woodshedding in libraryland II

Been thinking about this blog and how a lot of the work I’ve been doing lately doesn’t always lend itself to longform reflection. When I looked up “woodshedding,” a term I use for talking about going back to library-school type activities (i.e. more learning, less doing) and found this post from 2008. It’s been a while since I’ve posted a “What I’m up to.” work report, so here we go.

• • Drop-in Time has become entirely self-funded which is to say I hustle for cash to support it. This mostly works. I got a few mini-grants from a former employer and some random cash infusion from a longtime internet pal. It’s not quite sustainable, but so far it endures.
  • I took a year off from traveling for work (New England only, no getting on an airplane) after realizing I was traveling more and enjoying it less. Mostly an adjustment for me, nothing to do with the lovely people who invited me to their things. And when I started picking it back up again, I realized I really could get back into it pretty easily. I was tweeting with Tara Robertson about that feeling you have, when you slow down on a thing, that you may not be able to start doing that thing again. Saying no more often meant that my yeses were all genuine and not motivated by FOMO.
  • Been writing a column for Computers in Libraries on and off (mostly on) since 2008 and just wrote a feature article about patron privacy this month.
  • I’ve been moving into some “increasing responsibility” areas. I’m now on the board of both the Vermont Humanities Council and the 251 Club of Vermont. I manage the web situation for the Vermont Library Association which is something I could be throwing myself into more. We’re moving to an online payment system which is stretching my talents, it’s good to stretch.
  • Likewise VLA needs an ALA Councilor and it might be time for me to step up and do my time there again. I haven’t been a member of ALA since the last time I was on Council. I’ll be giving it another shot.
  • I hit the 75th issue of my newsletter which is now three years old. 1400 people subscribe, and out of that maybe half read it.
  • Just got my old archives here on the sidebar, something I’d been meaning to do since I got this theme up and running. Enjoy!

And some things stay the same. My little privacy talk (and how to give it) has become a useful staple. I wrote one on SCAMS but it hasn’t caught on the same way. I live in my small town in the school year, and in Massachusetts, in a slightly larger town for the summer. I go to the library a lot. I read a lot. I think a lot about what I’ve seen over the past 25 years of librarianship and what that might mean for the next 25 years. Thanks for coming along with me.