Jonathan Furner
Fridays, 1:00-3:00 p.m.
Jonathan Furner (M.A. Cambridge 1990, Ph.D. Sheffield 1994) is a Professor in the Department of Information Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles, and a faculty affiliate of UCLA’s Center for Digital Humanities.
Furner studies the history and philosophy of cultural stewardship, and teaches classes on the representation and organization of archival records, library materials, and museum objects. He has published over fifty papers on these and related topics, frequently using conceptual analysis to evaluate the theoretical frameworks, data models, and metadata standards on which information access systems rely.
From 2009 to 2020, Furner was a member of the Dewey Decimal Classification’s editorial policy committee (DDC EPC), chairing it from 2014 to 2019. He is co-editor of book series for MIT Press and Facet (UK), and a regular reviewer of contributions to journals and conferences in the fields of philosophy of information, knowledge organization, and bibliometrics. He is the author of Information Studies and Other Provocations: Selected Talks 2000-2019, published in 2021 by Library Juice Press.
Titles and Positions
Professor of Information Studies
Education
- B.A. (Hons; now M.A.) in Philosophy / Social and Political Sciences, University of Cambridge, 1987
- M.Sc. in Information Management, University of Sheffield, 1991
- Ph.D. in Information Studies, University of Sheffield, 1994
Awards, Honors, and Fellowships
- UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies' Harold and Lois Haytin Award for Outstanding Research in Teaching and Learning (Los Angeles, CA, September 2009)
- UCLA Office of Residential Life's Faculty-in-Residence of the Year Award (Los Angeles, CA, June 2008)
- UCLA Department of Information Studies' Distinguished Teaching Award (Los Angeles, CA, September 2004)
- UCLA Office of the Chancellor's Faculty Career Development Award (Los Angeles, CA, July 2001)
Select Publications
- Furner, Jonathan. "Lynne C. Howarth: An Annotated Bibliography." Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 59, no. 6 (2021): 524-549. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639374.2021.1919269
- Furner, Jonathan. "From the 'Four Faculties' to YKL: A Brief History of Library Classification in the Nordic Countries, Part I: Denmark, Norway, and Iceland." Library & Information History 37, no. 1 (2021): 1-34. https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/pdf/10.3366/lih.2021.0044
- Furner, Jonathan. "Knowledge Organization in the Wild: The Propaedia, Roget's, and the DDC." Information & Culture 56, no. 1 (2021): 1-31. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639374.2021.1919269
- Furner, Jonathan. Information Studies and Other Provocations: Selected Talks, 2000-2019. Sacramento, CA: Library Juice Press, 2021. https://litwinbooks.com/books/information-studies-and-other-provocations/
