Fighting through the decline

  • A Manifesto for Professional Associations like SLA

    I have threatened, hinted, and joked about writing a manifesto for SLA. This is a very brief and measured version of my thoughts about the association and other professional associations for information and knowledge workers. As such, it’s more general than a pointedly SLA treatise would be, but at the same time it’s important to…

  • Terminology matters: When the personal informs the professional – safety edition.

    Ghost Bike – Emeryville CA flickr photo by roger jones shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC) license (If you aren’t familiar with them, go read about ghost bike memorials.) I’ve been meaning to write a blog post about this topic for a while. There have been discussions in library circles about the need to change…

  • Thank you all for your help in reaching mid-career.

    1950s — Children’s Librarian Hazel Keedle with Reading Club birthday cake, at OLD Ann Arbor Public Library on East Huron Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan. flickr photo by In Memoriam: Wystan shared under a Creative Commons (BY-SA) license A couple of weeks ago over lunch with a colleague, I decided it was really time to call…

  • Can You Calculate the ROI of Academic Freedom and The Public Good?

    On Monday UC-AFT Unit 17 Librarians ratified a tentative agreement on a new contract with UC. I’ve talked about the contract campaign a lot on here, social media, and the local media. Also on Monday, UC issued a proposed new policy on academic freedom for non-faculty academic appointees – librarians, researchers, clinicians, and more. This…

  • Many names means many access points.

    A personal anecdote before we get to the meat of this post – At home we’re teaching the kid about names and how you can call people different things and all of them are correct. Like I am Kendra and mommy. Or they are Eddie or Edmund (despite their fierce protests). It’s a hard concept…