Information Wants To Be Free – Page 2 – A librarian, writer and educator reflecting on the profession and the tools we use to serve our patrons

Conspiracy theory meme from the show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia

So I’m a conspiracy theorist now? A call for retraction

I know a lot of librarians get mad about poorly informed articles about libraries all the time. It's rare that I ever really get truly angry about an article. I…

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When to say yes (or no)

Workaholism is a hard addiction to recover from. It's not like some addictions where you can avoid the places or substances that played a role. Most of us are not…

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Losing my friend, Mark Lindner

Our profession has lost one of its best. My friend, Mark Lindner, died on Monday. Mark wrote one of the best library blogs during that lovely golden age of blogging in the aughts…

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“Listening theater” and employee voice

I’ve been reading a lot about employee voice and silencing in organizations and there’s a phenomenon I haven’t really seen discussed explicitly in the literature, though it's possible I've missed…

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What is slow librarianship?

Last week, there was a lot of chatter about slow librarianship on social media. People were looking for writing on the subject and I realized that my work is scattered…

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Slow life, slow librarianship

It's been a quiet summer over here, focused on family, recovering from the stress of the academic year, and doing a lot of reading. I'd had fantasies of getting a…

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Saying goodbye to American Libraries magazine

I’ve been pretty good about not making big life changes during the pandemic. We didn’t get a pandemic dog, even after finally getting our yard completely fenced-in last August. I’ve…

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Drop the ball

When I visited my parents in December of 2019, they asked me to go through a box of old stuff they wanted to get rid of. My mother had kept…

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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…

Cover of book Red, White, and Royal Blue

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My year in books (and podcasts) 2019

This was a pretty good year for me. Nothing particularly amazing or wonderful or eventful happened to me, though my son has been such a source of pride and light for…

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When libraries and librarians pretend to be neutral, they often cause harm

Two recent events made me think (again) about the toxic nature of "library neutrality" and the fact that, more often than not, neutrality is whiteness/patriarchy/cis-heteronormativity/ableism/etc. parading around as neutrality and…

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…