Work – Page 2 – Information Wants To Be Free

In all the bad… some good things

Wow, this has been a hard year. No one's life has been untouched by 2020 between the pandemic and unrelenting proof that the social safety net has been dismantled by late-stage capitalism, the…

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Making Customizable Interactive Tutorials with Google Forms

Please note that the copies of these tutorials have not been updated since 2020 and Google Forms has many new features that have come out since then. In September, I…

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The crushing expectations on working women and where’s my fucking village?

On Friday and Saturday, my Twitter feed was full of anger and frustration over a blog post on the ALSC (Association for Library Services to Children) Blog. Entitled "How Motherhood Has…

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Recognition doesn’t have to be a zero sum game

As usual, the week the 2020 Library Journal Movers and Shakers were announced, I saw plenty of complaints about the award and, in some cases, awardees. I’ve been reading this…

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Thoughts on work, well-being, solidarity, and advocacy in our current… situation

I have been wanting to blog for weeks. I have several blog posts I started that I just couldn't get through. My attention span reminds me of my son's at…

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#LISMentalHealth: That time my brain and job tried to kill me

Happy LIS Mental Health Week friends! I want to start this post by recognizing someone who has done a great deal to support library workers' mental health in the face of…

Painting of an idle woman entitled Dolce far niente by John William Godward

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Thoughts at Mid-Career Part 4 – The Cult of Productivity: You’re Never Doing Enough

This is the fourth in a series of essays. You can access the rest here, though it’s not necessary to read them all or in order. “These days, I just want to slow…

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Thoughts at Mid-Career Part 3 – Our Achievement Culture: What You’re Doing Will Never Be Enough

This is the third in a series of essays. You can access the rest here, though it’s not necessary to read them all or in order. Of all my annoying qualities, my…

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Thoughts at Mid-Career Part 2 – Ambition: You are Not Enough

This is the second in a series of essays. You can access the first here, though it's not necessary to read them all or in order: “So maybe my great…

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Thoughts at Mid-Career Part 1 – Letting Go, Questioning, and Pathfinding

This is the first in a (probably) five-part series of essays. For about two years, until January, I felt a disturbing lack of ambition. I felt directionless and passionless; devoid…

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“Devaluing” the MLS vs. respect for all library workers

I'm sure some of you remember the big push last year and early this year to require the MLS for the Executive Director of the American Library Association (ALA) --…

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Wayfinding and balance at mid-career

It's LIS Mental Health Week; a week focused on raising awareness of mental health. This post isn't about mental health per se, but something that I think, for me, is very…

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Choose your own professional involvement adventure

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…

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Bias in climbing the career ladder and Hillary Clinton

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…

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Playing the super-productive librarian. My #LISMentalHealth Week post

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…

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Should the horrible first job search be seen as a rite-of-passage?

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.…

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The insidious nature of “fit” in hiring and the workplace

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,…

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True confessions

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…

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On tenure, after three years on the tenure track

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…