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Biography / Positions / Education
Chris is a senior research scientist at the University of Washington’s Information School’s Technology & Social Change Group. Previously, Chris was a Senior Program Officer for the Global Libraries program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Prior roles include grants management at the Texas State Library & Archives Commission and technology management at the Texas Library Association. Chris also served in multiple roles from 1997 – 2006 in the US Library Program at the Gates Foundation. His research interests include how public libraries support cultivating, producing, and sustaining local knowledge; how public libraries participate in and leverage open data ecosystems for the benefit of their communities; and how serendipity happens in the intersections of physical and digital spaces in which public libraries operate. He also still regales his 3 children with dreams of packing up the library gig and taking over the hot corner for the Cincinnati Reds. Chris holds an MLIS from University of Michigan and BA from University of Oklahoma.
Research Areas
Public Libraries
Open Data
Education
MLIS, University of Michigan, 1995
Publications
Making Ends Meet in a Pandemic: African Library Initiatives During COVID‐19 (2023)Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, vol. 60, no. 1, pp. 895-898
‘The tears don’t give you funding’: data neocolonialism in development in the Global South (2023)Third World Quarterly, vol. 44, no. 5, pp. 911-929
What makes an ideal partner? African libraries and neoliberal discourses in international development (2022)Applied Linguistics
What Makes an Ideal Partner? African Libraries and Neoliberal Discourses in International Development (2022)Applied Linguistics, vol. 43, no. 5, pp. 958-977
Public Libraries and Development Across Sub-Saharan Africa: Overcoming a Problem of Perception (2021)Libri
Public Libraries and Development across Sub-Saharan Africa: Overcoming a Problem of Perception (2021)Libri, vol. 71, no. 4, pp. 419-429
Volunteer geographic information in the Global South: barriers to local implementation of mapping projects across Africa (2021)GeoJournal, vol. 86, no. 5, pp. 2227-2243
Benefits of crowdsourcing for libraries: A case study from Africa (2021)IFLA Journal, vol. 47, no. 2, pp. 168-181
Data challenges for public libraries: African perspectives and the social context of knowledge (2021)Information Development, vol. 37, no. 2, pp. 292-306
Data challenges for public libraries: African perspectives and the social context of knowledge. (2021)
Benefits of Crowdsourcing for Libraries in the Global South: A Case Study from Africa (2020)The IFLA Journal
African Libraries in Development: Perceptions and Possibilities (2020)International Information & Library Review
Benefits of Crowdsourcing for Libraries in the Global South: A Case Study from Africa (2020)IFLA Journal
Volunteer geographic information in the Global South: barriers to local implementation of mapping projects across Africa (2020)GEOJOURNAL
“Think out of the box”: Opportunities from COVID-19 for libraries ()IFLA Journal
Grants and Awards
Scaling Community Through Archives: A National Program to Expand Community Archives (2024)
Funder: Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)Amount: $399,485Collaborators: Marika Cifor (Principal), Chris Jowaisas (Co-Principal), Jason Young (Co-Principal), Cindy Aden (Co-Principal), Sandra Littletree (Co-Principal)This Site is Fake Dot Com: A novel resource for teaching information literacy and a community model to support it (2024)
Funder: Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)Amount: $249,884Collaborators: Stacey Wedlake (Principal), Chris Jowaisas (Co-Principal), Jason Young (Co-Principal)ALA E-Rate Research (2022)
Collaborators: Chris Jowaisas (Principal)E-Rate Commitments: Utilization, Trends, and Impacts on Public Libraries, 2016-2020 (2021)
Funder: American Library Association (ALA)Amount: $29,839Collaborators: Chris Jowaisas (Principal), Bree Norlander (Co-Principal), Jason Young (Co-Principal)The Community Archives Center for Tacoma (2021)
Funder: Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) through Tacoma Public Library (Total award: $247,545)Amount: $56,423Collaborators: Jason Young (Principal), Marika Cifor (Co-Principal), Chris Jowaisas (Co-Principal)Co-designing for Trust: Reimagining Online Information Literacies with Underserved Communities (2021)
Funder: National Science Foundation (NSF) (Total award: $5,000,000)Amount: $2,740,223Collaborators: Jason Young (Principal), Shaun Glaze (Co-Principal), Ahmer Arif (Co-Principal), Jevin West (Co-Investigator), Katharine Davis (Co-Investigator)Digital Navigators Program (2021)
Funder: Washington State Office of Minority and Women’s Business EnterprisesAmount: $34,157Collaborators: Chris Jowaisas (Co-Principal), Stacey Wedlake (Co-Principal)Digital Literacy Skills (2020)
Funder: Seattle Jobs InitiativeAmount: $5,000Collaborators: Chris Jowaisas (Principal)Exploring Physically Distant Technology Access and Assistance to Support Workers in a New Economy (2020)
Funder: University of Washington Population Health InitiativeAmount: $18,699Collaborators: Chris Jowaisas (Co-Principal), Stacey Wedlake (Co-Principal), Matthew Houghton (Co-Principal), Meghan Sebold (Co-Principal), David Keyes (Co-Principal), Ryan Davis (Co-Principal)Leveraging Use of Open Data by Public Library Staff for Community Benefit (2020)
Funder: Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS)Amount: $100,000Collaborators: Chris Jowaisas (Principal), Bree Norlander (Co-Principal)Presentations
Making Ends Meet in a Pandemic: African Library Initiatives During COVID-19 (2023)
86th Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science & Technology - London, United Kingdom
86th Annual Meeting of the Association for Information Science & Technology - London, United Kingdom
Collecting Stories from Underrepresented Communities: How to Co-Create a Community Archive at Your Public Library (2023)
BiblioCommons - Online
BiblioCommons - Online
Collecting Stories from Underrepresented Communities: How to Co-Design a Community Archive at Your Public Library (2023)
BiblioCommons Webinar - Virtual
BiblioCommons Webinar - Virtual
Collecting Stories from Underrepresented Communities: How to Co-Design a Community Archive at Your Public Library (2023)
American Library Association - Chicago, Illinois
American Library Association - Chicago, Illinois
Collecting Stories from Underrepresented Communities: How to Co-Design a Community Archive at Your Public Library (2023)
American Library Association Annual Conference - Wenatchee, WA, USA
American Library Association Annual Conference - Wenatchee, WA, USA
Countering Misinformation, Strengthening Democracy (2023)
NEXT Library Festival - Aarhus, DK
NEXT Library Festival - Aarhus, DK
Collecting Stories from Underrepresented Communities: How to Co-Design a Community Archive at Your Public Library (2023)
Washington Library Association Annual Conference - Wenatchee, WA, USA
Washington Library Association Annual Conference - Wenatchee, WA, USA
Creating a Digital Bridge: Lessons and Policy Implications from a Technology Access and Distribution Program for Low-income Job Seekers (2021)
TPRC2021: The Research Conference on Communications, Information, and Internet Policy. - Virtual
TPRC2021: The Research Conference on Communications, Information, and Internet Policy. - Virtual
E-rate Funding and Libraries: Preliminary Analysis of Trends Post-Modernization (2021)
iConference 2021 - Beijing, China
iConference 2021 - Beijing, China
Advancing Library Visibility in Africa (2019)
3rd African Library & Information Associations & Institutions (AfLIA) Conference & 5th African Library Summit - Nairobi
3rd African Library & Information Associations & Institutions (AfLIA) Conference & 5th African Library Summit - Nairobi
Ensuring the Future of Libraries: Connecting the Academy and the Profession (2018)
Public Library Association Conference - Philadelphia, PA
Public Library Association Conference - Philadelphia, PA
