Steve chats with Allison Waukau, Native Community Liaison at Hennepin County Library, about her work connecting the library with the Native community, how libraries can better hire and retain Native staff, how publishing is (slowly) improving at telling authentic Native stories, and the importance of land acknowledgements. Read the transcript! Allison Waukau (Menominee/Navajo) resides in … Continue reading 223: Allison Waukau
Guest host Troy Swanson chats with Dr. Virginia Campbell, host of the Brain Science Podcast and author of Are You Sure? The Unconscious Origins of Certainty, about why she created and continues the podcast, the hidden layer of the brain, how cognition differs from knowing, and why science is not just a set of boring … Continue reading 222: Brain Science – Dr. VirginiaCampbell
Steve chats with Marshall Breeding, longtime library technologist and writer of the annual Library Systems Report, about the history of library automation, putting together the data for the Library Systems Report, proprietary and open source ILS systems, and how vendors work well with each other (and sometimes don’t). Marshall Breeding is an independent consultant, speaker, … Continue reading 221: Library Systems Report 2022 – MarshallBreeding
Steve chats with researcher and writer Dr. Tasslyn Magnusson, and John Chrastka, Executive Director of EveryLibrary, about Dr. Magnusson’s Book Censorship Database and why EveryLibrary Institute wanted to support and promote it, the integrity of the book challenge process and how it’s often hijacked and corrupted, and why Steve and John will never get email … Continue reading 220: Dr. TasslynMagnusson
Steve chats with Paula Willey, co-author (with Andria Amaral) of The Passive Programming Playbook: 101 Ways to Get Library Customers Off the Sidelines, about what passive programming is, why libraries should be doing it, some creative examples, and why candy corn divides Paula and Andria’s friendship. Read the transcript! Paula Willey is a librarian at … Continue reading 219: Passive ProgrammingPlaybook
Steve chats with the 2022 candidates for President of the American Library Association: Emily Drabinski, Critical Pedagogy Librarian and Interim Chief Librarian at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, and Kelvin Watson, executive director of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District. Read the transcript! Emily Drabinski is Critical Pedagogy Librarian and Interim Chief … Continue reading 218: ALA Presidential Candidates(2022)
Steve chats with Dion Graham, actor and audiobook narrator, about his love of libraries from an early age, how he approaches books he’s going to be narrating, representation in audio work, and some of the recent books he’s narrated. Read the transcript! Dion Graham, from HBO’sThe Wire, also narratesThe First 48on A&E. A multiple AudieAward–winning … Continue reading 217: Dion Graham
Guest host Troy Swanson chats with Lisa Feldman Barrett, University Distinguished Professor of Psychology at Northeastern University, about her background, her neuroscience beach read, Seven and a Half Lessons about the Brain, mindfulness, and why your brain is not for thinking. Read the transcript! Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett is the University Distinguished Professor of Psychology … Continue reading 216: Lisa FeldmanBarrett
Steve chats with William Ottens, author of Librarian Tales: Funny, Strange, and Inspiring Dispatches from the Stacks, about his path to librarianship, starting Librarian Problems on Tumblr way back when, and fun / maddening librarian stereotypes. Read the transcript! William Ottensis a librarian and the creator of the library-centricLibrarian Problems Tumblr. Described byLibrary Journal‘s Tumblr-in-Chief, … Continue reading 215: William Ottens
Steve chats with Elena Lopez, Bharat Mehra, and Maggie Caspe, editors of A Librarian’s Guide to Engaging Families in Learning, about how they first got involved with libraries, the benefits of family engagement, and adapting in times of crisis. Read the transcript! M. Elena Lopezis an independent researcher whose work focuses on the ecology of … Continue reading 214: A Librarian’s Guide to Engaging Families inLearning