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English professor Joseph Viscomi was among five trailblazers in information and library science and information technology honored Oct. 12 in the first Knowledge Trust Honors ceremony.
The trust is a commitment by UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Information and Library Science to shape a critical role for 21st-century knowledge professionals.
At the ceremony in Washington, D.C., the five pioneers were honored for making a significant difference in education, exploration, innovation, next-generation leadership and lifetime achievement.
Viscomi, James G. Kenan distinguished professor of English, was presented the Exploration Award for creating or compiling new knowledge, tools and services.
Viscomi co-edited and created the William Blake Archive, a hypertext of Blake’s poetry and art, based on approximately 5,500 images — two-thirds from the illuminated books and one-third from Blake’s paintings, drawings and engravings — transferred to digital form.
Conceived and designed in 1993-95, and a free site on the World Wide Web since 1996, the award-winning archive is an international public resource that provides unified access to major works of visual and literary art that are highly disparate, widely dispersed and often severely restricted as a result of their value, rarity and extreme fragility.
The Blake Archive has had a significant impact on teaching and scholarship related to Blake’s works. It also has challenged the traditional notion of literary criticism by virtue of the ways in which elements of Blake’s work can be viewed, moved, modified and juxtapositioned.
“As in all aspects of rapid change, there are those who easily adapt to and excel in new environments — who rise above when they are told they cannot succeed to prove that they can,” said José-Marie Griffiths, dean of the UNC school and founding chair of The Knowledge Trust and the Louis Round Wilson Academy. “The Knowledge Trust Honors Program judges have selected exemplars: pioneers and leaders who are standard-bearers of excellence in their particular endeavors.”
Academy members nominated candidates for each award. The academy, formed last fall and based at UNC, includes world leaders in library and information science and technology management. The honors program is designed to encourage students and other knowledge professionals entering or already working in these fields to look to these models as they plan their own careers.
Additional 2006 honorees include: Gary E. Strong, university librarian at the University of California, Los Angeles; Paul Jones, director of the ibiblio Web collection at UNC-Chapel Hill; Wes Cruver, chief creative officer and cofounder of Kidz Online, based in Herndon, Va.; and Donald A.B. Lindberg, director of the National Library of Medicine at the National Institutes of Health.
