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Office of Information Technology and Research

The Office of Information Technology and Research (OITR) provides a full range of services in support of the School's teaching, research, and outreach/public service mission. To support the information technology needs of the School, OITR staff are affiliated with one of three units based on their professional training, expertise, and daily responsibilities: Applications Development, Systems Administration, and User Services. OITR also provides leadership for the Graduate School of Library and Information Science's research activities and initiatives. Research grant proposals are reviewed and technical support and space needs are considered and resolved prior to proposal submission. GSLIS research entities which operate under the auspices of the Office of Information Technology and Research include the Center for Children's Books (CCB), the Community Informatics Initiative (CII)/Prairienet, the GSLIS Center for Informatics Research in Science and Scholarship (GSLIS CIRSS), the Information Science Research Laboratory (ISRL).

OITR is administered by the Associate Dean for Information Technology and Research, Ken Spelke. For further information, or to make an appointment to see Associate Dean Spelke, please contact Robert Kohl at 217-333-3280 or e-mail -kohl, at uiuc.edu-. The OITR Office is located in 213 LIS.

Information Technology Units

Applications Development

The Applications Development unit provides a variety of application design, programming, and consulting services for GSLIS faculty, students, and staff. Expertise is available for basic programming tasks as well as for highly sophisticated application design projects utilizing a wide range of programming tools, languages, and modalities. Current activities in Applications Development include completion of the School's new website, which employs an open source content management system, and evaluation of course management and distance delivery systems and tools, which will contribute to the redesign and modernization of the School's online educational programs.

Staff:
Garret Gengler, 209 LIS, e-mail -garretg, at uiuc.edu-, 217-333-1721
Amit Kumar, 209 LIS, e-mail -amitku, at uiuc.edu-, 217-333-4118
Kent Yates (also in User Services), 218 LIS, e-mail -dkyates, at uiuc.edu-, 217-244-6279

Systems

The Systems Administration group provides support for the School's computing infrastructure including technical administration of the GSLIS computer labs; installation, repair and maintenance of servers and personal computers; and installation of computer hardware and software. The network administrators and system analysts in the Systems group manage the GSLIS state-of-the-art Server Room Facility (see GSLIS IT Facilities below); building networked printing services; and data back-up, off premises storage, and security on behalf of the School. In addition to the installation of the aforementioned new Server Room Facility, the Systems group recently assisted in the design and successful implementation of two new cluster computer systems which will be used by GSLIS information science research faculty and their students.

Staff:
Cindy Hinton, 211 LIS, e-mail -cvhinton, at uiuc.edu-, 217-244-4911
Brynnen Owen, 215 LIS, e-mail -owen, at uiuc.edu-, 217-333-7865
Neil Thackeray, 215 LIS, e-mail -neilt, at uiuc.edu-, 217-244-3283

User Services

User Services will be, for most people, the first point of contact for OITR information, services, and assistance. The Help Desk, located in LIS 211, is open from 8:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m., Monday–Friday, and on weekends when LEEP campus activities are in session. User Services provides a full range of information technology support including AV equipment scheduling, delivery, pick-up, and instruction; assistance with the selection and ordering of personal computers and other IT hardware and software; first-level computer servicing and support including problem diagnosis, minor repairs, and software installation; assistance to faculty, students, and staff in accessing GSLIS and University of Illinois computer networks and services; and assistance in helping establish passwords, e-mail accounts, Netfiles accounts, calendaring/scheduling accounts, and other University centrally-managed services. Help Desk staff can also assist faculty with the electronic submission of grades and other enterprise-level administrative computing functions. User Services manages and supports the GSLIS computer lab facilities.

Staff:
Navadeep Khanal, 345 LIS, e-mail -khanal, at uiuc.edu-, 217-244-1236
Jennifer Morgan, 345 LIS, e-mail -jdmorgan, at uiuc.edu-, 217-244-9197
Martin Wolske, 345 LIS, e-mail -mwolske, at uiuc.edu-, 217-244-8094
Kent Yates (also in Applications Development), 218 LIS, e-mail -dkyates, at uiuc.edu-, 217-244-6279

Research Units

Center for Children's Books

The Center for Children's Books, accompanied by its review journal, The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, was founded in 1945. The Center contains an examination collection of more than 14,000 books for and about children and young adults that represents some of the finest modern literature published for young people in the country. In addition, the collection includes over 800 professional and reference books on children's literature. The Center's Bulletin is one of the most prestigious critical review journals of literature for children and young adults.

