Episodes

In this very special episode, Chris and Bob are joined by a group of librarians from all around New York State. Emily Dowie, Teen Librarian at the Greenburgh Public Library in Elmsford NY; Jo Ann Mulligan, Library Assistant at the Altamont Free Library in Altamont, New York; Danielle Newman, Pre-k to 12th Grade Public School Librarian at the Fillmore Central School District in Allegany County, New York; Juanita James, Library and Information Supervisor at the Brooklyn Public Library in Brooklyn,...

Matt Pascoe, Content and Customer Experience Manager at the Ipswich City Council Libraries joins the podcast. Ipswich City Libraries have multiple buildings and Matt talks about marketing libraries, Ipswich “Marketplace Library”, Library Pods, pop up makerspaces and how to hang a monstrous dinosaur from the ceiling. Matt is an amazing speaker and has a lot to share!!

Dr. Eric Cole, founder of Secure Anchor joins the podcast to talk about simple things libraries, library employees and patrons can do to better secure their online presence. Dr. Cole talks about 2 factor authentication, password strategies and most importantly, poking fun at Chris (Dr. Cole and Chris are old friends). Dr. Eric Cole is the author of 8 books on cyber security. He is internationally recognized as a leader in online security and has worked at numerous organizations including McAfee...

Chris and Bob were fortunate enough to speak with Kate Chambers, a journalist and book lover who helps to receive and distribute books throughout the nation of Zimbabwe in November of 2020. Kate talks about growing up in the UK, how her career as a journalist took her to Africa, where she now lives. As a journalist she initially wrote many articles on book donations the book network in and has been an organizer, gatherer and distributor of books through the country. The movement is truly grass r...

This episode finds us speaking with Jane Cowell, Chief Executive Officer of the Yarra Plenty Library in Melbourne, Victoria State, Australia. We speak to Jane about her long career in the library world and during the time when Victoria was the hardest affected state in the nation, how the staff at Yarra Plenty reached out to those people who needed it the most (seniors and other vulnerable populations). They were even featured in an article in The Guardian! Jane also discussed curating activity ...

Joining the podcast from across “The Pond” in Wales, UK is Ian Anstice, who publishes Public Libraries News, an online publication sharing what libraries are doing in the UK. Ian was so much fun to speak with. We talked about the origins of PLN as a blog and how it developed over time. We also talk about the forced evolution of digital programming because of the pandemic and whether it is sustainable or part of the “new normal” and how we quantify attendance and satisfaction. We even speculate a...

Susan Banks, Director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Library Development joined the podcast to talk about the evolution of library service, transition to a digital collection, especially during the times of a pandemic, a librarians’ “Library Core”. Her enthusiasm is infectious and she covers a range to areas that are invaluable for any library professional to hear!! Contact Susan Here

Chris and Bob were asked back to the Long Island Library Resources Council’s conference on Libraries and the Future (this year held virtually). This is the 4th year the podcast was asked to podcast from the event, and the guest speakers this year were amazing. First we spoke to Nancy Kranich, Special Projects Research Librarian at Rutger’s University. She spoke with the boys about libraries listening instead of constantly promoting when out in the community and how the profession needs to activ...

This is a first for the podcast, our first interview with library professionals from a non-english speaking nation. Today we virtually journey to Norway and speak to Martin Kristoffer Brathen and Elise Conradi from Biblioteksentralin (Bibsent) a unique collaborative organization that provides library services to the libraries of Norway. Chris speaks to the pair about Bibsent and what they do there with Martin being the “front end” and Elise being the “back end”. There are so many great discussio...

Chris and Bob were joined via Zoom by James Nicholson who is the Program and Engagement Leader at Moreton Bay Region Libraries, Queensland, Australia. He is also the State Manager for the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). James sat and chatted with the guys about transitioning from an academic library setting to a public library, skill mapping, a day in the life of being an ALIA State Manager, utilizing his degree in philosophy to advance the cause of libraries and what it i...

Sari Feldman, former President of the Public Library Association (2009-2010), American Library Association President (2015-2016), frequent writer and contributor to Publisher’s Weekly and Executive Director of the Cuyahoga County Public Library in Ohio joined Chris and Bob via Zoom to discuss her article in Publisher’s Weekly entitled Public Libraries After the Pandemic. We talk about the challenges facing library service while staff is working from home, the lack of broadband service in both ru...

Chris sat down with our previous panel to talk about how we open after libraries after the COVID-19 pandemic (assuming we are finding light at the end of the tunnel. Today joining us is Carol Ann Tack, Head of Readers Advisory at the Merrick Library in Merrick NY James Hutter, Technology Librarian, Technology Librarian, Head of Computer Services Agency Port Washington Public Library, Port Washington NY, Scott p Jarzombeck, Executive Director at the Albany Public Library, Albany NY, Jessikah Chau...

