foi_informed_autumn

informedF a c u l t y o F I n F o r m a t I o n a l u m n I m a g a z I n e | a u t u m n 2 0 1 0

Prof. Lynne Teather a leader inmuseum Studies

I n t h I S I S S u e :

2 informed | autumn 2010

informedInformed magazineno. 62, autumn 2010Publications MailRegistration No. 1780182ISSN 1913-696X Informed (Print)ISSN 1913-6978 Informed (Online)

Departments03 Letters 04 Letter from FIAA President28 Class Notes31 Donor Appreciation32 In Memoriam

alumni news05 Alumni Profile06 Alumni Activities34 Spring Reunion

Faculty news08 Events10 Grants & Awards12 Staffing14 Faculty Profile16 Faculty Research Roundup

Student news20 Events22 Awards & Internships25 Student Profile

Feature 26 Spotlight on Institutes

26

editorial Board: Judy Dunn Kathleen O’Brien Judy Donnelly ’87

editor: Kathleen O’Brien

associate editor: Judy Donnelly ’87

Designer: Michael Fedecky Design

cover Photo: Adeela Ahmad

A special thank you to the following contributors:

Adeela AhmadJeannie An ’99Professor Emerita Margaret Cockshutt ’49, ’64Bisa LovricDean Seamus RossKim Silk ’98Lina Wang Professor Emerita Nancy Williamson ’50, ’64

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informed | autumn 2010 3

Your Letters

EdiTor’s NoTENearly a dozen of you wrote in to express support of our moving the alumni publica-tion online. Thank you for agreeing with our efforts to be environmentally friendly and save printing and mailing costs. If you prefer to receive the magazine in the mail, please let me know and we’ll be happy to send a colour photocopy.

To the right is a lovely letter from an alumna with fascinating recollections of life at the library school in the 1940s. We love hearing about your experiences, so please write in with your stories.

Kathleen o’BrienEditor

Dear Editor:Thank you so much for the print copy of Informed, which arrived a short time ago.

While I am fascinated by the contemporary thrust reflected in the publication, I must admit to not understanding most of it: 2009 is a very different world from that of 1943.

I was sixteen when I completed Grade 13. Disturbingly, I discovered that higher education was not available before the age of eighteen. Therefore I took a one-year business course which I disliked intensely so decided to look for another way of filling in the time remaining before reaching the elusive eighteenth birthday. There was a job available in the local public library which I was fortunate to get, and in no time I was “hooked.”

A year later I discovered the existence of the Library School at the University of Toronto. Two courses were offered: after obtaining a bachelor degree, a post graduate course which led to a degree was given; and a diploma course, for suitable high school graduates who had some library experience and a recommendation from a qualified librarian.

I was accepted and left my northern mining town of Timmins and headed for the BIG CITY. It was September 1942, there were nineteen of us in the class: seventeen studying for the degree, two for the diploma! We all took the same classes led by excellent profs: Winifred Barnstead was principal, Bertha Bassam taught cataloguing, Lillian Smith taught children’s literature and book collections.

There were others, equally proficient, who were involved. One interesting class taught us how to write “library hand” so that the catalogue cards could be read – computers were unheard of and typewriters were at a premium. Degreed persons graduated, those who received diplomas went back to where they came from.

I returned to Timmins for one year, then accepted work in Toronto. Marriage and motherhood came later but I was involved in short term projects along the way as well as being registered in U of T Extension. Ultimately, I achieved a BA and a BLSc, which led me into more interesting situations. Finally, I retired in 1987.

If you have managed to get through this [letter], it will give you some idea of the strides which the profession had made over one lifetime. Although I am not currently involved in areas now beyond me, I am proud to have been part of the continuum which has brought it to the present day.

Gwenville FosterRenfrew, Ontario

Letters, comments, & address updates can be sent to:Kathleen O’Brien, Editor, Informed MagazineFaculty of Information, University of Toronto140 St. George Street, Toronto, ON M5S 3G6TEL: 416.978.7184 EMAIL: [email protected]


Having completed my first full year as President of the Fac-ulty of Information Alumni

Association, I’m struck most by the enthusiasm and generosity inherent in our chosen profession. I’ve had the

opportunity to meet many information professionals over the past year, and in every case I see smiling faces, dedica-tion to and pride in one’s work, and a great sense of fun. I certainly feel lucky to be part of such an exciting profes-sion, and I’m thrilled to meet so many others who love what they do.

I’ve also had the pleasure of getting to know the cur-rent iSchool students, and I am proud to say that both the 2010 graduating class and those entering their second year of study are a very promising group. It was an honour to attend the iSchool Convocation and Reception this past June and it was a great feeling to congratulate everyone on their accomplishments.

Speaking of accomplishments, the Alumni Association had a very successful 2009-2010 year. Our initiatives using social media to reach out to our classmates continues to grow in popularity: our Facebook group, begun in 2008, is up to 326 members, our LinkedIn group has 158 members, and we have 67 followers on Twitter. We will continue to use social media networks to promote our programs and events, so please join one or all of them to keep up to date.

The Alumni Association supports current iSchool students through our Awards and Grants programs. My heartfelt congratulations go to 2010 Outstanding Alumni Award recipient, Anne Bailey (’75), and to 2010 Outstand-ing Student Contribution Award recipient, Kim Stymest (’10). In addition, we awarded ten grants of $500 each to support current students giving papers or poster sessions at a variety of professional events around the globe.

Networking is an important skill we all need to hone on a regular basis, and to that end your Alumni Association was a proud supporter of the iConnect@iSchool event, the annual showcase of work presented by Vicki Whitmell’s “Management of Corporate and Other Special Information Centres” course. We sponsored several other events this past year, including an End of Term iTea in December, the don’t-you-dare-miss-it CASLIS-SLA Toronto-FIAA Annual Holiday Social, our OLA SuperConference Alumni Reception, the iSchool Job & Networking Fair, and of course the Spring Reunion and Convocation Reception.

I can assure you that a good time was had by all! Looking forward to the 2010-2011 year, the Alumni

Association will continue all our programs, with several additions, refinements, and improvements. It is a bit early to divulge our plans, but I can say that a new Alumni Association website is in the works, plus many other wonderful things. Stay tuned!

At this time I’d like to thank my executive team for their unfailing support, hard work, and sense of humour. I am very lucky to have such a great group of people to work with, and I hope they know how much I value their time and dedication. Together, we’re doing our part to make a great association even better.

The following are the alumni who will kindly vol-unteer their time to serve on the Faculty of Information Alumni Executive for 2010-2011, representing your in-terests, staging events, facilitating conference grants, and organizing helpful programs for students such as Ask an Alum and Job Shadowing. Join me in thanking them for their time and commitment to the Information community.

Have you got ideas and energy to to contribute to our association? Don’t be a wallflower – get involved! It’s easy, and we’re pleased to accept any amount of time you can give. Send an email to [email protected]. We look forward to seeing you at our next alumni event.

Kim silk (’98)FIAA President

FIAA President’s Letter

PRESIDENT-ELECT alison Stirling MISt ’06

PAST PRESIDENTclaire lysnes MISt ’04

PAST PRESIDENTKaren Wierucki MLS ’80

DIRECTORSJeannie an MISt ’99

gillian clinton MISt ’00

mark eaton MISt ’06

meg ecclestone

MISt ’09

carolanne graham MISt ’08

Bruce harpham MISt ’09

Bob henderson MLS ’75

helen Katz MLS ’75

ricardo laskaris MISt ’04

amanda leclerq MISt ’10

Kate macDonald MISt ’09

mike meth MISt ’06

cynthea Penman MLS ’79

Wiebke Smythe MLS ’97

Kim Stymest MISt ’10

Jacqueline White appleby MISt ’10

INFORMATION STUDENT REPRESENTATIvE Valerie Stevens

MUSEUM STUDIES REPRESENTATIvEValentine moreno MMSt ’10

Alumni Executive for 2010-2011


alumni Profile

It was acute curiosity that led 2007 alumna, Autumn Haag, to a profession in archives. Interest and quizzical looks greet her when people hear she obtained her Master of Informa-

tion Studies degree from the Faculty of Information in Canada, instead of from the library school in Boston, where she lives and currently works. “You stand out as a graduate of the Faculty because of the excellent reputation of programs offered at the University of Toronto,” says Ms. Haag.

Although she started in Archives and switched to the Library stream, Ms. Haag still took all the Archival courses that were of-fered and found that what she learned was very useful, especially when dealing with a patron who doesn’t have an archival back-ground, yet needs to navigate through mountains of material.

After getting relevant archives experience from her internship at the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston, Ms. Haag was offered a permanent position at the Massa-chusetts Archives, which holds official records created by the Massachusetts state government. A big institution, holdings are organized by agency, and date from 1629 to the present.

Helping people with research inquiries and talking about

collections are a part of Ms. Haag’s job, but being surrounded by historical documents such as legislation dating back to the 1600s, as well as architectural plans for buildings all across the state, are a dream come true for her. She also participates in outreach programs and workshops that educate researchers and the general public about records and archives.

One highlight of Ms. Haag’s career occurred when the Boston Globe featured her and a colleague preparing an exhibition to allow visitors to see original copies of the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, worth an estimated $100 million.

Another, more personal highlight, was being accepted as a contestant on the famed American TV show, Jeopardy! “I was surprised to be selected for an in-person interview in Bos-ton, and even more surprised to be invited to tape a show in California,” she says. The show aired in June of this year. “It was a lot of fun, and very surreal to be on the Jeopardy! set.”

Curiosity and excellent archival training have clearly led Autumn Haag to a rewarding career at an esteemed institution.By Lina Wang

Autumn Haagreference archivist (massachusetts archives)


PuBLisHiNG HisTory WEBsiTE LAuNcHEd

Carl spadoni (‘80), Judy donnelly (’87), Anne dondertman (’87), and Linda Quirk (’05) were main

players in the development team for the research website Historical Perspectives on Canadian Publishing (hpcanpub.mcmaster.ca) launched last October and funded by the Canadian Culture Online Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage. The site features ninety essays written by established and emerging scholars on various aspects of Canadian publishing, based on archival collections at McMaster University, Queen’s Univer-sity Archives, and the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library at U of T. Letters, diaries, marketing materials, book jackets, and manuscripts – several thousand documents in all – were digitized for the site. Topics include a description of the 18th-century paybook kept by Quebec printer John Neilson (essay by iSchool Professor Emerita Patricia Fleming), an examination of Nellie McClung’s literary legacy (by Linda Quirk), an overview of

Grey Owl and his publishers, the impact of CBC’s Canada Reads competition, and the history of hockey books in Canada (by Carl Spadoni). Other iSchool authors on the site are: Prof. sandra Alston ‘73, P.J. carefoote ‘02, Leanne Hindmarch ‘05, Prof. richard Landon, dr. Leslie McGrath ’05, John shoesmith ‘05, donna Thomson ‘81, and doctoral candidate Von Totanes.

iscHooL ALuMNus rEcEiVEs PrEsTiGious LAW LiBrAriANsHiP AWArdTed Tjaden (MISt ’97) has been awarded The Denis Marshall Memorial Award for Excellence in Law Librarianship 2010 from the Canadian Association of Law Libraries (CALL). He received $3,000 plus expenses to present papers on the topic of legal research and knowledge management at the Canadian Association of Law Libraries annual spring conference. A practicing lawyer and law librarian, Mr. Tjaden is the National Director of Knowl-edge Management at McMillan law firm, where he provides invaluable research and information services to lawyers and clients, and manages the firm’s knowl-

edge management initiatives as well as its print and online library. Mr. Tjaden was previously an Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Information (1998-2004), where he taught Legal Literature and Librarian-ship. Established by LexisNexis Quicklaw, the award recognizes a current CALL member for continued excellence in law librarianship, and for an innovative spirit.

GrAduATE PuBLisHEs sEcoNd BooK: Ile d’Or Mary Lou dickinson (BLS ’65, MLS ’76), author of the short-story collection One Day It Happens (2007), published her second book, Ile d’Or (ISBN: 1-926708-13-X / 9781926708133, approx. $22.95), this past spring. Ile d’Or is a novel about gold, greed, renewal, and hope. Set shortly after Quebec’s first referendum, the story unfolds as four characters revisit Ile d’Or, the northern Quebec mining town where they grew up. Each must reconcile with their pasts of alcoholism, scandal, suicide, ethnic and linguistic tensions, as well as violence and divorce, to move on with their stalled lives. The novel also explores how language relates to power and class. Ms. Dickinson’s first book was reviewed in the Globe and Mail and was nominated for a ReLit Award. Her fiction has been published in numer-ous Canadian literary journals and broad-cast on CBC Radio.

cLAirE LysNEs ’04 HoNourEd By uNiVErsiTy For dEdicATioNLast fall, University of Toronto President dr. david Naylor and chancellor david Peterson, awarded claire Lysnes (MISt ’06) the prestigious Arbor Award, recog-nizing her committed volunteerism to the

alumni News


Faculty of Information over the past five years. In 2005, Claire joined the Faculty of Information Studies Alumni Associa-tion as a Director, and became a member of the Faculty Council a year later, as a representative of Information profession-als. In 2006, she became President of the Alumni Association board, the first person to hold this position for a two-year term. Throughout 2009, she pioneered many transformations and initiatives including a “road show” to meet with alumni in sev-eral cities across Ontario, changing the Association name to reflect the new name of the Faculty, helping to start a program offering conference grants to students, and increasing the number of Directors of the Association. Under Claire’s direction, the Association further attracted alumni to its Facebook and LinkedIn groups, and established a Twitter account that has helped foster a tight social community of alumni who continue to feel connected to the Faculty. Claire accomplished all of this while serving as President-elect of the Toronto chapter of the Special Libraries Association, donating her personal time in order to enrich the alumni experience.

ALuMNus JoHN PAPAdoPouLos (MisT ’97) LANds ToP LAW LiBrAry JoBA 1997 graduate and former adjunct instructor, John Papadopoulos, became Chief Librarian at U of T’s Bora Laskin Law Library in November 2009. After graduating from U of T law school, Mr. Papadopoulos realized he loved research and the process of law more than its practice, and worked in libraries and knowledge management at several Toronto law firms, obtaining his Master of Information Studies degree. By 2003, he was back at U of T – but on the other side of the library counter.

FiAA ouTsTANdiNG ALuMNi AWArd 2010 WiNNEr

Toronto Public Library’s Anne Bailey (MLS ’75), Director of Branch Libraries, has been awarded the Faculty of Information Alumni Association’s

(FIAA) 2010 Outstanding Alumni of the year. Each year, the Faculty of Information chooses a distinguished graduate for the Outstanding Alumni Award (formerly Jubilee Award), which recognizes an individual’s con-

tributions to innovation or leadership in libraries, information management, professional organizations, publications/research, or the community at large.

