Hi ... I am a librarian, analyst, and adviser. I have worked with groups of libraries to develop shared programs, products and directions. I have been very lucky to work for library, educational, and non-profit organizations in Ireland, the UK, the EU and the US.
I am currently based in Columbus, Ohio. I grew up in Dublin and worked for many years in the UK before coming to the US.
I recently served as the Professor of Practice and Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at the Information School, University of Washington.
Explore my reflections about the evolution of libraries in their social and cultural contexts in these pages.
Please get in touch if we can work together. And sign up to follow along!
I wrote this piece on libraries and possible educational responses as part of a longer contribution on the informational disciplines and the iSchool. A principal goal was to suggest that libraries present interesting and challenging research and educational questions, which cross disciplines.
In a piece on the informational disciplines and the iSchool, I sketched this very schematic and informal overview of information, broadly construed. My focus is pragmatic, related to library interests. I consider several current issues, including the 'apotheosis of the document' in an AI context.
So-called soft skills are important across a range of library activities. Existing trends will further amplify this importance. Describing these skills as soft may be misleading, or even damaging. They should be recognized as learnable and teachable, and should be explicitly supported and rewarded.
A discussion of libraries and library studies in the context of library education. It is the introduction to, and summary of, my response to the LIS Forward position paper.
I wrote this piece on libraries and possible educational responses as part of a longer contribution on the informational disciplines and the iSchool. A principal goal was to suggest that libraries present interesting and challenging research and educational questions, which cross disciplines.
Cliff Lynch sadly died on 10th April 2025. Responses show how much Cliff meant to so many, and to the library and related communities. Here are some personal reminiscences and an appreciation of his achievement and the loss.
In a piece on the informational disciplines and the iSchool, I sketched this very schematic and informal overview of information, broadly construed. My focus is pragmatic, related to library interests. I consider several current issues, including the 'apotheosis of the document' in an AI context.
AI-assisted document query and summarization services are becoming more common. This post compares the 'ask a PDF' outputs of several services. Overall responses were good, with reasonable variation, and no significant hallucinations. It also touches on some characteristics of AI-based services.
I reflect on my first year of teaching at the iSchool in the University of Washington. A little about teaching. A little about Canvas, the library, and some software tools. A little about me and my learnings.
Introduces an annotated presentation about AI, libraries and a range of related issues. It is influenced by the consequences of considering AI as a new 'cultural technology.'
So-called soft skills are important across a range of library activities. Existing trends will further amplify this importance. Describing these skills as soft may be misleading, or even damaging. They should be recognized as learnable and teachable, and should be explicitly supported and rewarded.
For a few days recently, the news was dominated by reports of organizational upheaval at OpenAI. Here are some reflections on what happened, with some connections to library topics.
OpenAI now allows you to develop custom chatbots which use the power of GPT4 but can be tailored to work with your data and carry out particular actions. I discuss them in general and introduce an example built on some of my own publications.
