.”

Someday soon, it’s quite possible that Demske will see his own book at the circulation desk at the Racine Public Library. When asked which was more important to him – the book or his recent diploma from SOIS – he was unequivocal: the book. ook ok.

“Besides having more Facebook friends,” Demske joked, “the book has really opened doors.” Case in point: at a recent event, Demske was approached by a well-known Chicago poet.

The individual congratulated Demske and then n informed him that he has become a “big deal.” al.l.”

Indeed, Demske has already reached a goal that tha th tha att many poets all over the United States will never nev ever ve err achieve: having a major publisher agree to publish sh his sh his is book of poems.

Faced with confronting the prospect of such a triumph in the poetry world versus advancing in the library world, Demske again seems a bit overwhelmed. The victim of his own success? Not for Demske, who accords poetry and the library in his own effortless manner: “They both connect people, and that’s a [expletive] beautiful thing.”

For more Information

Nick Demske by: Nick Demske Publisher: Fence Books PubDate: 11/1/2010 Publis ISBN: 9781934200391 In addition add to working at the Racine Public Library, Nick curates the BONK! performance series in Racine (http://bonkperformanceseries.wordpress.

Ra com/) and is editor of the online forum boo: a c journal of terrific things (http://boojournal. wordpress.com/)

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SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES | UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MILWAUKEE

! m a r g o r P e t a u d a r g r e d n New name for u

By Dan Rude

Sara Puls was pleased with the announcement that the SOIS undergraduate program has changed names from the Bachelor of Science in Information Resources (BSIR) to the Bachelor of Science in Information Science and Technology (IST). Since graduating in fall 2010, she’s been able to test out the new name on employers.

Sara wasn’t the only one excited about the new name. The change, which took effect at the beginning of the 2010-11 academic year, means that students who graduated in fall 2010 and beyond will have a completely different designation on their diplomas than the previous year’s crop of SOIS undergraduates.

But while the name might have changed, the program remains the same. “We haven’t changed the content of the major, only its name,” said former Undergraduate Director Michael Zimmer. “While ‘Information Resources’ made sense when the undergraduate program was first introduced as an offshoot of the school’s successful Masters in Library and Information Science, we feel that ‘Information Science and Technology’ provides a more meaningful identity for today’s students, and it is more recognizable by potential employers.”

Given the interdisciplinary nature of the degree, SOIS faculty and staff feel that the change comes at the right time for students entering the marketplace and should provide them a big advantage.

“The new name reflects the dual nature of the degree program: the information science aspect focuses on the nature of information and the impact of information systems in society,” said Zimmer, “while the information technology aspect is centered on practical training in the development of advanced information systems.”

“The IST is a burgeoning program and we feel that this new name does it justice,” said Interim Dean Dietmar Wolfram. “The program is designed to create strong professionals in the information science field. With the new name, more people will pay attention to our quality students and faculty.”

06 | Inside SOIS

The Experience Remains the Same With so many changes afoot, students shouldn’t expect major shifts in the direction of the program. In fact, the direction seems to be pretty popular. Since ince 2006, 2006 the number of IST majors has steadily grown (see info box).

Year

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

# of Majors

147

156

167

212

224

In response to the growth of the program, SOIS has continued to add new courses and options for IST students. The school added courses in Adobe Flash and Information Security. The school has also added a course on Advanced Web Design (HTML5) and a very popular course on Information Technology Ethics.

INFORMATION our focus INTERNATIONAL our scope INTERDISCIPLINARY our mindset

Additionally, there have been some new faces around SOIS to help drive the program. In the past three years, the school has added new professor Michael Zimmer, and new lecturers, Shana Ponelis and Adam Hudson, all of whom primarily teach IST courses. In student services and support, SOIS added new advisors Toby Deutsch and Angela Sadowsky. There are also a host of new adjunct instructors covering subjects and skills that employers seek.

Enter the Robot

Modeling its successful online MLIS program, the school moved the entire IST online so students can take all online classes, all onsite classes, or a mixture of the two. For many students, that flexibility is a huge factor in why they chose SOIS.

And, oh yeah, there’s one other change: the robot.

For many IST students, securing internships is a vital part of the university experience. Internships can be an incredible experience and sometimes the gateway to a full-time position.

It’s hard to miss. Walk around campus and you’ll see it. On posters.

On coffee sleeves. On t-shirts.

Recent IST students have found internships at local firms such as Milwaukee Tool, Medical College of Wisconsin and Harley Davidson. The recognition from these internships doesn’t only reflect well on the IST; the students themselves deserve credit for their hard work and foresight.

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The brainchild of IST grad Gabriella Tato, the robot has become the de-facto mascot of the postname change IST program. Tato, who does graphic design for SOIS, thought up the robot after a suggestion by Zimmer to use a tag cloud.

“I thought the best way to present a lot of text on a shirt would be to have it make up a recognizable shape or object of some kind. For other IST-related ads, the shape I used was a literal cloud (you know, the white, puffy variety) but I was worried that no one would want to actually wear one.

I figured that a robot was something that people tend to associate with technology and might actually wear,” she said. “Plus, techies love their robots.”

The IST robot t-shirts have been a big hit amongst the undergraduate student population. So, too, were the <smart>IST</smart> t-shirts designed by SOIS Marketing Coordinator Rebecca Hall. The shirts are mostly for IST majors, as they depict code that some outside the major might not understand.

“It’s not meant to be exclusive,” laughed Hall. “But maybe self-selecting!”

SOIS hopes students will respond positively to the IST changes and continue to make more suggestions. With a new name, new website and new faculty, the program clearly has momentum.

Photo: Cedric Jackson IST Major

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SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES | UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MILWAUKEE

By Dan Rude

When she came to SOIS, Sandi Bates was not your typical MLIS student. Now, Sandi Bates is not your typical medical librarian. Bates was recently named as the head of reference for the Harley E. French Library of the Health Sciences at the University of North Dakota. She begins her new position only three years into her stay at UND libraries; atypical, sure, but hardly a challenge for Sandi Bates.

With her appointment, Bates becomes an important part of medical education for students from North Dakota’s only medical school.

And even though she doesn’t have a hands-on medical background, Bates is confident that the skills she’s acquired from SOIS and her on-the-job training have more than adequately prepared her to assist a new generation of North Dakota doctors.

