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Against Accreditation

I attend a school of library and information science that has not been accredited by the American Library Association. Sources tend to agree: this fact makes me at best naïve, at worst unhirable—and a sucker either way. Maybe…

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What’s in a program?

Recently a panel of Catholic University of America faculty and department affiliates interviewed me as a part of a scholarship application process. They were very intrigued about my affiliation with […]

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History of LIS Education

When we talk about LIS education, we’re talking about providing education for a professional career in libraries, with all the traits the word ‘profession’ implies: professionalism, prolonged training, and formal education. This […]

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HB2, NC Libraries, and Why You Should Care

In the words of Charlotte’s Mayor Jennifer Roberts, “This legislation is literally the most anti-LGBT legislation in the country. It sanctions discrimination against the LGBT community.” The legislation provides legal protection of rights in employment and public accommodation for individuals on the basis of “race, religion, color, national origin, age, biological sex or handicap,” and goes on to state that these protections cannot be expanded by “any ordinance, regulation, resolution, or policy adopted or imposed by a unit of local government or other political subdivision of the State.” In other words, local governments can no longer define discrimination within their own towns, cities, or counties.

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algorithms and libraries: a case for paying attention

That technology influences information and behavior through built-in and often invisible assumptions is neither a new phenomenon nor new to dialogue among librarians. (Although we could always stand to talk about it more than we already do.) In this post, I highlight some recent contributions on algorithms and libraries in hopes of keeping it in the forefront. If we didn’t already, librarians have to care about algorithms now.