Slow management in a fast world
Last month, I had the great pleasure of keynoting the CALM (Conference on Academic Library Management) Conference, which is consistently one of my favorites. The video of my talk, Slow…
Strike time, collective action, and moral conviction in library leadership
I’m on strike right now, along with thousands of other faculty, academic professionals, and staff at Portland Community College (that's two unions, friends!). It’s a weird feeling. I never thought…
Posted inslow librarianship Work Work-life balance
When I surrendered to the current
One author whose newsletter I read avidly is Dr. Zed Zha. In Ask the Patient, she writes about holding on to humanity and humility as a health care provider and…
The double life of being chronically ill at work, slow librarianship, and checking in as an expression of care
Developing a long-term illness, whether chronic or acute, is like being dropped into a country completely unfamiliar to you. You don’t know the language, the customs, the cuisine, the people.…
Toxic comparison, time poverty, and a manager’s duty of care
I haven’t written anything in a while because it’s been a really hard few months. My health has taken a turn for the worse with a new condition – also…
Posted inDisability librarianship Work
The Crushing Mental Load of Disability
Photo credit: Statue Atlas by PeterKraayvanger on Pixabay This isn’t the essay I was planning to publish next. I’ve been working on an essay about the lack of solidarity around…
Community Time and Enoughness: The heart of slow librarianship
Photo credit: Mushrooms surrounded by trees by Valentin S. This is the sixth and final essay in a series of essays I've written on time. You can view a list…
Posted inslow librarianship Time Work Work-life balance
Queer Time, Crip Time, and Subverting Temporal Norms
Photo credit: The Harvesters by Pieter Bruegel the Elder This is the fifth in a series of essays I've written on time. You can view a list of all of…
Meredith’s Slow Productivity (not to be mistaken for Cal Newport’s Faux Slow Productivity)
Image credit: Dolce Far Niente by John William Godward This is the fifth in a series of essays I've written on time. You can view a list of all of…
Slow productivity is a team sport: A critique of Cal Newport’s Slow Productivity
Image credit: Dolce far Niente by John Singer Sargent This is the fourth in a series of essays I've written on time. You can view a list of all of…
Posted inslow librarianship Time Work Work-life balance
With Work Time at the Center
This is the second in a series of essays I've written on time. You can view a list of all of them on the first essay. Once upon a time,…
Posted inlibraries management MPOW Work
Open Offices are Neither More Open nor More Equitable
I can’t properly describe the level of annoyance I felt when I read Steven Bell’s latest piece in College and Research Libraries News about open offices entitled “We’re all about…
Out of sight, out of mind? prioritizing support of online learners
It’s been eighteen years and I can’t believe this is still an issue. In 2005, I started my first professional library job as a distance learning librarian. At the time,…
Slow librarianship and prioritizing life over work
I recently wrote an essay for CHOICE's LibTech Insights blog entitled "Building a Better Library Tech Future with Slow Librarianship." It provides a brief introduction to slow librarianship, how it…
Posted inabout me instruction librarianship libraries Work
The power of shame and belonging
In my last post, I wrote about the absolutely monstrous difficulty I was having getting off the migraine prevention medication (that wasn't actually preventing migraines) I had been taking for…
Vocational awe is always harmful
A friend of mine wrote a tweet that really made me think the other day: I understand arguments against a default "vocational awe," but much of the discourse denies the…
Posted inlibrarianship libraries slow librarianship Work
Valuing maintenance
My town maintains an old dairy farm from the turn of the 20th century that now contains public gardens, a CSA, and community garden plots. In the Summer and Fall,…
Posted incommunity college libraries instruction librarianship mid-career slow librarianship Work Work-life balance
Stop normalizing overwork
In the years that I have been trying my best to avoid overwork, I've become more attuned to the signs that I am indeed overworking. I usually notice one of…
Posted inlibrarianship slow librarianship Work
Cultures of care and solidarity
I had a dream the other night about my high school history teacher Mr. Farina who I haven't seen since I graduated and he retired. I was ridiculously happy to…
Universal design for work?
I've had migraines for over 20 years. I didn't seek workplace accommodations for them until this year. The biggest barrier to getting accommodations at work was my own internalized ableism,…
