Associate professor of information studies part of inaugural cohort of campuswide scholars who mentor their early and mid-career colleagues.
Gregory Leazer, UCLA associate professor of information studies, has been selected as one of the inaugural cohort of the UCLA Faculty Mentoring Honor Society. Supported by a UCOP grant, the Faculty Mentoring Honor Society recognizes UCLA faculty who have given of their time and effort to the mentorship of early and mid-career faculty. The society honors the mentorship of underrepresented faculty with respect to identities such as race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender, and disability. Professor Leazer is among 12 full-time faculty members who will be honored at an induction celebration on May 19 for their contributions to fostering a strong and diverse intellectual community at UCLA.
Professor Leazer’s research interests include bibliographic control, organization of information, bibliographic works and relationships, and cataloging and classification. Recent publications include serving as co-editor of a special issue of “Knowledge Organization on the Politics of Classification” (2019) with UCLA colleague Robert Montoya, assistant professor of information studies, and the article, “Feeling Documents: Toward a Phenomenology of Information Seeking,” (with Patrick Keilty, 2018) for the Journal of Documentation. In 2016, Leazer presented “iSchools, Legitimacy, and the Contribution of Archival Studies to the iSchool Movement” at the iConference in Philadelphia.
Leazer achieved his doctorate of liberal studies and his master’s degree at the School of Library Service at Columbia University. He is currently working on a project to establish Kosovo’s first training program for librarians to promote the nation’s cultural institutions and heritage with Professor Montoya and UCLA doctoral student and CSU Northridge instructor Sean Pessin.
Earlier this year, Professor Leazer was awarded a research agenda pilot grant by the Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC), a division of the American Library Association.
Leazer’s project will address the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion with Children and Families section of the ALSC Research Agenda, in search of an answer to questions around the barriers to library patronage and participation for underrepresented children and families.