Information School News

Tuesday 4th December 2018 was the date of our annual ‘industry day’ event organised for students on the MSc Data Science programme. The event invites speakers from various sectors in industry to share their experiences with utilising machine learning, AI and data science for applications within their domain. This year speakers from 6 organisations presented at the event: · Billy Blythe, Head of Data Science, Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) · Leanne Fitzpatrick, Head of Data, Hello Soda · Lauren Rodgers, Data Scientist, and Tom Liptrot, Head of Data Science, Peak.ai · Lisa Clark, Data Scientist, Virgin Media Business (VMB) · Ben Chamberlain, Head of Machine Learning, AOS.com · Hayden Sansum, Senior Data Scientist, Ministry of Justice (MoJ) Speakers discussed various topics such as the challenges, benefits and technologies involved in utilising data-driven analytical methods; current technological trends; and what role data scie...

On the 28th of November I had the opportunity to attend the CILIP briefing on ‘Skills for the future academic library’ through a bursary from the Information School and CILIP. The event saw library practitioners and researchers present their findings and experiences of academic libraries, with a focus on what skills and developments they foresaw as particularly important for the future. The day began with Stephen Pinfield’s presentation on the 2017 SCONUL report on ​ ‘ Mapping the Future of Academic Libraries ’ ​ by Stephen Pinfield, Andrew Cox and Sophie Rutter. This presentation introduced the concept of expanding our understanding of skills beyond traditional hard and soft skills, adding ethics and values, mindsets, and contextual knowledge as useful types of skills for LIS professionals to  consider. Values and mindsets As the professional landscape changes, LIS professionals require not only different skills, but changes in mindsets. Regina Everitt from the Unive...

Our new paper explores the potential impact of Artificial Intelligence on academic libraries. Innovations such as Siri and the driverless car have brought public attention to the potential of the latest developments in computing power, combining machine learning and big data. AI brings with it both exciting opportunities and risks to privacy, equality and employment. But until now the implications of AI for academic libraries have been relatively little explored. Using data from interviews with library directors, library commentators and commentators outside the library world, the new paper,  The intelligent library: Thought leaders’ views on the likely impact of artificial intelligence on academic libraries   ( open-access version available ) ,  explores the potential implications of AI for the academic library. We try to capture how interviewees thought AI would impact on academic libraries and from this reveal eleven issues that will define the paradigm of the "i...

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....

Senior Lecturer Dr Paul Reilly has had an article co-authored with Bournemouth University colleagues Anastasia Veneti and Darren Lilleker published in Journalism . The article entitled ‘Photographing the Battlefield: the role of ideology in photojournalist practices during the anti-austerity protests in Greece’ can be accessed here .

Senior Lecturer Dr Paul Reilly is pleased to report that his chapter written with Faith Gordon , ‘Digital weapons in a post-conflict society’, has been published in ‘ Anti-Social Media ', a volume edited by John Mair, Richard Tait and Tor Clark. A copy of the chapter can be downloaded here .

24th-31st October is Global Media and Information Literacy week , the initiative sponsored by UNESCO. The iSchool is celebrating with a number activities that demonstrate its engagement with this field. We have organised three webinars, free and open to all: 2pm-2.30 pm UK time (which is 10-10.30am US EST) Tuesday 30th Oct. Dr Laura Sbaffi  (Information School) presents her research on What makes us trust online information? The perspective of health information . Join the webinar (via Adobe Connect) at https://sheffield.adobeconnect.com/globalmilweek2 Enter as a "guest". You may need to download the free Adobe Connect application, so please allow a few minutes for that. 2pm-2.30 pm (which is 10-10.30am US EST) Wednesday 31st Oct. Sheila Webber  (Information School) and Stephen Wyber (IFLA Manager, Policy and Advocacy.) will give their  Impressions of Global MIL Week feature conference. Join the webinar at  https://sheffield.adobeconnect.com/globalmil...