Lynne M. Thomas's Blog, page 24

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ICYMI: New Verity Extra! — You Never Forget Your First

…except when you do. Join Deb, Erika, Liz, and Lynne as we struggle to remember a bunch of Doctor Who firsts. We talk tat, books, Big Finish, and more! That “more” includes fanworks, so I’m including this for Liz once again:

So what were your firsts in these categories? And what other firsts would you like to hear about? Let us know in the comments!

^E

Related links:

Dalek Krack

United Fan Con 2000

Chicago TARDIS

Gallifrey One

Seasons of Fear

The Sirens of Time

Storm Warning

The Doctor Who Programme Guide

The Terrestrial Index

The Doctor Who Pattern Book

The Eight Doctors (as covered by The Doctor Who Book Club Podcast)

Lazy Doctor Who

Download or listen now (runtime 44:51)

Book review: Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear

If you are looking for the literary unicorn that is the combination of “excellently written” and “Loads of fun” you have found it.

Bear refers to this as a “weird western;” you could also consider it an SF/F novel told in dime novel style (dime novels figure heavily in the narrative and the frame, huzzah! says the dime novel curator) or as steampunk. It works very, very well as all of these.

It also works very, very well as an alternate universe version of the Firefly episode “Heart of Gold” where all of the prostitutes save themselves and take down the establishment with souped up sewing machines and a whole lot of savvy.

It works very well within its themes of found family, western adventures, and protagonists who have feelings and histories and those things bring them together but sometimes cause problems that they need to navigate while saving Rapid City from the evil dude running for mayor.

It works very well with characters who get together, and characters who don’t, and figuring out just how to navigate all those emotions when talking about prostitutes and marshalls and miners and the like.

It works very well as a tale of people who are deeply intelligent and talented figuring that out and leveraging those skills in often less than ideal circumstances.

It works very well as a tale of derring-do, with airships and fires and jailbreaks and submarines and heists and rescues.

Really, it just works very, very well. So you should read it.

Full disclosure: Bear is a dear friend.

Librarianship lessons learned: a series of bullet points

For today’s blog post, I hereby present: bullet points of things I’ve learned as my career progressed, at the request of Amy Hildreth Chen:

Talk less, smile more. (Hamilton reference!). While this can be read on occasion in a female-dominated profession as sexist advice, there are moments where it turns out to be very important. For me, as an enthusiastic extrovert, I needed to learn how to function effectively in a profession with a high percentage of introverts. That meant learning to be a better listener. My introverted colleagues had much of value to add to our projects and meetings, and I needed to learn to leave enough space so that they would be comfortable speaking up. This was not always the easiest lesson for me, but it was an important one. And it has taken me years to learn.
Corollary: Sometimes you do really have to speak up. At some point, we all need to find ways to advocate for something, whether it’s a software, a process, a policy, or your own work. For my introverted colleagues, especially, this was often a challenge. It is better to prepare, practice, and speak out than to suffer in silence and see your work elided or forgotten or devalued for whatever reason. This is one of those moments when building up collegial relationships with your extroverted colleagues may be helpful. We may be willing to help you advocate!
Try to think like an administrator.  Administration is not (generally) the enemy. Understanding the administrative perspective means that you have a better chance of getting your own needs met (personally or departmentally), because you’ll be able to discuss your needs within the framework of the whole library/archive/administration. Which means that you’re likelier to make requests that fit the mission/vision of your organization–and likelier to get your needs met as a result.
Ask. There will, in any organization, be unwritten rules, Major History, things you just don’t know, and the like. Find someone trustworthy that you can ask about such things. Ideally, someone not in your reporting structure, although your boss may have good suggestions for whom to talk to, if they are Good Mentoring Bosses. (NB: Your Boss May Vary).
You will make mistakes. Big ones, even. This will not be the end of the world, although it may very well feel like it at the time.  If you aren’t making any mistakes at all, you aren’t learning, moving forward, or trying to do something differently. What matters is how you pick up the pieces, learn from them, and figure out what to do next.  The question is, are you failing differently each time? Failing is how we level up, sometimes. As much as it can hurt.

You will notice that I don’t have specific advice to offer as to when to speak up and when not to. This will be navigated differently for every person, in every organization.

You don’t have to do everything, and you don’t have to do it all right now.  I had some additional thoughts about this for early career folks here. Schedule your work week if at all possible to match up with your energy levels. For example, I try to schedule meetings on Mondays and Fridays, because my focused brain for doing intellectual/project work (e.g. writing, editing, etc.) tends to happen on Tuesdays through Thursdays. I try to block off those times as much as possible.
Learn to say no to things that are not good fits for your expanding skill set, or take up more time or energy than you get back personally or professionally. There will be other opportunities, I promise. It’s okay to take one for the team once in a while by taking on a big service commitment, for example, but make sure it’s part of a rotation, not the only thing you do, all the time.
Corollary: if you must bail on something, do so earlier rather than later.   It is always easier to replace a person’s role or re-shift responsibilities further from the deadline. The worst possible thing you can do is watch the deadline whoosh by with nary a word and not do the work.
Build in recovery time. Do something routinely that is not work.  Especially if you are lucky enough to end up in a tenure track gig, the pressure will feel enormous if you’re already inclined to being an overachiever type. *ahem* Make sure to guard some down time for yourself, whether that’s a hobby of some kind, or just the occasional Netflix marathon. See friends and family if that’s your jam. Cook. Knit. Garden. Hike. Take actual vacation days. Hang out with your pet. Sleep in. Find ways to recharge.

