Incoming President-Elect:

Dr. Sean Burns
Associate Professor
University of Kentucky

Candidate's Statement:

If elected to serve as the President of ALISE, I will work to advance the vision and mission of the Association, and I will endeavor to champion the pivotal role it plays in library and information science education. My academic journey and professional endeavors have been guided by a fundamental belief in the transformative power of education, the ethical use of technology, and the imperative of social justice in our field. These beliefs are underpinned by my optimistic conviction that we can foster a society that is inclusive, equitable, democratically informed, and which nourishes the fundamental goodness of humanity.

In today’s rapidly evolving information landscape, we are at a critical juncture where the decisions we make and the values we champion will shape the future of access to libraries, to information, and to education. My motivation to serve ALISE is threefold:

  1. Promote Ethical Technology Use in LIS Education and LIS: I aim to serve ALISE and its members in advocating for scholarly research and ethical considerations in the use of technology within our profession and pedagogy. By fostering partnerships, developing resources, and advocating for policies that support these ideals, we can empower our members to be leaders in shaping a more equitable and democratic information society.
  2. Strengthen Community Engagement and Social Justice: ALISE can remain at the forefront of addressing social justice issues within our field. This includes diversifying our profession, expanding our membership, and ensuring equitable access to information. By building on our commitment to community engagement, we can develop programs and initiatives that educate about and contribute to social change.
  3. Innovate Library and Information Science Education: As we prepare the next generation of professionals, we must continually innovate our educational practices to better accommodate learning variability within the context of the digital age. This includes integrating critical discussions of pedagogy in LIS education that aims to help students to achieve their best selves.

I am committed to working with ALISE with a vision that not only respects our traditions and our members but also boldly addresses the challenges and opportunities of the future. Together, I believe we can continue to cultivate a community of educators, learners, researchers, and professionals who are skilled in their craft and dedicated to using their knowledge and resources for the greater good of society and its peoples.

Biography:

Dr. C. Sean Burns is an associate professor at the University of Kentucky’s School of Information Science with a PhD in Information Science and Learning Technologies from the University of Missouri. He specializes in scholarly communication, information retrieval, and academic libraries and has dedicated his career to exploring the convergence of technology, access to information, and equity. His works include a critical analysis of proprietary software’s impact on social equity and its impact on LIS education, multiple studies on bias in peer review, and discourses on the limitations and potentialities of digital documentation and information retrieval in open science and open access publishing. These works illustrate his advocacy for an information democracy through open and rigorous principles. Dr. Burns’s research transcends traditional boundaries and engages with the complexities of information and its implications for education, libraries, academia, and society at large. He has been a member of ALISE since 2009, is a recipient of the ALISE/Norman Horrocks Leadership Award (2016), and most recently he served a the 2023 Co-Chair of the Conference Programming Planning Committee.

 

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