ALISE Conference Draws 500

Prior to the American Library Association Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) attracted nearly 500 attendees to its annual conference, titled “Community Engagement: Integrating Learning, Research and Practice.” Linda Smith, professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS), University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), was elected vice president/president-elect.

Smith, along with Catherine Ross of the University of Western Ontario, won an award for Professional Contribution to Library and Information Science Education. The ALISE Service Award went to Ken Haycock, professor and director of the School of Library and Information Science, San José State University, CA. San José's faculty won the Pratt-Severn Faculty Innovation Award. Christine Jenkins of the GSLIS won the Teaching Excellence award.

Announced was the ALISE/Norman Horrocks Leadership Award, named for Norman Horrocks, professor emeritus, School of Information Management, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS. It will recognize an ALISE member of less than seven years who has demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities in professional ALISE activities. The award and $500 will be given annually starting at the 2009 ALISE conference in Denver. Horrocks, a past president of ALISE, won three of its awards; he's also an LJ contributing editor.

In her president's speech, Michèle V. Cloonan, dean and professor at GSLIS, Simmons College, Boston, reflected on how “the role of doctoral students has expanded greatly” over the decades in ALISE, which now aims to include doctoral students on as many committees as possible.