Information Wants To Be Free – Page 3 – A librarian, writer and educator reflecting on the profession and the tools we use to serve our patrons

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…

My year in books, 2018

I had such good intentions to blog more this year, but the second half of 2018 has thrown me a lot of curveballs emotionally and it's pulled me away from a…

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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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My year in books 2017

Reading this year has been so many things for me. An escape. A way to educate myself. A way to see my own struggles in a different way through another's…

Wikis

Saying goodbye to the Library Success Wiki

In July 2005, on the heels of the successful ALA Annual 2005 Wiki, I developed the Library Success Wiki. Here's what I said about it then: "I would like this…

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The ballad of the sad instruction librarian

It's been a busy Fall term so far and I haven't had much time to spend on Twitter, but I usually check it first thing every morning. When I did…

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Whose rights matter more?

My dad recently shared with me a book, written by a distant cousin who is a professor in Israel, about her grandmother's immigrant experience and her relatives. Her grandmother just…

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Dear Professor

I knew something was very wrong toward the end of Freshman year at Wesleyan. I'd begun to withdraw from the circle of friends I'd become so close to over the…

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Framework Freakout presentation and Questions Answered

Last week, I gave an online presentation about the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy for the ACRL Student Learning & Information Literacy Committee. It was entitled Framework Freakout: How to Stop…

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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…

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2016 wasn’t all bad

As I alluded to in my last post, this year was a difficult one for me personally that ended up turning out for the better. I know that many of…

My year in reading 2016

2016 has been one hell of a year. It started out for me with optimistic giddiness, then crashed into the land of extreme stress and fear and stayed there rather…

General

Uniting (not shaming) in a post-election America

I, like so many people I know, am trying to process my feelings about last week's election, reflect on what it all means, and thinking about what concrete things I…

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Is the Framework Elitist? Is ACRL?

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…

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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…