about
Hi, My name is Jessamyn West and I’m a rural librarian, among other things. Thanks for visiting my website. This site also has a FAQ in case you’d prefer to read that.
Here is some other information people often look for here
- my review policy
- my calendar
- how to contact me
It’s nice to no longer have to explain what a blog is, since you probably know already, so I’ll use this space to tell you more about me. If you’re interested in how I banged WordPress into shape, please read my about blog page.
I started this site in April 1999 when I found the URL available as I was doing vaguely work-oriented stuff at the reference desk of the community college I worked at in Seattle. I’ve always had things I wanted to tell and show people online and the nascent blog became the way to do that. I’ve worked in many libraries since, and while my interests have evolved, I don’t think they’ve changed terribly much. I love libraries because I believe they are a true manifestation of the public sphere in the US. They are a place where people can read what they want, be who they are, and inform themselves about what interests them.
I like to help people do that. I am also fiercely protective of losing what is special about libraries, and much of my work concerns this preservation issue in its many facets. I am a user-oriented librarian when I’m working at a library, and a library activist when I am not. My passion presently is mucking about in the intersection of libraries, technology and politics and describing what I find there.
I am a member of ALA, and I was elected to be an ALA Councilor. My term ran out in 2006 and I am not planning to run again. I feel the double-edged sword of participating in a flawed system versus sitting out and not participating at all. I have been writing on library topics continually, and published a book that I co-edited: Revolting Librarians Redux. I’m on the road speaking on library issues a lot, check the sidebar on the main page and please come see me and say hello if I’ll be in your town.
My readership has become more attentive and more useful over the years. I’ve made friends with many of my readers and have a large circle of people known and unknown to me who help me out with links and encouragement. This website would quite literally not exist without them. The explosion of library weblogs and websites over the last several years makes me happy; news is less likely to fall through the cracks and I would be foolish to think that for my readers I am their one and only. Thanks so much for reading.
If you don’t like it, tell me why, or don’t read it, I’d be the first to admit it’s not for everyone.
My larger labor of love is jessamyn.com. Worth a looksee if you think I have any sense at all.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License.
01jan07
