Interim named new permanent SLIS dean

Almost a year after she took the post on an interim basis, Debora Shaw has been named dean of the School of Library and Information Science.

“I think it is a very positive move,” SLIS Assistant Professor John Walsh said. “Dean Shaw is a leader in our field and will be a strong leader of the school.”

Shaw first came to IU as a doctoral student in SLIS in 1983. In 2003 she returned to the school as a professor.

“It was really coming back to IU that was the decision,” she said. “It was the hills and trees, as well as the University.”

Shaw and Walsh said information technology is a rapidly changing field and SLIS has to continue to be a leader in it.

“The school has a really strong reputation nationally,” Shaw said. “This is an exciting time to be involved in technology.”

Usually, a change of leadership causes some anxiety, Walsh said, but he is confident in Shaw’s ability to lead the school even with the changes in the industry.

“I’m very positive in having Dean Shaw as the new leader,” Walsh said. “The faculty, as far as I know, was unanimously supportive of her appointment.”

Shaw said she has several goals she wants to achieve and programs to continue as she takes permanent hold of the school, such as the library’s digitalization project that will put some of IU’s collections online. She also said she wants to focus on teaching information visualization to students.

She said information technology is interesting because of its ability to influence a variety of fields.

“Students come with a wide variety of undergraduate degrees,” Shaw said. “We’re preparing people for careers that no one knows about yet.”