Episodes

In part 2 of this special episode, Chris and Bob were joined by Alice Knapp, Director of the Ferguson Library in Stamford, Connecticut, Scott Jarzombek, Director of the Fairfield Library in Fairfield, Connecticut, Kate Byroade Director of the Cragin Colchester Library in Colchester, Connecticut and Scott Brill, Director of the Derby Public Library, in Derby Connecticut. The discussion continues with Alice and Scott from the large library perspective of imposter syndrome. how you should not be th...

In this 2 part episode, Chris and Bob travel to Groton Connecticut at the invitation of the Connecticut Library Association to speak during their conference lunch period about mental health and wellbeing in the library profession. The fellas were joined by Doug Lord, Director of the C. H. Booth Public Library in Newtown, Connecticut and President of the Association. Topics range from work/life balance, how the profession cares too much, how libraries are part of the hospitality industry and how ...

Joining Chris for this episode is Meghan Volcheko, Manager, Public Library Collection Development at OverDrive, Meghan talks about how she and her team assist libraries and library systems with collection development with Overdrive. Yes, this is also the Libby App and also Kanopy and Sora for schools. Meghan talks about the relationships she has built with member libraries and systems, Overdrive’s 15 year history and humble beginnings and draws comparisons between managing a physical collection ...

In our 100th Episode, we have asked Alumni Carol Ann Tack from the podcast Top Shelf at the Merrick Library to return to talk about her podcast, readers advisory, her book discussions (which are the thing of legend on Long Island) and how tech can sometimes help and sometimes get in the way of getting to where you need to be in Libraryland.

Chris journeyed to Saratoga Springs New York for the annual New York Library Association Conference and Trade Show! This year Chris spoke to old friends Jill Hurst Wahl, Cameron Tidd and Melissa Tidd from Goshen Libraryhttps://www.floridapubliclibrary.org and Barron Angell from the Florida Public Library. Jill spoke about the conference, what it is like to be the Board President of the Onondaga County Library, sharing info about her hometown of Syracuse New York and re-inventing ethnic library s...

The fellas were asked to podcast a the Long Island Library Resource Council’s 31st annual Conference on Libraries and the Future. There were many great speakers and the podcast had an opportunity to speak with Dr. James Neal who spoke to Chris about the nature of leadership and how it is defined along with the concept “you can’t count the apple from its seeds”, whether leadership is a science or art, how important the informal leadership is to the formal organizational chart and even delves into...

In this installment, Chris and Bob are back together live, this time at the Emma S. Clark Memorial Library in East Setauket, New York. Emily Ostrander talks about growing up at Emma as a patron (including riding her bike there as a kid), knowing at 16 that she wanted to be a librarian, and her feelings on customer service which includes the attitude you portray will be what you receive from the patron. Emily will also share what it is like working in adults vs working with teens, the pandemic p...

Chris and Bob virtually travel “across the pond” to Denmark and speak with Thomas Ommen Chief Executive Officer of Princh, a collection of products to improve printing, copying and scanning services. Thomas shares his story and how his travels across the globe inspired him and his partners to develop this business model. Thomas talks about how he developed the “Princhables” upon which the company is based and how the book Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl inspired this philosophy, Thoma...

This episode pairs Chris and Bob up with Philip Shakelford, Director of the South Arkansas Community College Library Philip is also the host of the Modern Scholar Podcast speaking to library and history professionals all over “Libraryland” about cool and interesting topics. Philip has a speciality in military history and has a particular interest in the United States Air Force Security Services. Chris and Bob asked Philip about the “SPARK” that lit the idea to create a podcast and his process al...

Joining the fellas this time ’round is Anna Raunik, Executive Director, Content and Client Services at State Library Queensland, Australia. Anna joined the pod to talk about ANZAC Stories. For those of you that are not familiar, ANZAC Day commemorates the landing of Australian, New Zealand and other commonwealth troops on the Gallipoli Peninsula on April 25, 1915. For our U.S. friends, it is similar to Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day. Anna talks about taking these oral histories and integrating t...

In this installment, the fellas have a chat with Mike Rossetti from MYLIBRO. Mike discussed how libraries can attract those 20 somethings to the library, what libraries have to offer this group and using the “Tech Triangle” to retain not only that elusive age group, but anyone who can benefit from the library. Mike also talks about why the word PIVOT is a favorite and why the profession needs to evolve from being “building centric”and extent the brand “Library”. They collectively explore the ide...

