Lorcan Dempsey

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.

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.

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.

Libraries are engaging with AI in their educational, service and policy work. This post discusses seven contexts in which that work is taking place.