Geographies of Information
Celebrating 100 years of UCL Department of Information Studies
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.
More information about UCL Department of Information Studies
Timeline
The history of the development of UCL Department of Information Studies over the past 100 years is explored through a selection of archive items from UCL Special Collections and other archive repositories. To access the timeline click here.
Podcasts
Through the active engagement of current students, alumni, and former members of staff in a series of oral history interviews, the exhibition explores key issues faced by information professionals in their jobs, including ethical issues, engagement of different communities of practice, development of digital humanities and uses of artificial intelligence. These areas of critical enquiry are situated alongside a selection of archive material in the Virtual Tour section. Links to full podcasts of the interviews are available here for a more in-depth exploration of the topics.
Virtual tour
Extracts from students’ oral history interviews with alumni and former members of staff are exhibited here alongside a selection of archive material and objects retrieved from UCL Special Collections. The items are immersed in original sound compositions that mix newly recorded material with sounds from the British Library sound archive, linking the past to the present in interactive ways. We hope you will enjoy your visit and look forward to your contributions to the Open Forum.
Open Forum
Explore DIS alumni’s contributions to an interactive map highlighting the impact of DIS teaching and research on an international workforce and on society at large. If you would like to share your experience, please click here.
