shhh! no running in the library!

go, find, read, share, do follow @katetkacik

[thelifeguardlibrarian]

Where to land.

I’ve seen a lot of us wandering around different platforms lately - many of us trying to figure out where to land. Some are trying out new apps, some are resurrecting blogs, some are turning back to old handles (like this one). 

I’ve been stumped for some time on where to land. Tw***er (X???) has never worked for me. Medium/blogging was too much of a committment. This space worked for me at a really specific place and time - young, single, no baby, in library school, in a big beautiful city. 

But I miss writing. I miss connecting. I miss the focus of sharing a slice of my life. My life contains so many things now, my identity feels more fractured perhaps than it’s ever been, especially since I’ve become a parent. Adult? Employee? Parent? Athlete? Citizen? What to focus on & why...or how to bring it all together. I’m certainly not thelifeguardlibrarian any more. 

I’m stumped. But I keep checking back here, wondering if its the place to land again.  

[thelifeguardlibrarian]

Hi.

So I logged in for the first time in...years? I somehow still have a lot of followers? Hello? Do I know any of you still?

[mollitudo]

On the phone, Saeed Jones and I talk about Difficult Women, and the kind of female characters Gay writes about. “In almost every story,” he observes, “there’s a silent kind of gazing between women in different contexts.” Sisters, the wives of brothers, a man’s two partners, a fitness instructor and the new woman in class—the list is easy to populate—and “often men don’t know what’s even going on.” He distinguishes this gaze from the way men look at women—with the power of the sun—direct, intense, nonreciprocal. Gay’s women, Jones argues, look back at each other, at us. It’s an exchange. “They’re aware,” he says. “It changes the dynamic.” I recognize that same quiet, collaborative, destabilizing gaze from the Center for Fiction reading in 2012; from Gay’s work as an editor; from the writing itself. In fiction and in real life, Gay creates spaces for us to look at each other, to create trust, to take risks. “To read Roxane Gay’s work is to be read by Roxane Gay,” Jones says. And what a gift it is.

The Rise of Roxane Gay

[thelifeguardlibrarian]

I’ve lived in Brooklyn for 2 years now! I was offered a promotion 6mo into my role in SF. Stayed with the same organization but had to switch coasts.

[thelifeguardlibrarian]

idk, i guess i could blog again?

last time i did, i was transitioning into my shiny new librarian job.

now i’m 2 years into management (and have 2 party time jobs, because NYC & debt).

i could tumblr about that? maybe? or maybe life generally for a bit, again?

[thelifeguardlibrarian]

hi tumblr

[thelifeguardlibrarian]

hey tumblr, miss u 

[thelifeguardlibrarian]

Find out more about the work of the Knight Foundation's grantees

I know that I’m not really “here” so much any more, but I still think about it all the time, and this is really where I really fell in love with librarians & the library community. I won a big grant today for my organization to build a tool that will help libraries find funding. I think it will be a big win for libraries. I hope it is. I’m so excited and I hope you will be, too. 

[thelifeguardlibrarian]

This is the actual @lifeguardlibrarian aesthetic. (at On The Waterfront, Beaufort)

[thelifeguardlibrarian]

ALA Orlando Fundraiser

Join EveryLibrary at Howl at the Moon during #ALAAC16 for a Fundraiser featuring dueling musicians and an open bar!

Oh hey tumblr. Going to ALA in Orlando? JSTOR & EveryLibrary have teamed up for super FUNdraiser at Howl at the Moon to support EveryLibrary. $35 covers your drinks & donation! Get your tix early these parties have been selling out quick...

Also, I just miss you, and I hope I’ll see you soon either way. 

[thelifeguardlibrarian]

Life is good ✌️ (at Calle 8, Little Havanna- Miami Florida)

[thelifeguardlibrarian]

Hey #tumblarians! You out there? I’ve got an idea for a Knight News Challenge–to build a free, searchable map of grants funding for libraries. Please, take a look! I’d love any feedback or suggestions. Also, if you like it, heart it!

Let’s get y'all some $$$ to keep making it happen for your communities.

[thelifeguardlibrarian]

THANK YOU so much for the boosts & likes!

[thelifeguardlibrarian]

Hey #tumblarians! You out there? I’ve got an idea for a Knight News Challenge–to build a free, searchable map of grants funding for libraries. Please, take a look! I’d love any feedback or suggestions. Also, if you like it, heart it!

Let’s get y'all some $$$ to keep making it happen for your communities.

[pcsweeney]

The Koch Brothers have finally launched their attack on libraries.

On Thursday, the Koch Brother’s super PAC “Americans for Prosperity” started robocalls against the Plainfield IL library referendum. They have targeted the library for defeat as part of their anti-tax agenda. “Americans for Prosperity” is good at quoting facts that don’t exist and slinging mud at the common good. We need your help to answer this Koch funded anti-library smear campaign now, and your help in future to build a defense against their anti-library agenda.

[thelifeguardlibrarian]

If you have no intention of loving or being loved, the whole journey is pointless.

Kate DiCamillo, born today in 1964 (via thelifeguardlibrarian)

[americanlibraryassoc]

There are more public libraries than McDonald’s in the U.S. - a total of 16,417 including branches.

ilovelibraries.org

[crowdmyheart]

“The main reason, according to Dr. Wolfgang Lipkind, consulting behavioral psychologist for the Blackstone Institute of Library Studies, is that librarians as a group are very honest. In fact, his research shows that next to Roman Catholic nuns, librarians are the most honest professional group in America. Librarians, because they are so truthful, find it exceedingly difficult to tolerate patron lies. On the other hand, chronically delinquent borrowers are one of the most dishonest study cohorts that Lipkind has ever researched. The clash between the two groups is, therefore, almost inevitable.”

The Whole Library Handbook 3, pg. 337 (Manley)

Going through the archives continues...ah, tumblr c. 2011.