Published: April 5, 2019 by Havilah Steinman

Once a semester iSchool Director Dr. Sandra Hirsh takes time out of her busy schedule to chat with students. She updates the student community about the school, answers questions and also asks attending students questions of her own. As a new student, this chat offers a great way to get acclimated on what the school is about, and also to get important questions answered! I have shared highlights with you below, and the recording has been distributed internally, so check your email inboxes for that. 

Major iSchool Updates from Dr. Hirsh

Alongside our exciting new website design, Dr. Hirsh announced that the iSchool will be introducing a Master’s in Informatics degree in fall of 2019. Additionally, she highlighted the iSchool’s Massive Open Online Course, Blockchain and Decentralization for the Information Industries, which is open now and runs until April 21.

She also announced that the iSchool is proposed to go to the new College of Professional and Global Education as the inaugural academic unit. The iSchool is currently part of San José State University’s College of Health and Human Sciences, which is planned to be refocused completely on health. This administrative move will have no effect on students, iSchool degrees, accreditation, and graduation ceremony plans remain the same for this academic year, including onsite and virtual festivities.

Highlighted Classes by Dr. Hirsh for Summer and Fall 2019 Semesters

Dr. Hirsh went over classes she’s excited about for the upcoming semesters. For Summer 2019 Special Session, these include:

• Augmented Virtual Reality (INFO 287-15) taught by Joey van Arnhem
• STEM in Libraries (INFO 287-14) taught by Jennifer Hopwood
• Using Social Media for Competitive and Company Research (INFO 282-13) taught by Sean Gaffney

For the Fall 2019 Special Session, Dr. Hirsh highlighted:

• Digital Humanities (INFO 220-11) taught by Nancy Friedland
• Government Information (INFO 221-10) taught by Mike McCaffrey
• Curating Exhibitions from Archival Collections (INFO 284-12) taught by Leigh Gleason

Dr. Hirsh Encourages Students to Connect

Dr. Hirsh also spent a few moments sharing photos from the American Library Association Midwinter Conference in Seattle, WA and Ontario Library Association Conference. Interested in  meeting up with Dr. Hirsh and other students? Check out these upcoming conference reception opportunities:

• Association of College and Research Libraries Conference on April 11th at 5 p.m. in Cleveland, OH
• Special Libraries Association Conference on June 17th at 4:30 p.m. in Cleveland, OH
• American Library Association Annual on June 22nd at 4:30 p.m. in Washington DC

Want to experience a conference but can’t swing the travel at this point? Not to worry! Library 2.0 has two virtual conferences coming up: 

• Open Data on June 5th from 12 to 3 p.m. PST
• Emerging Technology on October 30th from 12 to 3 p.m. PST

Another excellent opportunity to connect with fellow students came up during the discussion. In addition to serving on the leadership of student groups, students can volunteer to host their own in-person meetups with the help of Debbie Faires. The inquiring student would simply choose a date and place, email the details to Faires and she would notify each iSchool student in the area of the event. Her email address is debbie.faires@sjsu.edu.

Spending a virtual coffee hour with Dr. Hirsh is well worth your time as an iSchool student, and I wholeheartedly recommend it! Dr. Hirsh cares very much about the student success of those who study in the iSchool’s programs, and she enjoys connecting with them. If you missed the event, keep your eye out for the link and the virtual coffee chat next semester!