Joining the fellas for this go round is Thomas Shaw, Associate Director of the library at Lancaster University. Thomas published an article entitled “How to Strive for Success, Happiness, Fulfilment and Impact: a Personal Manifesto” which should resinate with anyone who works in Libraryland. Thomas speaks about his article and some of the common anxieties and fears we all have working in libraries. He speaks of an opportunity for an “identity change” when we change roles or start fresh in anothe...

Chris and Bob were joined by a talented and inspired group of individuals who are part of developing The Palace Project, a source for e-content for libraries. The not for profit project supports the mission of libraries by providing equitable access to digital knowledge, bolstering the relationship between libraries and patrons, protecting patron privacy, and enabling libraries to serve all their e-content in a single app. The team who spoke on this episode included Michele Kimpton, LYRASIS, Glo...

In the second part of this episode, Chris and Bob are joined by Kelvin Watson, Executive Director of the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District and candidate for President of the American Library Association. The discussion focused on what Kelvin can bring to the office. In the interest of fairness, both Kelvin and her opponent Emily Drabinski were asked the same questions so potential voters can hear their positions. You can learn more about Kelvin’s positions by visiting https://www.kelvinwat...

In the first part of this episode, Chris and Bob are joined by Emily Drabinski, Interim Chief Librarian at The Graduate Center, City University of New York and candidate for President of the American Library Association. The discussion focused on what Emily can bring to the office. In the interest of fairness, both Emily and her opponent Kelvin Watson were asked the same questions so potential voters can hear their positions. You can learn more about Emily’s positions by visiting https://www.emi...

Tim Spindler, the Executive Director of the Long Island Library Resources Council and Sally Stieglitz, Communications and Outreach Coordinator for LILRC give the wrap up of the conference, recapping the issues and discussions of the speakers. As always, this conference has amazing guests and we thank the Resources Council for continuing to invite the podcast to the annual event.

Chris and Bob were fortunate enough to speak to Stacey Aldrich, the State Librarian of Hawaii at the LILRC Conference on Libraries and the Future. In her varied experiences in both the public and academic library fields, she has seen how, especially now the world struggles with the physical vs. the digital life. Whether it be e-books, communication, or how we live our lives. We have to be mindful of not just the way forward but also those who may not have the means or comprehension to make that ...

In this second part of the podcast from the LILRC Conference on Libraries and the Future, the guys speak with Dr. Brandy McNeil, Director of Digital Literacy at the New York Public Library and a Library Journal “Mover and Shaker” class of 2017. Brandy talked about some of the innovative things she has brought to the library by way of partnerships with Google and Apple, but she also talks about the purposeful way the programs that grew from those collaborations were implemented. There is also a g...

Chris and Bob were fortunate to be asked back to the Long Island Library Resources Council Conference on Libraries and the Future. This is our 7th year podcasting from the event, speaking to great people in the library world. In Part 1 of this 4 part episode we speak to Miguel Figueroa, the President and CEO of Amigos Library Services. The fellas chat with Miguel about how libraries can perceive and shape the future. There was a great discussion about Richard Lum’s 4 Steps to the Future and how ...

Coming to us from Finland, Perttu Polonen, author of the book Future Skills joins the fellas to talk about the concept of futurism, the human condition vs technology, whether our diplomas from university and graduate school should have an expiration date. Perttu talks about the mindset associated with technology along with our personal relationship (or lack thereof with technology) how the mystery of tech goes away with greater use and something Chris and Bob both love, creativity. Perttu remind...

This episode is dedicated to Chris Crosby, the artist, musician and performer of “Just Cool”, the intro and outro of the Turn the Page Podcast. Chris lost his life in early September of 2021, and he will be fondly remembered by the library community. Joining Chris and Bob are Jessikah Chautin, Stacey Hershkowitz and Evelyn Mencher from the Turn the Page Podcast from the Syosset Public Library in Syosset, New York. This crossover episode is a great discussion on podcasting for libraries, from pi...

Joining Chris and Bob is Elisa Lee, Creative Director and Business Owner of Unstacked, based in Australia is an amazing project that allows libraries to see their materials as they are being researched and curated in real time! Unstacked is an innovative Australian collection visualization project which showcases a library’s collection locally and globally in real-time through the eyes of the people who use it. Unstacked would showcase not only how people are using your collection, but also its...

While Bob was handling an IT emergency, Chris had a great conversation with Carlos Galeana. If you are a frequent listener to the podcast, then you may remember Carlos from his appearance in Episode 45 discussing his Mover and Shaker election and all things he is doing in his previous position at the Multnomah Library in Oregon. Carlos is now out on his own in Washington State and is an independent programmer for libraries regarding technology. Carlos spoke about the need in the times of COVID a...