Members News, October 2026
ASIS&T would like to celebrate and recognize the accomplishments of members. Please share with us news of your tenure, promotion, doctoral defense, job change, publication, grant, or other succeses. We will recognize these accomplishments in each issue of Inside ASIS&T.
Please complete this form to let us know what you've done! Please remember, this is a space where we recognize your accomplishments. It is not a space to advertise a publication, product, or service.
Joann Caitlin: "On 14th August 2026 I officially completed my PhD following examination. My thesis, "Enabling Societal Impact of Research: Exploring Information Behaviours of Academic and Professional Staff in University Information Environments" examined the information behaviours of academics and professional staff associated with societal impact of research and the university information environments that foster productive impact cultures. It is now available online here. I would like to acknowledge the excellent guidance and support from my supervisors Dist. Prof. Lisa M. Given and Prof. Anita Kocsis. I am continuing in my role as Research Fellow-Social Change, working with Dist. Prof. Given."
Stefanie Havelka: "I am delighted to report that I have been recommended for tenure at University College Dublin (UCD), effective 1 October 2026. This milestone reflects my contributions to teaching, research, academic leadership, and service to both the University and the broader academic community. As an Assistant Professor in the School of Information and Communication Studies, my research focuses on human-computer interaction and the everyday challenges of digital life, with an emphasis on privacy and security in ubiquitous computing. I am also committed to advancing digital literacy, especially in the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence (AI). I promote equity, diversity, accessibility, and inclusion by critically examining AI's effects on higher education, society, and democracy."
Caroline Haythornthwaite: Social Media as Fragile State: Vulnerabilities, Pressures, and Human Rights by Caroline Haythornthwaite, DeGruyter, 2026. In the uncharted domain of cyberspace, social media platforms have stepped in and stepped up as state-like entities – social states – supporting governance and state services: security of data, public services of content moderation, regulation of civil behavior as set in platform standards, and policing and sanctioning behavior. Adopting a ‘social media as state’ analogy, this book helps make sense of the many, wide-ranging cases, controversies, and emergent practices on social media, with potential insights for AI use and impacts, and offers a framework of six Social Media Fragility Indicators for evaluation of the fragile states of social media.
Lorene Kennard: On my podcast, The Librarian Linkover, I interview librarians who don't work in libraries. My pod is all about our transferable skills. I recently interviewed three players from the Professional Women’s Baseball League for the Society for American Baseball Research/International Women in Baseball Center conference. I worked in a transferable skills question. It was the most watched session of the conference. We didn't talk balls and strikes, though, so if you want some positivity in your day, this is the interview to watch. Click here to watch.
Mamoundou Ndiaye: "I am pleased to share that I successfully defended my PhD dissertation in Information and Communication Sciences at Le Mans Université, France, in May 2026. My dissertation, titled “Digital Serious Games as Specific Educational Resources: From the Analysis of Actors’ Information Practices to Preservation Perspectives,” explores information practices surrounding digital Serious Games and the challenges of preserving them as educational resources. This milestone marks an important step in my academic journey, and I look forward to continuing my research and contributing to the information science community. I am also looking for a Postdoctoral opportunity, feel free to contact me if you are interested in my profile."
Alex H. Poole is the recipient of the following awards:
- Elfreda A. Chatman Research Award, ASIS&T (2026)
- Faculty Research Excellence Award, College of Computing and Informatics, Drexel University (2026)
- Justin Winsor Library History Essay Award, American Library Association (ALA) (2026)
- SILS Rising Star Alumni Award, School of Information and Library Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2026)
Nathan Rosen authored the following publications:
- Utilizing Free Gen AI Programs to Prepare Profiles of People & Companies, American Association of Law Libraries, July 21, 2026
- Tales from a Trial: From Experiment to Evidence at the American Association of Law Libraries Virtual Exchange: Applying AI in Legal Information Settings - Beyond the Hype: Real World AI for Law Libraries, September 23, 2026.
- Evidence: Foundation & Objections. Queens County Women’s Bar Association & Law Library Association of Greater New York, February 26, 2026.
Chirag Shah published his new book Raising AI: How Artificial Intelligence Is Shaping Us―and How We Shape It
Description: We are living through the most consequential technology deployment in human history, yet most of the people making decisions about AI-from judges using it in courtrooms to HR executives screening job candidates-don't actually understand how it works or what could go wrong. AI systems embed the biases, assumptions, and blind spots of their creators, then amplify them at scale across society. Chirag Shah has spent his career building intelligent systems-and the last decade explaining them to the people who actually use them. In this book, he challenges us-and himself-to think deeper about how AI learns and why that matters for how we build and use these systems.