Holding to our values during difficult times

SEE FULL POST

Holding to our values during difficult timesALA, free the information!, intellectual freedom, librarianship, libraries, open access, our digital future

by Meredith Farkas on 1/3/2017 with Comments Off on Holding to our values during difficult times

I write a lot in my American Libraries column about library values, particularly those around access and privacy. My latest column (Jan/Feb 17), which should be out soon online just also came out this morning, is a love letter to critical librarianship in which I share my conviction (shared by many) that libraries are not …

continue reading ...

Tags:
Is the Framework Elitist? Is ACRL?

SEE FULL POST

Is the Framework Elitist? Is ACRL?ALA, free the information!, instruction, librarianship, libraries, online education, open access

by Meredith Farkas on 10/18/2016 with 21 comments

Many of you who read my blog already know that I came to librarianship from social work, where I was a child and family psychotherapist. As a therapist, one of our major guiding documents (whether we liked it or not) was the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). The DSM determined what things …

continue reading ...

Tags:
The Next Librarian of Congress?

SEE FULL POST

The Next Librarian of Congress?ALA, free the information!, intellectual freedom, librarianship, libraries, management, open access

by Meredith Farkas on 10/6/2015 with Comments Off on The Next Librarian of Congress?

Late last week, I received an email from the culture editor at the New Republic about writing an article on the next Librarian of Congress. It was the first offer I’ve ever had to write for a non-library-centric publication and the New Republic has a political bent I really respect, so it was an offer …

continue reading ...

Tags:
You could learn a lot from us: community college librarians at ACRL

SEE FULL POST

You could learn a lot from us: community college librarians at ACRLassessment, community college libraries, community colleges, free the information!, instruction, librarianship, libraries, open access

by Meredith Farkas on 4/9/2015 with 8 comments

ACRL was ridiculously amazing this year. I feel energized, affirmed, and hopeful (and completely exhausted and sick since it ended). The programming was so high-quality and relevant that, in most cases, I had at least four options in every time slot on my planner that I wanted to attend. Luckily, ACRL records all the sessions …

continue reading ...

Tags:
Opening up knowledge on the tenure track

SEE FULL POST

Opening up knowledge on the tenure trackfree the information!, librarianship, libraries, open access, research, tenure track, writing

by Meredith Farkas on 10/23/2013 with 10 comments

I’m not a hero. I’m not an open access warrior. I’m not one of those people who would risk their career on the cross of Open Access. I’m not a badass who makes demands of publishers. I ask nicely. I’m on the tenure track and the idea of walking away from an opportunity to publish …

continue reading ...

Tags:
Mobile Learning: The Teacher in Your Pocket

SEE FULL POST

Mobile Learning: The Teacher in Your Pocketfree the information!, instruction, libraries, open access, our digital future, tech trends, writing

by Meredith Farkas on 4/23/2013 with 4 comments

There’s a great new book out on mobile technologies in libraries and I was fortunate to have been asked to contribute a chapter on mobile learning and mobile instruction in libraries. The book is called The Handheld Library: Mobile Technology and the Librarian and it was edited by the undeniably awesome Tom Peters and Lori …

continue reading ...

Tags:

Faculty inertia and change in scholarly publishingfree the information!, librarianship, libraries, open access, our digital future

by Meredith Farkas on 8/1/2011 with 8 comments

I loved Barbara Fister’s recent post, “Breaking News: Academic Journals are Really Expensive!”, about faculty who seem surprised that journals cost the library a lot. Kind of amazing to think that these are people who produce and review content for these journals. And the quote from Peter Murray-Rust’s blog stating that “[librarians] should have altered …

continue reading ...

Tags:

A lot of Davids make one heck of a GoliathALA, free the information!, libraries, open access, our digital future, tech trends

by Meredith Farkas on 4/5/2010 with 9 comments

In response to my post a few days ago about EBSCO, Sarah Houghton-Jan just wrote an impassioned post about unethical vendor practices, suggesting that we let our vendors know when we are not happy with what they’re doing. While I do agree that libraries should make their dissatisfaction with specific vendors or vendor practices known …

continue reading ...

Tags:

Giving and TakingALA, free the information!, hi, librarianship, online education, open access, open source, social software, Wikis

by Meredith Farkas on 6/28/2007 with 19 comments

Oh Meredith, why can’t you just write a nice, short, concise post? I really don’t know what happens! I start writing and my fingers just seem to take over. This is what happens when my husband goes away and leaves me alone with my thoughts. Sorry folks! Something I frequently think about when I go …

continue reading ...

Tags:

IL2006 Day 2: Institutional Repository Basics: From Soup to Nutsfree the information!, open access

by Meredith Farkas on 10/25/2006 with 2 comments

Roy Tennant, University of California While I was very interested in all of the talks in the social computing track today, I really wanted to expand my knowledge of certain topics that I know very little about. I knew that Roy would be likely to give a very practical nuts-and-bolts introduction to developing institutional repositories …

continue reading ...

Tags:

The Max Power wayintellectual freedom, open access, our digital future

by Meredith Farkas on 1/18/2005 with Comments Off on The Max Power way

According to Techdirt, a California state senator has introduced a bill that threatens developers of file sharing applications with jail time. John Borland at CNET, writes, “if passed and signed into law, it could expose file-swapping software developers to fines of up to $2,500 per charge, or a year in jail, if they don’t take …

continue reading ...

Tags:

A new corporate approach to intellectual propertyopen access, open source, our digital future

by Meredith Farkas on 1/13/2005 with Comments Off on A new corporate approach to intellectual property

IBM is making 500 of its patents available for free to people doing open source projects. Rock on! From the New York Times: I.B.M. executives say the company’s new approach to intellectual property represents more than a rethinking of where the company’s self-interest lies. In recent speeches, for example, Samuel J. Palmisano, I.B.M.’s chief executive, …

continue reading ...

Tags: