Lorcan Dempsey

Hi ... I am a librarian, writer, and adviser. I enjoy working with groups of libraries to develop shared services, products and directions. I help guide national and international cooperative and R&D programs. I have been very lucky to work for library, educational, and non-profit organizations in Ireland, the UK, the EU and the US.

Explore my reflections about the evolution of libraries in their social and cultural contexts here.

Please get in touch if we can work together. And sign up to follow along!

Generative AI and large language models: background and contexts

The promise and challenge of Generative AI is now central. This is a summary overview of some of the major directions and issues, acknowledging that things are moving very quickly. I intend it as background to later posts about library implications and developments.

Lorcan May 24, 2023 49 min read

Institutions

The technology career ladder

Library leaders should be drawn from across the organization. Any idea that technology leaders are overly specialised or too distant from general library work is outmoded and counter-productive.

Lorcan Mar 13, 2023 7 min read

Meta

Reflecting life and career: advice to an LIS graduate student

What do I value about libraries? asked a student. What is essential for a library student to know? Here are several ways in which life experiences have influenced my views.

Lorcan Feb 25, 2022 15 min read

Collections

Collection directions accelerated? Pandemic effects

Over the past few years I have been talking about three systemic ways in which collections, broadly understood, are evolving in a network environment. They are: the collective collection, the facilitated collection, and the inside-out collection.

Lorcan May 19, 2020 11 min read

Hallucination and collections

I asked HuggingChat about library collections. It is definitely hallucinating in its responses.

Lorcan May 13, 2023 3 min read

Meta

Incorrigibly plural: notes about fonts

A brief note about two interesting groups of fonts. Each speaks to gaps in the dominant tradition.

Lorcan Mar 1, 2023 2 min read

Meta

Reflections .. on my last day at OCLC

Today is my last day at OCLC. After 21 years. I have been very lucky to have worked with some great people, to have influenced important work, and to have worked with librarians around the world. Here are some brief reflections as I prepare for the next chapter.

Lorcan Jun 30, 2022 8 min read

Research ∕ Learning

Workflow is the new content 1: looking at research support and engagement

The phrase 'workflow is the new content' captures an important insight. In the digital environment we often create, use and share content through workflow applications.

Lorcan Feb 21, 2022 10 min read

Collections

Presentations: Collection directions, pandemic effects, Belgium, Italy

I presented updated versions of a presentation on libraries and pandemic effects and some implications for library collections recently. Each was delivered remotely, one to an event in Ostende, Belgium, and one to Milan, Italy, as unfortunately we have not yet returned to professional travel.

Lorcan Nov 12, 2021 3 min read

Systems

Presentation: Two Metadata Directions

The presentation Two Metadata Directions looked at metadata trends, including entification and pluralization. Here are the slides, video and a link to a fuller discussion.

Lorcan Jul 29, 2021 2 min read