TIMELINESThe information school phenomenon

ABSTRACT

Gary Olson recently moved to UCI from the University of Michigan, where as faculty member and acting dean, he participated in the formation of its influential School of Information, described in this article. I have helped track down historical information on other influential iSchools. We may be witnessing the birth of a new star in the academic firmament---its growth, so far only a little slower than a supernova, may be tested by the economic collapse, but could accelerate with a recovery.---Jonathan Grudin

REFERENCES

• 1: Some universities apply the terms school and college to somewhat different organizational entities, but we follow the convention used by most, whereby they are essentially equivalent.
• 2: We call this a "proto-school" because while it was a department, not a school, it was not part of any other school, and reported to the vice chancellor.
• 3: The quotation is from T. Didomenico, "Three Decades as an Information Leader," Home Page 7, no. 1 (2004). <http://ischool.syr.edu/news-room/newsletters/ISTSummer2004.pdf>. Interpreting the word "information" in a title is complicated by the use of "information systems" as a synonym for computer hardware and software systems in the management field. We consider "information systems" to be a tightly defining term, not an expansive term, so do not include it as a variant of information. In contrast, "Informatics" as used at Indiana has a social, multidisciplinary focus. Our incomplete canvas found an M.S. in information science at Drexel in 1963, thus far the earliest iDegree of which we are aware.
• 4: Ostler, L.J., T.C. Dahlin, and J.D. Willardson. The Closing of American Library Schools: Problems and Opportunities. Westport, CT.: Greenwood Press, 1995.
• 5: Cronin, B. "An Identity crisis? The information schools movement." International Journal of Information Management, 25 (2005): 363--365.
• 6: This history draws on a November 26, 2008 personal communication from John King and on Ron Larsen: "The iSchools." In The Encyclopedia of Library and Information Science. Edited by M. Bates, London: Taylor & Francis, in press.
• 7: Stokes, D.E, Pasteur's Quadrant: Basic Science and Technological Innovation. Washington D.C.: Brookings Institute Press, 1997. Stokes criticizes the traditional linear model of the relationship between basic and applied research, and instead we should conceptualize these as two independent dimensions. To him, Pasteur represents an instance of being high on both the search for fundamental knowledge (basic) and the solving of practical problems (applied). In other words, these two dimensions are not in conflict.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.3 COMPUTERS AND EDUCATION
      K.3.1 Computer Uses in Education

Additional Classification:
  K. Computing Milieux
  K.7 THE COMPUTING PROFESSION
      K.7.1 Occupations