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AUSTIN, TX--February 2, 2010--The University of Texas at Austin School of Information announces the establishment of The Roberta I. Shaffer Graduate Fellowship in Law Librarianship & Legal Information Studies. The $50,000 student endowment will provide support to students enrolled in the new JD/MSIS joint degree program with the School of Law as well as iSchool students with a law degree who are interested in law librarianship. The fellowship is a gift from Roberta Shaffer, who was professor and dean of the UT Graduate School of Library and Information Science from 1999 to 2002 and was appointed Law Librarian of Congress in 2009. A leading figure in both legal and library communities, Shaffer was well known for her distinguished career in academia, private practice, and organizational leadership before her appointment to the Library of Congress. "I am delighted that two stellar schools at the University of Texas at Austin-- the iSchool and the Law School--are joining forces to create a unique and much needed joint degree program in law librarianship," said Shaffer. "On a professional level, I look foward to benefitting from the fruits of this endeavor in terms of the high-quality of graduates and scholarship in law libranianship that it will yield. On a personal level, I am always pleased to have my name associated with an institution that is the focal point of such great memories for me." "We are honored to receive this gift from such a good friend of the school," said Andrew Dillon, Dean of the School of Information. "Roberta is a leader within law libraries, and her support of our new program in legal information studies will enable us to recruit the best students to become the future leaders of the field." The joint JD/MSIS degree was approved the faculties of the UT Austin School of Law and School of Information and launched in Fall 2010, and an article outlining the new program was featured in the Dec 2010 issue of Spectrum, the official publication of the American Association of Law Libraries. #### Luke Dunlap Director of Development & External Relations University of Texas School of Information 1616 Guadalupe Street, Suite 5.202 Austin, TX 78701-1213 512.471.8421 desk 512.656.3598 mobile http://www.ischool.utexas.edu