iSchool Student Associations Respond to Changes to Inforum

March 4, 2018

Following the announcement during Reading Week by the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Information (iSchool) about changes to the Inforum, both the Master of Information Student Council (MISC) and the Doctoral Student Association (DSA) have issued statements to their communities about the proposal.

InForum Collections Statement from Master of Information Student Council (MISC)

Extract from an email to Master of Information students on February 26, 2018:

The Dean has made clear that the decision to move the InForum’s print collection is not up for debate and that it will be moved as of May 1, 2018. However, she continues to seek feedback and consultation on ways to mitigate concerns associated with the move (ex. course reserves remaining in the InForum). A number of alumni, faculty, staff, and students have already spoken out about this decision, saying that they feel this is an unwanted and unneeded design decision. If you feel strongly about this decision, we encourage you to communicate these feelings to Dean Wendy Duff at wendy.duff@utoronto.ca. If you prefer to remain anonymous, we will gladly relay any messages you send us to the Dean on your behalf – just e-mail us at misc@utoronto.ca.

If you would like to ask questions or gain clarification on the InForum collection move in person, MISC will be hosting a Town Hall discussion next week, Tuesday March 13 in Bissell room 507 starting at 4pm. Students, faculty, staff, alumni, and concerned community members are all welcome to attend. We will answer questions as best we can and share proceedings of this meeting with the iSchool administration.

We sincerely want the design process to include active participation with the key stakeholders. Please continue reaching out to Dean Wendy Duff about your opinions and thoughts on this matter.

Yours in Service,

The Master of Information Student Council

Doctoral Student Association (DSA) Statement in Support for iSchool Print Collection Staying in the Inforum

As part of its update to the March 1, 2018 Faculty Council meeting, the Doctoral Student Association (DSA) expressed its concern over the removal of the print collection from the Inforum:

The DSA would like to express its concern over the removal of the print collection from the Inforum. The Inforum’s collection includes books that we regularly use for our work. Maintaining a dedicated collection of the books directly related to Information Studies, particularly in the fields of archival studies, library studies, and museum studies, and information systems design ensures that we have access to the resources to support our doctoral research, as well as information required for research assistantships and course reserves for teaching assistantships – and these resources are not easily locatable elsewhere in the University of Toronto Libraries system, especially as our diverse research interests often span across the multiple disciplines by which other UTL libraries are organized. Moving the collection will not only make our access to these resources more difficult, but will mean the pursuit of research in these fields will not be as clearly supported . Additionally, having staff and librarians who are subject experts in these areas is of great importance to our doctoral students.

(Via Master of Information Student Council and Doctoral Student Association)