University of Washington (University of Washington, The Information School)

The Information School at the University of Washington will manage a coalition of seven additional iSchools to ask the urgent question: “As Library and Information Science (LIS) evolves within the context of iSchools, how do we best position our programs to lead the field and the future of libraries?” The increasing range of expertise and interdisciplinary potential in iSchools opens exciting opportunities for library research and education. At the same time, iSchools must balance their commitments to multiple disciplines and academic programs. The purpose of this “LIS Forward” award is engagement and coalition building across iSchools and the library profession. A foundational position paper developed by a 14-member working group over the past year serves as the stimulus for conversation, debate, and deliberation. Broad input and perspectives from stakeholders will be generated through a series of in-person and virtual meetings and additional written response opportunities. The final output will be a second volume of the position paper that will serve as a catalyst and roadmap for iSchools to act on new directions in education and research in partnership with the library profession. It will highlight actions and strategies for collaborative initiatives that will broadly benefit libraries, students of librarianship, and the field of LIS.