Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Ch-Ch-Changes (or "Changes in Attitude, Changes in Latitude")

How do you impact your industry? We generally think about just doing our jobs, but really we should be thinking about making an impact -- not only in the place where we work, but also in a larger community. We can influence the "larger community" (however you want to define that) by writing books and articles, by speaking and giving presentations, and by teaching. Not only is it important to teach those who are already "in the field", but equally important to teach those who are the "next generation."

iSchool StudentsWhile I have been influencing my "community" through writing, speaking and project work, I have decided to do something that allows me to influence the next generation of information professionals even more. In January, I'll be joining the School of Information Studies (iSchool) at Syracuse University (SU). Some of you may know that I have been associated with SU since 2001. This year, I decided that teaching full-time would move me towards my goal of influencing the industry more, and SU decided that adding me to their faculty would be a good thing! As a Professor of Practice, I will be charged with connecting the iSchool to "the practice" (that which occurs outside of academia). That means that the things that you know me for -- writing, speaking, consulting, and committee work -- will continue. It also means that I'll be looking for ways to connect students to you (the industry) in ways that are beneficial for them and you. And -- yes -- I'll be teaching. I'll be teaching three classes a semester (spring and fall). How will I continue to write, speak and consult with that course load? Carefully! Happy Smiley

iSchool at SUIf you know nothing about the iSchool at Syracuse University, I hope that, through me, you'll learn more about it -- about the faculty, the research centers, its degree & certificates programs, and its students. The 40+ member full-time faculty includes people such as:
The full-time and adjunct faculty members are a wonderful group and I am looking forward to working more closely with all of them! (BTW the adjuncts are primarily practitioners who are bringing their practice into the classroom. One adjunct is a former FBI unit director!)

Jill Hurst-Wahl warhol-izedNow I suspect that a few students will see this blog post and wonder who is this "new" faculty member, so let me give them a few pieces of information:
  • What will I be teaching in spring 2009? IST 677 (Creating, Managing and Preserving Digital Assets), IST 626 (Business Information Resources & Strategic Intelligence) and one other course (to be named).
  • Where can you find me on campus besides the iSchool? Wherever there is good coffee. (Honest, I'm not a coffee-aholic!)
  • Where do I hang out online? Twitter, Facebook, and FriendFeed.
  • Do I "bleed orange"? Not exactly, but I do enjoy sports and listen to ESPN every day (especially Mike & Mike in the Morning).
  • Seriously, how can you learn more about me? Google.
Okay...let the happy dance commence!


10/23/2008 addendum: The iSchool's press release.

19 comments:

Steve Lawson said...

Congratulations! I think it's wonderful that you will be "Professor of Practice," and I hope that your example will influence LIS faculty everywhere.

Anonymous said...

They could not have made a wiser decision, Jill. You very personable style will create brilliant librarians of the future. The Syracuse students are very lucky.

CONGRATULATIONS. x 50.

warmaiden said...

Congratulations! This is a great step towards reconnecting the degree with actual practice. Best of luck!

Kelvin Ringold said...

Congratulations, Jill! Glad the educational community has realized that you're the gold mine we all knew you were. Wishing you much success. Self-actualization -- it does a body good :-D

Christina said...

Congrats! That seems like a really heavy course load though. Hopefully not too many new preps.

Joshua M. Neff said...

Outstanding! Good for you, Jill!

Stephen Francoeur said...

Great news. You're going to be a change agent extraordinaire!

Abigail said...

Congratulations! What a wonderful way to look at professorialship--connecting to real world. Good for you.

ali said...

Dear Jill Hurst-Wahl, I am interested in your articles and i read your posts regularly. I am librarian but i work in sound archive. because there is no Archive field in our country. I will want to write an article about the "role of archive especially audio and visual archives in broadcasting companies" and the importance of archive in broadcasting institutions. unfortunately i couldn't find any useful and good article in this subject via searching in the internet. could i ask you to introduce or send me any possible article in this subject. Thanks a lot for your help. ali2ghadimi@gmail.com

Anonymous said...

awesomesauce!

Jill Hurst-Wahl said...

Thanks to everyone for your well wishes! I know now that I'll be co-teaching "Library Planning, Marketing, and Assessment" (IST613) with Megan Oakleaf. Megan has been teaching this course for a while. Megan teaches two sections (one on campus and one online).

Jill Hurst-Wahl said...

Ali, off the top of my head, I don't know of any articles on this subject. However, I would expect that this is something that news librarians have discussed. The Special Libraries Association (SLA) has a very active news division. I would suggest contacting them and seeing if they can point you towards appropriate information. See http://www.ibiblio.org/slanews/

I do think that one powerful argument can be made for retaining audio and video, when you talk about what would be lost. Take any moment in history where there is audio and video of the event, and imagine no longer having access to those materials. Consider the impact that video has had on telling the news. Do we really want to lose that?

Now think of the news stories that are current being discussed. Imagine that you could not play older relevant news stories because you had lost them? It is doubtful that equivalent text would exist, so you would truly be losing history.

NatureWoman said...

Congratulations, Jill! I'm happy dancing for you!

Anonymous said...

Nice Post. Thanks for sharing this information with us.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! What great news.

Anonymous said...

We are lucky to have you

Meredith Farkas said...

Fantastic news, Jill! Syracuse is lucky to have you full-time. I think library schools should all have professors of practice on the faculty -- it's so important to tie LIS education to what's actually going on in the profession.

Ken Fujiuchi said...

Congrats! Just saw this article on Tame the Web.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! I am very happy for you.