Information, Library Science School to Mark 75th Year

Posted on Sept. 12, 2006

Carolina’s School of Information and Library Science invites the community to the launch of its 75th anniversary celebration next week.

“Illuminating the Past, Imagining the Future!” will be the theme of the anniversary year, starting with a free public program from 2-4 p.m. Monday, Sept. 18, in Memorial Hall.

Besides University and state officials, speakers will include Deanna Marcum, associate librarian for library services, Library of Congress; Michael Ruettgers, senior adviser and retired chair, EMC² Corp., an information management and storage company; and Robert S. Martin ’88 (PhD), who holds the Lillian Bradshaw Endowed Chair in Library Science and is a professor at Texas Woman’s University School of Library and Information Science.

A short video on the school’s history will be screened, and the Clef Hangers, the all-male a cappella group sponsored by the GAA, will perform. A reception and cake-cutting by school deans past and present will follow the program.

Louis Round Wilson, the University librarian from 1901 to 1932 and a member of the class of 1899, convinced the Carnegie Corp. to give UNC $100,000 for a library school, according to The Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, edited by William S. Powell ’40, UNC professor emeritus of history.

The school opened in 1931 with Wilson as director, a class of 37 students and five faculty members. In 1987, as the study of information use and management began to grow in importance, the faculty voted to change the program and the name of the school to include information science.

Today, with José-Marie Griffiths as dean, the school is home to 336 students and 24 faculty members and offers numerous programs and degrees. It has long been ranked the No. 1 information and library science school in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. More than 4,000 information specialists and librarians around the world have studied at the school.

To reserve a place at the ceremony, call (919) 962-8366 or by e-mail. The school’s anniversary Web site will be updated with information about other events during the yearlong celebration.

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