By: J.D. Ross
(315) 443-3094
Professor R. David Lankes has been appointed as Dean’s Scholar for the New Librarianship by School of Information Studies (iSchool) Dean Elizabeth D. Liddy.
Lankes, who also serves as the Director of the iSchool’s Masters in Library and Information Science program and the Director of the Information Institute of Syracuse (IIS), joined the faculty in 1998. His current work focuses on reconceptualizing the library field through the lens of New Librarianship.
He describes New Librarianship as the recasting of library and library practice using the concept that knowledge is created through conversation. Because libraries are in the knowledge business, libraries are also in the conversation business.
“New librarians approach their work as facilitators of conversation,” says Lankes. “Be it in practice, policies, programs or tools, participatory librarians seek to enrich, capture, store and disseminate the conversations of their communities.”
Lankes released a book this spring, “The Atlas of New Librarianship” at the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) Conference in Philadelphia.
“Through his writing and speaking about what it means to be a librarian in this day and age, Dave has increased the scope and potential of the field,” remarked Dean Liddy. “His work has helped to even further improve our very positive reputation in ways that are difficult to measure.”