Ross J. Todd 1951 - 30 March 2022

I was very sad to hear of the death of Professor Ross J. Todd, who made a great contribution to information literacy. I met him at many conferences: I think the first was the 2004 LIDA conference and the photo on the right was taken in Dubrovnik on a tour during that conference (when he and I were a good deal younger...) The 2nd photo, below, is of him and Theresa Anderson taking photos in the Town House, Aberdeen, at the 2011 i3 conference. 

His work on information literacy schools was particularly notable and influential, and there is much evidence of this in the website of the Rutgers Center for International Scholarship in School Libraries (CISSL): https://cissl.rutgers.edu/ (I would pick out the research with the New Jersey Association of School Librarians- see here). There is an obituary for Riss Todd on the Rutgers University website, here: https://comminfo.rutgers.edu/news/memoriam-ross-j-todd-associate-professor-library-and-information-science 

Here are some links to his work. Firstly, he gave a lot of invited talks and courses: a couple of his talks that I liveblogged:
- his keynote on Uncovering Information Literacy: mythology, myopia and movement at the i3 conference at the Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen in 2011, here 
- his invited talk at the 2014 European Conference on Information Literacy, on Collaborative Inquiry In Digital Information Environments: Expanding Perspectives on Information, here. 

Secondly, links to some of his open access articles:
- Gordon, C. A., & Todd, R. J. (2009). Weaving Evidence, Reflection, and Action into the Fabric of School Librarianship. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 4(2), 4–7. https://doi.org/10.18438/B88S4P
- Kuhlthau, C.C., HeinstrÖm, J. & Todd, R.J. (2008). The 'information search process' revisited: is the model still useful? Information Research, 13(4) paper 355. http://InformationR.net/ir/13-4/paper355.html
- Li, X. & Todd, R.J. (2016). Information practices during 3D modelling in a public library makerspace: generating ideas, seeking help and iterative trial and error. In Proceedings of ISIC, the Information Behaviour Conference, Zadar, Croatia, 20-23 September, 2016: Part 1, Information Research, 21(4), paper isics1601. http://InformationR.net/ir/21-4/isic/isics1601.html
- Todd, R. J. (2008). The Evidence-Based Manifesto for School Librarians. School Library Journal, 54(4), pp.38-43. https://www.slj.com/story/the-evidence-based-manifesto-for-school-librarians
- Todd, R.J. (2006). From information to knowledge: charting and measuring changes in students' knowledge of a curriculum topic. Information Research, 11(4) paper 264. http://InformationR.net/ir/11-4/paper264.html
- Todd, R. (2017). Information Literacy: Agendas for a Sustainable Future. Journal of Information Literacy, 11(1), 120-136. https://doi.org/10.11645/11.1.2233
- Todd, R. J. (2009). School Librarianship and Evidence Based Practice: Progress, Perspectives, and Challenges. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 4(2), 78–96. https://doi.org/10.18438/B8BS62
- Todd, R. J. (2014) School library advocacy, evidence and actions in the USA: Principles for planning and implementing advocacy initiatives. Paper presented at: IFLA WLIC 2014 - Lyon - Libraries, Citizens, Societies: Confluence for Knowledge in Session 213 - School Libraries. In: IFLA WLIC 2014, 16-22 August 2014, Lyon, France. http://library.ifla.org/id/eprint/852

Paul Zurkowski: 11 August 1932 - 30 January 2022

Paul Zurkowski, the man most often cited as (in 1974) originating the term "information literates" and thus "information literacy" has died aged 89 after contracting pneumonia. The 1974 report itself is available as a scan on ERIC at https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED100391 

Zurkowski continued to be engaged with information literacy to the end - his friend & colleague Jeffrey Kelly (who announced his death) reported that he will be working on the "nonprofit educational association, the Universal Information Literacies Association (UiLA), started by Paul and I here in the Washington, DC area". This is the blog post I did of his 2013 talk at ECIL (an the photo is one I took then) and this is a transcript of the talk Zurkowski gave at the LILAC conference in 2014.

Although latterly the thing he is most famous for is his connection with information literacy, I would say that it is his leadership in the dawn of the information industry that is perhaps more significant. This was a heady and risky time, when public data networks didn't exist and even in the early 80s (when I was marketing the then groundbreaking online services at the British Library) you were literally dialling a number on the ordinary (analog) telephone network to connect up with a database that you then accessed VERY SLOWLY. 

Because, in fact, NOT everything is on the internet, the online documentation for the early years of the information industry isn't great. In trawling for information about the Information Industry Association (founded 1968) I found this catalogue entry which identifies that that there is 5.5 linear feet of information industry material "Collection unprocessed" donated by Zurkowski- a project for an information science enthusiast!