Staff:
Director: Christine Jenkins, 23B LIS, e-mail -cajenkin, at uiuc.edu-, 217-244-7452
Kate Quealy, 24 LIS, -ccb, at uiuc.edu-, 217-244-9331
Elizabeth Voss, 24 LIS, -ccb, at uiuc.edu-, 217-244-9331

Community Informatics Initiative/Prairienet

The Community Informatics Initiative (CII) serves as a hub for research, learning, and action activities, some longstanding and others newly begun. Blending research, action, and policy, Community Informatics seeks to discover how communities use information and communication technologies (ICT) to achieve their goals. Today, there are a number of organizations, conferences, websites, and academic programs that help communities use ICT to improve healthcare, foster civic engagement, preserve cultural heritage, and inspire and educate youth. Yet those efforts are often fragmentary, ephemeral, and difficult for local organizations to harness effectively. There is often a split between the spheres of scholarly and grassroots activity that limits what can be accomplished and learned. The Community Informatics Initiative provides a pragmatic means for unifying these efforts, unearthing latent and hidden expertise, and securing a sustained infrastructure for their effective utilization.

Prairienet, founded in 1993, is a member- and donation-supported community information network for Champaign-Urbana and the surrounding East-Central Illinois region, offered as a community service, and managed by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

Prairienet's mission is to:

• Strengthen community organizations by helping them provide and retrieve networked information.
• Empower individuals by providing access to networked information and by teaching the skills necessary to access and use that information.
• Facilitate information and resource sharing in support of community development efforts.
• Promote equity of access to computer resources for everyone in the community.

As a major component of the Community Informatics Initiative, Prairienet staff and resources are committed to putting Community Informatics principles and research into practice.

Staff:
Paul Adams, 510 E. Daniel St., -padams, at uiuc.edu-, 217-333-5218
Ann Bishop, 203 LIS, -abishop, at uiuc.edu-, 217-244-3299
Bertram (Chip) Bruce, 303 LIS, -chip, at uiuc.edu-, 217-244-3576
Karen Fletcher, 510 E. Daniel St., -kefletch, at uiuc.edu-, 217-840-2156
Rachel Vellenga, 510 E. Daniel St., -vellenga, at uiuc.edu-, 217-244-1278

GSLIS Center for Informatics Research in Science and Scholarship

The GSLIS Center for Informatics Research in Science and Scholarship conducts research on the use and impacts of information resources and tools in scientific and scholarly inquiry

Staff:
Ed Lakner, 313A LIS, -e-lakner, at uiuc.edu-, 217-244-3301
Hsiang-Chieh Lee, 313 LIS, -hlee1, at uiuc.edu-, 217-333-1980
Carole Palmer, 219 LIS, -clpalmer, at uiuc.edu-, 217-244-0653
Lauren Teffeau, 313 LIS, -teffeau, at uiuc.edu-, 217-333-5881
Mijung Yoon, 313 LIS, -myoon1, at uiuc.edu-, 217-333-3797

Information Science Research Lab (ISRL)

ISRL supports research into and about the design, impacts, analysis, and evaluation of information technologies, including information and its properties, information services and access, and the creation/management of information content. Along with focused, single-area efforts, ISRL supports and facilitates multidisciplinary and collaborative research that involves GSLIS investigators across differing subject areas, as well as GSLIS collaborations with researchers in other academic and organizational units at Illinois and elsewhere.

For further information about the Information Science Research Laboratory, please contact Ken Spelke, Associate Dean for Information Technology and Research, -spelke, at uiuc.edu-/217-244-1179.

GSLIS IT Facilities

The Office of Information Technology and Research maintains a dynamic and sophisticated information technology environment for GSLIS faculty, students, and staff. The School has two large computer laboratories. The Learning Resources Lab (LRL) located in 12A LIS, has 22 computers, and is available to members of the GSLIS community 24 hours a day / 7 days a week. The Computer Teaching Lab (CTL), located in 52 LIS, has 32 computers, and is used primarily as a teaching facility. The entire Library and Information Science Building (LISB) contains Category 6 Ethernet wiring (100 Megabits per second connectivity to the desktop, with capability for future expansion to gigabit Ethernet). The building is connected to the university's campus backbone via gigabit Ethernet fiber. Wireless computing is available on all floors and in all sections of the LIS building.

The School's state-of-the-art Server Room facility houses racks of servers supporting file storage, Web hosting, back-up services, experimental projects, and two cluster computer systems. Electrical power is managed by an industrial quality, 50,000 volt-amp uninterruptible power supply, and the server room environment is maintained by two dedicated 5-ton HVAC units designed to provide ample cooling and humidity control. These systems maintain all current servers, with capacity for significant expansion as computing needs continue to grow and evolve.

OITR supports all major operating systems including UNIX, Linux, Microsoft Windows XP, and Macintosh OS X.  Commercial and open source software applications are installed and maintained by the IT staff in support of the School's information technology needs and activities.