The podcast is working from home and Chris was able to speak with Maria Dismondy, children’s book author and founder of Cardinal Rule Press. Maria started her career as a teacher, and started writing children’s picture books that focus on a child’s self esteem, something she was not seeing in picture books. This concept became a passion and she turned that passion into a publishing house. Learn how Maria started, her philosophies on not just publishing but also on marketing and the use of social...

Chris and Bob are working remotely during the COVID-19 Pandemic and were fortunate enough to speak to Scott Jarzombek, Executive Director of the Albany Public Library about his plan to re-open his large multi-branch library as the Corona Virus statistics continue to decline. Scott penned an article in the NYLA Voice about reopening. He also has shared his plans for the phases or re-opening on Albany Public Library’s website. If you are in the process of re-opening, have reopened or are still tal...

Chris and Bob visited the place where Chris got his start in Libraryland, The Longwood Public Library in Middle Island, New York. The boys spoke with Assistant Director Ann Hofbauer, Digital Literacy Coordinator Alison Mirabella, Children’s STEAM Specialist, Danielle Bliss and Head of Technical Services, Roseann Mammina. They have a very deep and diverse lending library called “Equipment and Gadgets”. They talk about the selection of items for the collection, the processing of these non traditio...

We were very happy to have our neighbors to the north of the Sachem Library District, Middle Country Public Library’s podcasters Sal DeVincenzo, Sarah Fade and Nicole Rambo drop by to talk podcasting in libraries. Sal brings his own style of podcasting to libraryland and with Sarah and Nicole co-hosting, they produce a light hearted show that talks about the latest and greatest at the Middle Country Public Library.

On a nice quiet Saturday at The Sachem Public Library, Nadine Spano and Debbie Keehner from the Oceanside New York Library journeyed from the far south west corner of Nassau County to Holbrook to talk about their innovative book club. Nadine and Debbie do a video book club with the help of Go To Meeting. This episode was recorded before the Covid-19 Pandemic that the nation is now in the grips of, and how timely is it that they do their book club this way? These two innovators talk about why the...

If you listened to our first SPECIAL EPISODE, you heard librarians reacting to the effects of the global Pandemic of Novel Corona (Covid-19) on the library world. We circle back to what has happened, what we have learned, what we are still attempting to figure out and how we get our libraries back on their feet. We even brainstorm using outdoor libraries! So join Chris and Bob, along with Nick Tanzi from South Huntington Library, James Hutter from Port Washington Library, Jessikah Chautin from S...

William Salas, Librarian at The Smithtown Library, came to The Booth at Sachem to chat with the guys about the Patent and Trademark Resource Center. Will manages the Center and has a wealth of knowledge about patent and trademark searching. His passion for the subject really comes through and I think we all can agree that is expertise is without parallel. If you have any questions about patent or trademark, anyone can reach out to Will as the Patent and Trademark Resource Center is a federally ...

This is a special episode in light of the the Corona Virus crisis, we assembled a collection of librarians to talk about the crisis and how our libraries and organizations have responded, are functioning and how we bring the building back online. This episode voices all of our thoughts, fears and hopes for our “new normal”.

In this episode, we talk with Connie Vassilopoulos. At the time of the recording she was a Library Technician, but has since transitioned to a librarian. She was a Library Tech at Rosebank College. We talked about the life of a Library Tech in a school setting, and all the things she has accomplished there. She also talks about her experiences working along side Rob Thomson, Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) State Manager for New South Wales and his nationally famous Unconfer...

In this 3rd and final installment of episode 71, Chris sat down with “Awesome Sally” Sally Stieglitz and Tim Spindler from the Long Island Library Resources Council and Jill Hurst Wahl of Syracuse University and the podcast T is for Training. We talk about NYLA, the conference, what LILRC does and all kinds of issues facing Libraryland. Jill also brings up an interesting discussion based upon our episodes with Librarians of Color

In Part 2 of this episode, an old friend of Chris’, Dr. David Jank, Dean of the Palmer School of Library and Information Science chat about a number of things, including the state of library science brick and mortar schools vs online learning, the profession and our journey in Libraryland.

Welcome to our New York Library Association Conference Episode. This is our second year podcasting from the conference and because we had so many great guests, we are posting 3 parts to this episode. In episode 1, our old friends Barron Angell from the Florida Public Library, Melissa Tidd, now academic librarian at the SUNY Orange Campus and Goshen Library and her husband Camron Tidd software engineer and Goshen Library IT volunteer visit and give us an update.