Sticking My Head Out, For Just A Minute

I’ve been a bit busy lately, so I haven’t been thinking out loud in my blog so much. I figured I’d stick my head out of the water (in which I’m not exactly drowning, but there may be a bit of extra flailing going on these days…) and catch everyone up on what I’m keeping myself busy with.

In chronological order:

I have a couple of AI basics type webinars planned for this fall, both of which will be based on the first chapter of the Special Library Report (formerly known as Library Technology Reports) from ALA that I’m writing right now. I will have the first webinar at the end of August, the manuscript for the report is due Oct 1 and the second webinar is in early November.

I’m also going to be presenting at both the MPLA and KLA conferences on the Neal-Schuman Technology Companion book which just came out last spring. I’ve already done one webinar based on that book, so the bones of the presentation are in place, I just need to update and refine for the particular audiences I’ll be presenting to.

As mentioned above, I’ve been busy diving *deeply* into library policy around AI as I write up a report for ALA. That manuscript is due in early October, as mentioned above, but I also have a brand-spanking-new contract to write a book about using technology in Disaster Planning with Jason Bengtson of the University of New Mexico. He’ll concentrate on the academic side of the topic while I write up the public library side. That one isn’t due until late next spring, but we’re getting going on it now so that we aren’t panic-writing as winter wraps up in 2026…

I do move from MPLA president to past-president in early October as well, so I will be handing over those duties to Erin Wahl (also of the University of New Mexico, funnily enough) and taking over the duties that Amadee Ricketts has been so capably doing over the past 18 months (which does include doing the budget for next year – not exactly in my wheelhouse, but I’ll have help!). To keep me from missing the work of the president, I’ve been appointed to two ALA committees on policy – one general policy and one technology policy – to serve for the next couple of years.

This is all, of course, adjacent to my full time job as NEKLS consultant, where we are working on all kinds of interesting projects right now as well.

Anyway, if I go back underwater and don’t stick my head up again for a while, please be understanding… 😉