Dimitroff as a professor for a reference course. It was in that course that Bates learned some of the fundamental strategies that would later earn her a position as Head of Reference. “I really learned how to approach searches with the right strategy,” said Bates, who cited Dimitroff’s exercises as having sparked “great conversation” in the online course.

Bates is a relative newcomer to the field of library science (she finished her degree in 2007), but has plenty of work experience.

Before she came to SOIS, she had worked for about 20 years in the communications field. In summarizing her MLIS journey as a non-traditional student, Bates quoted British novelist George Eliot: “You’re never too old to be who you were meant to be.”

In her time at SOIS, Bates also took courses in health science and competitive intelligence, education that she says helped her attain her first position as a reference librarian at the Chester Fritz Library at UND, where her specialty was business and government documents. Bates focused on learning how to field reference questions and navigate the quirks of certain databases. Both were skills that impressed her superiors at the Harley E. French Library of the Health Sciences.

While she was looking for programs, a few things about SOIS stood out, Bates said. The first was the lack of a residency requirement; Bates is a proud North Dakotan and was determined to stay in the area while she took graduate courses. Another valuable aspect of SOIS’s online program is that it allowed Bates to continue working fulltime. Bates had heard of other students in other library science programs having to travel to campus 10 days a year for mandatory on-site classes. The prospect of giving up precious vacation days for such a program was painful. Bates was overjoyed when she discovered that SOIS’s master’s program was completely online with no on-site class visits required.

Alumni Profile...

Bates credits SOIS Associate Professor Alexandra Dimitroff as having played a big part in her graduate career. Bates first had

08 | Inside SOIS

The biggest challenge for Bates in her new role is earning the confidence of the medical students with whom she’ll be working. The first encounter is most important, Bates said. “It better be a good one.” In the future, she hopes to explore mobile applications that might assist these students when they go into the field to do their clinical rotations.

For now, Bates has plenty on her plate. She was recently in Chicago for a medical librarian conference, and, even though she’s moving up, she admits that it doesn’t feel like a big job transition. “I still live in the same city, in the same house,” she said, “but now I just park in a different parking spot.”

Photo by: Vanessa Olivier

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MLIS graduate Andrew Gress is not one to rest on his laurels. In the three years since graduating from SOIS and finding work at Kaplan lan University in Iowa, he’s moved from adjunct professor and librarian n to assistant academic dean and director of library services.

SOIS Alum Works to Improve Education Outcomes

By Dan Rude

In his final year at SOIS in 2006, Gress knew that he wanted to teach. During this time, he was completing a year-long stint as a reference librarian at the Menomonee Falls Public Library outside of Milwaukee. He had enjoyed the opportunity to work with the public, but craved the more traditional classroom setting to try his hand at instruction.

An opportunity arose on his last day of work at the library. “As I was walking out of the building, I was setting up a time for an interview at Kaplan,” said Gress. At the time, Gress and his wife were in the process of moving to St. Paul, MN. Only eight days after they had arrived in St. Paul, they were packing up again for Des Moines, IA; Gress had been offered a job as a librarian at Kaplan.

When he arrived at Kaplan, the Dean asked Gress if he was interested in teaching. He saw his opportunity and took it. “When I made the commitment to teaching, I knew it was going to be 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.,” said Gress of his first semester at Kaplan.

The courses he taught covered a wide range of subjects. Gress, who has a Bachelor of Science in History, says that his humanities background prepared him for the undergraduate history, philosophy and ethics courses that he taught. He cited the ethics capstone class that he took with former SOIS Dean and current UWM Interim Provost Johannes Britz as an inspiration.

Even though his role has changed, Gress is still passionate ssionate about student success. One of the challenges that he faces is lowering the drop-out rate at Kaplan by creating an environment more conducive to quality learning. With a fellow dean, he is working on a grant proposal to monitor Alumni Profile... academic success and increase individual GPAs. As a dean, Gress sees motivation as a big factor in student success. “Many students come in with good intentions, but, ultimately, we have to assess whether they’re a good risk or not,” he said. He acknowledges that extraneous issues can derail a student, but, for a motivated student, anything is possible.

With approximately 900 students, Kaplan has a mixture of on-site and online learning. Gress says that, like many SOIS students, Kaplan students like the blended programs. “Some students prefer to take all their courses online,” he said. The most important part, he added, is that students embrace the technology that exists for them to learn.

Stay Connected & Share Your News!

As both an instructional librarian and an adjunct professor, he was responsible for giving students the appropriate services and resources to graduate. In those two years, he also helped develop faculty in-services and classroom evaluations.

Gress also participated in Kaplan’s 2008 self-study committee for NCA re-accreditation. The process helped familiarize him with the operational side of the university. This eventually led Gress to administration. In April 2010, Gress was named assistant academic dean of Kaplan University.

We’d love to hear from you! We invite all SOIS students, alumni and friends to send us your news and updates for possible inclusion in future issues of Inside SOIS. Do you have an idea for a story? Let us know! Visit the Alumni & Friends website to contact us and share your news!

www.uwm.edu/sois/alumni_friends/update.cfm or Email: rjhall@uwm.edu

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SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES | UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MILWAUKEE

SIIG SOIS International Initiatives Group

QR Codes Offer Glimpse into SOIS Future

By Dan Rude

“What are those black-and-white boxes on my coffee sleeve?”

You might have heard this question as you left the Union or Library Grind last semester, as students, staff and faculty noticed the mysterious rectangle containing unusual shapes and figures on their cardboard coffee sleeves.

These are Quick Response or “QR” codes, and, given the prevalence of Internet-enabled mobile devices, they represent the future of marketing. Although they might not be legible to the human eye, QR codes allow users instant access to website and marketing information without requiring them to manually type URLs. QR codes function similarly to bar codes scanned in a supermarket check-out line. iPhone and Android users can download a QR scanning application from their phone’s application store and use their phones as scanners, accessing information via QR code. For example, scanning a QR code on a faculty door will take you to the SOIS directory. Scanning your coffee sleeve will take you to a story about the Bachelor of Science in Information Science and Technology (IST) degree at the SOIS website.

