Category: Observations

  • Library workers – let’s talk about solidarity

    This month UC-AFT is kicking off contract bargaining for UC librarians, so I have organizing on the brain. In a lot of the discussions I’ve had with people on campus and beyond, the issue of “professionalism” has come up a lot. Which in turn makes me think about the historic tension between librarians and paraprofessionals.…

  • Gaining perspective today by reading about yesterday.

    I’m finishing up Pat Brown‘s 1970 book Reagan and Reality and I’m already raring to tear into his follow up Reagan: The Political Chameleon. It’s been edifying reading Brown’s take on California politics and Reagan leading into the 1970 election for a number of reasons. I mean, I learned about the mini-memo! On many levels I agree…

  • Career growth shouldn’t be traumatic. We need to nurture not haze.

    Colman Park, 1950 flickr photo by Seattle Municipal Archives shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license Yesterday somebody reminded me of a significant and traumatic episode in my early career. I was fresh out of library school, less than a year into my job as a professional librarian, and in the hustle phase. You know,…

  • On memos, details, nuance, and information

    Memos have been in the news a lot lately, what with the whole Nunes memo fiasco going on. It’s four pages long, which makes it kind of lengthy. The Democrats’ rebuttal should be released if and when the White House approves it, but apparently it’s longer than Nunes’ memo, which means President Trump probably won’t…

  • Adventures in text mining part 1: Getting started

    Fishing flickr photo by Homini:) shared under a Creative Commons (BY) license Someday I may sit down and write this all out into a good research paper I can shop around to open access academic venues, but I thought it would be cool and possibly helpful to somebody out there to talk about my research…