Administrative Correspondence File, 1979-1993

In 1972, a Research Services Office was created by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences "to assist the faculty in certain departments on any aspect of grants and contracts" by keeping announcements of funding sources, grant applications, and related materials.¹ The office published a Grants and Contracts Handbook and a regular Research Report. In 1979, the office's purview was extended to include the Departments of Agriculture and Education. The office developed and maintains a computerized Illinois Researcher Information System (IRIS). This includes the IRIS expertise service, previously known as the Illinois Researcher Network (IRN), which contains biographical and professional information on University faculty and researchers.

In December 1979, the Research Services Office was reorganized as the Campus-Wide Research Services Office, placed under the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, and made responsible for collecting and disseminating grant information for all University colleges and departments.² On June 30, 1994, the office was renamed the Illinois Research Information Service and placed under the Library.³ It is partially supported by income from subscriber institutions which contract to use the IRIS databases.

1. Research Report, Vol. 3, No. 1, September 10, 1974. (RS 7/16/805)

2. Research Report, Vol. 8, No. 8., January 18, 1980.

3. Memo from Vice Chancellor for Research Chet Gardner, August 4, 1994.