Ms. Bailey is known not only for her dedication to and passion for public library services, but also for hard work and innovative contributions through-out her career. Her nominators all noted her inspirational leadership, team-building efforts and strategic thinking rendering the best possible results. “It is very humbling to receive this award, and I am very appreciative of this recogni-tion. I have always found that we have such excellent colleagues with many fine achievements in FIAA,” Ms. Bailey says.

She strongly believes that libraries must consult with their patrons concerning services, with a focus on the branch experience. As a result, the libraries that have been built and renovated under Ms. Bailey’s guidance welcome and accommodate people of all ages, and have become well-used, well-loved focal points of their communities. Moreover, Ms. Bailey has served as a mentor to many within and outside her workplace. Her early achievements include leading the successful implementation of the first integrated library information system at the Etobicoke Public Library. She currently oversees ninety-six locations and the planning of two new branches in Toronto.

JourNAL HoNours ProF. NANcy WiLLiAMsoNFaculty of Information Professor Emerita, Nancy Williamson, was honoured with a Festschrift in Cataloguing & Classification Quarterly: Vol. 48, Issue 1. This edition is titled, “Special Issue: Is There a Catalog in Your Future? Celebrating Nancy J. Williamson: Scholar, Educator, Colleague, Mentor.” The introduction is written by the Faculty’s dr. Lynne Howarth, and the book includes articles by several professors, including the iSchool’s clare Beghtol. Former student, William denton, writes in a blog: “When I arrived

at library school in 2001, Nancy Williamson had mostly retired… I learned a lot, and I knew I was getting one of the last chances to learn from one of the greats.”

2007 GrAduATE WiNs sPoT oN JeOpardy! GAME sHoWGraduate Autumn Haag was chosen to compete in the popular American television show, Jeopardy! Hosted by Canadian Alex Trebek, the June 22 episode of the show featured Ms. Haag, who works at the Massachusetts Archives as a Reference Archivist. Originally from the U.S., she received her undergraduate and graduate degrees in Canada, com pleting a Master of Information degree in 2007.

anne Bailey

alex trebek, autumn haag

John Papadopoulosclaire lysnes nancy Williamson


Faculty NewseVentS

CONTaCT PHoToGrAPHy FEsTiVAL A succEss

The University of Toronto featured prominently in this year’s McLuhan-themed Scotiabank CONTACT

Photography Festival. The University of Toronto Art Centre’s Curator and Museum Studies instructor, dr. Matthew Brower, was a key organizer for several exhibi-tions presented in partnership with the iSchool’s McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology of the Coach House In-stitute, under the direction of dominique scheffel-dunand. Along with Festival Art Director, Bonnie rubenstein, Dr. Brower co-curated two of the festival’s primary exhibitions, The Brothel Without Walls, and Through the vanishing Point, both part of the May 1st opening reception. Without Walls brought together nine Canadian and international photographers whose works reflect on photography’s

cultural role in relation to the broader media environment, specifically to television and the Internet. Through the vanishing Point constituted two separate but complementary site-specific works, for which commissioned Canadian artists Lewis Kaye and david rokeby visu-ally and aurally constructed McLuhan’s presence in his former seminar room in The Coach House building. For the installation’s framework, they drew from McLuhan’s 1968 book, Through the Vanish-ing Point: Space in Poetry and Painting (coauthored by Harley Parker), which ex-plores the way in which electronic media fragments the homogenous experience of space. The joint opening reception began with the panel discussion “Nobody Can Commit Photography Alone,” a free-wheeling conversation about photograph-ic and artistic practices and McLuhan’s media theory. The festival also featured the student-curated exhibition, Prob-

ing McLuhan (May 1-31), conceived by rebecca Lemire and seanna McEachern, for their Exhibition Project Class. Probing McLuhan looked at the influential life of the theorist through an examination of his reflections on the photographic medium. The iSchool also sponsored an exhibition, Freeze Frame on Marshall McLuhan (May 15), a lively panel discussion with pho-tographers, artists, curators, theorists, educators, and students, that explored the effects of media and technologies on creativity and knowledge.

JuNior ProFEssors rEsEArcH dAy A succEssThe iSchool held its first Junior Professors Research Day on April 20, 2010. Professors provided a general introduction and a more detailed presentation of a research paper in progress or recently completed, followed by discussion. Prof. Jennifer carter

Dr. matthew Brower


provided provocative and useful insights into how key intellectu-al and civic resources of our contemporary cultural landscape can be socially relevant institutions in this era of profound social and environmental change. Conference delegates and diverse communities of practice, ranging from museum research-ers and academ-ics to professionals and policy makers, addressed themes related to civil society, sustainability, exhibition pedagogy, management, and curatorship. Prof. Lynne Teather says that despite what some people might think about the digital world abandoning the traditional world of libraries and museums, “the oppo-site is happening; there are just more museums growing and growing. They will continue to be a grassroots phenomenon

in Canada, but they are becoming more and more a serious economic tool, significant as corporate places. That is a little scary for me because I would like to see them remain publicly driven spaces that continually engage the sociopolitical context. We need to understand that it isn’t just about ‘traditional’ in big mu-seums — it’s about a shared museum. That’s the Canadian way.”

introduced her project, “Representation by Design: Architectures of Display in Museum and Exhibition Practices,” which focuses on theoretical and historical aspects of exhibition practice in museums and international exhibitions, specifically in Europe and North America throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries. Prof.Alan Galey gave insight into his analysis relating textual studies and the design of digital interface tools in the humanities, in “Archive and Interface in Digital Textual Studies: From Cultural History to Critical Design,” that will specifically investigate the cultural history of the humanities

archive concentrating on Shakespeare. “If I were to say merely that their scholarship is intellectually engaging and the passion in their voices when they talk about it riveting, I would be understating the truth significantly,” said dean seamus ross. Other participating professors included Matt ratto, yuri Takhteyev, Jenna Hartel, Kelly Lyons, steve Hockema, Aviv shachak, and Matthew Brower.

coNFErENcE MArKs 40TH ANNiVErsAry oF MusEuM sTudiEs ProGrAMU of T’s Master of Museum Studies pro-gram celebrated its 40th anniversary with a national three-day conference, Taking Stock: Museum Studies and Museum Practices in Canada, held April 22-24, 2010, at Hart House. Prof. Jennifer carter says creating a forum for a nation-wide debate and critical examination of the academic discipline of museum studies in Canada in historical and contemporary contexts was important. Taking Stock addressed how the field registers within broader global traditions, pedagogies, and practices. The conference’s keynote address, given by museum consultant, theorist, and writer, dr. robert r. Janes,

W. h. Bayley, chairman of the museology Department and assistant to the Director (seated), and Jo cruise, Secretary. taken in mr. Bayley’s office at the royal ontario museum, 1973, home of the museum Studies program in its early years.

21sT AcM coNFErENcE oN HyPErTExT ANd HyPErMEdiA

The iSchool hosted the opening reception for the 21st ACM (Association for Computing Machinery) Conference on Hypertext and Hypermedia, held at victoria College from June 13 to 16. The next day, keynote speaker,

Prof. Andrew dillon, University of Texas School of Information, stated: “People need to think more about the method of communicating, sharing, and writing when using technology.” A leading researcher on electronic text, Prof. Dillon discussed how perceptual and cognitive factors influence readability and scanability of online information.

While he says much remains to be determined on improving designs of hypertext structures for human use, a major gap remains in our understanding of learning, comprehension, and the impact of textual representation, form, organization and construction on human response. Technologi-cal advances have led to the largest changes in the way we communicate, Prof. Dillon contends. But the problem lies in losing sight of what we’re trying to accomplish: while hyper-text gives people the ability to see what others are sharing, we cannot assume we are learning better just because we are using the latest technology, he said. He added that we have become a nation of “search and retrieval,” in our goal of finding information. As a result, people simply scan a site and don’t read it in its entirety, not allowing themselves to “find the true meaning of the document.”

organization and construction on human response. Technologi-cal advances have led to the largest changes in the way we communicate, Prof. Dillon contends. But the problem lies in losing sight of what we’re trying to accomplish: while hyper-text gives people the ability to see what others are sharing, we cannot assume we are learning better just because we are

technology, he said. He added that we have

its entirety, not allowing themselves to “find the

Prof. Jennifer carter

1 0 informed | autumn 2010

Faculty NewsgrantS & aWarDS

THrEE iscHooL ProFEssors AWArdEd ssHrc GrANTs

Professors Barbara craig and Twyla Gibson have been awarded prestigious SSHRC grants. Prof.

Craig’s grant of nearly $64,000 over four years will be used to build upon her 2005 national survey of practicing archivists in Canada. The funding will support her research into the practice of archival ap-praisal in Canadian archives. Appraisal is the term used to describe the processes and rationales for making choices of resources to save for ongoing research into the richness of Canada’s many pasts. The study will feature interviews with cross-disciplinary users of archives (the public, historical geographers, historians, etc.) with the aim of reaching a more comprehensive understanding of ap-praisal practice, and also of the concep-tions users have about that practice. Prof. Gibson’s SSHRC grant of $89,000 over two years will foster research on digital text analysis tools to further her comparative studies of ancient literature and media. Her research focuses on a case study of the Hippocratic Oath and code of ethics as the philosophical foundation for profes-sional ethics in information (as well as in medicine, science, engineering, and business). The objective is to prototype techniques for large-scale comparative analyses of repeating patterns of clas-sification in ancient writings and visual media across many different cultures and time periods. Both Prof. Craig’s and Prof. Gibson’s SSHRC projects will support iSchool graduate student researchers at the doctoral and master’s levels. Profes-sor Matt ratto has been awarded more than $23,000 to investigate the potential of digital desktop fabrication. He and Pro-fessor david Wolfe (U of T Mississauga Political Science, Centre for International Studies), were each awarded Knowledge

Synthesis Grants on the Digital Economy, a one-time initiative of the Social Sci-ences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), which aims to address critical knowledge gaps. Despite the potentially far-reaching effects that new develop-ments may bring to the private, public and not-for-profit sectors both within Canada and internationally, there is little social science and humanities research currently underway in this area. Through his Critical Making Laboratory, Prof. Ratto plans to inform future best practices in this rapidly evolving field while training new highly qualified personnel.

ProF. ANdrEW cLEMENT rEcEiVEs PriVAcy FuNdiNG For rEsEArcHProfessor Andrew clement is one of thirteen recipients to receive funding from the 2010-2011 Contributions Program from the Office of the Privacy Commis-sioner. The awards, totaling $98,000, will fund privacy research and public education initiatives, and are affiliated with Prof. Clement’s involvement in The New Trans-parency: Surveillance and Social Sorting research project. The first project, A Pri-vacy Protective “Proportionate ID Digital Wallet” for Canadians: Open Prototyping and Public Policy Alternatives, proposes to demonstrate the value of a digital device (“mobile wallet”) as a privacy-protective

alternative to current identification. The second project, “Smart” Private Eyes in Public Places? video Surveillance Analyt-ics, New Privacy Threats and Protective Alternatives, proposes to examine the use of video analytics (“smart” processing) in the area of video surveillance.

ProF. Eric yu rEcEiVEs NsErc discoVEry GrANTCongratulations to Professor Eric yu who was awarded a NSERC Discovery Grant of $200,000 over five years, to further his research on agent-oriented modeling. His work on intentional strategic actor relationships (i*) modeling was a basis for the International Standard Z.151 adopted at the ITU-T in November last year.

ProF. MATT rATTo AWArdEd LEAdEr’s oPPorTuNiTy FuNd GrANTProfessor Matt ratto was awarded a Leader’s Opportunity Fund grant by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the Ontario Research Fund. The $85,000 grant will support Prof. Ratto’s work on the “materialization of information” and was used to purchase rapid prototyping equipment including a 3D printer, laser cutter, and computer-controlled mill for research use in his Critical Making Laboratory. cLicK To rEAd

oN-LiNE >

http://www.ischool.utoronto.ca/sites/ischool/files/ischool_content/front-page/FINAL_UOT_single%20page%20mag.pdf

informed | autumn 2010 1 1

iscHooL ProFEssor BriNGs rEAdiNG To FirsT NATioN coMMuNiTiEs

Professor Nadia caidi received $80,000 from the Ministry of Train-ing, Colleges and Universities to

finance the On-Demand Book Service (ODBS), to provide several First Nation communities with better access to books and digital materials. The project is a collaboration between Keewaytinook Okimakanak (KO), a non-political Chiefs’ Council serving communities in northern Ontario, and the iSchool. As a result, KO First Nation community, Keewaywin, and two others, will be given a set of ODBS

equipment and content (a list of titles purchased in consultation with members of the community), as part of a pilot initia-tive. “The aim is to explore the realities, barriers, and challenges to reading in First Nation communities, particularly in remote and isolated areas of North-ern Ontario,” said Prof. Caidi. “The key element is the importance of reading in one’s life and how we can support it.” The project provided students from both the Information and Culture in a Global Con-text course and Information Workshops an opportunity to engage in meaning-ful and respectful community-based research. The ODBS responds to the community’s collective desire for libraries to offer balanced access to both physi-cal books and information technology, as

identified and recommended in reports by Ontario Library Services North, among others. The ODBS equipment, as well as the ODBS portal (http://odbs.knet.ca), will enable teachers and students at the Keewaywin Public School to print and bind digital content, create and publish their own content, and create digital archives. The project also examines the communities’ reading needs and prefer-ences, in order to “identify content that would appeal to them, based on various target populations,” Prof. Caidi added. At the conference, “Reading in First Nations: Infrastructure, Access & Imagination,” held in late March, the ODBS equip-ment was showcased in Keewaywin via video conferencing, and included a do-it-yourself book scanner (which can scan a 400-page book in less than half an hour), developed by PhD student daniel reetz. The day began with a keynote address by acclaimed aboriginal author drew Hayden Taylor, who discussed his reading experiences growing up in Curve Lake First Nation, and reflected on the lack of Aboriginal writers to serve as role mod-els. Prof. Caidi said future plans include the development of the ODBS portal into a virtual space where community members can access and meet people such as Mr. Taylor, in order to ask questions and be inspired. The ODBS is made possible in collaboration with K-NET Services in Sioux Lookout and KO Research Institute (KORI) in Thunder Bay.

