Hirsh Named Director at San José SLIS, Succeeding Haycock
Scholar and teacher also has Silicon Valley experience
-- Library Journal, 04/29/2010
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- SLIS known for distance learning
- Work at Microsoft and Hewlett Packard
- Long history of service
Dr. Sandra Hirsh, a veteran scholar in LIS with significant industry experience, has been named as the new director of the School of Library and Information Science (SLIS) at San José State University, succeeding Ken Haycock, who built the school into a distance learning powerhouse.
(According to U.S. News & World Report [PDF; p. 27], SLIS ranks first in e-learning and 22nd among LIS programs in general.)
Hirsh holds a Ph.D. in Library and Information Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and a Master of Information and Library Science (MILS) from the University of Michigan.
Her appointment will begin in August 2010. Haycock will continue working with other academic units on strategic planning and supervising doctoral students
Hirsh taught reference at SLIS in 1991 and, for the last nine years, she has been a member of the School's International Advisory Council. She's also taught at the School of Information Resources and Library Science at the University of Arizona and the Information School at the University of Washington.
Industry experience
For the last decade, Hirsh has worked as a Senior User Experience Manager at Microsoft's Silicon Valley Campus and directed the Information Research Program at Hewlett Packard's HP Labs. There, she managed a company-wide project to sponsor the UCLA Surveying the Digital Future Project.
Her research has focused on information-seeking behavior and understanding the information needs of a broad spectrum of users, from children, to historians, to engineers. She's made numerous invited conference presentations, won a National Science Foundation grant, and received five U.S. patents for design concepts for consumer web products (three listed here).
She's served on committees for the American Society for Information Science & Technology (ASIST) and the American Library Association (ALA). She chaired ALA's Publications Committee for the Reference Users and Services Association, served on the ALA New Members Round Table, and serves as an advisor for ALA Editions, which publishes resources for LIS professionals.
Library range
Hirsh has worked in academic and special libraries, including a law library and a corporate library.
She also chaired the Palo Alto Library Advisory Commission, which created a long-range library plan for the city, leading to a voter-approved bond measure for improved libraries in Palo Alto, even in the midst of difficult economic times.
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