San José State University School of Information instructor Dr. Lili Luo has been promoted from associate professor to full professor.

Luo, who began teaching at the iSchool in 2007, received her doctorate from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Information and Library Science. Her research interests include virtual librarianship, education for librarians and information professionals, evaluation of information services and usage, and electronic reference services.

Luo teaches INFO 210 Reference and Information Services and INFO 285 Applied Research Methods in the iSchool’s fully online Master of Library and Information Science degree program. She said she feels “blessed” to be able to teach at the iSchool because the students are “wonderful.”

“It’s really rewarding to see them grow in the program and flourish in their respective domains after they graduate. I’m glad to be part of their educational experience. My colleagues are wonderful, too. It’s always a pleasure to work with them,” she said.

iSchool alumni speak highly of Luo, as well. Naomi Jelks, ’10 MLIS, shared, “I was especially impressed by Dr. Lili Luo. She was really good at imparting knowledge and making sure the students were on the same page and understood what she was saying.” Alumna Emily Weak, ’11 MLIS, was a research assistant for Luo. “I learned so much,” said Weak. “I thought she had an interesting approach of combining the practical with the academic, and I really wanted to work with her.” 

For the past four years, Luo has served as a lead instructor for the Institute of Research Design and Librarianship grant project, a partnership between the iSchool, Loyola Marymount University, and the Statewide California Electronic Library Consortium designed to help academic and research librarians become skilled researchers and mentors. In addition, she is a frequent presenter at conferences, including the Qualitative and Quantitative Methods in Libraries International Conference and IFLA World Library and Information Congress.

Luo is also the coordinator of the iSchool’s Center for Information Research and Innovation, a virtual research center aimed at generating exemplary new practices and innovative products to benefit a global audience. Faculty and student research projects are profiled, as well as discussed on the research blog. 

This summer, Luo will be conducting a study, “Health Information Outreach: Best Practices for Public Libraries,” which will explore the importance of public libraries in assisting people with health information access. Her research is funded by a $5,000 Central Research, Scholarship and Creative Activity grant from the SJSU Office of Research.

Looking toward the future, Luo is working on a course proposal for the MLIS degree program that focuses on public libraries in the health literacy movement.