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Geographies of Information: 100 years of Information Studies at UCL
2019 – 2020 marks the centenary of UCL Department of Information Studies. To celebrate the creation of the first School of Librarianship in the UK, the Curator Dr Alda Terracciano collaborated with students and members of staff to explore the history of the department and the role that teaching has played in the creation of an international, professional workforce over the past decades. Starting as the first British School of Librarianship in 1919, the department paved the way for other Higher Education institutions in Britain, leading training programmes for information professionals in an expanding job market. The success helped establishing its worldwide reputation, promoting professional standards that influenced information management practices worldwide through an international cohort of students.
In the spring 2020 the students involved in the project delivered a series of oral history interviews with alumni and former staff members to investigate key issues faced by information professionals in their jobs, including ethics of public engagement, development of digital humanities and artificial intelligence to mention just a few. These areas of critical enquiry will be situated alongside a selection of objects retrieved from UCL Special Collection and immersed in original sound compositions inspired by archive material, to create an interactive digital exhibition linking the past, present and future of information studies globally.
We plan to open the exhibition in November 2020, so please check this space for more information. Meanwhile you are invited to explore a number of fascinating topics covered in the interviews podcasts that we will progressively make available here, and to add your contribution to the creation of this digital space by sending your memories of UCL to f.santos@ucl.ac.uk.
Geographies of Information: interviews podcasts
Podcast interview soon to be available via UCL podcasts
What do records and recordkeeping do for us?
Jess Conway’s interview with Chloe Anderson conducted on 9th March 2020 over Skype, with Jess in London and Chloe in the Falklands.
Other DIS Centenary news and events can be seen here.