SOIS is the first school at UWM to widely use QR codes. SOIS Assistant Professor Michael Zimmer is proud that this was specifically a student-led campaign. “A lot of our students are interested in the possibilities created by new technologies,” said Zimmer. “QR codes make an excellent example.”

The idea to use QR codes came from two former IST students, Rob Nunez and Gabriella Tato, both of whom graduated in the spring of 2010. The pair originally designed the code to direct traffic to SOIS’s new website.

Highlights Student Experiences in South Africa and France

By Dave Bloom

Whether you’ve studied constitutional law or AIDS education in Johannesburg or researched corporate librarianship in Paris, the SOIS International Initiatives Group (SIIG) wants to help you share your story.

This spring, Liza Barry-Kessler, Nicolle Davies and Marilynn Manross presented at SIIG’s first Student International Experience Lecture Forum, an opportunity for students to discuss their international experiences and apply them to library and information issues.

Doctoral student Barry-Kessler traveled to Johannesburg for five months in 1996 as part of a collaborative program organized by the University of Wisconsin Law School and Johannesburg’s Witwatersrand School of Law. The program focused on constitutional law, specifically South Africa’s creation of a new permanent constitution after decades of apartheid.

Barry-Kessler arrived just in time for the official re-launch of state television stations, which included coverage of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission hearings, an attempt to address human rights violations during the apartheid era. Barry-Kessler witnessed the complexity of some of these hearings in person.

“How do you get people to own up to what they might have done in the past without undermining the reconciliation?” she asked.

Barry-Kessler noted some unexpected differences in the information resources, both academically and in general. At Witwatersrand School of Law, printers were scarce and legal databases unavailable, but there was “great access unavailable to international print publications.”

“I noticed Rob working with a QR code one day, so o I asked him what it was for,” said Tato. “He told me that at he had generated it for the SOIS website, and that he thought it would be a good idea to post the QR code around campus. I thought he should take his idea a step further and use it to market the renaming of the undergraduate degree program [from BSIR to BSIST]. I thought the concept perfectly represented what hat BSIST majors do—provide information through technology.”

10 | Inside SOIS

Photos by Nicolle Davies

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Even more striking were the disparities in telephone technology.

Cell phones were nicknamed “Gauteng earrings” due to their popularity in Johannesburg (Gauteng being the province that includes Johannesburg). Simultaneously, copper wires that could be used for landline technology were often woven into baskets sold on the street. “And we wondered why our phones were constantly being cut off,” Barry-Kessler added with a laugh.

Davies also traveled to South Africa, but at a very different time in the country’s history and with a different focus. The SOIS graduate student visited South Africa in early 2010 with Associate Professor Jacques du Plessis and five other SOIS students to study HIV/AIDS education.

With an estimated 5.7 million South Africans infected with HIV or AIDS as of 2008, Davies said, various agencies have supported the “ABC” information campaign, which emphasizes three points: “abstain,” “be faithful” and “condomize.” The class studied the effectiveness of this campaign as they traveled from the Soweto area of Johannesburg to Pretoria to Cape Town. They met with USAID organizers, toured a community collaborative that serves as a soup kitchen and shelter and even watched a female tribal initiation ceremony.

The country is a “beautiful disaster,” Davies said. “The people and land are beautiful, but there’s such poverty and gender inequality.”

Manross’ presentation offered a change of hemisphere and area of interest. Last July, an independent study project on French corporate librarianship led her to a month-long stay in Paris.

Working with SOIS Lecturer Catherine Hansen and the Center for International Education, Manross began planning her study in the spring 2010 semester. As Paris is not a frequent study abroad location for SOIS students, she was able to coordinate her plans with a group of UWM undergraduates in the French program while receiving graduate credit.

Her study started at home. Manross plotted her project on a timeline and began researching French corporate librarianship before she even left, collecting articles, scheduling a research consultation at UWM Libraries and conducting email and telephone interviews. She also decided to log her findings on a private blog.

In Paris, she found that the daily schedule was busy. “I fully participated with the undergraduates,” Manross said. This included classes at the Sorbonne with presentations on art and history, as well as trips to Versailles, Brittany and Normandy.

While her study is “very preliminary – more than a one-semester project,” Manross thinks SOIS has a lot to offer for those seeking a global perspective on librarianship.

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While their journeys varied considerably, all three students reflected fondly on their experiences, with the two students who traveled while at SOIS singling the school out for praise. Photos by Marilynn Manross “I can’t thank SOIS enough for the chance to go to South Africa,” said Davies.

S SOIS INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVES GROUP (SIIG) G The SOIS International Initiatives Group is an interest group aimed at creating awareness of SOIS’ international engagements within the School and across the UWM campus in furtherance of the recommendations of the university’s Report of the Task Force on Internationalization.

Would you like to be involved?

Attend one of our events SIIG holds regular lectures and presentations from students, faculty and staff who are affiliated with projects or partnerships abroad.

Join the Discussion Join the SIIG-News list: http://listserv.uwm.edu/mailman/listinfo/siig-news Visit the SIIG website for more information: http://www4.uwm.edu/sois/initiatives/international/ siig/ Contact us for more information: Rebecca Hall rjhall@uwm.edu 414-229-2855

Spring 2011

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SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES | UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MILWAUKEE

For Jackie Liesch and a legion of Kenosha high school and elementary school students, a trip to South Africa provided a life-changing experience. Fortunately for those students, Liesch was the only one who had to endure the two-day plane ride.

SOUTH AFRICA TRIP TEACHES SOIS, KENOSHA STUDENTS In January 2010, Liesch, who graduated from SOIS with her MLIS in May, joined then-SOIS Dean and current UWM Interim Provost Johannes Britz, SOIS Associate Professor Jacques du Plessis and six other SOIS students in studying an AIDS/HIV information campaign in South Africa.

Liesch, a school media specialist at Harvey Elementary School at the time, set up daily video conference sessions via Skype with schools back in Kenosha. With the help of fellow MLIS student and Bradford High School social studies teacher Caroline Haebig, Liesch taught students about the difficulty the South African government has had in promoting AIDS awareness and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. In her elementary school classes, Liesch stressed the cultural differences and the diversity of wildlife in South Africa.

The willingness to share the learning experience with her students came almost immediately. “I naturally think of how to incorporate technology into what I do,” said Liesch. As soon as she found out she had been accepted into the study abroad program, she began planning the lessons.

