News Release

Information, library science school
to celebrate 75th anniversary year

CHAPEL HILL - The School of Information and Library Science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill invites the community to the launch of its 75th anniversary celebration on Monday (Sept. 18).

"Illuminating the Past, Imagining the Future!" will be the theme of the anniversary year, starting with a free, public program from 2-4 p.m. Monday in Memorial Hall on Cameron Avenue. The school will celebrate accomplishments and look toward future opportunities.

Besides university and state officials, speakers will include:

• Dr. Deanna Marcum, associate librarian for library services, Library of Congress;
• Michael Ruettgers, senior adviser and retired chair, EMC² Corp., an information management and storage company; and
• Dr. Robert Martin, Lillian Bradshaw Endowed Chair in Library Science and professor at Texas Woman's University School of Library and Information Science, an alumnus of the UNC school.
  

A short video on the school's history will be screened, and the Clef Hangers, a Carolina student a cappella group, will perform. A reception and cake-cutting by school deans past and present will follow the program.

Dr. Louis Round Wilson, Carolina's university librarian from 1901-1932, convinced the Carnegie Corporation to give UNC $100,000 for a library school, according to The Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, edited by William S. Powell, UNC professor emeritus of history and a school alumnus.

The school opened in 1931 with Wilson as director, a class of 37 students and five faculty members. In 1987, as the study of information use and management began to grow in importance, the faculty voted to change the program and the name of the school to include information science.

Today, with Dr. José-Marie Griffiths as dean, the school is home to 336 students and 24 faculty members and offers numerous programs and degrees. It has long been ranked the number one information and library science school in the nation by U.S. News and World Report. More than 4,000 information specialists and librarians around the world have studied at the school.

To reserve a place at the ceremony, call (919) 962-8366 or e-mail 75th@ils.unc.edu. The school's anniversary Web site, http://sils.unc.edu/75thAnniversary, will be updated with information about other events during the yearlong celebration.

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School Web site: http://sils.unc.edu/

School of Information and Library Science contact: Wanda Monroe, (919) 843-8337, wmonroe@unc.edu