The School of Library and Information Studies at the University of Alberta is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Adam Worrall as an Assistant Professor, starting August 2015.
Dr. Worrall earned his PhD (2014) and MLIS (2008) from the Florida State University School of Information. His research looks at the relationships between information-centric communities, information and communication technologies (ICTs), and the information behavior of their users. "I incorporate social informatics and information behavior perspectives to focus on the boundaries that may exist between communities, especially online," Adam said, "and the roles that individual boundary spanners and ICTs can play in supporting information and knowledge sharing in these contexts." His recent doctoral research looked at social digital libraries and the roles they play in supporting information behaviors and activities taking place within, between, and across multiple communities. Adam is also interested in research into scientific collaboration, social media, and social and community theories in library and information science (LIS). He has published collaborative research articles in the Journal of the Association for Information Science and Technology, Library and Information Science Research, and Information Research, and is active in presenting his work at conferences and in service to the profession, particularly with the Association for Information Science and Technology (ASIS&T).
Adam's teaching interests include topics in information behavior, information technology, social informatics, and research methods. He brings well-regarded face-to-face and online teaching experiences as a doctoral student and adjunct faculty at Florida State University to his new role at SLIS, where he will teach LIS 501 Foundations of LIS online for the Fall 2015 term.