According to Daniel Kraus (MSLIS '05), the most beneficial course he took at the University of Illinois was Adult Popular Literature (LIS 590), in which students read a book from every popular genre—romance, western, sci-fi, fantasy, and more.

BSIS student Miranda Ma discusses her internship at the AbbVie Innovation Center. Ma advises job seekers to keep an open mind and not limit their job search to a specific industry, especially for a field like user experience.

Associate Professor Carol Tilley shared her expertise in comics research at several invited talks in Europe this month. Tilley served as the keynote speaker for the international conference, “Comics, the Children and Childishness,” at Ghent University in Belgium. In her keynote, “Re-Centering Children in Comics,” she encouraged researchers studying comics and children to give more focus to the lived experiences of young people, moving away from an over-reliance on studying specific texts or their uses. 

Associate Professor Emily Knox testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary on September 12. She was one of five witnesses offering testimony for the hearing "Book Bans: Examining How Censorship Limits Liberty and Literature." 

Patrick Martinez joined the iSchool this month as an endpoint services specialist. In his new position, he will work closely with faculty and staff to assist with their IT issues, needs, and concerns.

The effective use of data storytelling could positively impact public library managers' approaches to data collection and their advocacy for libraries, according to Associate Professor Kate McDowell. However, cultural roadblocks to data storytelling must be addressed for the process to be successful, McDowell discovered in a recently completed study.

The PhD degree program at the iSchool celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2023. This profile is part of a special series featuring PhD alumni. Peter Organisciak (PhD '15) is an associate professor at the University of Denver.

Fifty iSchool instructors were named in the University's List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent for Spring 2023. The rankings are released every semester, and results are based on the Instructor and Course Evaluation System (ICES) questionnaire forms maintained by Measurement and Evaluation in the Center for Innovation in Teaching and Learning.

iSchool Assistant Professor JooYoung Seo is developing a data visualization tool that will help make visual representations of statistical data accessible to researchers and students who are blind or visually impaired.

On September 15, 1963, four little girls had their lives cut short in a bomb blast at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. This tragic event, which drew international attention to the civil rights movement in the U.S., is a pivotal moment in The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963, the Newbery Honor-winning book by children's author Christopher Paul Curtis. Next week, several organizations, including the iSchool's Center for Children's Books (CCB), are partnering on events for young people in Birmingham to mark the 60th anniversary of the bombing.