Renowned library educator, Dr. Brooke E. Sheldon will be joining the University of Alberta, School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS) as a distinguished visiting scholar beginning August 24th, 2010.
Brooke Sheldon enjoys a celebrated career as an educator, researcher, and academic administrator. She holds degrees from Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia (B.A.), Simmons College, Boston Massachusetts (M.L.I.S.), and the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (PhD). She holds also a Doctor of Civil Laws (honoris causa) from Acadia University.
She has held faculty positions in several graduate schools of library and information science/studies including serving as Dean, the School of Library and Information Studies, Texas Woman's University; as Dean, the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Texas at Austin; and Director and Professor, School of Information Resources and Library Science at the University of Arizona. Most recently, and for the past several years, she has taught at the School of Library & Information Science at San José State University, San José, California.
Sheldon's teaching/research areas of interest included library leadership development, planning and evaluation, interpersonal skills development, and continuing library education and training. Her scholarship is extensive having numerous monograph and journal publications, including the classic Leaders in Libraries: Styles and Strategies for Success, Chicago: ALA, 1991; and most recently as editor with another distinguished educator, Ken Haycock, The Portable MLIS: Insights from the Experts, Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 2008.
In 1984 Sheldon assumed a professional leadership role as elected President of the American Library Association, the largest professional library association in the world.
In the fall term in residence Sheldon will teach the course LIS 501: Foundations of Library and Information Studies, and in addition will serve as a role model and mentor for students enrolled in SLIS, as well as University and regional practitioners.
SLIS, and indeed the Faculty of Education look very much forward to welcoming Dr. Sheldon. We are so fortunate, notes Dean Fern Snart, "that an educator and researcher of her stature and her demeanor will be joining us for a period of time".