Renate Chancellor, a Syracuse University School of Information Studies associate professor, has been selected to receive the RUSA Gail Schlachter Memorial Research Grant.
Chancellor, who also serves as Associate Dean for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility at the iSchool, will be awarded $5,000 to conduct research. The goal is to better understand or answer key questions related to connecting people to resources, information services and collections.
In Chancellor’s role at the iSchool, she has been a thought leader on DEIA. She has also published widely in the areas of critical cultural information studies, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, and social justice in informational contexts.
“I’m thrilled about receiving the grant because it affords me and doctoral student Shannon Crooks the opportunity to do research in an underexplored area,” Chancellor said. “This work will not only emphasize the importance of libraries as community anchors, but it also speaks to the critical role of librarians in contemporary society.”
Crooks, who was a librarian and social worker before starting her doctoral studies last year, said she believes their work “will help the profession understand the strength of impactful relationships and the ability for those relationships to empower library users to solve life problems.”
The grant was established in memory of Schlachter, who worked for nearly five decades in the library and information fields as a reference librarian, library administrator, library educator, author, reviewer and publisher.