Despite the expected difficulty in handling multi-national video conferencing, the technology staff at the Kenosha Unified School District was well prepared, Liesch said.

Liesch also credits du Plessis for his willingness to coordinate the project with the group’s tour plans. “There was a lot of planning required,” she said. “We needed to know when we were coming back [to the hotel], because I had students in the US waiting.” Liesch describes Du Plessis and the rest of the group as “very accommodating.”

The Kenosha students weren’t the only ones learning. In addition to her video conferencing, Liesch still had to complete the coursework related to the trip. She and five other students wrote a group paper describing South Africa’s ABC campaign to prevent the spread of AIDS/HIV. Liesch, who will be the head librarian at InterAmerican Academy in Guayaquil, Ecuador starting in July, called her trip to South Africa “a once-in-a-lifetime experience.” She added, “I’m very grateful to have had that opportunity.”

12 | Inside SOIS

By Dan Rude

INFORMATION our focus INTERNATIONAL our scope INTERDISCIPLINARY our mindset

3

Librarian.

Educator.

World Traveler.

By Dan Rude and Dave Bloom

L

ast summer, Susan Hammer finished her MLIS degree.

Like many other SOIS students, Hammer was excited

for the final few weeks of online courses and the feeling of accomplishment once it was all over. Unlike her fellow graduates, however, Hammer was preparing to spend four-and-ahalf months working for the Peace Corps in Panama.

In the remote, rural shantytown of El Cedro, Hammer worked with the local parent-teacher association to bring up community-wide literacy statistics, running a library and instructing librarian trainers on teaching information literacy skills. Hammer’s base of operations was a one-room library adjoined to the local elementary school.

The local government, in the form of the town’s mayor or “representante” presented an additional challenge. “He didn’t want me there,” Hammer said. “He didn’t try to frighten me exactly, but he was rude.”

Hammer explained that the representante had a reputation for funneling federal funds away from much-needed community projects and attempting to claim credit for projects to win money and votes.

Regardless, by the time she had left, Hammer had left a substantial positive mark. She had taken the $800 she had been given and helped build the library’s collection to 1,000 books, taking donations from other libraries in Panama and finding deals on eBay. “They’re all in Spanish and up-to-date,” she said. In addition, the collection now includes maps and local resources. She also developed a working relationship with the national library system of Panama, making El Cedro’s library an official part of the system.

want to attend graduate school. She chose a Masters program in International Education at the Teacher’s College of Columbia University and worked with students of Puerto Rican and Dominican background in her bilingual internship with the New York Public School system.

Hammer eventually decided that librarianship was a better fit for her personality and enrolled in the MLIS program at SOIS. Hammer was particularly drawn to the program because of the opportunities for online learning. “[Distance education] allows you to continue with the life you already have,” said Hammer.

We have the ability to empower people if we give them the access to do what they want While a student at SOIS, Hammer joined professors Johannes Britz and Jacques du Plessis in their January term course on Information Literacy in South Africa. “It was an awesome experience to be in the home country of information professionals such as Professors Britz and du Plessis,” said Hammer.

Now living in Hawaii, Hammer continues to be involved with the library in El Cedro. “I’m still working on getting two computers in the library,” she said. The connected elementary school has a computer, but access is highly restricted.

Throughout her globetrotting experiences, Hammer’s commitment to providing equal access to information comes through clearly. “We have the ability to empower people if we give them the access to do what they want,” she said.

Her stay in El Cedro was not Hammer’s first Peace Corps experience. Before coming to SOIS, she spent two years in the small farming village of Tola, Nicaragua. “There were about 3,000 people, but no stoplights,” said Hammer. She taught environmental education classes and helped develop an environmental education conference. She also taught yoga to the locals – Hammer is a certified yoga instructor who has spent time studying in India – and helped build a library. Hammer wrote a grant, did fundraising and eventually found enough money to create a collection.

After her two-year stint was up, Hammer took advantage of a fellowship program that the Peace Corps offers for alumni who Spring 2011

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SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES | UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MILWAUKEE

SOIS’ Amy Neeser was the 2010 recipient of the Rovelstad Scholarship in International Librarianship from the Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR)

l a n o i t a n p i h s Inter r a l o h c S p i h s n Libraria

By Dan Rude

Last L asst August, August SOIS graduate student A m Neeser’s hard work and her Amy iinterest nt in resource sharing earned h e a free trip to Sweden. her

Neeser, the 2010 recipient of the Rovelstad N Scholarship in International Librarianship, attendSchol Sc Federation of Library Association and ed the the International Intern t natio Museum’s (IFLA) 2010 World Library and Information Congress in Gothenberg, Sweden. The Council on Library and Information Resources (CLIR), a non-profit organization designed to expand leadership potential in the information professions, supports the scholarship, which is awarded to one library and information science student per year.

In her second year of the MLIS program, Neeser is interested in international librarianship for the issues of technological literacy and interoperability. “Cooperative partnerships between information organizations and other institutions must be fostered by investing in technologies that transcend these traditional boundaries and promote interoperability and the sharing of resources,” said Neeser.

Neeser is used to helping people find resources—especially in a bilingual setting. In addition to taking courses online, St. Paul native Neeser—who also speaks German—works full-time at the Minnesota-based Germanic-American Institute (GAI), a non-profit organization dedicated to fostering appreciation of German language and culture. There she helps with educational programming and also manages the small library. “At the GAI, we are often dealing with international organizations and people originally from overseas,” she said. “So we try to make our programs and resources available to everyone despite these regional differences.”

Neeser also recently completed a fieldwork at the University of Minnesota’s O. Meredith Wilson Library, working under the Western European Studies librarian. She helped collect historic

14 | Inside SOIS

German-language Ge G erman an lan angu uage ag ge newspaper news ne wspa pape pa perr holdings pe hold ho ldin ings from from ro om all all over ove ov er the er the country, coun compiling them into a wiki. “Many of the librarians were willing to pull their holdings, but no one wanted to take time to actually crosscheck, write it in wiki markup, enter it into the wiki,” she said.

