Glenn Fleishman is a technology journalist with decades of writing experience. He’s written dozens of editions of books in the Take Control series and for other publishers, penned thousands of articles for the Economist, the New York Times, Macworld, TidBITS, and many other publications, and run his own editorial operations at Wi-Fi Networking News and The Magazine.
Jamie LaRue is the director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, and the Freedom to Read Foundation. Author of “The New Inquisition: Understanding and Managing Intellectual Freedom Challenges,” LaRue was a public library director for many years, as well as a weekly newspaper columnist and cable TV host. He has written, spoken, and consulted on leadership and organizational development, community engagement, and the future of libraries.
As a trainer, speaker, author, and consultant, Dr. Steve Albrecht is internationally known for his expertise in high-risk HR issues. He provides consulting, threat assessments, site security surveys, corrective coaching, and training seminars in workplace violence prevention, harassment prevention, drug and alcohol awareness, team building, conflict resolution, high-risk customer service, and stress management.
In 1994, Dr. Albrecht co-wrote Ticking Bombs: Defusing Violence in the Workplace, one of the first business books on workplace violence. Besides his work as a conference presenter and keynote speaker, he appears in the media and on the Internet, as a source on workplace violence, security, crime, and terrorism. He was featured in the 2009 BBC documentary “Going Postal.”
His 17 business and police books include Library Security; Tough TrainingTopics; Tactical Perfection for Street Cops; Added Value Negotiating; Service, Service, Service!; Fear and Violence on the Job; Streetwork; and Contact and Cover.
Dr. Albrecht holds a doctoral degree in Business Administration (D.B.A.), an M.A. in Security Management, a B.A. in English, and a B.S. in Psychology. He has been a trainer for 28 years and is certified as a SHRM-CP and a Professional in Human Resources (PHR) by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM); a Certified Protection Professional (CPP) by the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS); and a Board Certified Coach (BCC).
In 1999, Steve retired from the San Diego Police Department, where he had worked since 1984, both as a full-time officer and later as a reserve sergeant. He spent six years in the Domestic Violence Unit, where he handled over 1,500 cases.
He is the past San Diego Chapter President for the Association of Threat Assessment Professionals (ATAP). He holds the ATAP designation, “Certified Threat Manager.” He can be reached at www.DrSteveAlbrecht.com or on Twitter @DrSteveAlbrecht.
Alison Macrina is a librarian, privacy rights activist, and the founder and director of the Library Freedom Project, an initiative which aims to make real the promise of intellectual freedom in libraries by teaching librarians and their local communities about surveillance threats, privacy rights and law, and privacy-protecting technology tools to help safeguard digital freedoms. Alison is passionate about connecting surveillance issues to larger global struggles for justice, demystifying privacy and security technologies for ordinary users, and resisting an internet controlled by a handful of intelligence agencies and giant multinational corporations. When she’s not doing any of that, she’s reading.
Equinox was founded in 2007 by the original developers and designers of the Evergreen ILS. They are wholly devoted to the support and development of open source software in libraries, focusing on Evergreen, Koha, and the FulfILLment ILL system.
Equinox is proud to be the only open source support company that can boast to employ both Evergreen and Koha core software developers. They wrote over 80% of the Evergreen code base and continue to contribute more new features, bug fixes, and documentation than any other organization.
Mike Rylander was born in San Diego, but has lived in Georgia for over almost thirty years. Mike has held a wide variety of technical positions, but he started his career in the 90’s repairing SCO and AIX-based servers. From there he progressed into Linux support, to systems engineer, and finally to software development and DBA duties. In 2004, Mike was hired by the Georgia Public Library Service to help develop Evergreen.
Mike’s role has always been one of designer and architect. In fact, the innovative OpenSRF infrastructure that lies underneath Evergreen was his brainchild. At Equinox, he leads all technical-leaning efforts including software development, systems engineering, and technical support. Mike loves explaining technical things to the non-technical, and solving problems.
When not at work, Mike enjoys insanely hoppy beers, early 90’s indie rock, and Tae Kwon Do. Mike is married to his high school sweetheart and together they have two daughters.
Jason Etheridge received his B.S. in Computer Science from the University of South Carolina and later joined the United States Army, ostensibly for military intelligence. He self-identifies as a software developer, though he wears many hats, and he is an open source and pro-commons advocate. He was instrumental in the development of Evergreen while working for PINES, and for its release under an open source license. Jason leans “paleo” and enjoys gaming of all sorts, but has a special fondness for pen & paper roleplaying games and juggling sticks. His favorite books include The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss and The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie. His favorite authors include Fred Saberhagen and David Brin.
Galen Charlton is a library hacker who has been working in library automation and data-slinging for the past 15 years, helping migrate hundreds of libraries to new ILSs and digital library systems. In the process, he has worked with the full gamut of library types and sizes, including small church libraries, public and academic libraries of all sizes, library consortia, and national libraries.
In recent years, Galen joined the world of library open source software, contributing to both Koha and Evergreen as well as other F/LOSS projects. He was elected release manager for versions 3.2 and 3.14 of Koha. Galen was named a Library Journal Mover and Shaker in 2013. When not staring firmly at code and data to scare the bugs and inconsistencies away, he, along with his wife Marlene, is a loyal servant to three cats.
Gwyneth Stupar is an Adult Services Librarian at the Barrington Area Library. Gwyneth received her Masters in Library and Information Science from Dominican University in 2006, and currently serves on the board of the LACONI (Library Administrators Conference of Northern Illinois)technology section. Gwyneth’s favorite quote? “No matter how successful you become, someone always helps you.” Check out her website at http://www.gwynethstupar.com or @gwynonite on Twitter.
Barbara Alvarez has been working libraries for 4 years. She received her Masters in Library and Information Science from the University of Illinois-Urbana/Champaign in May 2012. Currently she is the Resource Guide Coordinator for iREAD Committee through ILA, is completing Synergy, a grant-funded leadership opportunity through the Illinois State Library and ILMS, and writes regularly for Public Libraries Online. Stay in touch at barbaralvarez.com and @the_barbrarian.
Leah White is the Head of Popular Materials at the Ela Area Public Library in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago and the author of The Library Innovation Toolkit. She graduated from Dominican University with her MLIS in 2008 and won the Library Journal Movers & Shakers Award in 2012 for her work on building community engagement. You can find her on Twitter: @leahlibrarian or check out her website: www.leahlwhite.com.
Circulating Ideas 