Category: Other

195: Callan Bignoli and Lauren Stara

~ circideas ~ Leave a comment

Steve chats with Callan Bignoli and Lauren Stara, authors of Responding to Rapid Change in Libraries: a User Experience Approach, about how they met and decided to write a book together, how the New York Public Library lions guided their thinking, and the myriad issues libraries need to consider to prepare for future change.

CALLAN BIGNOLI is the director of the library at Olin College of Engineering in Needham, Massachusetts. She gathers inspiration from everywhere to inform user-centered practices and push the profession forward. Callan studies and speaks about user experience design, library management, and social issues in technology, challenging students and colleagues to fight for a more just and human future. She tweets at @eminencefont and can be reached at callan.bignoli@gmail.com.


LAUREN STARA is a library building specialist with the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, helping public libraries around the Commonwealth improve their physical spaces. A registered architect and a librarian, she has worked in and/or consulted for libraries in eight US states, three Canadian provinces, and three Eastern European countries. She has taught at library schools in Canada and Bulgaria, and she speaks and presents frequently on library design, design thinking, and service design. Lauren can be reached at lauren.stara@gmail.com.

SHOW NOTES:

Responding to Rapid Change in Libraries: a User Experience Approach
Ambient Findability by Peter Morville
Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug
“Vocational Awe and Librarianship: the Lies We Tell Ourselves” by Fobazi Ettarh | In The Library With The Lead Pipe
Library Space: A Planning Resource for Librarians

194: Carrie Rogers-Whitehead

~ circideas ~ Leave a comment

Steve chats with Carrie Rogers-Whitehead, founder of Digital Respons-Ability, library consultant and author of Serving Teens and Adults on the Autism Spectrum: A Guide for Libraries, about her work with libraries, why she founded Digital Respons-Ability, using person-first language, and how libraries can better serve teens and adults on the autism spectrum.

Carrie Rogers-Whitehead worked in libraries for nearly a decade and now consults and trains with librarians around the nation. As a librarian in Utah, she created the first library program aimed at individuals on the spectrum in the state. She later expanded that work to teens and adults on the spectrum. Carrie is the author of the book Teen Fandom and Geek Programming and Digital Citizenship: Teaching and Practice from the Field (Rowman & Littlefield) She is the founder of Digital Respons-Ability, a mission-based company that educates students, parents and educators on digital citizenship. She continues to work with individuals with autism in her current work.

SHOW NOTES:

Serving Teens and Adults on the Autism Spectrum: A Guide for Libraries
Digital Respons-Ability

193: Kathleen Willis

~ circideas ~ Leave a comment

Steve chats with Representative Kathleen Willis, who represents Illinois’s 77th District, about her past experience in libraries, her legislative priorities, the parts of writing a bill that Schoolhouse Rock doesn’t cover, and how library staff can successfully lobby for funding.

Kathleen Willis is serving her fourth term in the Illinois General Assembly as State Representative of the 77th District, which includes O’Hare Airport and portions of Addison, Bellwood, Bensenville, Franklin Park, Maywood, Melrose Park, Northlake, Stone Park, and Wood Dale. Representative Willis now serves as leadership in the Illinois General Assembly as House Majority Conference Chair.

As a full-time state representative, Kathleen’s top priorities are to improve access to quality education, human services, prevent unfair property tax increases on local families, make our neighborhoods safer by keeping deadly assault weapons off our streets and out of the hands of criminals, and work to get Illinois’ state government and economy back on the right track. Representative Willis was the primary sponsor and instrumental in passing the Red Flag law, which is a gun violence prevention law that permits police or family members to petition a state court to order the temporary removal of firearms from a person who may present a danger to others or themselves.

Kathleen has a bachelor’s degree in Human Services Administration from Elmhurst College and a master’s degree in Library and Information Services from the University of Illinois. She and her husband, Tom, reside in Addison.

192: Jeremy Shermak

~ circideas ~ Leave a comment

Guest host Troy Swanson chats with journalism professor Jeremy Shermak, about the state of journalism, misinformation vs. disinformation, the collapse of local news, and the media literacy skills librarians need to understand.

Jeremy Shermak is a journalism professor and the faculty advisor to the student newspaper, Coast Report, at Orange Coast College. He earned his Ph.D. in journalism from The University of Texas at Austin and previously studied journalism at the University of Missouri and Indiana University. He is a former journalist, managing editor and media analyst. His research interests include sports journalism, weather and climate communication, political communication, and journalism routines. You can follow him on Twitter @JeremyShermak.

Troy A. Swanson is Teaching & Learning Librarian and Library Department Chair at Moraine Valley Community College. He is also the President of the Moraine Valley Faculty Association. Troy is the author or editor of several books and articles including co-editor of Not Just Where to Click: Teaching Students How to Think About Information which received the Ilene F. Rockman Publication of the Year Award from ARCL’s Instruction Section. His Ph.D. dissertation focused on the management of technology policy in higher education. He served on ACRL’s Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education Task Force which issued the Framework for Information Literacy.  Over his tenure as a librarian and educator, Troy has won his campuses Master Teacher and Innovation of the Year awards, as well as the Proquest Innovation in College Librarianship award from ACRL. 

191: Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

~ circideas ~ Leave a comment

Steve chats with Guy LeCharles Gonzalez, project lead for the Panorama Project, about what the project is, how he came to it, what libraries and publishers can learn about each other, and why he is optimistic about the future of reading.

