Jump to content

Linda C. Smith


Linda C. Smith, Professor Emerita, University of Illinois, Information Scientist

Life

Linda C. Smith is professor emerita at the University of Illinois School of Information Sciences. She served as President of the Association for Information Science and Technology and the Association for Library and Information Science Education, and received the ASIST Award of Merit in 2010.

Contributions

Smith is best known for her work in citation analysis and reference and information services in libraries. However, she was also the first librarian to publish about the promises and limitations of AI in information retrieval, including how machines might learn so that they can improve retrieval (machine learning), and when an expert intermediary (meaning an information professional) is required - what she calls human-machine collaboration, in opposition to complete automation of AI. Her 1976 article "Artificial Intelligence in Information Retrieval Systems" explained that AI for remote searching of databases (retrieval) was made possible by mass storage of information, machine-readable data, and a robust network. AI could cluster similar items for query matching and be a partner with humans indexing and classification.

Publications

Selected Bibliography. Prepared by Eileen G. Abels and Lynne C. Howarth, 31 May 2022  in support of their paper Linda C. Smith: Fifty Years of Library and Information Science Education by Design published in Library Trends, vol 71, issue 1, August 2022. Note: Not all of Smith's influential publications are included in the Selected Bibliography. A complete list, as of June 2023, is in her CV.

Smith, Linda C. 1974. "Systematic Searching of Abstracts and Indexes in Interdisciplinary Areas." Journal of the American Society for Information Science 25(6): 343–353, November–December.

1976. "Artificial Intelligence in Information Retrieval Systems." Information Processing and Management 12 (3): 189–222.

"Citation Analysis." Library Trends 30(1): 83–106, Summer 1981.

1981. "Representation Issues in Information Retrieval System Design." ACM SIGIR Forum 16 (1): 100–105.

1983. "Machine Intelligence vs. Machine-Aided Intelligence in Information Retrieval: A Historical Perspective." In Research and Development in Information Retrieval, Proceedings, Berlin, May 18–20, 1982, 263–74. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.

and Amy J. Warner. 1984. "A Taxonomy of Representations in Information Retrieval System Design." Journal of Information Science 8 (3): 113–21. https://doi.org/10.1177/016555158400800303.

1991. "Memex as an Image of Potentiality Revisited." In: Nyce, J. M.; Kahn, P., eds. From Memex to Hypertext: Vannevar Bush and the Mind's Machine. Boston, MA: Academic Press, 1991, pp. 261–286.

Bopp, Richard E., and Linda C. Smith. 1991. Reference and Information Services : An Introduction. Englewood, Colo.: Libraries Unlimited. This award-winning book has been published in many editions with several co-editors.

1999 "Journal of the American Society for Information Science (JASIS): Past, present and future" In ' 'Journal of the American Society for Information Science' ' 50(11) 965-969. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-4571(1999)50:11%3C965::AID-ASI2%3E3.0.CO;2-2

2001 and Sarai Lastra, and Jennifer Robins. "Teaching Online: Changing Models of Teaching and Learning in LEEP." Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 42 (4): 348–63.

2008. "From Foundation to Federal Funding: The Impact of Grants on Education for Library and Information Science." Advances in Librarianship 31: 141–165, 2008.

2010. "Reference Services." In Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, 3rd ed., edited by Marcia J. Bates and Mary Niles Maack, 4485–91. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

Smith, L.C. “Who, What and How? Commentary on Chen, F. N. (1963) The Teaching of Reference in American Library Schools, Journal of Education for Librarianship, 3(3), 188-198.” Journal of Education for Library and Information Science 56(1): 50-52, January 2015.

2018. "Reference Services." In Encyclopedia of Library and Information Sciences, 4th ed., edited by John D. McDonald and Michael Levine-Clark, 3912–19. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

2019. "Artificial Intelligence in Information Retrieval: Forty Years On." In The Human Position in an Artificial World: Creativity, Ethics, and AI in Knowledge Organization, ISKO UK Sixth Biennial Conference Proceedings, London, England, 15–16 July 2019, 301–2. Baden-Baden, Germany: Ergon Verlag.

2024. “Reviews and Reviewing: Approaches to Research Synthesis. An Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (ARIST) Paper.” Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology 75 (3): 245–67. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.24851

Awards

  • 2019.I llinois Library Luminary.
  • 2010. Award of Merit - Association for Information Science and Technology.
  • 2008. ALISE Award for Professional Contribution to Library and Information Science Education.
  • 2007. University of Illinois. Campus Award for Excellence in Online & Distance Teaching
  • 2004. Beta Phi Mu Award.
  • 2000. Isadore Gilbert Mudge Award--R.R. Bowker Award, Reference & User Services Association, 2000.
  • 1998. University of Illinois. Graduate College Excellence in Graduate Student Mentoring Award.
  • 1993. Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science.
  • 1987. Outstanding Information Science Teacher Award, Association for Information Science and Technology.
  • 1973. Medical Library Association. Rittenhouse Award.
  • Phi Beta Kappa.

Further Reading

Library and Information Science, Interdisciplinary Perspectives: A Festschrift in Honor of Linda C. Smith.

Retrieved from "https://asist.a2hosted.com/index.php?title=Linda_C._Smith&oldid=2445"