University at Buffalo

Saguna Shankar (she/her)

Saguna Shankar

Assistant Professor

INFORMATION SCIENCE


Specialty/Research Focus

Information Practice; Information Policy; Migration; Climate and Environment; Care

Contact Information
319 Foster Hall, South Campus
Phone: 716-645-1481
sagunash@buffalo.edu

Personal website



Professional Summary:

For more about my research and teaching, please visit my website.

Education and Training:
  • PhD, University of British Columbia, Library, Archival and Information Studies (2023)
  • MLIS, University of British Columbia, Library and Information Studies (2016)
  • BA, University of London, English (2013)
Awards and Honors:
  • CAIS Doctoral Dissertation Award; Canadian Association for Information Science / l’Association Canadienne des Sciences de l’Information; 2024-06-01;
  • ASIS&T Doctoral Dissertation Award; Association for Information Science and Technology; 2024-06-01;
  • ALISE/The Eugene Garfield Doctoral Dissertation Competition; Association for Library and Information Science Education; 2024-05-01;
Recent Publications:
Journal Article:
  • Shankar, S. & Nathan, L. P. (2026). Interdependence in information practices: Differences matter when caring for immigration data in Canada. Journal of Documentation, 82(7), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1108/JD-05-2025-0148
  • Hands, A., & Shankar, S. (2025). Back from crisis mode: Exploring care-centered approaches to teaching in LIS. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 66 (1), 85–93. https://doi.org/10.3138/jelis-2024-0052
:
  • Harris, T. & Shankar, S. (2025). American drone surveillance & information policy implications. Proceedings of the Association for Library and Information Science Education Annual Conference. https://doi.org/10.21900/j.alise.2025.2024
  • Julien, H., Abramovich, S., Burns, S., & Shankar, S. (2025). Artificial intelligence: Implications for the MLS curriculum and pedagogy. Proceedings of the Association for Library and Information Science Education Annual Conference. https://doi.org/10.21900/j.alise.2025.1938
  • Mortada, H., Shankar, S., Pagan, S., & Dodson, S. (2025). An exploratory data analysis of keyword associations in LIS immigration scholarship. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 62(1), 1603–1605. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.1481
Recent Presentations:
Invited Lectures:
  • Dunbar, H. & Shankar, S. (2025, October 23). Revealing restricted voices: The Love Canal interview redaction project. Documentary Heritage and Preservation Services for New York [Presentation]. https://youtu.be/s5S710xhuZU;
  • Shankar, S. (2024, October 14–17). Caring for newcomer communities and their data: An inquiry into interdependence in information practices [Paper presentation]. Proceedings of the Association for Library and Information Science Education Annual Conference, Portland, Oregon, United States.;
Conferences:
  • Shankar, S. (2025, September 3–6). “Forgotten families in the Love Canal story”: Calling attention to disappearances, suppressions, and voids in environmental justice crises as data care work. [Paper presentation]. Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science, Seattle, Washington, United States.;
  • Shankar, S. (2023, November 8–11). What’s the use of data? Epistemic authority and environmental injustice at Love Canal [Poster presentation]. Annual Meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science, Honolulu, Hawaii, United States.;
  • Sinnamon, L., Nathan, L., Shankar, S., Hansen, M., and Marshall, D. (2023, June 6–9). Deliberating climate action @ the library: Supporting sense making & meaning making in the midst of uncertainty and difference [Panel presentation]. Annual Conference of the Canadian Association for Information Science / l’Association Canadienne des Sciences de l’Information. https://cais2023.ca/talk/panel2/Panel2.pdf;

Contact Information

319 Foster Hall, South Campus
Phone: 716-645-1481
sagunash@buffalo.edu

Personal website