Information School News

We are thrilled to announce that we have attained the position of number one in the world for Library and Information Management in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2025! "We are very proud to be ranked number one in the world for Library and Information Management, for the fifth consecutive year. This is a great honour for all at the Information School, and is a testament to the outstanding teaching and world-leading research conducted in the School.  These rankings reflect our outstanding reputation established over six decades, our excellent reputation among employers, the high quality of our research publications, the large number of citations our papers attain, and of course the achievements of our students and alumni. Our ranking as Number One in the World for Library and Information Management is thanks to the dedication of all Information School staff, who both deliver and support the inspirational teaching which prepares our students so well for rewarding caree...

Congratulations to our Head of School, Prof Briony Birdi, for receiving an Honorary Fellowship from the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) - their highest accolade! Professor Birdi is a leading academic and researcher in the field of library and information science and a thought-leader in the fields of reader development and Diversity, Equality and Inclusion in libraries. Speaking about the award, she said: "I've learned so much about libraries. And from such fantastic and committed colleagues as I've met through my various committees and groups that I've been involved in in with CILIP. Being able to bring this learning into my teaching, developing new programme a new decolonizing framework all sounds very grand but actually it's just me learning from everyone else. [...] honestly, I'm just delighted. Absolutely delighted to have this. So thank you very, very much." Also awarded were Joseph Coelho and Alison Wheeler. Find ...

A very warm welcome to the Information School, the leading school of its kind in the UK, and your new academic home! We are delighted that you have chosen to join us here in Sheffield. As part of our mission to provide world-quality university education in information, we aim to inspire and help our students to pursue their highest ambitions for their academic and professional careers. This is an exciting new start for you, and I hope that you settle quickly into student life here on campus, and in the city of Sheffield. Your time here will pass so quickly, and you will be challenged in many ways, but we hope it will also be rewarding and extremely enjoyable. Your Student Handbook is full of useful information about the opportunities available to you during your time here, and the support you will find to help you to have the best possible experience.  This is an exciting time to join the school. In 2023 we were ranked Number One in the World for Library and Information Management...

Dr Briony Birdi chapter in new book: Narrative Expansions: Interpreting Decolonisation in Academic Libraries Dr Briony Birdi, Senior Lecturer at the Information School, has a chapter in a new book edited by Jess Crilly and Regina Everitt.  Narrative Expansions: Interpreting Decolonisation in Academic Libraries , published by Facet Publishing , brings together the theory and practice of an area of critical concern to the academy, this book is an important reference for academic librarians, educators and researchers in LIS, education and sociology.  Dr Birdi's chapter is in Part 2 of the book, titled The Contribution of Library and Information Science Education to Decolonising.  For more information, click here. 

Decolonising the LIS curriculum: starting the conversation Dr Briony Birdi Our Senior Lecturer in Librarianship, Dr Briony Birdi, has written a guest blog post for the New Librarians Professional Network.  Decolonisation has become a key aspect my work as an LIS [Library and Information Science] academic and as the Co-Director of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion for the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Sheffield. I hear librarians and academics talking about decolonising both universities and library collections, but I rarely hear anyone from the information professions bringing in LIS education to these conversations. This seems a little odd to me, so in this post I’m focusing on the intersection between the two, using three steps we can go through in order to find that space we need to talk through the context in which our universities and libraries are based, and to think about how others might experience the same space quite differently. Yo...

There has been talk in the professional press recently of school librarianship, and the importance of preparing future generations of librarians to work in our school libraries. There can be little doubt as to the importance of library provision in schools, but as concerns mount about the public funding for both education and libraries at large, it easy to see why this is a hot topic. At the Information School in Sheffield (as at many other library and information departments), we are committed to providing Masters level education for both those working in school libraries and wishing to move into the field after graduating. We currently offer two Masters programmes with an emphasis on librarianship: the MA Librarianship, which is delivered here in Sheffield, and the MA Library and Information Services Management which is a distance learning programme. Both of these programmes include library services for children and young people (in school and public libraries) as elective modules....

In June, the Information School welcomed visitors from the Rutgers University summer school for library and information management. The summer school involves masters students from Rutgers and other partner universities, who are based in the UK for two weeks at Wroxton College near Oxford. The students are involved in lectures and seminars during their time in the UK involving speakers from this country and other parts of Europe. The students visited Sheffield for a day and were involved in classes led by Dr Briony Birdi and Professor Stephen Pinfield. Briony led a class on public libraries and Stephen on academic libraries. There were some really excellent discussions, with students contributing based on their knowledge of good practice and the literature. Students were also given a tour of the Information Commons and the Diamond building at Sheffield as examples of library and learning environments in the UK. Thanks to Helen Dickinson,  Information Se...

At the Engaged Learning Conference 2017 , hosted by the University of Sheffield 6-7 July 2017, Senior Lecturer Dr Briony Birdi gave a paper on 'Engaged learning and the development of cultural awareness and social responsibility in students', as part of a session on 'Active citizenship and social change'. It has been argued that universities will become socially irrelevant unless they develop and maintain strong links with the local communities in which they are based, and unless their research is perceived by those communities as related to their real-world concerns. Although many of our degree programmes provide students with a set of vital tools to function effectively within an organisation in a particular field, are we failing to fully equip them with the skills they need to operate effectively within a broader public, societal context? What are these skills, and how can they be developed within a higher education degree programme? Firstly, Briony made...