About the Information Sciences Virtual Library
The Information Sciences Virtual Library (previously the LIS Virtual Library) serves as the library portal for graduate students, faculty, and staff at the School of Information Sciences (the iSchool) and library faculty and staff at the University Library. It originated in a revision of the website for the former Library and Information Science Library on the third floor of the Main Library, which closed in 2009 as part of the library’s New Service Models program. Since the closure of the physical library, IS library staff have provided embedded library services at the iSchool, forging a close connection to patrons that extends even to the large population of distance students. Since 2013, IS library staff can be found in the Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library when they are not at the iSchool.
Information Sciences Collections
To serve the large distance population at the iSchool as well as on campus students, faculty, and staff, materials are purchased online when possible. Most current print periodicals, print reference materials, and new books in Information Sciences can be found in the Social Sciences, Health, and Education Library. Older materials are in the Main Stacks or at the Oak Street Library. However, the multidisciplinary nature of the field means many and even most other libraries on campus hold relevant materials. Significant locations include the Communications Library; the History, Philosophy, and Newspaper Library; and Grainger Engineering Library. As part of the University Archives, the Library is also home to the American Library Association Archives. A guide has been prepared to help you explore the ALA Archives.
LIS Library History
Historical essays and posters
- D’Arpa, Christine; Moynihan, Lucy M.; and Searing, Susan E. “‘So you see that we are pioneers’: The Library and Information Science Library at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Celebrates 65 Years.”
- Stenstrom, Patricia. “The Library and Information Science Library.” In Ideals and Standards: The History of the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science, 1893-1993, edited by Walter C. Allen and Robert F. Delzell. [Urbana-Champaign, Ill. : The School], 1992.
- Searing, Susan. “The Library and Information Science Library, 1990s to 2009.”
- Searing, Susan E. (2009). The “librarian’s library” in transition from physical space to virtual place: A case study of the Library & Information Science Library at the University of Illinois, USA.
LIS Library “Retirement” Party, May 15, 2009
LIS Library Retirement Celebration Remarks
Sue Searing, Sandy Wolf, Lori Miller, Paula Kaufman, Linda Smith, Julia Derden
audio stream recorded 05/15/09