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is project lead for the Panorama Project. Previously, he was publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for Digital Book World. 

SHOW NOTES:

Panorama Project 

190: John Bracken

~ circideas ~ Leave a comment

Steve chats with John Bracken, Executive Director at Digital Public Library of America (DPLA), about why he left the Knight Foundation to take on the challenge of the DPLA, how the DPLA works with its partners, and how DPLA is working to protect democracy and advance needed conversations about race.

John Bracken has served as executive director at Digital Public Library of America since December 2017. Previously John worked for nearly two decades as a philanthropic investor in digital media, media policy, and innovation. He most recently served as vice president for technology innovation at the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, where he oversaw the Knight News Challenge, Knight’s Prototype Fund, and other efforts to improve the creation, curation, and accessibility of information. He previously managed technology and civic innovation programs at the MacArthur Foundation and the Ford Foundation. He has a master’s degree from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.A. from Pitzer College. He also serves on the board of the Illinois Humanities Council.

SHOW NOTES:

Digital Public Library of America
Circulating Ideas 44: Dan Cohen
Race, Power, and Curation: Launching the Black Women’s Suffrage Digital Collection | Register

189: Esther Safran Foer

~ circideas ~ Leave a comment

Steve chats with Esther Safran Foer, the author of I Want You to Know We’re Still Here, about releasing a book during a pandemic, her time at Sixth & I, the exploration of her past leading to the writing of her memoir, and whether she sought writing advice from her sons.

Photo by Laura Ashbrook Photography

Esther Safran Foer was the CEO of Sixth & I, a center for arts, ideas, and religion. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, Bert. They are the parents of Franklin, Jonathan, and Joshua, and the grandparents of six.

SHOW NOTES:

I Want You to Know We’re Still Here
Interview with Jonathan Safran Foer
Interview with Franklin Foer
Yizkor Books at NYPL
Library of Congress digital map collection
Sixth & I

188: Shauntee Burns-Simpson

~ circideas ~ Leave a comment

Steve chats with Shauntee Burns-Simpson, 2020-2022 President of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA), about BCALA’s 50 anniversary, how libraries can help facilitate hard conversations about race, and inspirational African American librarians.

Shauntee Burns-Simpson is currently the Manager, School Support and Outreach at the New York Public Library (NYPL) where she has held several positions. She was formerly an Outreach Librarian for MyLibraryNYC and Outreach Specialist for HomeworkNYC. She has been a NYPL employee since 1996.

As a Young Adult Librarian Mrs. Burns- Simpson had a great interest in children and their education. She implemented programs that NYPL adopted as programming for young adults. Outreaching to schools and other community agencies is very important to her. In her career path she visits schools and community based organizations to talk about library resources, the importance of having a library card, and provides professional development opportunities to educators on using the library.

She is currently the President of the Black Caucus of the American Library Association (BCALA) and is proud to hold the position during the organization’s 50th anniversary. She is the former Chair of ALA’s Committee on Diversity, member of the Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) & the Young Adult Library Services Association’s (YALSA) Train the Trainer project. Past President of the Reference Adult Services Section of the New York Library Association (NYLA) 2012-2013 and New York Black Librarians Caucus 2013-2015.

Mrs. Burns-Simpson holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Long Island University and a Masters of Information & Library Science from Queens College.

185: Karen Keninger

~ circideas ~ Leave a comment

Steve chats with Karen Keninger, Director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled at the Library of Congress, about accommodations for the blind and print disabled community, what’s in the NLS’s collection, eligibility requirements, NLS network libraries, and how your library can help NLS’s mission.

Karen Keninger has served as the Director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled at the Library of Congress since 2012. Prior to her appointment with the Library of Congress, Keninger served as Director of the Iowa Department for the Blind and as Regional Librarian at the Iowa Library for the Blind and Print Disabled. Her priorities for NLS focus on leveraging technology for a better reading experience and expanding content options for NLS patrons. Accomplishments to date include launching a braille eReader program; tripling the number of titles added to the collection annually; and implementing BARD Express and BARD Mobile apps.  Current initiatives include exploration of options for the next generation of talking books, including digital delivery and voice control; increasing access to visual content; expansion of the NLS patron base; relocation of NLS headquarters, and participation in the Marrakesh Treaty.

SHOW NOTES:

National Library Service for the Blind and Print Disabled
Marrakesh Treaty
Find your local network library

184: Matt Finch

~ circideas ~ 1 Comment

Steve chats with strategy & foresight consultant Matt Finch about what scenario planning is and why libraries need to be doing it, some of the big ideas libraries need to be thinking about, working remotely during a pandemic, and exploring Library Island.

Matt Finch is a strategy & foresight consultant at mechanicaldolphin.com and an Adjunct Research Fellow at the University of Southern Queensland. He’s currently advising on the IMAJINE project for the future of regional inequality in Europe, and regularly serves as a facilitator on the scenarios programme at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School. From 2016-2017 he was the first ever Creative in Residence at the State Library of Queensland and a Creative/Researcher at British Library Labs.

SHOW NOTES:

Mechanical Dolphin
Arrows of Time activity
Gov Love: Leadership and Scenario Planning with Matt Finch
Circulating Ideas 1: Buffy Hamilton