Election Results
Lynn Silipigni Connaway
President-elect, 2016: Lynn Silipigni Connaway
Lynn Silipigni Connaway, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, leads the User Studies Activities at OCLC Research. Lynn has held visiting research positions and an endowed chair for research at several international universities. She has received research funding from the IMLS in the US, Jisc, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the UK. Connaway is co-author of the 4th and 5th editions of Basic Research Methods for Librarians and has authored numerous other publications. She received her doctorate in LIS from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and her MLS from the University of Arizona. Lynn has been a member of ASIS&T since she was a doctoral student. She also is a member of the Central Ohio ASIS&T Regional Chapter, the ASIS&T SIG USE, and the Digital Libraries SIG. Currently Lynn serves as a Director-at-Large on the ASIST Board and has served on various ASIS&T committees including Co-Chair of the 2011 ASIS&T Annual Conference. Find out more about Lynn at http://www.oclc.org/research/people/connaway.html.
Position Statement:
I believe it is imperative in today’s globalized information environment for ASIS&T to provide value to its members. As President, I would utilize what we learned from our current and prospective members during the strategic planning process to strengthen ASIS&T. I would work with the Board and membership to:
- Continue to attract an international membership by drawing on the experiences and knowledge of members outside North America.
- Focus on students, early-career professionals, and researchers by offering career development, mentoring opportunities, and additional ways for participation at Annual Meetings.
- Explore venues for offering more scholarships for research and conference attendance.
- Facilitate new forms of member engagement in addition to the Annual Meeting.
- Provide more refereed publishing and presentation opportunities in multiple formats, such as webinars, conferences, and online subject-specific publications.
- Promote and support the value of the SIGs and Chapters through our web site and social media.
- Develop promotional materials for SIGs and Chapters to communicate their value and the value of ASIS&T membership
- Work with JASIS&T Editorial Board to continue to identify ways to shorten the time of article acceptance to early view online to online publication of the journal issue.
Based on these goals, I will work with the Board and membership to develop an association that entices students, researchers, and professionals to become new and returning ASIS&T members, and engages our membership to participate in ASIS&T conferences and ASIS&T-sponsored professional and research activities.
Directors-at-Large: Abebe Rorissa and Kathryn La Barre
Abebe Rorissa
Dr. Abebe Rorissa is an Associate Professor in the Department of Information Studies, University at Albany, State University of New York. Previously, he worked in four countries as a lecturer and systems librarian for 17 years. He has consulted for academic institutions, national governments, & international organizations. He has published extensively and served or serving on program committees & editorial boards of several international journals/publications/conferences and as a manuscript reviewer.
As a multidisciplinary scholar, his research interests include multimedia information organization and retrieval, scaling of users’ information needs/perceptions, & use/acceptance/adoption and impact of information and communication technologies. He teaches courses in research methods & statistics, information technology, & foundations of information science. His honors include University at Albany Provost’s Fellowship & winning the ASIS&T SIG Member of the Year Award.
Position Statement:
In my more than 13 years as an ASIS&T member, I have served in several leadership positions: advisory board member of the ASIS&T Bulletin; assistant editor of the Proceedings; Chair, Chair-Elect, Immediate Past Chair, InfoShare officer, & Communications Officer of SIG III; member of the SIG Cabinet Steering Committee; guest editor of the ASIS&T Bulletin; and member of the ASIS&T Pratt Severn Best Student Research Paper Award Jury. I have also: organized Webinars, raised funds for SIG III’s activities, reviewed manuscripts, moderated panels and workshops, & presented on a number of topics. I am an active and engaged member of the ASIS&T community. Once ASIS&T members experience the energy and family-like atmosphere at our events, they will continue to stay involved and remain lifelong members.
ASIS&T is on a long journey to becoming a truly international association. If elected as Director-at-Large, I will strive to broaden the geographic reach of ASIS&T with members from every corner of this global village. In order to grow our membership and deepen our impact, ASIS&T must widen the scope of issues addressed and reach/attract a new and diverse group of academics, researchers, students, and practitioners in all continents.
I will make the recruitment of members and creation of regional and student ASIS&T groups/chapters, especially in Africa and the Middle East, and the expansion of services to & interactions with all members, my primary focus. I will leverage the strength of the ASIS&T brand and of our current members. Having worked in four countries and having built an international professional network, I am in a unique position to do so.
Kathryn La Barre
Kathryn La Barre is Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, with an MLS and PhD from Indiana University. Her research on historical and contemporary knowledge organization systems focuses upon cultural heritage materials. She is co-PI of the Comic Book Readership Archive [CoBRA] project to build a digital archive of materials related to comic book readership and fandom. An active, long-standing member of ASIST, La Barre has served in many capacities since joining in 1998 as a masters student, including terms as chair of SIG History and Foundations (HFIS) and Classification Research (CR), SIG Cabinet Director, 75th Anniversary Task Force member, planning and programme committees for SIG CR workshops, and presenter at the annual conference. She serves on the international editorial boards of Knowledge Organization, the Sarada Ranganathan Endowment for Library and Information Science, Journal of Information Management, and BRAJIS – Brazilian Journal of Information Science.
Position Statement:
Our venerable history includes vibrant involvement and impact across disciplinary boundaries. Not so long ago, the annual conference attracted attendees from industry, government, and the academy with thorny information problems. They arrived seeking solutions through fellowship provided by conversation, presentations, and vendor demonstrations. As an international society, ASIST is on the cusp of the next big breakthrough. Yet we face a number of challenges, including proliferating competition for members and a race to maintain relevance. We’ve begun to solve these with our newly revitalized website and ongoing strategic planning. We have miles to go to meet the challenges posed by Marge Hlava in her 2014 Award of Merit Speech. If elected as Director-at-Large I will work assiduously to help strengthen ASIST in the following ways:
Education: Online continuing education provided via ASIST webinars is an increasingly important membership benefit. We need a strategic plan for meeting the educational needs of our members.
Outreach: We must broaden the focus of our conference, and reach those who were once our partners. We can leverage our revitalized social media presence to do better, more targeted outreach.
Inclusion: We must find ways to attract members who are different. This means asking ourselves hard questions. Does our community value the varied perspectives of diverse global communities? Do we respect differing worldviews and cultural knowledge that span race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, abilities, economic class, religion, and their intersections?
Working together ASIST can again become the go-to association for the information professions, bursting with energy and innovation.
Bylaws amendment passed with 87% of the vote approving.
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