The theme for the 2010 IFLA World Congress was “Open Access to Knowledge.” Neeser thinks this might be one of the reasons why she was picked. In addition to the position at the GAI and her coursework at SOIS, she’s also found time to publish articles on resource sharing and interoperability. Neeser noted that IFLA had “been on [her] radar” for quite some time due to her interest in bilingual resource sharing, but it was through a SOIS listserv that she found out about the scholarship. “Staff members are constantly posting about different conference and scholarship opportunities in all aspects of librarianship on that listserv,” she said. “It is so helpful.”

The scholarship gave Neeser the opportunity to catch up on international librarianship and see Scandinavia for the first time. The PhD-hopeful Neeser saw the trip as a wonderful chance to get acquainted with both a burgeoning field and the long-days of the Scandinavian summer. “It had always been a dream of mine,” she said. “I am of Scandinavian heritage but didn’t think I would be able to afford the trip for many years!”

IFLA 2011 - August 13 - 18, 2011 San Juan, Puerto Rico SOIS will be at IFLA! Jihee Beak, PhD Student will be presenting a paper entitled: Comparison of Metadata Schemas: AACR2+ vs. ICDL’s metadata schema. Cletus Kuunifaa, MLIS Student will be presenting at the session of Access to Information Network - Africa (ATINA). Dr. Peter Lor, SOIS Visiting Prof. and Chunsheng Huang, PhD Student, will co-present a report on a survey of the international relations of national library associations at the meeting of IFLA’s Special Interest Group on National Organizations and International Relations. Dr. Peter Lor will present a keynote paper and participate in additional meetings throughout the duration of the IFLA Congress. In addition, Dr. Wooseob Jeong and Dr. Johannes Britz will be participating and presenting.

INFORMATION our focus INTERNATIONAL our scope INTERDISCIPLINARY our mindset

Miller Publishes Book on Metadata On May 31, metadata became a little bit easier to use. On this date, Neal-Schuman released SOIS Lecturer Steve Miller’s Metadata for Digital Collections, a textbook that covers basic metadata concepts and principles, the application of Dublin Core and other metadata schemes and their use in cultural heritage institutions.

Metadata for Digital Collections will fill a gap that Miller noticed while teachSteve Miller, Lecturer ing SOIS metadata courses.

“After trying many different existing textbooks over many years when teaching the MLIS metadata course, I never found any of them to be fully adequate for my approach to teaching the course, so I finally got around to writing my own,” he said. “My book is quite unlike any other published to date.” The book arose organically from these courses, as well as his online continuing education metadata workshop.

The product of an intense interest in tracing the roots of family history, Baugrud’s update brings some of the methods of genealogical research into the 21st century. The updates to Searching for Your Family include many of the latest developments to hit genealogy.

According to Baugrud, there are three main electronic databases used in genealogy today. The most well-known of these is run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Still, as Baugrud endeavors to point out in his genealogy classes, much of the practice remains tied to pen-and-paper records. “Not Not all courthouses put their materials online,” he said, “and it will be a while yet before they do.” The book

“Librarians are mentors and it’s their responsibility to show library users the process of finding information.”

By Dave Bloom

“I developed my own written manual for the workshop,” he said.

“So many working metadata librarians and other professionals have given such positive evaluations of the workshop and of my written materials and told me how much it helped them that I decided to turn the materials into a book.”

Intended as both a textbook for LIS students and practitioner guide for working metadata professionals in libraries, archives, historical societies and museums, Metadata for Digital Collections will be available through the Neal-Schuman at http://www.neal-schuman. com/bdetail.php?isbn=9781555707460. Naturally, Miller’s future students will soon become acquainted with it.

“I’m definitely going to use it when I next ext teach the 714 Metadata course,” he said. id.

“It will be up to my colleagues to decide de whether or not it works with their approach ch to teaching the course.”

Metadata for Digital Collections by: Steven J. Miller Publisher: Neal-Schuman ISBN: 9781555707460

Genealogy Professor Celebrated for Updated B Book k SOIS Adjunct Professor was honored by UWM Libraries and the UWM Graduate School for the third edition of his Searching for Your Family: Practical Genealogy. Baugrud, who published the first edition of the book in 1994, was recognized at the UWM Authors Celebration Event held on April 16, 2010.

3

By Dan Rude

covers specific strategies on how to proceed even after electronic searchers have become frustrated.

After successfully tracking his own family roots, Baugrud began teaching genealogy at SOIS in the early 90’s. At that time, the American Library Association was encouraging library and information science programs to add a genealogy component to their curriculum. Rather than using a commercial textbook, he decided to put together 30 years worth of research, forms and ideas into his own 140-page book.

Since that time, Baugrud’s own class and methods have changed only slightly. “I started teaching online three years ago,” he noted.

In the course, Baugrud instructs students in the modern techniques of genealogists. Students have the opportunities to research and write their own genealogical histories. His genealogy course is offered every fall.

For Baugrud, the training of a new generation of librarians well-versed in genealogy is critical. “Librarians are mentors,” he said, “and it’s their responsibility to show [library users] the process of finding informasho h tion.” tio He also feels that genealogy is more than just a hobby. “It gives you a chance to bond with your family,” he added. fa Kim Baugrud, Adjunct Instructor

Spring 2011

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SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES | UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MILWAUKEE

SOIS Faculty Share their Expertise with the US Department of Health and Human Services

By Dan Rude

Last summmer, SOIS professors Elizabeth Buchanan and Michael Zimmer presented in front of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee on Human Research Protections (SACHRP), part of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in Arlington, Virginia.

This committee convenes to address pressing issues in human subjects research protections. Buchanan and Dr. Michael Zimmer, Assistant Professor & CIPR Co-Director Zimmer were invited by the SACRHP Chair to discuss research and the Internet. Buchanan’s research has shown emergent issues in human subjects and Internet research. that IRBs, which are university-level institutions designed to protect the rights of human subjects, have often been confused about As experts in the field of information ethics and policy, Buchanan Internet research. “There’s definitely a need for a consistent review and Zimmer contributed to the advisory committee’s exploration of process around Internet research amongst IRBs as there are with such issues as privacy, confidentiality and consent within Internet other forms of research, but given the complexities of technologies, research. Buchanan, who has since departed SOIS for an endowed for example, cloud computing, it is a difficult task” said Buchanan. chair at UW-Stout, presented her research on the policies and practices of Institutional Review Boards (IRB) with regard to Internet Both Buchanan and Zimmer say that gaps existing in current IRB research. Hers is one of the first empirical research studies on policies could allow researchers to violate the safety and rights how IRBs review Internet–based research protocols in university of research participants, perhaps unknowingly. Athough plugging settings. Zimmer presented his research in so-called “Web 2.0” those gaps might ensure better protections for research subjects, tools such as Facebook and Twitter. His research focuses on the Buchanan understands that it’s a bit of a “moving target.” extraction of usage data from these social networking sites and the related privacy implications.