ProF. HEATHEr MAcNEiL WiNs HuGH A. TAyLor PrizEProfessor Heather MacNeil was awarded the Hugh A Taylor Prize for her article, “Archivalterity: Rethinking Original Order,” which appeared in Archivaria 66 (Fall 2008). The prize is awarded annu-ally for the Archivaria article that presents new or refreshed ideas in imaginative ways by “extending the boundaries of archival theory in new directions.” Prof. MacNeil was awarded a cash prize and certificate, which commends her usage of cross-disciplinary insight “to explore the relationship between original order, archival arrangement, and notions of authenticity and representation,” and notes that it “offers many possibilities for enhanced archival practice.”

FAcuLTy oF iNForMATioN rEAccrEdiTEd By ALA

Master of Informa-

tion (MI) students

depend on having

an accredited degree in order

to have credibility and the

externally-validated academic

qualifications required in the

information workplace. U of T’s

Faculty of Information has been

accredited by the American

Library Association (ALA) since

1937, when the iSchool’s BLS

program first received ALA ap-

proval. This year, the External

Review Panel of the ALA found

the MI program met the ALA

Committee on Accreditation’s

“Standards for Accreditation of

Master’s Programs in Library

and Information Studies,”

and was approved June 2010.

“This status validates the

hard work of our faculty, staff,

alumni, and students in the

iSchool,” said dean seamus

ross. Accredited programs are

monitored regularly through

annual reporting processes and

periodic intensive reviews. They

must meet or exceed standards

regarding mission, goals and

objectives; curriculum; faculty;

students; administration and

financial support; and physical

resources and facilities.

NOTEWORTHY


Faculty NewsStaFFIng

FAcuLTy oF iNForMATioN WELcoMEs Four NEW ProFEssors

The iSchool welcomed four new Assistant Professors this year, dr. Fiorella Foscarini, dr. rhonda

McEwen, dr. sara Grimes, and dr. cara Krmpotich. Dr. Foscarini is teaching Managing Organizational Records; Dr. McEwen is teaching a workshop on Information Practice in virtual Worlds: Exploring Mediation in the Information Environment; Dr. Grimes will teach in the areas of in children’s new media and literature; and Dr. Krmpotich will be teaching Collections Management and Museums and Indigenous Communities.

Professor Sara GrimesDr. Grimes has degrees in Com-munication from Simon Fraser University(PhD, MA) and the Univer-sity of Ottawa (BA Hons). Her research interests are in

children’s media culture, play studies, and critical theories of technology, with a spe-cial focus on digital games. Her published work includes a co-authored analysis (with Neil Narine) of discursive represen-tations of the child gamer within popular film and advertising, and she has collabo-rated with Andrew Feenberg, adapting his theory of instrumentalization to construct a framework for the discussion of games as systems of social rationalization, which appeared in New Media & Society, The Information Society, and Communication, Culture and Critique.

Professor Fiorella Foscarini

Dr. Foscarini holds a degree in Arts and Philosophy from the University of Bologna, a post-graduate degree in Archival Science, Palaeography and

Diplomatics from the State Archives School in Bologna, a Master’s degree in Design and Management of Advanced Records Systems from the University of Urbino, and a PhD in Library, Archival and Information Studies from the University of British Columbia. Her doctoral disserta-tion was titled “Function-Based Records Classification Systems: An Exploratory Study of Records Management Practices in Central Banks.” Dr. Foscarini was a Senior Archivist for the European Central Bank in Frankfurt am Main, where she was primarily responsible for the develop-ment of records management and archi-val policies and procedures. Prior to that, she was the Head of the Records Manage-ment Office and Intermediate Archives at the Province of Bologna (Italy).

Professor Rhonda McEwen

Dr. McEwen holds an MBA in IT from City University in London, England, an MSc in Telecom-munications from the University of Colorado, and a

PhD in Information from University of Toronto. Dr. McEwen focussed her PhD dissertation research on youth mobile phone communication and social net-

works. Her research and teaching focus on information practices involving new media infrastructures, with an emphasis on youth media literacy, mobile communi-cation, and social media design. She has worked and researched digital commu-nications media for fifteen years, both in companies providing services and in management consulting to those compa-nies. Dr. McEwen was recently awarded a MITACS post-doctoral research grant (2010-11) to investigate the mobile phone information seeking practices of newcom-ers to Toronto, and is collaborating with dr. Nadia caidi.

Professor Cara Krmpotich Dr. Krmpotich has as BA (Trent) in Anthropology, spe-cializing in Museum Studies, a cer-tificate in Museum Management and Curatorship (Sir

Sandford Fleming College), and an MA (UBC) in Anthropology, with an emphasis in Museum Studies. She obtained her PhD at the University of Oxford, and recently facilitated the visit of twenty-one members of the Haida Nation from Haida Gwaii, B.C., to the Pitt Rivers Museum and British Museum. Dr. Krmpotich is producing a film and writing book on the Haida, with Laura Peers, Curator for the Americas, at the Pitt Rivers. Her research interests lie in the many relationships between museums and source communi-ties, the interconnections between memo-ry and material culture, and theoretical approaches to repatriation.


NEW dirEcTor, ExEcuTiVE dirEcTor, cHiEF sciENTisT, ANd ProFEssor JoiN KMdiProfessor Konstantinos (Kostas) Plataniotis is the new Director of the Knowledge Media Design Institute. “Kostas has the proven track record to nurture KMDI and to foster the collaborative initiatives that will ensure the Institute’s internationally recognized leadership in research and teaching prospers,” said dean seamus ross. KMDI Deputy Director since July 2009, Prof. Kostas is a Professor with the with

Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) department at the University of Toronto. His research interests include digital media, multimedia systems, biometrics, image and signal processing, and pattern recognition. He chairs the Communications Group at ECE and is the Director of Research at U of T’s Identity, Privacy and Security Institute (IPSI). Prof. Kostas thanked both Dean Seamus Ross and his predecessor, Professor ron Baecker, for their “strong academic leadership and the exemplary manner in which they executed KMDI’s integration with the iSchool family.” He added that the KDMI “is perfectly situated to act as research catalyst and be the focal point of U of T’s digital media agenda.” Rounding out the new hires are Executive Director Adriana ieraci, who also runs her own consulting practice (devising products and strategies for a digital future); Chief Scientist, dr. Gerald Penn, whose research primarily focuses on spoken language processing and discrete algorithms to support natural language technology; and Professor Peter Pennefather, in charge of learning events such as lectures and colloquia, and of planning a series on sense-making. The KMDI is dedicated to the creative design

of the knowledge media that will shape tomorrow and the insightful analysis of the digital media of today.

ProF. cosTis dALLAs NAMEd iNTEriM dirEcTor, MusEuM sTudiEs ProGrAM Special thanks to Museum Studies Professor, costis dallas, who served as Interim Director of the program from January to July 2010, taking a sabbati-cal from Panteion University in Athens, Greece, where he is an Assistant Profes-sor of Cultural Heritage Management

and Advanced Technologies in the Department of Communi-cation, Media and Culture. “Prof. Dallas’s knowledge of cultural heri-tage and digital collections is internationally recognized, and

we were lucky to have him here,” said dean seamus ross. “His on–the-ground museums experience and wide range of publications have made significant theo-retical and methodological contributions in museums, archaeology, and informa-tion.” Dr. Dallas joined the iSchool as a part-time Associate Professor in 2008. He holds Master of Philosophy and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Classical Archeol-ogy from the University of Oxford, and has more than twenty years of research and professional experience in the field of cultural management and cultural heritage informatics. He has been a Re-search Fellow of the Digital Curation Unit, “Athena” Research Centre, since 2007. Previously, Prof. Dallas served as General Director of the Foundations of the Hellenic World, as Undersecretary for Libraries

and Historical Archives of Greece, and as Special Advisor of the Greek Foreign Minister on cultural diplomacy and infor-mation issues. Prof. Dallas, who took over the role from Professor Lynne Howarth, worked on initiatives to forge stronger academic links between Museum Studies and the Master of Information program, in light of the transformations effected by in-formation technology in museums around the world. He also facilitated the intro-duction of a thesis option for Museum Studies students for the next academic year, and put plans in place to renovate the fifth floor Inforum to incorporate a fully-equipped Museum Studies studio, carrying out the vision of the late dr. cheryl Meszaros. The studio will provide a space for students to collaboratively design exhibitions, educational activities, and digital exhibits, as well as deal with object handling and essential collections management, as they would in a museum environment. This fall, the Faculty has be-gun searching for a new full-time tenure track professor who will also serve as the new director of the program.

ProFEssor sTEPHEN HocKEMA PursuEs NEW cArEErThe Faculty of Information bade farewell to Professor stephen Hockema on June 30 as he embarked on a new career. Instead of teaching and researching, Dr. Hockema will develop software, working with a partner and long-time friend on mobile applications (such as iAnnotate) and will continue to be based in Toronto. The applications will specifically target the iPhone and iPad. He hopes to collabo-rate and partner with the iSchool and uti-lize research from Faculty members in his new endeavours. “Thank you to everyone for the myriad ways you made my time here interesting, fun and rewarding over the past few years,” he said. “Your col-legiality and friendship have meant a lot to me.” “We have greatly appreciated his contributions, and we wish him the best as he pursues this exciting new direction in his career. I have no doubt he will mark many milestones in his new career,” says dean seamus ross. Dr. Hockema joined the iSchool in July 2006. With a joint PhD in Computer and Cognitive Science from Indiana University, Dr. Hockema has specialized in perceptual and linguistic development and learning.Prof. Stephen hockemaProf. costis Dallas

l-r: Prof. Konstantinos Plataniotis, Prof. Peter Pennefather, Dr. gerald Penn, and adriana Ieraci


She traces her ancestry back to the famous Celtic warrior Queen Boudicca. She grew up next to the former British outpost at DeCew Falls, Ontario, that

made Laura Secord a legend. She is a sought-after museum consultant, and holds one of the world’s first Doctorates in Museum Studies. Early in her life, Professor Lynne Teather’s career path was influenced by the professions of her parents: her mother was an an-tique dealer and her father an accoun-tant. “We had the makings of a modern museum person. At least that’s the way I like to tell the story,” she smiles.

Now, after thirty years as an educa-tor and retirement just two years away, Prof. Teather is kind of a legend herself in the museologist field.

Little wonder she chose to study history, first at Brock University, then at the University of Toronto, moving on to the University of Leicester to earn its first Doctorate in Museum Studies. At the time, museology was in its infancy. “It was brand new and a little untried as well, but if you’re Canadian,” she narrows her eyes and smiles, “of course you’re a pioneer.”

In 1979, Prof. Teather joined the University of Toronto’s Museum Studies program as full-time faculty member. Since its inception forty years ago, the pro-gram was housed in the School of Graduate Studies, but in 2006, it integrated with the iSchool, benefitting from a permanent home, increased resources, and access to an expanded community of curators.

Professor Teather has helped build a distinguished

centre of scholarship over the last thirty years, and is proud to have played an important role in the Museum Studies program, which was the first of its kind in Canada. After twenty years of supervising major research papers and managing the summer internship program, her additional focus has been “developing Museum Studies as a field,” says Prof. Teather, whose earliest paper on curriculum design

was published in 1978. She notes that enrolment has increased fifty per cent in the last few years, to forty students.

Besides being a teacher and museologist, Prof. Teather is also a cultural heritage consultant, who routinely questions the political and economic set-up of cultural institutions. “There are lots of issues with regard to other people’s cultures and who can or should speak on their behalf.”

The trouble, Prof. Teather has learned, is acknowledging that we possess “a set of culturally conditioned eyes.” This realization was sparked by a controversial African exhibition she was involved with in 1990 at the Royal Ontario Museum, one that

incited a violent public reaction. Somewhat rattled, Prof. Teather decided to incorporate intercultural work into her teaching. The experience was repeated in 2005 when the governor of a northern Nigerian town invited her to advise on converting a cultural area into a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A doctor showed her hundreds of women spending post-operative recovery time making traditional crafts at a nearby school, in order to stimulate a local-based

Faculty Profile

A Leader in

MuseuM studies

By Adeela Ahmad

The Curator of the Kanoe and Nok Museums shows Professor Teather the Nok Caves, Nok,

on her research trip to Nigeria in 2005.

Pho

to b

y Ad

eela

Ahm

ad


craft industry for tourism. “I was just going to advise on forming a better museum, and instead learned that culture and heritage is linked to people’s lives. That has forever changed how I view my vocation.” Prof. Teather says both incidents transformed her thinking. “In Nigeria, poverty and access to education affect everything I recommend.” These experiences led her to bring a more international sensibility to her teaching.

In 1995, the Ontario Museum Association honoured Prof. Teather’s career with an Award of Merit, a recognition which made her “think of the people who have gone before, and the many students and colleagues who have supported our Master’s program and the progress of our field.”

Progress, indeed. The image of museums as “dusty places in four-walled buildings with artifacts, is morphing.” Today, Prof. Teather says, a museum is anywhere people are coming together to address cultural heritage. “At one end there’s the Louvre, but at the other end may be

a neighborhood arts project started by youth-at-risk.” As for the future of museums, Prof. Teather would like to see them remain “publicly driven spaces that continually engage the sociopolitical context.”

Currently, Prof. Teather is working on a two-volume history of Canadian museums from 1700-1972, and is considering writing a book about museum thinking and practice for the 21st century, “with an eye to diversity and inclusion,” says the soon-to-be President of the Interna-tional Committee for the Training of Personnel (a subcom-mittee of the International Council of Museums).

When asked what gives her the most sense of pride, Prof. Teather quickly responds, “the students,” and lists a lengthy “Who’s Who” of past and current pupils who fill noteworthy permanent and internship roles, both in Canada and abroad. “I will miss them but at the same time, I’m not going away! This is still my community.”

“A museum is anywhere people are coming together to address cultural heritage.”

Professor Teather inside the AGO’s new Frank Gehry-designed sculpture gallery, the Galleria Italia.

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Faculty Research Roundup

Matthew BrowerDr. Brower was involved in the production of seven shows at the University of Toronto Arts Centre (UTAC), including Brothel Without Walls at the Scotiabank CONTACT Pho-tography festival in memory of Marshall McLuhan, and Gord Peteran: Recent Works. In addition, he co-organized “Feeling Photography”, a ma-jor international conference which addressed the theme of photography and affect, and attracted 130 participants from around the world. His publications explore topics ranging from “photographic emergence” (the ability of the camera to make manifest things the eye cannot see), to the importance of sardonic portraiture in Janus Dukszta’s collection.

Nadia CaidiAlthough Professor Caidi will be on sabbatical leave in fall 2010, her book, A Right to Know? Access to Information in a Post 9/11 World, will be published for the 10th anni-versary of the September 11, 2001 events. She will continue to pursue her research on the information practices of vul-

nerable communities, includ-ing newcomers, immigrant groups, and Aboriginal com-munities. Prof. Caidi helped with the integration of the On Demand Book Service (ODBS), permitting easy access to reading materials as well as providing ODBS-related equipment for peoples of First Nation communities. Her work has earned her numerous invitations to speak at various settlement sector-related meetings, and consultant con-tracts with Human Resources and Social Development Canada, and Citizenship and Immigration Canada.

