What an amazing @illibraryassoc.bsky.social conference! I’m so proud of the work done by the planning committee, awed by all the ILA staff efforts, and grateful for the speakers, presenters, and attendees—you made this conference wonderful. #ILAAC25
Thank you for electing me president.
Day 2 of #ILAAC25. Excited for conversation with @6figga-dilla.bsky.social and a special screening of The Librarians!
#ILAAC25
#ILAAC starts today! Looking forward to three days of learning and camaraderie!
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Tomorrow, October 1, is the deadline to register for #ILAAC25! Don’t miss out on engaging sessions, inspiring speakers, and fun activities.
Plus, Trustee Day and a community project supporting Anew: Building Beyond Violence and Abuse, a domestic violence organization. Register: bit.ly/ILAAC25
Today is the day! You can read WHY I LOVE HORROR with 18 of today's best Horror authors.
In their essays they ALL bring their personal connection to Horror directly to you, their readers.
A post to celebrate with the full table of contents is below.
raforall.blogspot.com/2025/09/why-...
Heartbroken and angered to learn about the cuts affecting my library colleagues at the Chicago History Museum. chicago.suntimes.com/other-views/...
Each day brings another reason to stand up and say no, to fight back, to hold tight to the columns holding up our rights and our freedoms.
We cannot let this wholesale dismantling and auctioning of our country continue unabated. We cannot let it continue, period. 5/5
What is happening right now -- the firing of Dr. Carla Hayden, the appointing of a hush money defense lawyer, the ad hominem attacks against the fundamental mission of the Library of Congress -- is another affront to American democracy by this administration. 4/5
Walking through the LOC (which is just an amazing building), I felt a peace. I felt at home. I felt like I knew where I belonged and I also felt KNOWN.
I would be another year until I applied to an MLIS program but I know that I would not be here today if I hadn't visited the LOC on that day. 3/5
I'd been working in academia as a program coordinator for about 5 years and I knew it wasn't what I wanted to do long term. But what did I want to do? This was the question I was constantly turning over in my head.
That Friday in 2006, I had the beginning of the answer. 2/5
My librarian journey started in the Library of Congress. Nearly 20 years ago, on a Friday in April, my spouse&I took advantage of a day off and visited the Mall in DC. One of our stops was the LOC.
I was struggling at that time. I was a new mother (our daughter was 5 mos old), & I felt lost. 1/5
The firing of Carla Hayden, Librarian of Congress, by Trump is another example in a long list of his intentional actions to remove POC in positions of power, to regulate what information citizens have access to, & to hamstring democracy in America.
Alarms are sounding but they need to be louder.
omg, I can't stop thinking about this scene. Truly.
Picture of a woman with brown hair, glasses, and an olive green cardigan speaking at a brown podium in front of a light beige wall.
I had the privilege of speaking to Illinois library workers at the Reaching Forward North conference this afternoon. I hope my message of strength through connection was well-received. As VP of ILA, I really appreciate the opportunity to thank our library staffers. #ILARF2025
A really great thread about leadership. It doesn't just mean supervision. Well said, @maxgbowman.bsky.social.
As someone constantly considering the different forms leadership takes, including for me, Max's words resonated deeply. This is the kind of thinking this profession needs.
Incredibly disheartened to see this in black and white. Disappointment in our profession, and in the individuals who made this happen.
Librarians have a duty to uphold access and credibility. This is complying in advance to a would-be dictator's whims.
Spineless and shameful.
Depressing and disheartening, to say the least. I know it's silly to be disappointed by multinational companies not showing care for anything other than their bottom line, but here I am anyway. Just a terrible week for libraries. In a terrible month, in a terrible year.
It was clear that no librarians were consulted in this decision, and while the faces on the screen miserably said they wanted to maintain (not sure what there is to maintain when it's not started) open dialog, they demonstrated a complete lack of interest in actually engaging.
Many of you may have attended the town hall today that Clarivate offered as a way to...tamp down the response. Tamp it they did. After a barrage of thumbs down responses, the react button was deactivated. Participants were not given access to chat or able to view what questions were being asked.
I wholeheartedly agree, and call on my academic library colleagues to join me in having a serious conversation about this. Given the perilous state of higher ed right now, this seems a good thing to fight for. 7/7
Siobhan ends: "This strategy may prove to be transformative if we take this as an opportunity to radically explore alternative models to protect equitable access. Our response to these changes may shape the future of academic library collections for years to come – and hopefully for the better." 6/?
Siobhan Haimé (Univ of London) has written a succinct summary of why this decision will decimate some libraries' budgets, and brings up real questions about how libraries move forward with collection development. 5/?
www.uksg.org/newsletter/u...
They also say that libraries are changing their coll dev practices & this will help. It absolutely will not help libraries at institutions like mine, where we budget to the penny & buy individual titles to meet student & fac needs. We don't buy broad packages because most of it wouldn't be used. 4/?
Just because students "increasingly rely" on AI doesn't mean we should capitulate. We're librarians, for crying out loud! We teach students how to do discovery, lit reviews, and research analyses. 3/?
Clarivate has said that part of the reasoning behind this decision is "students increasingly rely on AI-native and AI-powered solutions for a wide range of activities...The ability of academic AI tools to deliver reliable outputs depends on access...academic content." 2/?
I'm plagiarizing my alt-account to speak up about what's happening in academic libraries right now.
This week, Clarivate sent an announcement explaining that it was killing off it's DDA and single-title book purchase programs and replacing it with a subscription model. 1/?
I had a conversation this morning where I was able to sing the praises of the @illibraryassoc.bsky.social & highlight how lucky we are to have a governor & a secretary of state who understand the value & importance of libraries. I'm heartsick for colleagues in Iowa, Arkansas, North Dakota, & others.
Alarming, to say the least.
