Hosted by the University of Washington Information School, the LIS Forward initiative funded by a grant from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) sought to respond to the following urgent question: As the field of library and information science (LIS) evolves “within the context of iSchools, how do we best position our research and education programs to lead the field and the future of libraries?” As the LIS Forward website describes,
“LIS Forward was launched in September of 2021 by the iSchool at the University of Washington and joined by six other iSchools: University of Arizona, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Maryland, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Syracuse University, and University of Texas at Austin. A working group of faculty produced a position paper, ‘Ensuring a Vibrant Future for LIS in iSchools: The Friday Harbor Papers, Volume 1,’ that aims to be a foundation for ongoing deliberation, action, and expansion of the coalition.”
In 2024, with funding from IMLS, the LIS Forward initiative sought responses from library leaders inside and outside of iSchools to comment on the Volume 1 publication. I feel very honored that I was asked to participate in this initiative while I was leading the Digital Equity Research Center (DERC) at the Metropolitan New York Library Council. My colleague at the DERC, Becca Quon and I co-authored the following paper as a response to excellent insights and recommendations for how to advance the field of LIS, titled “Embracing LIS Values in Digital Equity Initiatives.”
In the paper, we highlighted three examples of community-engaged scholarship that we believe represent the incredible possibility when LIS researchers and community partners outside the academy come together to work for social change. As we described in our introduction,
“In this brief response, we highlight three digital equity initiatives led by LIS scholars in iSchools across the U.S. and then draw from our own experience leading the Digital Equity Research Center at the Metropolitan New York Library Council to highlight impactful applications of LIS values both within and outside of iSchools. By doing so, we hope to show how LIS programs can remain central to iSchools, the communities they serve, and our society into the future. We close by suggesting one area we believe iSchools should further embrace that reflects LIS values: integrating the knowledge and expertise of communities we serve into research and practice at LIS institutions through community-based and participatory research initiatives.”
We hope that our brief contribution to this comprehensive and timely initiative offers additional insights to show our country, and more specifically those outside of higher education, the importance and value of our research institutions when they listen to and partner with those who can benefit most from the resources, assets, and knowledge that we have to share with the public–particularly during this time of increasing attacks on public higher education institutions.