Linda C. Smith is professor emerita at the

University of Illinois School of Information Sciences A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degree An academic degree is a qualification awarded to a student upon successful completion of a course of study in higher education, usually at a co ...

. She has served as President of the

Association for Information Science and Technology The Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T) is a nonprofit membership organization for information professionals that sponsors an annual conference as well as several serial publications, including the ''Journal of the Associ ...

and the

Association for Library and Information Science Education The Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) (pronounced "Ah-lease") promotes education for the information professions internationally through engagement, advocacy and research. ALISE is a non-profit professional associa ...

. Her scholarship has been wide-ranging and she is particularly known for her research on the potential of information systems to support discovery and consideration of convergence curation. The first librarian to investigate

Artificial Intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is the capability of computer, computational systems to perform tasks typically associated with human intelligence, such as learning, reasoning, problem-solving, perception, and decision-making. It is a field of re ...

(AI) for

Information Retrieval Information retrieval (IR) in computing and information science is the task of identifying and retrieving information system resources that are relevant to an Information needs, information need. The information need can be specified in the form ...

(IR), Smith also specified the role of AI as a human intermediary and identified the AI techniques of pattern recognition, representation, problem-solving, and learning as suitable for IR, claiming AI is just like a human librarian who helps users navigate information systems.

Education and career

Linda C. Smith holds a PhD in information transfer from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

," MS in information and computer science from the

Georgia Institute of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public university, public research university and Institute of technology (United States), institute of technology in Atlanta, ...

, MS in library science from the

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

(UIUC), and BS in physics and mathematics from

Allegheny College Allegheny College is a private liberal arts college in Meadville, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1815, Allegheny is the oldest college in continuous existence under the same name west of the Allegheny Mountains. It is a member of the G ...

. Smith joined the faculty of the School of Information Sciences, the iSchool at the University of Illinois, in 1977. Positions held as assistant professor (1977-1982), associate professor (1983-1994), professor (1994-2019), Distinguished Teacher/Scholar, August 1999- present and professor emerita (2019-present). She has served in several administrative capacities including Interim Dean, Associate Dean for Academic Programs, and Executive Associate Dean. Smith supervised forty-six PhD dissertations to completion and served on eighty-four doctoral committees.

Professional associations

Smith has served as president of the Association for information Science and Technology, president of the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE), and president of

Beta Phi Mu Beta Phi Mu (also or βφμ) is an American honor society for library & information science and information technology. Founded by a group of librarians and library educators, the society's express purpose is to recognize and encourage "superior ...

, the international honor society for library & information science. She served on the

American Library Association The American Library Association (ALA) is a nonprofit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world. History 19th century ...

Committee on Accreditation from 2018 to 2022 and chair in 2021-2022.

Awards

*2019.Illinois Library Luminary.Linda C. Smith Inducted as an Illinois Library Luminary
Illinois Library Association, February 22, 2019. *2010-

Award of Merit - Association for Information Science and Technology The Award of Merit is bestowed by the Association for Information Science and Technology. It is an annual prize to an individual for a lifetime of achievement that recognizes sustained contributions to and/or achievements in the field of infor ...

*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 The Beta Phi Mu Award is an annual prize recognizing an individual for distinguished service to education for librarianship. First bestowed in 1954, Award recipients include various prominent leaders in the field of librarianship.George S. Bobinski ...

*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 The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is a United States–based international nonprofit with the stated mission of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsib ...

*1987. Outstanding Information Science Teacher Award, Association for Information Science and Technology. *1973.

Medical Library Association The Medical Library Association (MLA) is a nonprofit educational organization with more than 3,400 health-sciences information professional members. History Founded on May 2, 1898, the Association of Medical Librarians, as it was known unti ...

. Rittenhouse Award. *

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States. It was founded in 1776 at the College of William & Mary in Virginia. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal arts and sciences, ...

Publications

* 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. * 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

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Linda C. Information scientists University of Illinois School of Information Sciences alumni Georgia Tech alumni Syracuse University alumni University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign faculty American women scientists American librarians Year of birth missing (living people) Living people