The Authority File

The Authority File took last week off, but the host, Bill Mickey, left a little something to pique your interest for next week. (Hint: management, anyone?)

In the final segment of Choice’s discussion with Janet Hyunju Clarke, Raymond Pun, and Monnee Tong, editors of Asian American Librarians and Library Services, each of the guests shares their perspective on diversity in librarianship today, and Monnee relates the story of San Diego children’s librarian Clara Breed, who worked and corresponded with Japanese-American children during their internment...

In this third of four episodes, Bill Mickey, Janet Hyunju Clarke, Raymond Pun, and Monnee Tong explore the institution’s role in diversifying the profession, and they talk about some of the strategies librarian Cynthia Del Rosario employs to convince students from underrepresented groups that librarianship offers unique opportunities for serving their communities.

In the second episode of a four-part series, Bill Mickey talks with Janet Hyunju Clarke, Raymond Pun, and Monnee Tong, authors of Asian American Librarians and Library Services , about the oppositional nature of Asian American Studies as a discipline. In addition, Monnee explains what the program “Talk Story” is and how libraries can implement similar programs to reach their own diverse communitie...

This week Janet Hyunju Clarke, Raymond Pun, and Monnee Tong join Bill Mickey to kick off a four-part conversation about Asian American Librarians and Library Services . They discuss how the book came together and highlight a few of the articles they found most interesting and insightful. Buy it here. (Use promo code CHOICEPOD17 to save 30% off the cover price.)

In this final episode of our 4-part series with Joe Janes, author of Documents That Changed the Way We Live, we talk about the AIDS Quilt. While not technically a document as we might think of one, the quilt nevertheless preserves an important part of cultural history in America. Joe discusses that dynamic and how many of the documents and objects in his book take on lives of their own, adding new...

In this third episode of our 4-part series about Joe Janes’s new book, Documents That Changed the Way We Live, we discuss the famous “We Can Do It” poster. The take-charge, cultural icon Rosie the Riveter depicted in the poster, it turns out, isn’t who you think she is. We’ll talk about that and how this particular document might be less of a “document that changed the world” than the other way ar...

In this second episode of our 4-part series with Joe Janes, author of Documents That Changed the Way We Live, we dig into Webster’s Dictionary. Joe illuminates how Noah Webster set out to make a uniquely American dictionary that attempted to capture the identity of a still emerging country. We’ll also learn a little bit about Noah himself and how the dictionary’s contemporary version, Merriam-Webs...

In this first episode of our 4-part series that highlights some of the documents that Joe Janes writes about in his book, Documents That Changed the Way We Live, we’ll talk with Joe about how the book came together, why these documents are worthy of exploration, and how they have an uncanny ability to take on new meanings depending on their historical context.

In this week’s episode, host Bill Mickey sits down with The Authority File producer Mark Derks to share a few thoughts on the motivation for the program and how it fits into the broader digital transformation taking place at Choice. They survey the past two months of content and share behind-the-scenes dirt on what goes into putting together an episode, while relating their thoughts on the show’s...

In this fourth and final episode of the Protecting Patron Privacy series, Bobbi Newman and Bonnie Tijerina, editors of Rowman & Littlefield’s Protecting Patron Privacy: A LITA Guide, wrap up their interview with Choice by talking about how libraries can actually implement forward-thinking privacy policies and guidelines for their patrons—from managing the sheer volume of procedural issues with...

In this episode, we discuss the ethical considerations libraries must face when they begin to formalize their missions around patron privacy. While patrons are encouraged to use resources as they see fit, it’s actually the library’s responsibility to help them understand and manage their privacy implications. Newman and Tijerina, editors of Rowman & Littlefield’s Protecting Patron Privacy: A L...

Choice continues its conversation with Bobbi Newman and Bonnie Tijerina, who edited Rowman & Littlefield’s Protecting Patron Privacy: A LITA Guide. The editors reveal that the public is not as resigned to data capture and manipulation as you might think—and that students, despite their transparent tendencies online, are actually pretty savvy about privacy. Further, Newman and Tijerina discuss...

In this first of four episodes about how, and why, libraries should protect the digital privacy of their patrons, Bobbi Newman and Bonnie Tijerina, editors of Protecting Patron Privacy: A LITA Guide, talk about how their book project came together, the broader privacy issues libraries need to be aware of, and the challenges they face. What are the specific privacy policies, laws, and regulations l...

In this fourth and final episode of the First-Year Experience series, The First-Year Experience Cookbook editors Raymond Pun and Meggan Houlihan wrap up their wide-ranging interview with Choice by discussing information literacy standards, trends, and how to partner with other departments to extend the library’s influence.

Students arrive for their first year at school from all over the world and bring with them an endless range of life experiences. In this third installment of the First-Year Experience series, Cookbook editors Raymond Pun and Meggan Houlihan talk about how to tailor information literacy programs for students of all backgrounds.

Choice continues its conversation with Raymond Pun and Meggan Houlihan, who edited ALA’s The First-Year Experience Cookbook. The editors reveal how collecting “recipes” (actual lesson plans and programs contributed by academic librarians for teaching info literacy to first-year students) expanded their own understanding of the first-year experience and how these programs can ease “library anxiety....

In this debut of Choice’s new podcast, The Authority File, editorial director Bill Mickey speaks with Raymond Pun and Meggan Houlihan about their new book published by the ALA, The First-Year Experience Cookbook, which is a collection of lesson plans and assessment activities for engaging first-year students in the library. Ray and Meggan discuss what it means to be a first-year experience librari...