Jennifer CarterProfessor Carter was the Chair of the Steering Com-mittee of the “Taking Stock Conference” held at Hart House and UTAC from April 22-24, 2010, which brought together a network of scholar-parishioners, academic researchers, and graduate students studying museological issues. Her research on the history and theory of exhibition practice led to a public lecture invita-tion at the Design Exchange in Toronto, where she presented,

“Architecture by Design: Dis-play, Narrative and Perfor-mance in Exhibition Practice.” She has also been engaged in the European Marie Curie-funded series of workshop conferences entitled “NaMu, Making National Museums,” which studies the emergence and evolution of national mu-seums in historic and global contexts. Currently, Prof. Carter is involved in a collab-orative research project, From Coexistence to Convergences: Studying Partnerships and Collaborating Among Librar-ies, Archives and Museums.

Joan CherryBesides fulfilling her respon-sibilities as Associate Dean, Professor Cherry conducted a web-based survey of students in Master’s degree programs in six information schools across Canada including Dalhousie University and the University of Western Ontario, investigating satisfaction rates for students in their respec-tive programs. Initial findings are that student satisfaction is higher at UofT than the average rating across the six schools. She is also involved in a project to study part-nerships and collaboration among libraries, archives, and museums.

Chun Wei ChooProfessor Choo completed two collaborative research projects, one with sylvio cyr, a Master’s student at the

Faculty, which was published in the Journal of Documenta-tion. The paper, “The Indi-vidual and Social Dynamics of Knowledge Sharing – An Exploratory Study,” concluded that knowledge sharing be-haviour is influenced by three sets of dynamics: a rational calculus that weighs the costs and benefits of sharing; a dispositional preference that favours certain patterns of sharing outcomes; and a relational effect based on working relationships. Profes-sor Choo also worked with Dr. Riva Alvarenga-Neto on a paper titled “Beyond the ‘Ba’: Managing Enabling Contexts in Knowledge Organizations”, which reviews and extends the work of Professor Ikujiro Nonaka on ‘ba’, a social space for creating and sharing knowledge, and suggests that managing knowledge is fundamentally about creating an environment that is con-ducive to knowledge interac-tion. The paper was published in the Journal of Knowledge Management.

Juris DilevkoIn addition to teaching six courses in the field of librari-anship, Professor Dilevko will be involved in the following long-term research projects: Canadian literary culture in the late 1940s and 1950s; the serpentine history of school libraries in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s; and a critical analysis of the book reviews of a well-known United States literacy critic.

Wendy DuffProfessor Duff is the Director of the Digital Curation Insti-tute, and founding members of AX-NET, an international

Throughout the year, professors at the Faculty of Information conduct rigorous, interdisciplinary, and groundbreaking research that contributes to society and helps shape the field of information. Learn more about their recent research activities and scholarly efforts over 2009-2010.

matthew Brower nadia caidi Jennifer carter Joan cherry chun Wei choo


team of researchers inter-ested in facilitating access to primary materials. Her current research focuses on four areas: archival users, access to archival material, digital curation, and, most recently, the convergence of libraries, archives, and museums. She is the principal investigator on a collaborative project explor-ing said convergence. Another of her collaborative projects investigated the impact of technology on museums for the Canadian Heritage Information Network, which resulted in three unpublished reports and a refereed confer-ence paper presented at Cul-tural Heritage Online called “Empowering Users: An Active Role for User Communities.”

Fiorella Foscarini Professor Foscarini joined the Faculty in January 2010. She is developing a new course that builds on record management and archival principles and methods, and explores issues of diplomatics, genre theory, and structuration. Prof. Fos-carini presented a paper on new approaches to electronic records management at the 8th European Conference on Digi-tal Archiving held in Geneva in April.

Alan GaleyThis year, Professor Galey’s research has focused on the history and future of the book, bridging the fields of book history, digital humanities, and critical information studies.

This also marked the first year of his seven-year project, Implementing New Knowledge Environments (INKE). He was the co-leader of the Textual Studies team, contributing a book chapter, “Beyond Reme-diation: The Role of Textual Studies in Implementing New Knowledge Environments.” He is continuing with the project, Archive and Interface in Digital Textual Studies: from Cultural History to Critical Design, with emphasis on Shakespeare, investigating the cultural his-tory of the archive in scholarly editing and building an online library of interface compo-nents. In addition, Prof. Galey presented a paper that fo-cused on the Architectures of the Book project, at the Mate-rial Cultures conference in Ed-inburgh, and will present “The Ekindling Reciter: Performing Reading and Concealing Texts

in the E-Book Demo” at the Modern Language Association conference in Los Angeles.

Jenna HartelProfessor Hartel has created a foundation for future studies of serious leisure with her work on the ethnographic study of information in the hobby of gourmet cooking. Her paper, “Managing Documents at Home for Serious Leisure: A Case Study of the Hobby of Gourmet Cooking,” provides the first detailed account of hobby-related information collecting. Professor Hartel’s publications appeared in the Journal of Documentation and will appear in Information in Everyday American Life. In ad-dition, she presented her work on this topic at the Seventh International Conference on Conceptions of Library and Information Science (CoLIS)

in London, England. At the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Informa-tion Science and Technology (ASIST), she hosted the panel “Toward a Positive Information Science?” and also designed and delivered “Metatheoretical Snowmen,” which drew one of the largest crowds at ASIST. The latter panel was repeated at CoLIS in London and will be presented again in Toronto in October 2010.

Stephen Hockema Over the past year, Professor Hockema refined and focused his ongoing research with students into a coherent topic revolving around parallels between formality in software design/development and form/content/presentation distinc-tions in information. On June 30, he left the iSchool to em-bark on a new career develop-ing software. He will work with a partner on mobile applica-tions, such as iAnnotate. The applications will target spe-cifically the iPhone and iPad devices, as well as contracts associated with them.


Andrew Clement

Professor Clement continues to explore the social and public policy implications of the emerging information/communication infra-

structure, with the aim of contributing to its socially progressive development. His classes, research, workshops, and lecture series bring attention to the threats to privacy, identity integrity, and other civil lib-erties posed by the increasingly pervasive insinuation of surveillance technologies and practices. He is also working on identity, privacy and surveillance research as well as related public education initiatives, affili-ated with his involvement in The New Transparency: Surveillance and Social Sorting research project.

Wendy Duff Fiorelle Foscarini alan galey Jenna hartel Stephen hockema


Kelly LyonsProfessor Lyons’ paper “New Directions for Social Comput-ing in virtual Worlds: Applica-tions for Business and Social Sciences” was listed as #17 in the “Top 25 Hottest Articles from Science Direct.” She presented two papers, one at iConference 2010 and another at the 15th Americas Confer-ence on Information Systems, and was also invited by CALIS and SLA to give a special presentation on project man-agement. In addition, she con-tributed a book chapter titled “A Framework that Situates Technology Research within the Field of Service Science,” which will appear in Service Systems Implementation, as a volume in Service Science: Research and Innovations in the Service Economy.

Heather MacNeilProfessor MacNeil published two articles this year: “Trust-ing Description: Authenticity, Accountability and the General International Standard for Archival Description” and “Arranging the Self: Literary and Archival Perspectives on Writers’ Archives,” and co-edited a book entitled Currents of Archival Thinking. She also began work on a SSHRC-fund-ed research project examining archival description as rhe-torical genre in traditional and web-based environments. She completed the data collection and most of the data analysis for a small exploratory study

of the evolution of an archival description over a period of eight decades.

Jens-Erik MaiSince the end of his term as the vice-Dean in 2009, Professor Mai has been busy preparing papers for publica-tion in Journal of Documenta-tion, Knowledge Organization, and for presentation at the International Conference on Conceptions of Library and Information Science, that all explore authority and trust in knowledge organization systems. He hopes to attract attention to the challenges faced by library and informa-tion science professionals to design and maintain systems that are transparent and

trustworthy. He has also been giving presentations and will give an invited talk at the National Taiwan University’s International Symposium on the Future of Information Or-ganization Research, in Taipei. He will co-chair the Program Committee for the iConference in 2011 to be held in Seattle, Washington.

Rhonda McEwenIt was a year of innovation for Assistant Professor McEwen, the first faculty member to offer a class on virtual worlds, addressing issues such as avatar identity and com-munity. She was featured in the national press on several occasions for her cutting-edge research on handheld

research on handheld tech-nologies, such as the mobile phone and iPod Touch devices. In addition, she was awarded a MITACS post-doctoral research grant to investigate the mobile phone information seeking practices of young newcomers to Toronto.

David PhillipsProfessor Phillips is currently working on two SSHRC-fund-ed research projects. The first, Spatiality, Identity, and the Infrastructure of Ubiquitous Computing: Directions for Critical Intervention, investi-gates the political, economic, and technical configuration of “cloud” computing, or ubiqui-tous computing, and how the infrastructure configures the possibilities for interactions in public space. The second proj-ect, Carrier Hotels: Mapping Internet Interconnections, at-tempts to “ground” the cloud, by revealing exactly where In-ternet traffic travels on its way from source to destination.


Kelly lyons heather macneil Jens-erik mai rhonda mcewen David Phillips

Lynne Howarth

Professor Howarth is continuing with her project, “Enhancing Pathways to Memory,” and working with the Alzheimer Society of Toronto to study

how individuals with mild cognitive impairment associ-ated with early-stage Alzheimer/Dementia may utilize multi-modal expressions of information such as music, photographs, physical objects, movement, audio record-ings, etc., as memory cues for finding, organizing, and using i nformation important to daily living.

She also collaborated on Museum Knowledge Worker of the 21st Century, a project for the Canadian Heritage Information Network, and presented a paper in Rome, Italy at the International Society for Knowledge Organization, exploring cartograms for mapping the diffusion of knowledge globally. In addition, she refereed at the poster session of the OLA Superconference, and served as a guest editor of a special issue of Knowledge Organization and Cataloguing & Classification Quarterly.



Matt RattoProfessor Ratto received two grants to continue to develop “critical making”—a mode of research practice that uses material prototyping with physical computing to supplement and extend criti-cal thinking on the relations between society, informa-tion, and technology. The first project, Critical Making: the Materialization of the Digi-tal, is funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the Ontario Research Fund. The project explores how 3D printers and open source hardware changes the nature of expertise and will influence the creative environment. The second project, funded by the Ontario Media Develop-ment Corporation, is called Designing Digital Media for the Internet of Things, and will use workshops to create novel possibilities for shared work on the Internet of things (the interconnection of everyday objects through digital technologies).

Aviv ShachakProfessor Shachak is con-tinuing with his case study research on end-user support for primary care electronic health record implementa-tion, where the first phase of data collection and prelimi-nary analysis of the data has been completed. He has also published two opinion papers, one in JAMA on the potential of incorporating multimedia into electronic health records

to improve care, another in Informatics in Primary Care on usability as a critical aspect of assessing the quality of clini-cal information systems.

Brian Cantwell SmithThis year marks a milestone for Professor Cantwell Smith as he initiates a seven-volume series publication of his major life work entitled Age of Significance, which pro-vides a sustained, systematic philosophical analysis of the foundation of computation and intentionality. The book will be presented in both English and Chinese in traditional book format, as well as online. In addition, he has completed two volumes of papers on conceptual foundations of computing, to be published by Harvard University Press.

Siobhan StevensonProfessor Stevenson has concentrated her research energies on investigating working conditions within the information economy, particu-larly at public libraries. She has developed a model that attempts to capture the dia-lectic between the ascendancy of library consumer-producer identity and the diminishment of the public librarian as a skilled, waged, and unionized public service worker, which provides findings for work-ing conditions, careers, and labour processes across the full range of public service occupations. Prof. Stevenson will have the opportunity to

share her work at six differ-ent conferences, including the Seventh International Conference on Conception of Library and Information Sci-ence. She also published an article on one of the SSHRC’s Network of Centres of Excel-lence Project: DIGILAB, on which she was invited to be a research collaborator.

Yuri TakhteyevProfessor Takhteyev has completed several papers and has projects underway on topics ranging from open source software development to the globalization of Wikipe-dia. His main, current project is an ethnography of software development in Brazil, in which he looks at software development as a case of a modern high-tech work and how globalization is experi-enced in such a context. He has completed his dissertation for this project and is currently converting it to book form.

Lynne TeatherProfessor Teather helped place forty students in mu-seum internships around the world, teaching, gave work-shops and lectures in various places, and was a member of the steering committee for the Taking Stock Conference. Other research areas include the history of Canadian mu-seums, contemporary issues in national and international museum development, and the training of museum professionals. She has taught

at several international museology schools, includ-ing a stint this year at the Slovenian Museology School. Currently, she is working on a project with Professor Roger Simon on difficult history and museums through examining the exhibition Without Sanctu-ary: Lynching Photographs in America.

Eric YuProfessor Yu’s research focus-es on the analysis and design of information systems and services in social contexts, and knowledge management. His projects include designing for security and privacy, agile software development, and business modeling for busi-ness intelligence. Professor Yu has had three journal papers published or accepted, as well as seven conference papers and five workshop papers, and two book chapters, most in collaboration with the students he supervised. He also co-edited a Festschrift volume, Conceptual Model-ing: Foundations and Applica-tions, in honour of his former PhD supervisor and mentor, Professor John Myopolous, and plans to include the book in a conceptual modeling course. Professor Yu’s re-search focuses on information system analysis and design, and software engineering, em-phasized in his current book project “Social Modeling for Requirements Engineering.”

aviv Shachakmatt ratto Brian cantwell Smith Siobhan Stevenson yuri takhteyev lynne teather eric yu


Student NewseVentS

sTudENTs TAcKLE sTErEoTyPEd PErcEPTioN oF LiBrAriANs

Between October 17 and 25, 2009, first year iSchool students participated in a challenge to smash the stereotypes of meek, mild-mannered librarians by

stepping out on to the streets and inviting the public to test their skills and engage in a range of enlightening activities. One of six events, “On the Street Reference” challenged Torontonians to ask any question on any topic. Toting a “FREE ANSWERS” sign, students took turns answering questions, ranging from “Why do musicians tune to A (440 HZ)” to “Are there any English language theatres in Shanghai?”

