An Annotated Bibliography of the Inside of My Head
I saw this post by Alex Bayley and thought, why not. So in no particular order (actually it ended up in the order I first read them), here are some books that I just can't stop thinking about. You know, those ones where every now and then a line or an image from it just pops into your head. They may not be your all time favourite books, but they certainly stick with you or have influenced you in some way. I've split it up into fiction, non-fiction, and comics. Enjoy. Fiction Powers That Be b
Do No Harm
Since I listened to the Incendium Radical Library (IRL) cardiCast episode I can't stop thinking about the collecting policy they have adopted (time stamp 17:49). IRL have broad frameworks they align the library with, so when accepting new donations or looking at acquisitions they look at how these items could harm the wider community and balance that against the good they could do. In Annelise's words: "I guess like the frameworks of this library is social justice, anti-oppression, intersection
We Don't Want Your Donation
GLAM Blog Club's theme this month is Donation which instantly sent shivers up my spine thinking about all the terrible books people bring into the (public) library to donate. As Hugh's example shows, it's often the things we don't put into our collections that make a library. In my own professional life I have seen two types of librarians in regards to donations. One being the accept almost everything librarian, and the other decline's almost everything. I am of the latter persuasion. In one wor
Low Bar
Recently I had the pleasure of attending a talk by Alice Procter entitled Muddling the Museum. It looked at ways museum collections and interactions were being decolonised by external groups, as well as critiquing the internal processes of these colonial institutions. The event was filmed and hopefully it will be available for others to view as Alice is an exceptional speaker and was able to provide a clear picture of the complicated and often messy nature of decolonisation. I came away from th
What Did I Learn Last year?
Usually I'm fairly good at recording my achievements through the year, so when it comes to performance reviews or job applications I have a handy go-to list. Last year seems like a year of business as usual. While I did manage to do a few exciting things, mostly I just kept myself going. No big projects, no pushing myself and my skills, no major revelations, just one day at a time. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, sometimes we all need to stay the course and enjoy the smooth sailing. It's pos
A Year In Read-View 2018 (Comics)
2018 was the year of comics I seems. I was given the opportunity to help with the collection development of my library's comics and manga collections this year, which let me seek out new and interesting titles. You shouldn't bring your work home with you, but when that work is comics how can you not? Single Issues Without quite realising it, I dropped a lot of single issue titles from my regular reading. Not sure if that reflects a lack of ongoing series that I want to read or if I'm just w