I found David Bowie at the Valparaiso Public Library in 1993, when I checked out Hunky Dory on LP. A library- I know- my destiny. Listening to “Kooks” for the first time, a song Bowie wrote for his son, Duncan, I promptly accepted Bowie’s invitation to live in his “lovers’ story.” Kooks is a lavishly […]

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Here’s the thing- I love resolutions. I know they’re not for everyone- I know many find them anxiety-inducing or counterproductive. But it’s me, your eternal optimist, and I am here to say I love starting the year with an agenda. Hell, I love starting the day with the agenda. LISTS. PLEASE. MORE. ALWAYS. I am […]

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About three years ago, at the Charleston Conference, I was sitting at a vendor dinner eating a steak (as you do). It was delicious- thank you, Gale. An old timer, a librarian from Wyoming, was bemoaning the way Charleston had blown up. It has gotten bigger in recent years by all accounts. Charleston is my […]

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It was 2010, and I was in library school. At a dinner, a retired librarian told me that getting an MLS was a terrible idea. Jobs were few and far between, and the positions that were available were undesirable. It was scary in there- I should stay away. It was 2012, and I was finishing […]

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Check out the Storify of our recruiting event here.

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I have long been critical of our hiring practices and interview models in academic libraries. I have sat on the interviewer side on many occasions watching candidates struggle and flounder, and it’s not their fault. It’s ours. I have often wondered- what do we think we are measuring by putting candidates through a grueling, repetitive […]

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You may never have met me in real life, and at times in creating this professional portfolio site I’ve wondered how much my personality has actually permeated. Do you know that I’m a joyous sort of person, inclined to chatting and boogieing to music while doing my work? I am. I’m a laugher and a […]

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