Katya Pereyaslavska, a first-year MISt student and Hart House Library Curator, said the class arrangement was a “terrific experience.” More than sixty members of the public participated on the corner of Bloor Street and University Avenue, outside the Royal Ontario Museum. The challenge also promoted the founding principles of librarianship: civic engagement and the free flow of information. Students were delighted by the measure of support received from faculty professors, the local press, and professional librarians, and discussed turning the idea into a city-wide event for next year’s Library Month. The overarching goal of dismantling the image of librar-ians as “invisible” or “passive” grew out of a class ef-fort spearheaded by Professors siobhan stevenson and Nadia caidi, and evolved into a personal quest for public awareness. “I think it can teach [the public] a lot about our professions and our engagement with the broader society,” said Prof. Caidi.

Other student-led challenges included a winter clothing drive for Romero House refugees, a “Reference Desk on Wheels” aimed at expanding public understanding of the role of information workers, and “We Love Librari-ans,” an event in which students asked the public what they love about librarians. The challenges piggy-backed on the Stephen Lewis Foundation’s “A Dare to Remember” (www.adaretoremember.com/campaign). In addition to answering questions, students also educated passersby on the HIv/AIDS pandemic in Africa, and accepted donations to fight the disease, raising more than $800.

Second-year student, Sarah Jones

cLicK To rEAd oN-LiNE >

http://www.adaretoremember.com/campaign


FourTH ANNuAL JoB ANd NETWorKiNG FAir A succEssThe iSchool hosted its annual job and networking fair on January 29, attracting more than 200 students and organizations from all information fields including archives and records management, information systems and technologies, library and information science, and knowledge management. The fair provided students with many opportunities to meet and network with professionals, and to learn more about the skills and attributes sought by today’s employers. For organizations, the event served as a forum in which to meet the new generation of information professionals, establish a presence, and receive resumés from students.

iNForMATioN AccEss: coMMoNs, coNTroLs, coNTroVErsy (iA3c) coNFErENcEThe iSchool held its second annual student-run conference, “Information Access: Commons, Controls, Controversy (IA3C),” from March 19 to 20, 2010. Fea-turing students from Toronto, Montreal, and New York, the conference included a keynote speaker, student presenta-tions, and a round table discussion. The keynote was dr. Joseph Janes, Associate Professor at the University of Washing-ton’s Information School, and Founding

Director of the Internet Public Library, who delighted participants with his insights. Other presentations touched on universal access and information poverty, freedom of information and right to pri-vacy, curation as the facilitation of access, the Internet as library, and museums as “access on display.” This annual confer-ence provides students with an academic platform in which to present and discuss their work with peers, scholarly research-ers, and information professionals and practitioners.

PHd rEsEArcH dAy 2010 The enthusiastic response to last year’s PhD Research Day resulted in the expansion of this year’s event to two days. On April 12 and 13, twenty students presented their research to faculty, peers, and a respondent panel—almost twice as many participants as last year! The event was organized by Professor david Phillips, Associate Professor and Chair

of Doctoral Studies, and Areti Vourinaris, Assistant to the Dean’s Office. “The format of PhD Research Days gave students a chance to clarify and hone their work, and to present it to colleagues for their advice and critique,” says Dr. Phillips. Doctoral students enjoyed the exposure: “I think we get wrapped up in our own research and this was a great opportunity to step back and hear what our peers are doing,” said Melissa Fritz, who presented an overview of her research, “Mom, Apple Pie, and Policy: Examining the Social Construction of the standard North American Family in Canadian Child Care Policy Debates (2004-2009).” The program included topics ranging from “Online Support Groups for People Living with Depression,” and “Challenges with Frameworks for Privacy Protection: Studying Systemic Failures,” to “Preliminary Discussion of Research on LGBT Archives and the Communities They Serve,” and “Is Hearing Believing? Perception of Online Information Credibility by Screen Reader Users who are Blind.”

l-r: Ia3c co-chairs, Patricia ayala and laura Shtern

Free Graduate Course for New GraduatesThose students who convocated in November 2009, or March/June 2010, qualify for one free course (maximum value $600) at the School of Continuing Studies, 18 months from the date of graduation.

For more information call: 416-978-2400or drop by at: 158 St. george St.

lysanne lessard

4th annual Job & networking Fair


iscHooL sTudENTs iNTErN AT THE uNiTEd NATioNs

What could be more exciting than interning at the UN for the summer? Being present for

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to its headquarters, of course! Out of 6,800 applicants competing for this year’s sum-mer internship program at the world’s largest international institution, and out

of the eleven selected Canadians, three were from the Faculty. First-year stu-dents Andrea siemen, Janina Mueller and Aileen cornelio looked on as the Queen delivered her address to the UN General Assembly (July 6, 2010). Aileen worked with the UN Archives within the Archives & Records Management Section (UNARMS) of the Department of Man-agement, implementing preservation strategies on the archival records of the Korean Reconstruction Agency series. Janina’s internship involved cataloguing

the specialized journal collection at the Library of the Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea (DOALOS), and editing the 2009 edition of the annual The Law of the Sea: A Select Bibliography. Andrea worked as a conference officer for the Department for General Assembly and Conference Management, tasked with creating a compendium that provides subject access to resolutions pertaining to conference management beginning with the 40th session (1985) and continuing to the present.

Student NewsaWarDS & InternShIPS

andrea Siemen, Janina mueller and aileen cornelio


FiAA ouTsTANdiNG sTudENT coNTriBuTioN AWArdStudent Council President (2009-2010), Kim stymest, is the well-deserved winner of this year’s FIAA Outstanding Student Contribution Award (formerly the Jubilee Award). Kim received a $500 cheque and plaque in recognition of her influential contribution to student life, participation in professional organizations, academic excellence, and publishing. Before being elected President, Kim served as Student Council vice-President, and joined the editorial team of the Faculty of Information Quarterly. As President, Kim participated in Faculty Council and Graduate Student Union meetings, and contributed to the recent ALA Accreditation Panel. Under her leadership, the student lounge on the 7th floor of Bissell (140 St. George) was transformed into a welcoming space, now frequented as both a work and a social hub. Kim has also been active in librari-anship, with memberships in OLA, SLA, CLA, and ALA. She convened a session at the OLA 2010 SuperConference, and moderated a session at Information Ac-cess: Commons, Control, Controversy, the 2nd annual University of Toronto iSchool

Student Conference. She was also a poster presenter at the 2010 CLA National Conference & Trade Show in Edmon-ton. Kim’s paper, “The War on Women’s Bodies: War Rape in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” will be published in the inaugural issue of the Journal of the Motherhood Institute. She is also a double award winner this year, having been one of the recipients of the Gordon Cressy Awards. Congratulations to an outstand-ing student!

iscHooL sTudENT cHosEN For 2010 NELsoN MANdELA iNTErNsHiPSecond-year MISt student Lindsay chick spent her summer undertaking archival and records management work in South Africa with the Nelson Mandela Foundation’s Centre of Memory. This unforgettable internship was supported by the continued generosity of Manulife Financial, and provides iSchool students with the chance to gain invaluable international work experience. Lindsay worked under the guidance of Verne Harris, considered to be one of the leading postmodern thinkers of archival theory. As a professional archivist, Mr. Harris helped transform South Africa’s apartheid public records system. “I am both thrilled and humbled to have the opportunity to intern with the Centre of Memory in Johannesburg,” Lindsay says. She was excited about gaining “practical, hands-on experience with records while preserving the painful history of apartheid and the legacy of a truly inspirational individual.” Motivated by her goal to promote social justice and education through historical records, Lindsay hopes to work as a reference archivist in a repository of Holocaust collections, “in order to expand research in the area, maintain the legacy and memory of survivors and victims, and to illuminate issues of prejudice and intolerance.” You can read about Lindsay’s experiences in South Africa at http://lindsayinjoburg.blogspot.com/.

At a special reception held by the Faculty of Information Alumni Association after Convocation in June, many of the 160 graduates gathered to celebrate and honour those who won prizes for high academic achievement and contributions to the community. Award winners were:

MMst Awards valentine Moreno, Maddie Knickerboxer, victoria Kushelnyk

ontario Library Association Anniversary Prize Mark Bold and Christina Kim (both with 3.97 grade averages)

Margaret canning Public Librarian Prize Erin Anderson and Jessica Rovito

Library service centre Award of Excellence in cataloguing Erika Dickenson

Kathleen reeves Memorial Award Kimberly Rawluk

ArMA Toronto chapter Award Renee Chaput

douglas Armstrong Memorial Award Jorge Rivera

Gertrude M. Boyle Memorial Award in cataloguing Sarah vaisler

ontario Library Boards’ Association Prize in Public Library Management Li Chen

Jane Prescott Memorial Award Jana Purmalis

sheridan Park Association Award Dylanne Dearborn

Toronto Area Archivists’ Group Award Emily Monks-Leeson

Toronto Health Libraries Associa-tion Annual Prize in Health sciences Librarianship Louise Donnelly

William L. Graff Memorial Prize James Murchison

rare Books and Manuscripts Award Bridget Whittle

Beta Phi Mu Nominees Mark Bold, Li Chen, Monique Flaccavento, Christina Kim, Klara Maidenberg, Matthew McPherson, Emily Monks-Leeson, James Murchison, Stephanie Orfano, Alison Schroeder, Tetiana Senyshyn, Erica Sum, Lynette Terrill, Leslie Thomson, Jacqueline Whyte Appleby

We welcome the graduates of 2010 as our newest alumni and wish them all the best as they advance in their careers.

coNGrATuLATioNs, cLAss oF 2010!

lindsay chick

Kim Stymest


Kendra Ainsworth, Art Gallery of OntarioHeather Anderson, National Gallery of ScotlandJackie Awad, Art Gallery of OntarioLindsay Bontoft, University College London, Petrie Museum Diane Adele Boyer, Todmorden Mills (Toronto)Kathryn Browning, Art Gallery of AlbertaLaura Bydlowska, Royal Academy of ArtsMichelle Chan, Royal BC Museum Rheanne Chartrand, National Museum of the American Indian Michael Devaney, Royal Ontario Museum vanessa Fleet, Art Gallery of Ontario

Dana Fragomeni, Todmorden Mills (Toronto)

Meaghan Anne Froh, Canadian National Exhibition Archives

Kimberly Ginge, Guggenheim Museum

Sarah Lynn Heim, Toronto Photographers Workshop

Rachel Clare Keeling, Canada Helps

Kristen Jade Kerr, Ashmolean Museum (Oxford)

Mairin Shields Kerr, Getty Villa (Malibu, California)

Martha Helena Kroeker, Royal Ontario Museum

Grace Lam, National Museum of Ireland

Berrit Natalie Larsen, Heritage Village (Calgary)

Lianne Catherine Maitland, Markham Museum

Rebecca Jane McGuire, Shout Out Media

Erin Beau McIntyre, Art Gallery of Ontario

Samantha Morel, Science North (Sudbury)

Diana G. Moser, City of Hamilton, Culture Division

Megan Alicia O‘Connor, American School of Archaeology (Athens)

Roberta Petracca, Markham Museum

Cynthia Rebeca Roberts Perez, Museum of Architecture, MIT (Boston)

Elizabeth Rodriguez, Museum of Performance & Design (San Francisco)Patricia Marion Small, Brant Museum (Burlington, ON)Jilana Elizabeth Stewart, National Museum of Art and Design (New York)Kristin Emily Stoesz, Gardiner MuseumKelly Torrens, Royal Ontario Museum Lisa Truong, Museum of Anthropology (UBC)Jennifer Mary Winter, Art Gallery of Ontario Catherine Grace Woltz, Holy Trinity Church (Stratford-upon-Avon)Yan Zhou, Royal Ontario MuseumCassandra Zita, Schneider House (Waterloo)

MusEuM sTudiEs iNTErNsHiPsThis summer, the Masters of Museum Studies program saw a twenty five per cent increase in the number of first-year student internships. Forty stu-dents completed twelve-week internships both in and around Toronto and in cities as far away as San Francisco, Edinburgh, and Athens. In the fall, the Faculty will host an internship day during which students will present posters and talks sum-marizing their experiences and celebrating their achievements. Placements offer students opportunities to work hands-on with industry professionals, gaining valuable experience. The following is a list of stu-dents and their placements:

Student NewsaWarDS & InternShIPS

THrEE iscHooL sTudENTs HoNourEd WiTH GordoN crEssy AWArd

On April 15, second-year students Maddie Knickbocker (MMSt), Kim stymest (MISt), and Erica sum

(MISt) were recognized with the prestigious Gordon Cressy Award for outstanding extra-curricular contributions to their faculty and to the university as a whole. Maddie Knickbocker served as Social Chair and vice-President of the Museum Studies Graduate Student Association. With a colleague, she curated a panel of museum scholars in the “Taking Stock” conference, April 22-24. Kim Stymest was President of the Faculty of Information Student Council. Her accomplishments include spearheading high-tech renova-tions to the student lounge, mentoring and actively recruiting students, and

managing the Student Council’s website. Erica Sum is known for her inspiring advocacy for children and youth, including stimulating library service to Aboriginal youth. She served on the Student Council and Faculty Council with distinction, and

was also a student liaison for the Cana-dian Association of Special Libraries and Information Services. The awards were established in 1994 in honour of Gordon Cressy, former U of T vice-President of Development and University Relations.

l-r: gordon cressy award winners: Kim Stymest and erica Sum (absent: maddie Knickbocker)


Student Notes

Margaret lam is a very busy person. Besides working as a graphic designer and undertaking part-time studies at the iSchool, she is the founding member and orchestra librarian of the Sneak Peek Orchestra, as well as a member of the Toronto Heliconian Club.

Although well-versed in music and graphic design, Margaret came to the Faculty of Information with little knowledge of Information Science. She was impressed by the range of expertise and the variety of courses offered at the iSchool, and sensed that it would be a great place to explore topics in which she was interested. The Faculty’s Knowledge Media Design Institute provided the perfect program for Margaret.

This year she will complete her thesis option on the effectiveness of acquiring music knowledge through online resources, such as information and communication technologies (ICT), instead of the traditional method of being taught in person by a teacher. In April 2010, she had the exciting opportunity to attend the British Forum for Ethnomusicology - “Music Knowledge” conference in the United Kingdom where she shared and exchanged ideas about music and gained invaluable insights from people outside the information technology field. If she hadn’t attended the conference, she would not have had the pleasure of meeting Kiku Day, a jinashi shakuhachi player who teaches via Skype, the online voice and video networking software.

