FIMS Giving Profile - Cabot Yu

Headshot of Cabot Yu, wearing glasses and in a lavender shirt.

February 2025

Cabot Yu, MLIS'98, has maintained his ties to FIMS and the LIS program not just through being a donor. He has also taught in the program as a Limited Duties instructor as recently as 2022, and he maintains professional connections in his role as Manager, Information Management (IM) Business Solutions with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada and as co-founder and co-chair of Librarianship.ca. We asked Cabot to tell us a little bit about why he's both a monthly and annual donor. 

Q. Talk a bit about who you are (degree, experiences, current work/community status)

I applied to attend the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, arrived at the Faculty of Communications and Open Learning, and graduated from the Faculty of Information and Media Studies. During that time, I had the opportunity to complete a co-op term in the departmental library at Citizenship and Immigration Canada (now known as Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada) in Ottawa under the supervision of Dawn Monroe, a UWO MLS graduate. When I completed the MLIS program, Dawn offered me a contract position which eventually became a regular position and I've never left. My role today is Manager of Information Management Business Solutions where I work with a team of approximately 30 IM professionals, including six other FIMS MLIS alumna.

Q. Why did you decide to donate to FIMS? What impact do you hope your gifts will have?

Being part of a community includes giving back, contributing, and helping build that community. This is true whether we're talking about the communities we live in or the professional communities we are part of. I'm in a position in my career where in addition to giving time and sharing expertise through associations and organizations and working with new professionals, I can also financially contribute to FIMS to invest in the next generation of information professionals. As a manager with several recent FIMS MLIS alumna on my team, I see firsthand on a daily the basis the skills and competencies they bring to organizations. By donating to FIMS, I want to help make it easier - whether it's by reducing stress related to finances or through programs and services - for students pursuing the MLIS degree to be successful in their studies, be successful as information professionals, and as future colleagues.

Q. Why did you choose to give both monthly and annual gifts?

For practical purposes, monthly giving let's me contribute without needing to think about it - it shows up on my credit card and it gets paid at the end of the month. Annual or ad hoc gifts gives me the flexibility to support a initiative that comes up randomly. For example, last fall our MLIS co-op student attended events in London associated with the launch of the new Starling Centre for Just Technologies and Just Societies. Her enthusiasm prompted me to read up on the Centre and eventually make a contribution to the Starling Centre Fund. Sadly, ad hoc gifts are often to honour members of the community who have passed away.

Q. Can you talk about how you see your consistent contributions as part of the larger collective impact of financially supporting the university and its students?

Like individual contributions in any community, its impact is felt when it's part of a larger effort. My monthly and annual gifts are relatively small, but combined with gifts from other members of the community it can have a large impact on the lives of freshly minted members of our profession.

Q. What would you say to other alumni who may be considering giving to FIMS?

So much of the attention in Western alumni giving is focused on undergraduate needs that it's easy to feel like the needs of grad programs are ignored but there are opportunities to support causes and programs for the MLIS program, including scholarships for Indigenous students and projects like the Starling Centre. Plus it's easy to make a donation - just a few clicks and you get a tax receipt!

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Interested in exploring a gift to FIMS? Visit our Giving to FIMS page or contact Susannah Gergich at sgergic@uwo.ca.