Thomas Walker
Professor (on leave for the 2023-24 academic year)
313-577-0350
Office Location
101 Kresge Library
Thomas Walker
Tom Walker joined the School of Information Sciences after serving at Long Island University, where he was the interim dean of the libraries and associate dean and director of the Palmer School of Library and Information Science.
Walker spent a large part of his career at the School of Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee (UWM). After gaining tenure and promotion, he left for an opportunity to direct the School of Library and Information Science at the University of Southern Mississippi, but returned to UWM four years later to serve as the interim dean of the School of Information Studies before moving on to Long Island University. At UWM, Walker participated in campuswide governance groups and projects related to assessment, curriculum, tenure and promotion, and marketing. Between 2013 and 2016, he was the executive director of the Wisconsin Center for the Book, an affiliate program of the Library of Congress.
Walker received his doctorate in information studies from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He holds a bachelor's in music from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a master of arts in library science from the University of Chicago. He also holds a master’s in music history, literature and theory from Northwestern University.
The author of over 100 publications that have ranged from short journal articles about aspects of the history of libraries to longer treatments of topics in knowledge organization, scholarly communication and historical bibliography, Walker has presented at conferences and workshops in England, Scotland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, China, Kuwait, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Canada.