Fighting through the decline

  • Holding the Line: Professional ethics, procedures, praxis

    I’ve been thinking a lot about the impossible task of trying to hold decaying institutions together while a fascist coup burns through all of our structures. We have to try to preserve and persevere because there’s no other choice. A couple of things I read lately have helped me focus these thoughts. First is this…

  • Liaison Librarians and Democratic Institutions

    It feels kind of trite to blog about liaison librarians during a coup eviscerating our country, but here we are. In November I wrote about the need for library workers to self reflect and organize in preparation for the fascist takeover on the horizon. I called for the need for us to organize not just…

  • Who are academic libraries for? Administrators?

    Earlier this fall when the Oakland A’s said goodbye to the Coliseum, there was a collective sadness for what we were collectively losing. (Months later, I still have a hard time thinking about it without choking up a little, but baseball is always so much more than the game on the field.) In thinking about…

  • Libraries, professional standards, and praxis

    Longtime readers of this oft neglected blog know I strongly believe in making sure your values are present in your work, whatever that may be. Last week as I was watching the the Twitter/X-odous to Bluesky (Hi- I’m on Blueksy!), I was reminded of so many people I stopped following and forgot about when I…

  • Adventures in bibliometrics – the pitfalls of Google Scholar Citations

    How do you measure the impact of research? It’s a huge question and lots of people have tried to come up with answers, but it’s kind of a pointless question. Believe me, I tried! One of the core issues is how do you define impact? If you’re looking for qualitative methods, it will be extremely…