The CILIP Information Literacy Group joins the Journal of Information Literacy (JIL) and the wider information literacy and school library community in grieving the loss of JIL editorial board member, Dr Ross Todd, who passed away earlier this week. Ross has been a member of JIL’s editorial board since the journal’s inception in 2007, and under his careful guidance and support- as well as his own inimitable sense of humour – the journal has gone from strength to strength. Ross was also one of the pioneers of school and young person information literacy research and his wide-reaching contributions -including to the special 10-year anniversary edition of JIL – will continue to shape the field for many years to come. The Journal is planning future celebrations to honour Ross’ life and memory and will share these details in due course.
Alison Hicks, UCL; Editor in Chief of JIL
Jane Secker, City University and Chair, CILIP Information Literacy Group said: “We’re all really sad to hear the news about Ross, who was an important member of the information literacy community, a member of the JIL editorial board and a keynote at LILAC in 2007 – he was a much respected and loved colleague and we’ll all miss his wisdom, sense of humour and friendship”.
Ruth Stubbings, Head of Library Services DeMontfort University and former Chair of the JIL Editorial board said “The whole community will miss him. I loved his enthusiasm and insight. His support of JIL was fabulous, you could always rely on him to share his thoughts on the direction the journal was heading and how it could support students, researchers and librarians”.
Rutgers University has also published its own tribute to Ross. Ross was an Assistant Professor of Library and Information Science at the School of Communication and Information at this university.