iSchool and UW-Madison Libraries expand partnership with new CDIS building on the horizon

The Information School (iSchool) and UW-Madison Libraries will collaborate more closely than ever to prepare the next generation of information professionals and shape the future of the university’s dynamic library ecosystem.

The partnership’s expansion comes as the iSchool prepares to occupy a new home in the pathbreaking $260 million School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences (CDIS) building, which will open in 2025. There are two primary facets of the newly invigorated alliance:

• Dean of Libraries joins iSchool faculty: Erla P. Heyns, Dean and Vice Provost of Libraries at UW-Madison, will serve as a Professor of Practice at the iSchool. Heyns is the first leader of UW-Madison Libraries to ever hold a faculty appointment at the iSchool, and she is the first Professor of Practice to be appointed within CDIS. Her wealth of experience will enrich the academic environment, closing the gap between library administration and education. Before coming to Madison in fall 2023, Heyns had served as associate professor and associate dean for learning at Purdue University Libraries and School of Information Studies since 2016. She has also held roles at Cornell University as the director of the Flower/Sprecher Veterinary Library and the coordinator for the engineering, math and physical sciences libraries, and at Indiana University as the head of the university’s Health, Physical Education and Recreation Library.
• Transition to the CDIS Commons: The iSchool is working directly with UW-Madison Libraries on multiple aspects of the transition to the new CDIS building. First, UW-Madison Libraries will assist the search for a director of the CDIS Commons, a cutting-edge collaborative space in the new building, envisioned as a “library of the future”. Carrie Kruse, Director of College Library, User Experience, and Library Spaces, will play a pivotal role in the search. Additionally, UW Libraries will help facilitate a seamless transition for staff, services, and materials from the current iSchool Library to the new space. That process will include careful relocation of historical documents, which serve as important primary source material for researchers, from the iSchool Library to a climate-controlled office, ensuring proper preservation.

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