By Thomas Jilk
Louise Robbins, former director and professor emerita of the UW–Madison School of Library and Information Studies (now the Information School, or iSchool), has been honored with the prestigious, inaugural School of Computer, Data & Information Sciences (CDIS) Distinguished Achievement Award, an honor that recognizes her extraordinary impact on the field and the enduring legacy she has created. “Receiving this award is truly humbling,” Robbins said, expressing gratitude for this special acknowledgment of her life’s work
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Robbins profoundly shaped the trajectory of the School of Library and Information Studies (SLIS), creating transformative partnerships with departments across campus, building relationships with Native American communities across Wisconsin, and leaving an indelible mark on colleagues, students, and institutions. An unwavering advocate for intellectual freedom, access to information for marginalized communities, and the vital role of libraries in society, Robbins has advanced her field in ways that continue to reverberate long after her retirement in 2011
Trailblazing Beginnings
Robbins’ leadership journey began in Ada, Oklahoma, where she became the town’s first female city council member and later its first female mayor, breaking barriers and shaping policy for her community. In Ada, she also laid the foundation for her career in librarianship, establishing an elementary school library and, as mayor, playing a key role in the founding of a new public library in Ada.
Upon joining UW–Madison in 1991, Robbins quickly made her mark as both an educator and a practicing librarian, serving as faculty administrator of the SLIS laboratory library. In this unique dual role, she launched the LIS 620 field project course, which has since become a cornerstone of the iSchool’s MA LIbrary & Information Studies program. Under Robbins’ direction, the course evolved into a practicum, equipping generations of students with hands-on library experience before graduation.
Colleagues on the SLIS faculty took note of Robbins’ success as both an educator and a relationship-builder. “Immediately after I got tenure, the faculty elected me to be director, partly on the strength of the work I had been doing, reaching out and making us more visible.”
Building bridges
Reflecting on the integration of the Information School into CDIS alongside the Computer Sciences and Statistics departments, Robbins expressed her pleasure in seeing the iSchool continuing its longstanding tradition of collaboration with other campus units—a value she actively fostered during her tenure as director.
Robbins’ vision for a highly collaborative, interconnected iSchool drove her to form alliances with departments across campus, helping establish the Information School as an integral partner in the university ecosystem. “I wanted us to be totally indispensable to the rest of the campus,” Robbins reflected.
Her approach was both visionary and practical. When departments in Helen C. White Hall required technical support, Robbins enlisted her student assistants to help. “I had students working for me in the library who went around to every department and office in the building to help upgrade their [computer] networks. Little things like that went a long way toward building bridges to other departments.”
Her efforts also extended to building a technology-focused curriculum, with support from colleagues such as Jane Pearlmutter, former head of the Continuing Education unit. Robbins credits Pearlmutter with pioneering technological advancements within the department. “We were one of the first departments to teach extensively using technology, and Jane was a leader in that effort,” Robbins said. Likewise, Michele Besant PhD ’99, who Robbins hired and mentored, rose to become the associate director of the iSchool and received the iSchool Alumni of the Year award in 2023. “She is just amazing,” Robbins said.
Additionally, Robbins has been instrumental in the Tribal Libraries Archives and Museums program (TLAM), even after her retirement in 2011. Founded by students in 2008, TLAM focuses on service-learning projects with the goal of informing and engaging members of the UW–Madison community on the issues and challenges found in tribal libraries, archives, and museums. The group has been involved with helping reopen and serve numerous tribal libraries, starting with the Red Cliff Library on the Red Cliff Reservation in Bayfield County, WI.
“Indigenous knowledge has different ways of looking at language, at nature, and the university has, historically, largely been ignoring these things,” she added.
“If we engage with tribal communities and tribal libraries, we can learn from them, and they can learn from us as well.”
Louise Robbins
Working with tribal communities “changes your perspective on the Universe, frankly,” Robbins said. Her work in TLAM has contributed to cross-cultural learning and has been instrumental in broadening the horizons of both students and the wider UW–Madison community.
‘To read and speak freely’
Throughout her life, Robbins has spoken out in support of libraries as bastions of intellectual freedom. In 2001, she was named Wisconsin Library Association’s (WLA) Librarian of the Year and was inducted into the WLA Library Hall of Fame in 2017, in part for her research and writing on intellectual freedom in libraries. Her 2000 book, The Dismissal of Miss Ruth Brown: Civil Rights, Censorship, and the American Library, won numerous awards for helping readers understand the many personal and societal forces that can lead to censorship.
Even as the department has evolved—adding several new programs and rapidly expanding its faculty and student base since Robbins’ retirement—issues of intellectual freedom, such as book-banning and academic data privacy, remain at the forefront of discourse at the iSchool. Robbins advised today’s students to get familiar with these subjects, arguing they are as relevant today as ever before.
“I would encourage people, whether they are in the iSchool or other departments in CDIS, to pay attention to issues around intellectual freedom and censorship,” Robbins said. “Be on the lookout for opportunities to speak up and speak out for the rights of people to read and speak freely.”
For illuminating the intersection of libraries and intellectual freedom, for leading the iSchool through a transformational period in its history, and for making UW–Madison a more interconnected academic community, Louise Robbins has earned an inaugural CDIS Distinguished Achievement Award. The iSchool is incredibly grateful for her decades of committed service to the department, the university, and the Wisconsin Idea.