Rate My Professor Virginia Tucker

Tucker's research centers on information retrieval theory and practice, search expertise, threshold concepts in learning, human-centered design, and professional identity in library and information science. She authored Design Concepts in Information Retrieval: Creating User-centered Systems, Search Engines, and Sites (2024), co-authored Finding the Answers to Legal Questions (2nd ed., 2018), and edited Information Retrieval System Design: Principles and Practice (2015, updated annually). Notable peer-reviewed works include "Making it Tangible: Hybrid Card Sorting within Qualitative Interviews" (Journal of Documentation, 2019, 139 citations), "Learning Experiences and the Liminality of Expertise" (2016), and "Learning Portals: Analyzing Threshold Concept Theory for LIS Education" (Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 2014). At SJSU, she coordinates the core curriculum for Information Retrieval System Design, supervises PhD students (including three completions), advises MLIS e-portfolios and theses, and teaches courses in information architecture, advanced searching, and human-centered design. Her contributions influence LIS education, search instruction, and doctoral socialization through publications and program leadership.