The Information School at the University of Sheffield, 1963-2013

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the historical development of library and information science (LIS) teaching and research in the University of Sheffield's Information School since its founding in 1963. Design/methodology/approach – The history is based on published materials, unpublished school records, and semi-structured interviews with 19 current or ex-members of staff. Findings – The School has grown steadily over its first half-century, extending the range of its teaching from conventional programmes in librarianship and information science to include cognate programmes in areas such as health informatics, information systems and multi-lingual information management. Originality/value – There are very few published accounts of the history of LIS departments.