“The challenges include the dynamic nature of Web 2.0, the inability The pair expects that the presentations will lead the committee to eventually consider putting policies into place concerning human

to predict what tools or environments both researchers and subjects might be using in the near future, and what the possible ethical

Cooper Cary Named Reviews Editor of American Archivist SOIS Senior Lecturer and Director of the Archival Studies Program Amy Cooper Cary was named reviews editor for the American Archivist, the semi-annual publication of the Society for American Archivists (SAA). As reviews editor, Cooper Cary is responsible for soliciting articles, producing announcements and getting colleagues engaged in the archival field.

Cary has previous editing experience, having been an editor for Archival Issues and serving on the editorial boards for American Archivist, Archival Issues and Journal of Archival Organization. She has also been continually active in the SAA and the Midwest Archives Conference.

Cooper Cary, an archivist at the University of South Dakota for 11 years, approaches the position as both a practitioner and an academic. “I’ll be reading for best practice in the field,” she said, “asking other professionals to provide relevant theory.”

16 | Inside SOIS

INFORMATION our focus INTERNATIONAL our scope INTERDISCIPLINARY our mindset

Addressing a World of Knowledge

By Dan Rude

of Inform

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12:15 pm l 22, 2010 Bolton Ha ll 521 Free & Ope

In a way, Dr. Richard Smiraglia is creating new knowledge by deciphering how to compile it.

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Smiraglia, along with colleague Charles Van Den Heuvel from the Virtual Knowledge Studio for the Humanities and Social Sciences in Amsterdam, is currently working on a project called the Idea Collider, which would deconstruct knowledge into a theory of structural relationships.

The task may seem daunting, but for Smiraglia and Van Den Heuvel – who presented their ideas during the Information Organization Research Group (IOrg) lecture series last Spring – theory building could lead to the creation of new knowledge.

“It’s not a theory of everything,” said Smiraglia, an internationally regarded scholar in knowledge organization, “but a search for an elementary theory.”

Smiraglia and Van Den Heuvel use the metaphor of the Large Hadron Collider, a particle accelerator developed in Geneva, Switzerland, to explain how they will attempt to create a theory of knowledge that not only defines relationships, but “comes to grip with the complexity of society.”

The partnership between the two academics sprang up on an important date in physics history. On the same day that the two were attending the PICNIC Conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands, researchers in Geneva began testing the Large Hadron Collider. The goal of the researchers in Switzerland was to use the Hadron Collider to smash particles together to break them down into their smallest form – referred to as the hadron. Smiraglia and Van Den Huevel used this experiment and their basic model to propose a formula that could knock ideas together and ultimately break them into smaller concepts or ideas.

In September Smiraglia went back to Amsterdam to continue working with Van Den Heuvel on the theory. Both admit that there’s a lot of work to be done. Still in the early stage of the project, they began work towards formulating a series of papers for 2011.

For now, they are attempting to build up the model with the help of experts in a host of different subject areas. The work will continue on both sides of the Atlantic as Smiraglia and Van Den Heuvel analyze different approaches to defining knowledge.

And there are plenty of those.

“We’re dealing with a universe of recorded knowledge,” laughs Smiraglia.

Spring 2011

| 17

es

“Amy is an incredible asset for this school,” said Assistant Dean Chad Zahrt. “With her enthusiasm, we expect the Archival Studies program to continue to grow for years to come.”

Smiragli

Visi n UW-Mg Professor ilwaukee , Schoo l

H e u ve l

Organizatio

The importance of the position is not lost on Cooper Cary, who feels that the field of archival studies is “galloping forward” in terms of theory and practice. “Even though there are a lot of items now that are ‘born digital’ like documents and images,” said Cooper Cary, “we still have to make older items more accessible. It’s important to stay up on the literature so that we can establish a quicker response to managing resources.”

Richard

tion

As experts in the field of information ethics and policy, former Associate Professor Elizabeth Buchanan and Assistant Professor Michael Zimmer contributed to the US Department of Health and Human Services Advisory Committee’s exploration of such issues as privacy, confidentiality and consent within Internet research.

va n d e n

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Dr. Elizabeth Buchanan, Director UW-Stout, Center for Applied Ethics

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Though the speed of adoption of tech-related research tools has made it difficult, both feel that the time is right for administration officials to address the issue.

Both acknowledge that the potential of Internet research tools is enticing, especially in moving forward new types of research and research in novel environments. They hope that their presentations contributed to a rethinking of ethical and innovative research methods and protections for subjects.

Toward an Ele Idea Collllid Knowlementar y Theor er: dge Org y anizatioof n

ea

implications might be,” said Zimmer. He believes that greater scrutiny needs to be placed on the researchers.

“There are some amazing tools facilitating some amazing research, but we need to make sure we consider the human subjects implications upfront,” said Zimmer.

3

SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES | UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MILWAUKEE

RIGR Members Share IR Research Abroad Last May, five SOIS professors—all members of the Research Group in Information Retrieval (RGIR)—traveled to Seoul, South Korea for presentations in LIS education. SOIS Professors Dietmar Wolfram, Jin Zhang, Iris Xie, Wooseob Jeong and Simon Mu visited South Korea for a series of meetings with university students and a conference sponsored by the Korean Library Association.

The occasion marked the first time RGIR members have been able to spread the word of information retrieval research as a group. The members made appearances at two Korean universities, speaking with students about the library school graduate experience in the United States. Each member gave a presentation on their research area while SOIS Senior Advisor Twyla McGhee spoke to students about courses and requirements.

“It was fun to hear students give feedback and ask questions about the university in the United States,” said Xie. She and the other professors also attended a conference where she spoke on a project designed to study more efficient means of information retrieval.

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In addition, the group visited Japan and met with Japanese university officials in an effort to increase international collaborations in the field of information retrieval.

