LIS Forward is pleased to announce the release of Volume 2 of the Friday Harbor Papers, a compilation of responses to the LIS Forward position paper Ensuring a Vibrant Future for LIS in iSchools. The volume includes 16 submissions and forum summaries completed in 2024, assembling over forty voices, including tenure track and teaching faculty, and academic and public librarians, representing individuals, groups, schools, and professional organizations. The submissions vary in length, tone, and format, ranging from an informal email exchange among a group of faculty to a lengthy fifty-page treatise by a library thought leader.
We invite interested parties to submit additional responses to further the conversation, to help advance a vibrant field that centers libraries and works synergistically within iSchools to solve the information grand challenges of this era. New contributions will be posted in a forthcoming section of the LIS Forward website, along with updates on ongoing activities and actions stemming from the ongoing conversations.
Abstract
At the end of 2023 the LIS Forward initiative released the position paper, Ensuring a Vibrant Future for LIS in iSchools, Friday Harbor Papers, Volume 1, proclaiming that “the contemporary multidisciplinary iSchool is both the greatest strength and the greatest risk for library and information science (LIS) and librarianship.” The paper was aimed at stimulating discussion and debate on how LIS can thrive and grow in research intensive iSchools. This second volume of the Friday Harbor Papers compiles responses to the position paper, representing over forty voices from researchers, educators, professionals, and thought leaders. Collectively, the authors provide informative, insightful, and provocative perspectives that enrich and advance the conversation and offer new propositions for strengthening LIS.
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Contents
Introduction