Entering the 2010-11 academic year, Margaret found out that she won the Joseph-Armand Bombardier scholarship worth $17,500 from a SSHRC grant. She will work on her thesis, “Online Music Knowledge: The Case of the Non-Musician”, where she explores information behaviour in the context of domain specific knowledge, in this case, music. Once she graduates, she plans to stay in the field of graphic design and to pursue her own business that involves online music information. By Lina Wang

STUDENT PROFILE

MusEuM sTudiEs sTudENT ExHiBiTioN ProJEcTs Second-year Museum Studies students in the Exhibition Project Class annually curate a variety of exhibitions at locations ranging from Robarts Library to Toronto Pearson Interna-tional Airport, providing emerging museum practitioners with professional curatorial expe-rience. Some students collaborate with partner organizations to produce exhibitions, while oth-ers create, plan, and design original projects. This year, twenty-five students produced fifteen projects and major research papers. Exhibi-tions of varying lengths took place between November and May 2010 in Toronto, Homer (Alaska), and New Orleans (Louisiana) and covered a broad spectrum of topics, includ-ing a collection of unusual artifacts belonging to an affluent “pseudo”-victorian gentleman; an exploration of the significance of the white wedding tradition; a multi-media exhibit trac-ing the 18th-century expulsion of Acadians from

Nova Scotia and their settlement in Louisiana, through the evolution and eventual 20th-century commercialization of Cajun food and culture; and an exhibit on the whimsical world of children’s toys. Research papers were equally diverse, and included a discussion of historical shifts in the presentation of culturally sensitive indigenous materials in Australian digital col-lections; an examination of the implementation of current cultural policy at heritage sites in the city of Athens; and an illustrated catalogue documenting the work of Canadian artist and designer Dora de Pédery-Hunt.

FuTurE oF THE ProFEssioN: sTudENT ProFEssioNAL dEVELoPMENT surVEyMISt second-year student, Kate Petch, and new graduate, Kim stymest, presented find-ings of their research survey, “The Future of the Profession: Student Professional Develop-ment at the iSchool,” at the 2010 CLA National Conference & Trade Show in Edmonton. The 25-question survey collected both quantitative and qualitative data from MISt students over a six-week period in order to ascertain student perceptions of coursework, professional development, and the future career goals of those attending the iSchool. Findings show a contrast in career goals and choices between the summers of 2008 and 2009, as well as a reduction in wages between the years: in 2009, more students earned hourly rates in the $19-$20.99 range than in the $21-$24.99 range. Public librarianship remained a popular career

preference, however, only 12.5 per cent of students found summer work in public libraries, a decrease from 2008. Nevertheless, job satis-faction remained quite high in both years, with a large majority of students finding well-paid work in fields of interest. “These promising results suggest that information organizations are doing well, matching students with their desired areas of work. We believe that the increase in career goal changes, coinciding with the increase in ‘Other’ work opportunities, is reflective of the growing diversity of job prospects in the infor-mation professions,” the survey report stated. They suggest future studies include employer surveys to supplement student views, and the collection of data to form a broader picture by contrasting the positions of new graduates with those of students in summer positions, and those in mid-degree studies.

FaCulTy OF INFOrmaTION QuarTerly ENTErs 3rd yEAr The Faculty of Information Quarterly has launched its third year of publication. Over the past year, graduate students solidified the journal as a forum for the voices of emerging and estab-lished scholars and practitioners in diverse information fields. The latest issue features a special section with coursework from Prof. Andrew clement’s and dr. Adam Fiser’s fall 2009 class, INF1001 - Knowledge and Informa-tion in Society. To contact the editors, please e-mail [email protected] them on Facebook and on Twitter at @fiquarterly. To view the latest edition, visit: https://fiq.ischool.utoronto.ca/index.php/fiq

Master of Museum Studies ProgramFaculty of InformationUniversity of Toronto

Instructors: Dr. Matthew Brower and Dr. Jennifer CarterProject celebration: Tuesday, April 6, 2010, Debates Room, Hart House, University of Toronto 7-11pm Speeches at 7:30

Special thanks to the Faculty of Information, University of Toronto; Art Niemi at Atlanta Visual Communications; and to all our partners and collaborators listed on the reverse who have made the projects possible.

15 GRADUATING EXHIBITION PROJECTS AND MAJOR RESEARCH PAPERS

09 10

cLicK To rEAd oN-LiNE >

https://fiq.ischool.utoronto.ca/index.php/fiq


iscHooL LAuNcHEs diGiTAL curATioN iNsTiTuTE

Professor cheryl Misak, vice-President and Provost of the University of Toronto, and dr. daniel J. caron, Librarian and Archivist of Canada, joined Professor Wendy duff

to launch the iSchool’s newly created Digital Curation Institute (DCI). The Institute was officially introduced at “Curation Matters: The First Digital Curation Institute Conference,” on June 16, to participants’ delight. The DCI was founded by Prof. Duff—an idea that she says came naturally, given that “the concept of curating objects is one that the entire Faculty is involved in.” She notes that the DCI’s significance extends beyond the Faculty’s uses: “Everybody’s creating data but it’s not being managed very well, which is important so it can be used over time.”

dean seamus ross remarked that Prof. Duff’s expertise makes her an ideal individual to champion an institute that must lead a fundamental redefinition of the field of inquiry if it is to advance both theory and practice. “Professor Duff’s investiga-tions in the area of archival users and access to archival materi-

als have led to publications that others acknowledge as having fundamentally moved the field forward,” says dean ross, adding that her scholarly publications are required reading for archival students in many North American institutions.

The DCI offers a rich, interdisciplinary environment for in-vestigating principles and theory building related to the creation, management, use, interpretation, and preservation of digital resources. It will also provide the Faculty with a framework on which to establish international research collaborations in a problem domain that is of central social and economic sig-nificance to contemporary society. The Institute will work with notable guest speakers who have contributed to shaping the current research in the field, and members of Faculty of Informa-tion, to define a research agenda that can form the foundation for the DCI’s initial focus. In distinguishing it from other digital curation centres in the world, Prof. Duff notes that this is the only such centre situated in an iSchool faculty, with the benefit of DCI research being “flavoured” by multi-disciplinary expertise, “with insights from critical theory, philosophy, museology, archives, and information technology.”

iscHooL iNsTiTuTE BuiLds oN ProFEssioNAL LEArNiNG cENTrE FouNdATioN

The Faculty of Information is proud to have launched the iSchool Institute, formerly the Professional Learning Centre (PLC), which will enable us to engage with a wider

community of professionals and the broader public. The Insti-tute will build on the decade of success that the PLC has seen, providing continuing education for information professionals. The Institute will also add more workshops aimed at senior manag-ers, entrepreneurs, and other leaders in the community who are

l–r: Dean Seamus ross, Dr. Daniel J. caron, Prof. cheryl misak, Prof. Wendy Duff

marshall mcluhan teaching his class at the coach house.

Spotlight on

InstitutesBy Adeela Ahmad & Kathleen O’Brien

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in a position to influence excellence in information work. One of its aims is public outreach, including free monthly guest lectures featuring members of the Faculty and distinguished practitioners in the information profession from around the world, with a mandate to bring their insights to the community. “Most of Toronto doesn’t know what the Faculty of Information means,” said the Institute’s Director, Bruce stewart. “These lectures are designed to change that.” Mr. Stewart chairs the advisory board, replacing former Chair, rebecca Jones. Mr. Stewart, who began his role on December 14, 2009, is an accomplished and interna-tionally-recognized thinker and practitioner in the effective use of information for organizational success. Prior to this role, he

ran his own research/consulting firm, was CEO of a publicly-traded eLearning software company, and worked in com-mercial research.

Additionally, the board wel-comes dr. Ken Haycock (professor and director of the School of Library and Information Science at San José State University), steven Forth (CEO of Leverage Point Innovations Inc.), christine castle (museum consultant

and recent adjunct member of the Faculty), Janet de Guzman (OpenText), and deirdre Grimes (Ontario Legislative Assembly).

Reflecting the growth of the information disciplines, the iSchool Institute will expand its course offerings throughout the GTA, and in Ottawa. “We are also already enjoying a good recep-tion to custom offerings taught onsite, and for other forms of consulting using the expertise here at Canada’s only iSchool,” Mr. Stewart said. The inaugural lecture, “Organized Chaos: Social Networks and Enterprise Change,” held April 28, featured Euan semple, an expert on open information sharing and former BBC journalist, and on September 22, steven Forth discussed “Scenario Thinking: Urban Alternatives” (workshop) and “Leaning Along the Arch of a Life” (lecture). Other workshops and lectures planned for the fall are: October 27, 2010: Bruce rogow, “IT Has Great Potential: Is Management Ready? (lecture)” and “Developing Information Leadership for a Reset Economy” (workshop); November 24, 2010: Workshop with Bruce stewart, “The Maw of Disorder: Moving from Expertise to Innovation in World Affairs” (lecture). For more details and to register, please visit: institute.ischool.utoronto.ca

coAcH HousE iNsTiTuTE oFFiciAL rEsEArcH uNiT

Responsibility for the McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology (MPCT), and for the legendary Coach House at 39A Queen’s Park Crescent, now falls under the man-

date of the newly formed Coach House Institute (CHI) at the Faculty of Information. This year, the iSchool granted it official support as a clearly defined research unit. The CHI iexplores the future of the academy where discussions on the implications of digital technologies for the content and conduct of scholarly research and teaching at the University are encouraged. Issues include access, humanistic inquiry, scholarly communication and broader issues such as fundamentals of information,

computation, and cognition. Former iSchool Dean, Profes-

sor Brian cantwell smith, is serving as initial Director of the Institute for a five-year term, until June 30, 2014, and dr. dominique scheffel-dunand is the Director of the MPCT, which joined the iSchool in 1994. The objective of the program is to forge new networks for knowledge exchange across genera-tions, and scholarly engagement among academics (e.g., information theorists, curators, and artists) and with a new generation of students. Graduate students involved in discussions and activities designed at the MPCT and the CHI will ask new questions, develop new methodologies, and create and work with digital technologies to solve current problems and plan for future challenges in many areas including com-munications, and preservation of data or artefacts, for example. Students will acquire enhanced skills in digital technologies and will be encouraged to apply these new practices in the courses they take, in their research, and by initiating outreach activities. Watch for a new website and more information on the Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) centenary celebrations, as various projects will foster partnerships with the public and with private organi-zations. The Coach House itself will continue providing a space for projects developed in close collaboration between artists and information technologists, as was done at the Monday night seminars conducted by Dr. McLuhan in the 60s and 70s. The Coach House Salons will also resume this fall.

cHANGEs To AdAPTiVE TEcHNoLoGy rEsEArcH uNiT

On July 1, 2010, Ms. Jutta Treviranus took on a new role as Professor at the Ontario College of Art and Design (OCAD). At her leaving party in June, dean seamus ross

commended her achievements for having “brought us interna-tional standing in an area of research that is of central impor-tance to society.” He added: “We appreciate all the work Jutta

has done over the past fifteen years, especially her tireless and strategic pursuit of an accessible world by creating, modifying, and rethinking how to use technology.” In an email to staff and faculty, Ms. Treviranus said, “I believe that this field is one of the most critical areas of study for the academic uncertainties we face today, and I look forward to watching the iSchool progress in its important agenda.”

The Faculty of Information will continue to collaborate with Professor Treviranus as a contributor in the research initiatives taking place under the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI) funded Inclusive Design Institute. Professor Matt ratto will lead UofT’s participation in this activity with research that will focus on Mobile and Pervasive Computing and be carried out under the aegis of KMDI.

Bruce Stewart

Jutta treviranus

coach house Institute


1965, 1976Mary Lou dickinson After publishing her first novel (One Day It Happens) in 2007, Mary Lou Dickinson (BLS ’65, MLS ’76), got right to work planning her second. May 2010 marked the publication of Ile d’Or. Published her first novel, One Day It Happens, in 2007, and her second book in May 2010, Ile d’Or. For full details, see article on page 7.

1975susan MurraySusan M. Murray was appointed Head of the Life Sciences Library at McGill University in Montreal in August 2009. From 1992 to 2009, she was Manager of the Consumer Health Information Service based at the Toronto Public Library. Murray has spoken and written extensively on consumer health and is the author of a chapter on health literacy in the MLA Guide to Health Literacy at the Library. She lives near the foot of Mont-Royal in beautiful Montreal with her husband John and frisky cairn terrier, Tam. She keeps in touch with many of her library school classmates, but would love to hear from others at susan. [email protected]

1982sandy Finlayson Greetings from Philadelphia! I graduated with an MLS in 1982 and since then have worked at the University of Saskatchewan Library from 1982-1991, was Library Director at Tyndale University College and Seminary in Toronto from 1991-2002, and moved to Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia in 2002, where I am currently Library Director and Professor of Theological Bibliography. I have recently published my first book within in the UK, Unity and Diversity the Founders of the Free Church of Scotland (Christian Focus Publications, 2010: ISBN: 13: 9781845505509) which exam-ines the lives of ten key figures in the 19th-Century Free Church, beginning with Thomas Chalmers. My wife, Linda, and I have one son.

1989susan (davey) Barclay I am very excited to announce that my short story, “A Bonny Blue Christmas,” appears in the Christmas-themed anthol-ogy, On A Cold Winter’s Night (Highland Press, 2009: ISBN: 098424994X). The story is about a self-satisfied restaurant owner who unexpectedly falls in love, only to discover hidden secrets about her new partner, which throw into question her

ability to recover, trust, and truly love again. This is the second short story I’ve had published: “A Ray for Mary Jo” appeared in the anthology, No Law Against Love (Highland Press, 2006). Colleagues may visit my website at www.susan-barclay.ca. Regarding my librarianship, I am now, I am now working part-time at Waterloo Public Library, which serves a population of 117,000 people through its three branches.

1996 George Jacob Museum Studies alumnus George Jacob is heading Khalsa Heritage Centre, India’s

largest museum complex in the making, designed by world-renowned Canadian architect Moshe Safdie (known for his design of the National Gallery of Canada, and Yad vashem in Israel, among others). The spectacular 650,000 sq. ft. build-ing is situated in the Himalayan foothills on a 100-acre com-plex. The exhibit experience

at this facility is unique in the museum world and celebrates a 500-year-old living tradition of Sikhs. Present in large numbers in Canada, Sikhs live in BC, Ontario, and elsewhere.

