Information Policy and The Work of The National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council (NII AC)

Toni Carbo, Ph.D.

Dean and Professor, School of Information Sciences, University of Pittsburgh

Tuesday, 15 April 1997

8:30-9:00 Coffee and Donuts
9:00-10:45 Presentation

OCLC Auditorium
6565 Frantz Road
Dublin, OH 43017

Information policy has received increased attention recently, in part due to the priority set by the Clinton Administration to develop the Information Superhighway. Toni Carbo, whose work in information policy spans nearly three decades, served as one of thirty-six members of the U.S. National Information Infrastructure Advisory Council (NII AC). This Council developed principles, priorities, and recommendations for the Information Superhighway during its two-year term. Dean Carbo will discuss the work of the Advisory Council and related policy issues, focusing on access and government information and services.

Toni Carbo has been the Dean of the School of Information Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh since September, 1986. For the previous six years, she was Executive Director of the U.S. National Commission on Libraries and Information Science (NCLIS), the government agency responsible for advising the President and U.S. Congress on policy and planning in the information field.

Dr. Carbo was a member of the U.S. Advisory Council on the National Information Infrastructure (NII) 1994-1996 and was named a U.S. representative to the G-7 Round Table of Business Leaders to the G-7 Information Society Conference, February 1995, in Brussels, Belgium. She chaired Section T: Information, Computing and Communications of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 1992-93. She is a fellow of AAAS and was recently elected to its Council. Dr. Carbo was a member of the Board of the Greater Pittsburgh Literacy Council (GPLC), for five years. Dr. Carbo served as president of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (ASIST) in 1989 and was a member of the Library of Congress Network Advisory Committee (NAC) from 1977-1995. She was selected by Drexel University as one of the 100 most distinguished of its 60,000 alumni and was awarded its Centennial Medal. Dr. Carbo is a fellow of the Institute of Information Scientists (IIS) and the Special Libraries Association (SLA) and received the Distinguished Service Award from the Pennsylvania Library Association (PLA) in 1995. She was a member of Council of the American Library Association (ALA) and was named to ALA's Fiftieth Anniversary Honor Roll of Legislative and Grass Roots Library Champions. She served on the SLA's research and international relations committees, and in several other leadership positions in professional associations. She is President of the Association for Library and Information Science Education (ALISE).

Her work in the information field began in 1962 and includes extensive experience with information service producers and users (both libraries and publishers) and in research in the areas of information policy and use. She has an A.B. from Brown University and M.S. and Ph.D. from Drexel University.