Joseph J. Mika, professor in the School of Library and Information Science, is a longtime member of the faculty, having joined the LIS Program in August 1986. He served as Director from August 1986 to January 1994 and again January 2002 to September 2007.  His areas of expertise in LIS are: administration; strategic planning; leadership; collection development; customer service, and personnel assessment. 

Degrees and Certifications

• University of Pittsburgh, Ph.D., Library Administration
• University of Pittsburgh, M.L.S., Library Administration
• University of Pittsburgh, B.A., English Literature

Awards and Honors

• Beta Phi Mu, 1971
• Beta Psi Chapter, University of Southern Mississippi, Honorary Lifetime Membership, 1986
• G. Flint Purdy Award, Wayne State University, 1993
• Outstanding Young Men of America, 1982
• Phi Delta Kappa, 1979
• Association for Library and Information Science Education for 10 years service as editor of the Journal of Education for Library and Information Science (1995-2004)
• Who's Who in America, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 
• Who's Who in American Education, 1994, 1995, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007
• Who's Who in the Midwest, 1993, 1996,  1997, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006

Areas of Expertise

Administration; strategic planning; leadership; collection development; customer service, and personnel assessment

Recent Grants

• H.W. Wilson Foundation 2008
• Roseville Public Library, 2007
• Rochester Public Library, 2006
• Library and Information Science Alumni Association, 2006 
• H.W. Wilson Company, for upgrading MediaSite, 2006
• H.W. Wilson Company, for support of scholarships, 2006
• “Library Education for Administrators and Directors,” Cynthia Faulhaber and H.W. Wilson Foundation, 2006

Research Interests

Dr. Mika's current research interest focuses on international librarianship and strategic planning.

Research Title

Global Possibilities for Library and Information Science Programs

Research Project

Professor Mika received a research grant from the H.W. Wilson Foundation in 2008 to explore global possibilities of international library and information science programs and potential impact on U.S. library and information science programs.

Second Research Title

Library Services to the Arabic-Speaking Community. Published in: Public Library Quarterly, Vol. 28, no. 2. 2009

Second Research Project

The Arab population in the United States has nearly doubled since the 1980 census, with Michigan and the metropolitan Detroit area leading the nation in growth. With Charlene Al-Qallaf of Kuwait University, the two researchers are ascertaining if public libraries in Michigan with the largest Arabic-speaking populations in residence are providing this population with collections and services targeted to their specific needs.

For full text of the article see:  http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a911441961

Third Research Title

Comparison of LIS education in other countries

Third Research Project

Published as, "Signifikante Unterschiede in der Ausbildung" (Significant Differences in Training), in the German periodical BuB [Buch und Bibliothek - Book and Library] Dr. Mika and co-author Debbie Rabina (Assistant Professor in the School of Information and Library Science, Pratt Institute, New York) explore ten areas that Germans interested in library and information science should know about the study of LIS in the United States.  The full article can be found on pages 218-223 in BuB at: http://www.b-u-b.de/cgi-local/byteserver.pl/pdfarchiv/Heft-BuB_03_2010.pdf#page=1&view=fit&toolbar=0&pagemode=bookmarks.

This article builds upon the authors' travels and study of the US and German LIS schools and their visit to LIS programs in Germany during May 2009 that was sponsored by the Goethe Institute (and for Dr. Mika, also by the H.W. Wilson Company).

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