Dr. Blanche Woolls

Professor Emeritus

Blanche Woolls is a graduate of Indiana University where she has a bachelors in fine arts and a masters and doctorate in library and information science. She began her professional career as a school librarian in Hammond, Indiana in a K-8 elementary school with 1,245 students. She was appointed the first coordinator of school libraries in that city and served for two years until she moved to Roswell, New Mexico as coordinator there.

After completing her doctorate, she joined the faculty of the Graduate School of Library and information Science at the University of Pittsburgh (now the School of Information Sciences) where she coordinated the school library certificate program, chairing the Department of Library Science for five years, and served as chair of the doctoral studies committee for 12 years. She was appointed Director of the School of Library and Information Science at San José State University in 1997 and remained there until her retirement in August 2005. She is a past president of the American Association of School Librarians and the International Association of School Librarianship.

Courses Taught

> [200] Information and Society
> [260] Resources for Children, Ages 0-6

Education

Ph.D (Library and Information Science) Indiana University (1973)
M.A. (Library Science) Indiana University (1962)
B.A. (Fine Arts) Indiana University (1958)

Academic & Professional Experience

Director and Professor, School of Library and Information Science, San José State University, (1997-2005)
Professor, School of Library and Information Science, University of Pittsburgh (1973-1997)
Director, School Library Certificate Program, University of Pittsburgh (1973-1997)
Chair, Department of Library Science, University of Pittsburgh (1985-1990)
Chair, Doctoral Studies Committee, University of Pittsburgh (1975-1985)
Coordinator of School Libraries, Roswell (NM) Independent School District (1967-1970)
Coordinator of School Libraries, Hammond (IN) Public Schools (1965-1967)
Elementary Librarian, Hammond (IN) Public Schools, (1958-1965)

Selected Publications (last five years only)

Books

Woolls, B. & Loertscher, D. (Ed.). (2002). Information-rich environments: Blessing or curse: Papers of the Treasure Mountain Research Retreat #9, Brown County Indiana, November 2001. San José, CA: Hi Willow Research and Publishing.
Woolls, B. & Loertscher, D. (2002). Information literacy: A review of the research: A guide for practitioners and researchers (2nd ed.). San José, CA: Hi Willow Research and Publishing.
Woolls, B. & Sheldon, B. (2001). Delivering lifelong continuing professional education across space and time: The fourth world conference on continuing professional education for the library and information science professions. Munich: K.G. Saur.

Parts of Books

Woolls, B. (2006). Information and technology and the preparation of students for their role in a global society. In Proceedings of the 2006 Information Technology in Education: Ethics and Knowledge, Kunming, China, June 20, 2006 (pp. 27-32). Kunming, P. R. China: Yunnan Provincial Library.
Woolls, B. (2006). Information literacy in the information age: Preparing students for their role in a global society. In Nadzar, F. H. J., et. al. Information Literacy and Knowledge Society: Development, Changes, and Challenges. Proceedings of the International Conference on Information Literacy 14-15 June 2006, Hilton Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (pp. 1-9). Shah Alam, Malaysia: Faculty of Information Management, University of Technology MARA.
Woolls, B. (2006). Understanding the multiple faces of literacy: Librarian innovator and developer of thinking skills. In The multiple faces of literacy: Reading, knowing, doing. Paper presented at the International Association of School Librarianship Annual International Conference, Lisbon Portugal, July 6, 2006.
Woolls, B. & Loertscher, D. (2003). Distance education at San José State University. In D. Barron (Ed.), Benchmarks in distance education: The LIS experience (pp. 263-269). Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited.
Woolls, B. Reference works (encyclopedias, dictionaries, etc.). In Encyclopedia of international media and communication v. 6 (pp. 71-80). Elsevier Science.
Woolls, B. & Loertscher, D. (2002). Information literacy: Helping librarians apply the research to teaching information skills to patrons: The importance of the human interface. In P. Ward (Ed.), Continuing professional education for the information society: The fifth world conference on continuing professional education for the library and information science professions. Munich: K.G. Saur.

Journal Articles

Woolls, B. & Loertscher, D. (2002). Accountability and the school teacher librarian. School Libraries in Canada, 22:2, 7-9.
Woolls, B. & Loertscher, D. (2002, May/June). Teenage users of libraries. Knowledge Quest, 30, 31-36.

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