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…
Last month, I had lunch with two friends who are also in academia. We talked a lot about professional ambitions and "extracurricular" professional involvement. One of them is starting a…
This race must be familiar for many women: she’s overqualified for the promotion, he’s unqualified, and yet it’s still a contest.— (((Touré))) (@Toure) July 29, 2016 I had lunch with…
I have been very fortunate to address librarians nationally and internationally as a speaker. I love sharing my ideas, experiences, and things I’ve learned and meeting other librarians. I have…
I know a lot of librarians who've suffered with depression or anxiety, take psychotropics, or who go to therapy. It makes me wonder if people with mental illness are drawn…
First, full disclosure: I am a columnist for American Libraries. They pay me to write columns every other month in which I state my opinion on various things relating somewhat…
I felt really sad when I read Kyle Shockey's post on the Librarian Burnout blog about feeling burnout after library school and being in the midst of the job hunt.…
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…
Organizational culture is a very real and a very powerful force in every organization. I have worked in a variety of different organizations and each had had its own rituals, norms,…
When I graduated from library school, I worried about anti-online-degree bias. I worried that people would think my degree was somehow "less than" because I'd done it fully online. I…
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…
When my brain was completely full on Thursday at the ACRL Conference, Jad Abumrad's keynote felt like a spa for my brain. For those who don't know, he is the…
I'm sure most of you have already heard that the ACRL Board has decided to adopt the Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. What I think is more interesting…
Update: I've been in touch with a Springshare representative who tells me that things like the contextually aware D2L widget from Portland State University will work in LibGuides 2.0 and…
Teaching is such a solitary thing. Sure, you're up in front of a bunch of students, and maybe an instructor if you're doing course-integrated instruction, but the act still feels…
I know it's been a while since I last posted. I've almost written a few posts on the vitriol I've been seeing from librarians on social media over the past couple…
Just gave a fun whirlwind instructional technology talk and I wanted to provide the slides and links below for the attendees (and anyone else who's interested). Slides: Links: Tools for…
I wanted to write about the Library Assessment Conference as soon as I returned, but unfortunately, life got in the way. I got barely a week and a half before…
Way back in 2005, I wrote a post about tenure for librarians in which I argued against it. Since then, I've spent six years as a librarian with faculty rank and…