IOrg Helps Organize International Symposium Last fall, two members of the Information Organization Research Group (IOrg), SOIS Professors Hope A. Olson and Hur-Li Lee represented SOIS at the International Symposium on the Future of Information Organization Research in Taipei, Taiwan.

The conference, held in October, was one of several events held around the world associated with the 2010 Year of Cataloging Research. “Last year, a group of catalogers and academics came together and proposed 2010 to be the ‘Year of Cataloging Research,’” explained Lee. “So we organized a series of events that have to do with cataloging or information organization.”

Featuring a number of well-known academics, the event was designed to accumulate the best minds in information organization to answer the question “what’s next?” Topics from the event included folksonomies, FRBR and other academic issues from the field.

The event comes at a time when SOIS is looking to increase ties to the host institution, Taiwan National University. By agreeing to co-organize the event with Taiwan National University, SOIS can begin to share research topics and ideas of projects, as both schools maintain a strong interest in issues relating to information organization.

To see photos of the event, please visit the conference page on National Taiwan University’s Website (http://www.lis.ntu.edu.tw/).

RO HG

rgIR RESEA

RC

SOIS Student Orgs

STUDENT ORG SOCIAL MEDIA

PA R T I C I PAT E !

http://linkedin.com (UWM-SOIS:Student Organization)

The SOIS Student Organizations plan social and academic events, help develop academic programs, bring student issues to administrators’ attention and much more!

Examples of past events and activities include: LAN Parties, SOIS Town Hall Meetings, Summer BBQs, Resume Building Workshops and the mighty SOIS Dodgeball Team!

Facebook

LinkedIn

http://facebook.com/soisstudentorg

Twitter http://twitter.com/soisorg

Flickr If you have an idea for a new event or just want to get involved, now is the time! Contact the SOIS Student Orgs online at soisorg.uwm.edu or by email at sois-ugso@uwm.edu.

18 | Inside SOIS

http://flickr.com/soisorg/

vimeo http://vimeo.com/soisorg

INFORMATION our focus INTERNATIONAL our scope INTERDISCIPLINARY our mindset

3

PDI Professional Development Institute The SOIS Professional Development Institute offers a broad selection of seminars and workshops on the cutting edge of the new information topics and technologies that are integral to the information revolution.The topics vary according to the needs of the information specialist ranging from topics like grant writing and funding alternatives to legal issues, public accesss to resources, and information technology.

Look for our brand new class on RDA this fall!

Taught by: Steve Miller – Senior Lecturer Details TBA soon!

Catherine Hansen, Professional Development Institute Director

Explore our Online & Onsite Professional Development Opportunities!

http://www4.uwm.edu/sois/CE/

Faculty | Staff Notes...

Interim Dean Dietmar Wolfram returned in fall 2010 from sabbatical. During his time away, he traveled to universities in China, Taiwan, Australia, and New Zealand to give presentations on research findings. He also joined fellow members of the SOIS Research Group in Information Retrieval in Seoul, South Korea to give presentations to university students.

Wolfram published three times in 2010, including co-authoring two papers with SOIS PhD student Kun Lu. Their paper, “Geographic characteristics of the growth of informetrics literature” was published in the Journal of Informatics. Another paper, “A comparison of citer and citation-based measure outcomes for multiple disciplines,” which co-authors Wolfram, Lu and Dr. Isola Ajiferuke from the University of Western Ontario, was published in the October 2010 edition of the Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology.

SOIS adjunct instructor Suzanne Bell along with Nathan Starr, a colleague at the Rush Rhees Library at the University of Rochester, penned “Case study: Re-engineering an institutional repository to engage users,” which was published in New Review of Academic Librarianship.

Congratulations to Dr. Maragret Kipp and PhD student Sooyhung Joo for winning the 2010 Best Poster Award at the ASIST Conference last October. Entitled “Application of structural equation modeling in exploring tag patterns: A pilot study,” their poster was chosen ahead of some 90 other posters as the best of the conference. Way to go!

Kipp also had a paper published in the journal Knowledge Organization. Co-authored with Dr. D. Grant Campbell, professor at the University of Western Ontario “Searching with tags: Do tags help users find things?” furthers Kipp’s sterling reputation in tagging research.

Spring 2011

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SCHOOL OF INFORMATION STUDIES | UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MILWAUKEE

Congratulations!

2010 Graduates

Information.

Connection.

Philanthropy.

Katie Sparks, SOIS Development Director

Faculty & Staff

Show their Support of SOIS! Once again, nearly 70% of our dedicated faculty and staff can now say they have supported UWM and SOIS philanthropically. Our internal campaign, UWM Gives to UWM, runs throughout the year.

However, there is a lot of energy across campus each spring as more individuals get involved.

UWM Gives to UWM Funds receiving contributions included: MLIS Diversity Scholarship, SOIS General Scholarship, SOIS Employee Morale, SOIS General.

We are so appreciative of the contributions that our faculty and staff make to SOIS each and every day, and so grateful for the increased philanthropic support this year. Thank you!

Donate to SOIS Scholarships http://www4.uwm.edu/sois/alumni_friends/give.cfm For more information about giving or alumni engagement contact:

Katie Sparks, Office of Development & Alumni Relations, SOIS 414-229-3080 kasparks@uwm.edu

Give the Gift of Education! www4.uwm.edu/sois/alumni_friends/give.cfm

20 | Inside SOIS

BSIR Spring & Summer 2010 Lauren Bailey Vicki Loosli-Lyzzaik Zachary Bluvstein Meng Lor James Carr Mohamed Lubbad Andrea Cunningham Victoria Meyer Jo Darnton Jarrett Mirkes Aaron Derby Benjamin Mullikin Joel DesArmo Edward Nwagbaraocha Donald Doggett Megan Olson Herbert Foster Nicholas Orlando Tony Garcia Rasheeda Panniell Paul Gelot Matthew Phelps Sean Harcourt Christopher Robinson Lisa Hartman Tyler Ronk Spencer Heise Benjamin Royce Herman Hoffman Mary Schneider Matthew Hoover Paul Simmerman Margaret Janz Kathryn Skull James Kullerstrand Richard Szczewski Norma Layton Gabriella Tato Louis Lichtenheld Khue Xiong BSIST Fall 2010 Michael Bautch Andrew Braun Michael Diekmeier Ronald Granberg Nickolas Gretz Laura Hansen Amelia Harsh Damell Horton Omar Jones Robb Krasnow Kyle Kussmaul Patricia Madden Phillip Marx

John Montijo Matthew Mulligan Tony Nosko Michael Ostrowski Jason Plale Sara Puls Jonah Reason Eddie Reed Benjamin Siebers Justin Swets Rebecca Vanselow Glen Wang Joseph Zompa

MLIS 2010 Jonathan Allinder Kelly Aschenbach Amy Atchison Sarah Atzen Jamie Bal Sarah Baldwin John Bales Elizabeth Bast Jihee Beak Matthew Beinemann Julie Berget Olson Jessica Berry Katie Biernat Caroline Blackburn Elizabeth Bland

Peter Blenski Timothy Blomquist David Bloom Lynette Blumenthal Sarah Bolgert Josie Brockmann Abigail Brown Jeffery Brunner Dale Bryant Natalie Burclaff Amy Burkart-Paulson John Burns Brooke Butler-Roegge Lucio Campanelli Rachel Campbell

INFORMATION our focus INTERNATIONAL our scope INTERDISCIPLINARY our mindset

Jeffrey Carlin-Bartel Holly Carlson Christopher Carlson Diane Christianson Katie Cory Vanessa Costa-Massimo Laura Costello Sarah Covey Melissa Cox Melissa Crooks Benjamin Daeuber Dora Davis Nicholas Demske Patricia Denes Patricia Dickerson Christopher Doering Nichole Donabar Meagan Duever Elizabeth Ebert Bryna Eckard Shelby Edwards Fay Eichelberger Sara Eisenberg Sarah Ethier Adrienne Everitt Tenise Faulkner Elizabeth Flater John Flynn Laura Beth Fogarassy Walter Cassidy Fontana Michelle Fridell Samuel Friedman Adam Fullerton Brian Galvin Jennifer Gartman Eric Genrich Christina George Jennifer Gerbig Denise Gergetz Emily Getzel Jill Gibson Shanneon Grant Heather Green Laurie Gronskei Jessica Gunther Preeti Gupta Ashia Gustafson Molly Hagen Carolyn Halverson Susan Hammer Elizabeth Hannas Jeffrey Harden Karen Hartmann Andrea Hathaway Jennifer Horning Ingrid Horton Jennifer Huffman

Heather Hultman Erin Hvizdak Bobbi Jackson Jennifer Jackson Jodi Jacques Robert Jaeger Stephanie Jensen Linda Jerome Heather Jett Nicole Johnson Jennie Johnson Danielle Johnson Kristin Jones Judith Jurkowski Nicholas Kane Tristan Kelly Regina Kemp Crystal King Mary Kirk John Knauss Anna Knutson Eva Kold Sara Krouse Megan Lane Miranda Lau Valerie Lawson Laura Lay Kathleen Lehman John Liebhardt Angela Lietz Mary Lofy Amanda Logsdon Cheryl Loschko Kay Lunkenheimer Alicia Matheny Peter Matsumoto Jeremy Mauger Lauryl McGowan Katherine McLeister Julie Mecham Laura Mesjak Adeline Miller Harriet Minuk Linda Mooney Mary Moreno Lisa Nelson Bradford Ney Dang-Giao Nguyen Peter Nowell Kathryn Pase Matthew Pekuri Melissa Peters Karl Pettitt Stephan Pfeifer Natasha Pollock Diana Price Matthew Reidsma

Melissa Reinhardt Mona Reynolds April Ristau Molly Rivard Adam Rockwell Stefanie Rose Gina Russo Dana Ryals Nathan Rybarczyk Janelle Sander Ashley Schilcher Jessi Schulte-Honstad Tanya Shelton-Council Sarah Shoemaker Justin Sivey Shannon Smith Tyler Smith Anne Snieg Rachel Sperling Philip Spitzer Alie Stansbury Roxanne Staveness Jennifer Stevenson Peter Stokes Jenny Straumann Sehri Strom Karl Suechting Katie Sundstrom Morgan Swan Debbie Taylor Kori Templeton Jason Tivy-Debauche Jessica Tracy Kimberly Trinh-Sy Brian Trippodo Nancy Van Cleve Martha Van Devender Michelle Velleux Lucy Waldrop Dana Wallace Shawna Ward Jill Waycie Jennifer Weber Collin Weber Carolyn Weber Julia Weisgram John Wisneski Jamie Wittmann Jill Wohlgemuth Rachel Young Kim Zahrobsky Joshua Zellmer Jennifer Zemlicka Jessica Zillhart Danielle Zsenak Alexandra Zukas

If you don’t see your name here...please let us know!

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The Wisconsin Library Association Conference will held in Milwaukee this year! Celebrate with us at our Annual SOIS Reunion!

All UW-Milwaukee SOIS alumni, students, faculty and guests are invited to attend. Join us for an evening of fun and refreshments. Talk with old friends and meet new ones! Stop by for a custom READ poster! We hope to see you there.

November 2, 2011 Location & Time: TBA Complete details will be posted to the SOIS website soon.

After the huge success of last year’s Silent Auction Scholarship Fundraiser, SOIS is gearing up for this year’s event!

Please join us on December 2, 2011 for our 2nd Annual Fundraising event. Join us for great music and refreshments and bid on an item or two. The bidding was quite exciting last year don’t miss the fun this year!

DONATIONS NEEDED! Please consider donating an item for the Silent Auction to assist in our fundraising efforts. Do you have a unique item or service that you could donate? The money raised from donations will go toward student scholarships.

For more information contact: Rebecca Hall (rjhall@uwm.edu) or Laura Meyer (lauram@uwm.edu) Spring 2011

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INFORMATION our focus INTERNATIONAL our scope INTERDISCIPLINARY our mindset

Save the Date!

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WLA Conference - Milwaukee November 1 - 4, 2011

Undergraduate Orientation July 26, 2011

Student & Alumni Reunion November 2, 2011

PhD Student Orientation August 23, 2011

Student Research Symposium November 12, 2011

Faculty Retreat August 29- 30, 2011

SOIS Silent Auction December 2, 2011

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