1997Ted TjadenTed Tjaden (MISt 1997) used the $3,000 he was awarded for the 2010 Denis Marshall Memorial Award for Excellence in Law Librarianship to attend and present papers on legal re-search and knowledge manage-ment at the annual conference of the Canadian Association of Law Libraries. Mr. Tjaden was an Adjunct Professor at the

Faculty of Information from 1998 to 2004, when he taught Legal Literature and Librarian-ship. Now, alongside practicing law, he is the National Director of Knowledge Management at McMillan law firm where he provides research and infor-mation services to the firm’s lawyers and clients.

class Notes

Sandy Finlayson ted tjadengeorge Jacob

1. mary lou Dickinson, Ile d’Or

2. Susan murray, MLA Guide to Health Literacy at the Library

3. Sandy Finlayson, Unity and Diversity. The Founders of the Free Church of Scotland

4. Susan (Davey) Barclay, A Bonny Blue Christmas appears in On a Cold Winter’s Night

ALUMNI BOOKS


2000Gillian clintonMy information business, Clinton Research (www.clintonresearch.ca), has taken me in unexpected directions over the past couple of decades. I’ve researched refrigerated foods, green roofs for transit terminals, compara-tive statistics on violent crime, and many other esoteric topics. I’ve also worked in academic and corporate libraries where I’ve honed my reference skills, taught information literacy, catalogued multimedia works, initiated document control sys-tems, and become an expert at proposal writing. In my “copious spare time” I love to dine out with friends, read, and travel: I have just returned from Iceland; next up are Ottawa and vancouver.

2006Alison stirlingOn my graduation day, I joined the iSchool Alumni Association executive, three library as-sociations, and returned to my non-profit organization, Health Nexus, in a new role as Knowl-edge Developer, responsible for health promotion knowledge resources, products, and infor-mation management systems. My project management and research contracts with the Canadian Best Practices Portal have led to a new half-time interchange position with Health Canada for two years to manage the national portal. At home, my spouse and I enjoy our cozy cottage, two cats, bicycling, good food, guests, and travel. Contact me at [email protected].

2008 Luanne Freund Luanne Freund (PhD, Infor-mation Studies, ’08) happily received the ProQuest Doctoral Dissertation 2009 Award. Her dissertation, “Exploiting Task-Document Relations in Support of Information Retrieval in the Workplace” was cited as “an elegant example of the integra-tion of information behavior and interactive information retrieval research to design a system that is seated in human behavior, and influenced by the real-world context.” Luanne’s dissertation committee included Elaine Toms and Brian Cantwell Smith as co-supervisors, and members Prof. Chun Wei Choo and Mark Chignell. She is now an Assistant Professor at the School of Library, Archival and Information Studies (SLAIS), University of British Columbia.

christina Hwang Since the fall of 2009, Christina has been an Instruction Librar-ian and Biological Sciences Liai-son at the University of Alberta. She is responsible for instruc-tional initiatives and develop-ment, provides expertise in the use of technology, and liaises with the Biological Sciences department. In her liaison role, she provides instruction and reference services and develops

collections for the BioSci de-partment. On the research and professional development front, she is currently spearheading a research project revolving around the next generation’s use of mobiles and mobile learning with faculty members on campus, and is currently the vice-President and incom-ing President of the Greater Edmonton’s Library Association (GELA). Upon relocation, Chris-tina has been enjoying skate-boarding summer-long in sunny cool “cottage country weather” in Alberta, and exploring new ways to engage young people in the community. If you would like to get in touch with her, feel free to drop her a line at [email protected].

dr. Herman A. van den Berg After graduating from the PhD program, Dr. Herman A. van den Berg took up a position as an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Business Adminis-tration in Lakehead University, Orillia. More recently, Dr. van den Berg’s doctoral dissertation (supervised by Professor Chun Wei Choo), “Knowledge-Based vertical Integration: The Nature of Knowledge and Economic Firm Boundary Location,” was recognized with the 2009 Emer-ald/EFMD Outstanding Doctoral Research Award in the Knowl-edge Management category. His prize earns him a Highly Com-mended Award certificate.

2009 Meghan EcclestoneI recently finished up a year-long contract at York University, and have taken on a new position

at the University of Ottawa as a Management Librarian. Although it was hard to leave Toronto behind, I’m having a fabulous time in our nation’s capital. My boyfriend and I are looking forward to some weekend retreats throughout Quebec and Eastern Ontario. I’ve recently signed up for a librarian knitting club in Ottawa, though meetings are held at a pub, so I’m not sure how much I’ll actually learn about knitting. Feel free to visit me at my blog, www.meghanecclestone.com

Adam Fiser The year 2009 was a busy one for Dr. Adam Fiser. In October he successfully defended his PhD dissertation, “The K-Net Broadband Governance Model: How Social Enterprise Inte-grated Public, For-Profit, and Not-for-Profit Institutions to Enable Broadband Commu-nity Networking in Canadian Aboriginal High Cost Serving Areas (circa 1997 to 2007).” Dr. Fiser also co-taught the first year of FI’s INF1001 with Prof. Andrew Clement, and assisted the Federal Department of In-dian Affairs on an internal study of its First Nations SchoolNet program. Following up on his success, Dr. Fiser began a SSHRC post-doctoral fellowship in July 2010. He is working with Dr. Catherine Middleton at the Rogers School of Information Technology Management, Ryer-son University. In this capac-ity he will be researching the influence of socio-economic and political factors in next genera-tion networks.

gillian clinton alison Stirling luanne Freund

christina hwang Dr. herman a. van den Berg meghan ecclestone adam Fiser


Bruce HarphamSince graduating in 2009, Bruce Harpham has been a volunteer librarian for the AskON service of Knowledge Ontario, served as a Treasurer of the Faculty of Information Alumni Association, and completed several informa-tion management consulting projects. This year, he presented at the Canadian Library Associa-tion conference in Edmonton on the topic of Net Neutrality. He is continuing to seek out an ap-propriate full time position.

rhonda McEwenRhonda McEwen successfully defended her PhD dissertation, “A World More Intimate: Explor-ing the Role of Mobile Phones in Maintaining and Extending Social Networks,” in October 2009. The examination commit-tee included Prof. David Phillips, Barry Wellman, Rich Ling, and Prof. Nadia Caidi. In 2010, Dr. McEwen joined the iSchool as an Assistant Professor and is teaching a workshop on Information Practice in virtual Worlds: Exploring Mediation in the Information Environment. She is also collaborating with Beverley Junior Public School in Toronto to research the ef-fectiveness of using iPod Touch devices to facilitate communica-tion and peer interaction among non-verbal autistic children. And she and Prof. Nadia Caidi are partnering with Wind Mobile on a study of newcomer informa-tion-seeking practices regarding mobile services in Toronto.

2010Thomas BerryAfter I finished full-time stud-ies at the iSchool, I switched into full-time job search mode, and happily landed a position! I currently have two part-time contracts, one with Toronto Pub-lic Library as a Public Services

Librarian, and another with Scholars Portal OCUL, where I work as a User Support and Instructional Librarian. It’s nice to have a foot in both academic and public libraries, as both are very different. Looking to the future, I want to begin a career in the academic world, either with a college or university. Feel free to visit my blog at: www.thomasberry.ca

sambhavi chandrashekar Under the academic supervision of Professors Nadia Caidi and Stephen Hockema, doctoral stu-dent Sambhavi Chandrashekar successfully defended her thesis, “Is Hearing Believing? Perception of Online Informa-tion Credibility by Screen Reader Users Who are Blind or visually Impaired.” In addition, Dr. Chan-drashekar was awarded the MITACS Elevate Industrial Fel-lowship valued at $70,000 annu-ally. Her post-doctoral project, under the academic supervision of Prof. Nadia Caidi, will provide a research framework that informs and supports the busi-ness goals of Comimi Research Inc., Toronto, in the design and development of effective navi-gational aids for individuals with vision impairments.

Laura Hallman Shortly after graduation, I ac-cepted a full-time contract at the head office of United Church of Canada Archives, in Etobicoke. I am enjoying my time there, and hope that my contract will be extended. I am learning a lot and

applying what I learned while a student at the iSchool. Aside from work, I’ve been spending time at my family cottage in Montreal, and enjoying the many things that Toronto has to offer! I also took month-long trip to Australia just before graduation as a birthday/graduation/vaca-tion/pre-employment present.

Erika Heesen I’m now working as the Archivist Intern for the Leeds & 1000 Islands Historical Society, cour-tesy of a grant from the 1000 Is-lands Community Development Corporation. I’ll be organizing and managing the amalgama-tion, relocation, and reorganiza-tion of the combined archives of the Leeds and the 1000 Islands Historical Society and the Leeds and the Thousand Islands Municipal Heritage Committee. I’m also continuing to make jewellery, which can be viewed at www.heesenjewellery.com.

Jessica rovito Jessica began working as a part-time librarian with the Toronto Public Library’s York Woods Branch in May 2010. She loves her new job and looks forward to a long career in public libraries. Jessica’s first professional article was published in August 2010 in the CLA’s Feliciter magazine. You can catch up with her online at a novelprofessional.blogspot.com or at [email protected].

Kim stymest Life has been great since gradu-ation! The job search continues,

but in the meantime I have con-tinued my student summer em-ployment: creating a research guide for Rotman’s Business Information Centre, working at Robarts, and a couple of really fun short-term contracts in market research. I co-presented a poster in June at the CLA Conference in Edmonton (the furthest west I’ve ever been!) and that was really exciting. I have also been happily sporting my new FIAA alumni pin. If you would like to get in touch with me, email me at [email protected]. And you can check out my blog at www.kimstymest.com.

Leslie ThomsonI’m happy to report that on April 22, 2010, I successfully defended my Master of Information thesis, “Information in the Home Office: An Ethnographic Study of Space, Content, Management, and Use,” which was supervised by Professor Jenna Hartel. Since graduation, I have been kicking back and enjoying the summer. I’m still searching for a job, but in the meantime, presented a poster at the ACA conference in Halifax this past June, visited a friend in Ottawa, and took ad-vantage of all that there is to do in and around Toronto and at my Minden cottage with family and friends. I have been working on some articles for eventual co- publication with Prof. Hartel and gearing up to (hopefully!) publish my MISt thesis within the com-ing months. I’m looking forward to more traveling and relaxing, and to jumping into my first job.

class Notes

Bruce harpham

laura hallman erika heesen Jessica rovito Kim Stymest leslie thomson

rhonda mcewen thomas Berry Sambhavi chandrashekar


Donor Appreciation

President’s Circle MemberThe President’s Circle is the Leadership Annual Giving Society for the University of Toronto. The giving level of $1,827 is historically relevant as it reflects the year, 1827, in which the University of Toronto was granted its Royal Charter.

Samer nazmi abdulhadi ivan antoniuk mavis o. Cariou ruth W. Corner Lynne C. Howarth d. Jean orpwood Dean’s Circle Member($1,826-$1,000)ontario Library association Patricia fleming Faculty Patron($999-$500)Lenora G. aedy Judy dunn ian r. dutton Greta Golick r. Brian Land Brian Pyke robert e. renaud dorothy Shoichet annette Verschuren Karen a. Wierucki nancy J. Williamson Friend of the Faculty($499-$250)alan d. Husdal rita irwin murray and marvelle Koffler Kenneth f. Ladd Lori P. mcLeod Casian moscovici m. Lynn e. Poth Susan B. Potter muriel Stacey Kimberly rose Wachta Faculty Supporter(upto$249)HSm LLP ilka anna abbott Stanley algoo Sandra e. allan margot L. P. allingham Sandra alston Gloria anderson

John m. arndt B. Lynn austin Glenys e. Babcock B. irene Bardossy Patricia Bartlett-richards John robert Beard Lyn e. Beattie Barbara Jane Becksted Patricia L. Belier Judith a. Benninger Sandra m. Black david r. and molly Bloom marie Boehm mary Bond Glenn J. Bonnetta ilze Bregzis ritvars Bregzis margaret a. Brennan Claire Broderick Sharona Brookman Sophie rebecca Brookover norma f. Brown Judith C. Brown June Brown Cheryl C. Buchwald nadia Caidi Barbara Canning ryan and Kathy Carpenter Jennifer Carter Jean e. Cawkwell Judith a. Chamberland Bruce Chan Catherine r. Charlton Yocom Beverly a. Chataway Chun Wei Choo Gail Joanne Clark andrew H. Clement Gillian ruth Clinton Helen a. Coffey Kristen Collins-aiello owen a. Cooke Lindsay Coolidge Jane Cooney roberta d.C. Corey Laura H. Cowie Joe and Cassandra Cox S. merridy Bradley Judith a. Curry rita J. davidchuk f. e. davidson-arnott Linda J. e. davis Judith a. douglas anne drake James B. drake Sophia o. duda Wendy duff Sheri federman

earle C. ferguson Barbara J. finlay Sybil a. G. finlay Bayla fishman marguerite G. ford flora H. francis Pamela m. frick alan Galey Lynne Gibbon Patricia m. Giesler eleanor B. Gilbert Louis m. and Sharon r. Goelman marvin a. and Helen Goldberg annette Y. Goldsmith rumi Y. Graham Patricia m. Gregory Bey L. Grieve edith e. Gvora dianne e. Haist marjorie J. Hale marianne Hamilton mary e. Harris olga K. Heisler marilyn J. Hernandez Jill t. Hertzman Peggy W. Ho david William Hook richard Hopkins Keiko Horton Bede m. J. Hubbard Kimberly a. Huntley Sharilyn J. ingram Barbara e. irwin Judith a. e. Jackson margaret J. Johnson Susan Johnston rebecca J. Jones ann e. Keller John m. and elizabeth a. Kerr Susannah d. Ketchum donald W. Kilpatrick Heather r. V. Kilpatrick marg King mary a. King ivars o. Kops frances o. Krayewski Susan agota Kun Gina L. La force elizabeth m. Learmouth Helen d. Lee donna m. Leeder Val K Lem toby ferne Levinson Cole thomas Kim Kwong Li roselyn C. Lilleniit Janice m. Long doris H. Low

mary Low magdalen Lukacs Kelly Lyons Clare-marie Lyons alan macdonald Karin P. manley Krystyna manowiec estelle i. marshall Joan fenella mcCatty ann mcConnell anne e. mcGaughey elizabeth a. and donald mcKibbin Katherine d. mcKinnon Jacqueline mcLeish Stapleton Lynn W. mcLeod marjorie a. mcLeod michele melady Karen melville Susan mickalow Victoria e. milnes ann morrison Shelley J. mortensen C. Lori moser Catherine J. moulder donald G. mutch Barbara J. myrvold Kaja L. narveson Laura L. nauman deborah a. nicholas Kathleen o’Brien Jennifer Jane osther amy J. Paget isabel Pankhurst andre W. Paradis edward H. Parkins n. Passi flora e. Patterson Cecilia L. Peterson Jercy Phone rachel C. Pitch isabel f. Pitfield Joanna B. Prager Paula m. J. Preuthun ruth rae Vaike rannu Victor Blas reano elizabeth ann reid robert B richards Sandra J. richardson ann Kristin rockley elspeth ross Seamus ross Wendy B. ross Linda S. rossman m. Louise rutherford marie V. Scheffel mary e. Schober

Lorraine m. Scott muriel a. Scott Cynthia ann Self Hannah Shane Haley rebecca Shanoff Janet Sherman Cyrele Shoub elaine Simpson nalini Singh Joan margaret Smith esther and Sheldon Spring doris a. Standing Susan and Wilf Steinberg alison Stirling Sara J. Street aleksandra Sudmalis marcia Sweet nigel J. tappin Karen ann tarbox annabelle taylor Jane taylor raymond tse marianne Vespry Karl Heinz Wahl Penny e. Watson marlene d. Wehrle Jean Weihs John Willinsky ian Wilson Karen ann Wilson Lena r. Winesanker naomi Zacks Shirley a. Zaky Gaye Zubatoff-Lefebvre

Whenplanningyourestate,pleaserememberthatyoucansupporttheFacultythroughabequestorotherfuturegifttotheUniversityofToronto.FriendsandalumniwhoconfirmsuchagiftareinvitedtojointheKing’sCollegeCircleHeritageSociety.Formoreinformation,pleasecontactKathleenO’[email protected].

