What’s history got to do with it?: Seventy years of historical dissertation research at the school of information sciences of the University Of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Abstract

The School of Information Sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has a long tradition of historical research at the doctoral level, facilitated by faculty and the extensive resources available on campus, including the archives of the American Library Association. In this paper the authors identify dissertations completed over the course of the seventy-year history of the doctoral program in library and information science (LIS) at Illinois that focus on historical topics, employ historical methods, and/or engage extensively with primary sources. The authors analyze those dissertation topics by decade and category within the context of the School of Information Sciences’ history and shifts in LIS.