Everyefforthasbeenmadetoensuretheproperrecognitionofeachdonor.Thelistingsincludenewcommitments(orpledges)receivedbetweenJuly2,2009toJuly1,2010.Ifyouhaveanyquestions,pleasecallKathleen.

We gratefully acknowledge the alumni, friends, faculty, staff, foundations, and corporations listed below that have generously donated to the Faculty of Information, as well as those who wish to remain anonymous. You have a special relationship with us and we appreciate your devotion to advancing education, to supporting our students, and to strengthening the practices and communities of Information and Museum Studies.

Stay Connected OnlineJoin our online groups to get news and stay in touch with fellow graduates:

www.facebook.ca www.twitter.com“UTiSchoolAlumni”

www.linkedin.com


In Memoriam

rebecca Jane Abitbol (MLS ’96)

Peggy Pepper Anderson (BLS ’47)Passed away October 5, 2009, peacefully at Oak Bay Lodge, victoria, BC.

Patricia (Pat) Anne Berry (née Walsh) (BLS ’46)Passed away October 6, 2009, at Scarborough General Hospital in her 93rd year. Educated in Toronto Catholic Schools, St. Michael’s College, U. of T. and The School of Library Science, University of Toronto. Ms. Berry served overseas in World War II as Petty Officer Librarian. She also worked in public libraries in Canada and the United States and ended her career as a storyteller in Metro Toronto Catholic Schools. Henry c. (“Harry”) campbell (BLS ’41) Passed away on July 31, 2009. Following his graduation from the University of Toronto, Mr. Campbell was employed at the National Film Board and with the United Nations Archives. He completed an MA in Adult Education from Columbia University in 1949. Harry was appointed Chief Librarian, Toronto Public Library, in 1956, and retired from that position in 1978, remaining on as a consultant for three years. He joined the CLA in 1964 and served as its President in 1973-1974. He was active in the library community in Canada and internationally right up to the time of his death. A strong supporter

of IFLA’s work, he felt the Federation, as an international non-governmental body, had an important role to play in supporting library development in post-colonial and emerging nations. He was also active in UNESCO endeavours. Harry was predeceased by his wife Sylvia Woodsworth Campbell and his son Robin.

rita Etherington (BLS ’51)

douglas Mason Fisher (BLS ’50) Died peacefully in Ottawa, on the eve of his 90th birthday. Douglas was born and raised in Sioux Lookout, Ontario. Doug returned to northern Ontario (Thunder Bay) to set up a forestry research library and to teach high school history at Port Arthur Collegiate Institute. He came to national attention in 1957 after defeating Liberal minister C.D. Howe, and represented Port Arthur and Thunder Bay for the CCF/NDP from 1957 to 1965. He became a political commentator, co-authored Canada’s Sporting Heroes, wrote a nationally-syndicated newspaper column for the next 44 years, and hosted a weekly political television show in Ottawa. He is survived by his former wife, Barbara, their five proud sons, and six grandchildren.

M.A. (Muriel Armstrong) Flower (BLS ’69, MLS ’75)Died September 8, 2009 at her home in Kingston, Ontario. Ms. Flower was born November 1, 1916 in Connecticut with

family connections in both Nova Scotia and Palmyra, Ontario. Her curiosity and creative essence, buoyed by her love of books, guided countless adventures that spanned more than nine decades. Her innovative 1987 report, Libraries Without Walls, remains useful today as a snapshot and future roadmap for Canadian health libraries. A raconteur par excellence, Ms. Flower’s poems and stories vividly chronicle her travels and life experiences. Predeceased by husband George, she is survived by her daughter, her grandson and his wife, her granddaughter and her partner, plus three delightful great-grandchildren.

John Fodi (MLS ’90)

Hazel Grimsey (BLS ’38)

Burdetta (Peggy) Hains (BLS ’41)Peacefully passed away January 22, 2010. Born November 7, 1918 in Woodstock, N.B., Ms. Hains was a proud graduate of the University of New Brunswick (‘40) and the University of Toronto (Bachelor of Library Science). Peggy enjoyed a rich and varied life. Upon completing her studies, she volunteered for the navy and was stationed in Halifax and then Esquimalt, BC. She taught at the Hamilton Teachers College and then worked with a dedicated group to develop the Oakville Library system. Her team established the new West Oakville-Woodside Library. A work-life balance was struck by her interest in gardening, landscaping, and theatre. She also embraced the rigors and pleasures of rural life and was an enthusiastic farm owner near Shelburne, Ontario. Ms. Hains was pre-deceased by her beloved husband, Donald. Her spirit lives on in her three children and grandchildren.

Norma Hawkins (BLS ’56)

Margaret Hastings (BLS ’54)

Lorna irwin (BLS ’51)

Marjorie Kennedy (BLS ’40)Peacefully, on Tuesday, June 15, 2010, at Kingston General Hospital, in her 94th year. Born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Marjorie received her BA from Queen‘s University in 1939 and subsequently earned a Bachelor of Library Science from the University of Toronto. She worked for twenty-five years in the federal civil service, retiring as Chief Librarian from the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources in 1968 when she moved to Kingston to marry. Beloved wife of Russell Kennedy, step-mother of four children, grandmother and great-grandmother.

Joan Lampel (BA ’42, BLS ’49)Passed away March 12, 2010. Born December 10, 1920. Graduated from the University of Toronto Library School in 1949.

Moira Lynch (MLS ’64)

Alan Macdonald (BLS ’64)

Katharine Jean Martyn (née Leemann) (BLS ’61)Peacefully passed away on January 28, 2010. Katharine was a librarian at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, University of Toronto, for 36 years. Beloved wife of Bill Martyn for 48 years.

Mary Kathleen Mccaskill (née Armstrong) (BLS ’41)Died peacefully on February 22, 2010, in Edmonton, Alberta. Born in vancouver on March 24, 1916, Kay went on to receive degrees at UBC, U of T, and Western. Following service in the RCAF, she married Jack McCaskill, and raised four children in several communities across Western Canadian and in Libya. She played an active role in each community, as a founder of Oil Wives, an actor in little theatre, a school trustee, a Welcome

The Faculty of Information pays tribute to the following graduates who passed away between July 2, 2009 and July 1, 2010. We offer our most heartfelt sympathies to their families. The majority of these notices are excerpted from the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star, as researched by Professor Emerita Nancy Williamson (BLS ’50, MLS ’64) and Professor Emerita Margaret Cockshutt (BLS ’49, MLS ’64).


Wagon representative, a member of the United Church, a teacher of English as a second language, and a charity fundraiser. Kay was devoted to her family and will be lovingly remembered.

Jane McElhean (née Munro) (BLS ’40)Passed away December 12, 2009 at her home in Potsdam, NY. Jane was born in Cleveland, Ohio on October 22, 1917. She attended the University of Toronto, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Arts and History in 1939, and a Bachelor’s degree in Library Science in 1940. Mrs. McElheran began her professional career in 1940 as a young people’s librarian in ClevelandIn 1947 she moved to Potsdam with her husband, and began a 35-year career at the Congdon Campus School. She was awarded with Honorary Lifetime Membership in the SUNY Potsdam Alumni Association in 1988. Predeceased by her husband N. Brock McElheran, internationally renowned choral conductor at the Crane School of Music. Mrs. McElheran is survived by two

nieces, and great-nieces and nephews.

Kristen Jane McKnight (MISt ’01)Passed away September 22, 2009. She is survived by her adored husband, Peter Turner, of Hamilton, ON; her parents, Rick and Nancy McKnight, Barrie, ON; her brother and her nephew and niece.

clara G. Miller (BLS ’44, MLS ’71)Passed away January 10, 2010. Born St. John’s Newfoundland, Clara established the Imperial Oil Library in 1947, and contributed greatly to the profession before retiring in 1973. For her contributions, she received the FI Alumni Association Jubilee Award, the FLIS Distinguished Graduates Award (1989), and U of T Arbor Award. Clara was also an instructor for a Special Libraries course at the University of Toronto Library School from 1951 to 1972. Any contributions in her memory can be made to the Emergency Student Bursary Fund.

June Munro (Dip. Lib ’43, BLS ’62, MLS ’72)Passed away May 15, 2010.

Prior to starting a career in St. Catharines, June was Chief of the then-newly-established Public Relations Division of the National Library of Canada. Her library career had begun at the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library in 1938, and from there she moved to London, Ajax, and Leaside Public Libraries. She was with the Canadian Library Association in Ottawa from 1959 to1961. From 1961to 1970, June was Supervisor of Extension Service, Ontario Provincial Library Service, and editor of the Ontario Library Review. She became Director of Library Services at the St. Catharines Public Library in 1973 and was instrumental in the building of the new library. She retired in 1982. June was the recipient of several awards including Librarian of the Year and St. Catharines YWCA Women of Distinction Award in 1968.

Mrs. Katalin Nagy (BLS ’67)

silvia Prii (née Kikas) (BLS ’52)Passed away March 15th, 2010. Born in valga, Estonia on October 30, 1924, Silvia was an avid scholar and graduated from the University

of Stockholm in General Arts. She met her lifelong love, Uno Prii, on the ski slopes of Sweden; they married in 1946 in Stockholm. They immigrated to Canada in 1950, settling in Toronto where she immediately obtained her degree in Librarianship from the University of Toronto in 1952. She began her career working for the Toronto Public Library system and was a fine arts specialist who was recognized as a valued professional in her field. Silvia is survived by their adopted children.

Beverly sutton (BLS ’50)

W. Wray roulston (BLS ’70)

sheila swanson (BLS ’64) Passed away April 11, 2010. “Mrs. S” was for many years the librarian of The Academy of Medicine, Toronto. She was the wife of the late Dr. J. Norrie Swanson, the mother of five children, and a beloved grandmother and great-grandmother.

Compiled and edited by Jeannie An ‘99

LiBrAry coMMuNiTy MourNs Loss oF ALAN MAcdoNALd ’64Alan Macdonald (BLS 1964), Librarian Emeritus at the University of Calgary and one of our alumni, passed away in January of this year. A highly respected and much loved father, he was also a husband, friend, colleague and mentor.

“Alan was one of our most distinguished graduates and he will be sorely missed by the library community in Canada. He made tremendous inroads and contributions as President of CLA and by advancing the profession of academic research librarianship,” says Prof. seamus ross, Dean of the Faculty of Information. “Until last May, when I had the privilege to speak at Calgary, I was only familiar with Alan by reputation. On that occasion he took time to share some of his insights and wisdom with me; and the ideas he expressed have come to resonant in some of my own.”

Mr. MacDonald continued his connection to the Faculty as presenter of the Bertha Bassam Lecture in Librarianship in 1994,

speaking about the future of libraries, and was the Faculty’s Jubilee Award winner in 1999. Colleagues remember him fondly.

“Alan was a co-founder of The Alberta Library and the Northern Exposure to Leadership Institute, among many leader-ship roles. It was a role in which he excelled; indeed, he was a mentor to a couple of generations of Canadian librarians,” says Wendy Newman, Senior Fellow, Faculty of Information.

Born in Ottawa but raised in Halifax, son of the Honorable Mr. Justice vincent C. MacDonald, Q.C., and Hilda MacDon-ald, he earned a Bachelor of Arts from Dalhousie University and a Bachelor of Library Science from this Faculty. He began his library career at Dalhousie in 1964, moving to become the University of Calgary’s Director of Libraries in 1979 and its Director of Information Services in 1992. He held additional posts and received many national and international awards.

He was often most widely recognized by Calgarians as the University Orator who presented 127 honorary degrees at convo-cations from 1989 to 2002. In retirement he combined a lifelong passion for aviation with volunteer contributions to the libraries of the Calgary Aerospace Museum and the Military Museums; in his encyclopaedic knowledge, film had a special place.

A Celebration of Alan’s Life was held on February 19,2010, and a tree was planted at Fish Creek Provincial Park in his memory.


Alumni Spring Reunion

Anne Bailey ‘75 Ilze Bregzis ‘60 , Mary Williamson ‘60, Sheila Laidlaw ‘60, Joan Winearls ‘60

Barbara Slawek-Matyszezvk ‘85

Kim Stymest ‘10, Jacqueline Whyte Appleby ‘10, Patricia Ayala ‘10

Ken Setterington ’82, Murray Coultes

Peter Rogers ‘69, ‘74, Prof. Wendy Duff, Judy Dunn

May Yan ‘10, Elysia Guzik ‘10

Kate Johnson ‘10, Susan Li ‘10, Mark Bold ‘09, Christina Kim ‘10

Marianne Brett ‘40, Dr. Jeff Wilson

Candice Fry ‘10, Bryan Shannon ‘10, Robert Keshen ‘10, Marie-Lyne Bergeron ‘10, Ericka Brosseau ‘10

Joan Winearls ‘60 Barbara Slawek-Matyszezvk ‘85, Alison Stirling ‘06

Karen Wierucki ‘80, Nancy Williamson ‘50, ‘64, Kim Silk ‘98, Bonnie Horne ‘75

Laura Hallman ‘10, Leslie Thomson ‘10

Claire Lysnes ‘04, Kathy Flanagan ‘89, Heather Wilson ‘89, Shelley McBride ‘90


Student Award Winners

This spring, alumna Jean orpwood (BLS ‘63 , MLS ‘71), presented the first “Margaret Canning Public Librarianship Prize” to graduating student, Erin Anderson. The Convo-cation Prize was established by Ms. Orpwood in memory of her dear friend and fellow alumnna, Margaret canning (BLS ‘65, MLS ‘73).

Professor richard Landon, Director of the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, congratulates student Bridget Whittle on receiving the Rare Books and Manuscripts Award for ranking highest in this course. Prof. Landon has decided to retire from instructing this course, which he has taught 41 times!

one conVocatIon aWarD BegInS, one enDS

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