Thoughts on teamwork, committee work, and generally working with other folks:

You don’t have to do it alone. In fact, it may be better that you don’t.  There is a reason that library school is all group projects, all the time. Most of my projects have been collaborative in some way, with varying group sizes from 2-person partnerships to 21-person committees. The major advantage to a team approach or partnership is that you don’t have to do everything yourself. You can tag out when you need to. You can be the person who tags in when your colleagues need to tag out. Teams and partnerships allow more balance with life stuff.
Be as inclusive as you possibly can.  Bringing in perspectives that are not yours means that your projects will be more comprehensive and better. You will miss things. You will mess things up. You will forget things. There will be stuff you are not aware of that could be relevant or helpful. Having other folks contribute (and the more diverse a group in terms of perspectives the better) means that you miss/mess up fewer things, and your project will likely be stronger for it.
Do the f***ing work. Seriously.  The most functional teams bring a lot of respect for each other to the table, and doing the work. We all have horror stories about that one group project that went horribly wrong because one person didn’t do the work. Try not to be that person, and you’ll be fine.
Clear and timely communication is key, both of expectations/assignments and the possibility of not meeting them.   Academia is not always the speediest, and that’s to your advantage here. Many, many road bumps and problems with a given assignment/project can be managed if you communicate with involved parties, especially before deadlines pass. This allows for re-jiggering if necessary.
Understand your strengths and weaknesses, and be honest about them. Find the ways that you can comfortably contribute to your team(s). Are you a crack note-taker? Are you happy to report for the group? Are you a big picture person, or really good with arranging minutia in ways that make sense? All of these are valuable things to bring to group work, and most people are not great at all of them.

And most importantly:

Pay it forward.  If you find yourself in a decent position, having learned and survived and succeeded, take the time to be the kind of colleague that younger you needed. That’s how we change librarianship for the better.

Queers Destroy Science Fiction Reading, Madison, WI, 4/3

Hey!

This is just to say

that

Michael and I

will be at the

Queers Destroy Science Fictionreading

At A Room of One’s Own

in Madison, WI.

Sunday, the third

of April

at 3:30 pm

with Gabby Reed

and

Nino Cipri

Please come!

(This, folks, is why I am NOT a poet.)

Confessions of a Collection Development Pantser

In writing, there is often a distinction made between “plotters” and “pantsers” : folks who plan, vs. folks who see what happens next and then choose.

Hi, my name is Lynne and I’m a Collection Development Pantser, especially when purchasing.

After a twitter conversation with Melissa Hubbard about collection development and feeling adrift, I thought it might be useful to write down some of my thought processes about how I select for RBSC. I did not have formal collection development training. Never took a CD class in library school. I saw bosses do it as a paraprofessional and a student worker. “Please search the circled items in this dealer catalog against our library catalog” led to seeing what was bought when I typed up tags. Bosses would answer questions if I asked them, but no one ever sat me down and said “this is how you do it” and the bulk of that experience was before Internet Shopping was possible.

So, here are some observations about how I handle collection development.

Keep in mind: RULE 1 is to ALWAYS STAY WITHIN DESIGNATED BUDGET. No overspending. EVER.

I have been here since 2004. I did not come in an expert in all of the areas that I cover. I still have bouts of impostor syndrome where I’m not sure I know what I’m doing.
I figure if I can answer the questions that might come out of trying to “catch me out” when purchasing, that’s probably okay.

Can I use this when teaching one of our repeat visitor courses that come to RBSC?
Does this work in the context of 2 or more collections?
Can I easily explain why I bought this thing in 2 sentences or less to a non-expert?




My typical budget is really modest by Rare Books terms. (More so this year with the lack of a state budget in Illinois; it disappeared completely about 2 months into our typical spending period.) I could literally spend the whole budget on a rather imperfect incunable, and that’s in the good budget years.
I rotate which collections I develop each fiscal year because there isn’t enough money to go around to buy something for every collection. So, one year will be Popular Literature and another will be Artist’s Books or African Americana. This is me trying to be “fair” and not ignore collections.
There are a couple of collections I actively ignore. I updated the Collection Development Policy for the department to let me ignore them because they are either a) under-documented and don’t even meet our rather loose definition of “rare” or “special.” or b) too expensive to continue developing to any level of usefulness.
I  keep a list of “wants” that I often end up ignoring. It’s most useful when filling in “high spots” or expensive things, and least useful for filling out the more mundane/cheaper materials.
I almost exclusively shop online rather than through catalogs because it’s easier for our particular procurement process.
When I am looking for more expensive stuff (say for a specific endowment), I usually BEGIN with the budget amount and figure it out from there within the subject.
When/if I read a catalog, it’s often when I need to buy for a subject area I know less about. I typically will follow up with online searching once I’ve gotten to the “known item to add to collection” stage.
I will typically purchase items that are in Good-Very Good condition rather than fine because they are cheaper for not being “collector ready” (e.g. they have previous owner signatures from mere mortals not famous people) but are just dandy for teaching purposes.
I rely on dealer expertise to help me figure out what to buy. I have built relationships with a group of dealers who are now vendors in our state system. I will literally say things like “I need an example of a 16th century herball” or “I need to add underground comix” and see what they propose.

If this random collection of “how I do it” helps you to feel better about how you do it, then I feel better about being a pantser.

Rare Books and Special Collections in NON-ARL libraries: Let’s make a list!

I work in a Rare Books and Special Collections department in a library that is not a member of the Association of Research Libraries (ARL).

My impression is that much of the Rare Books and Special Collections literature in particular tends to focus upon ARL Libraries, in part because there is a HANDY-DANDY LIST for surveys. This means that a decent subset of libraries that do Rare Books/Special Collections work get left out of the conversation about How Rare Books and Special Collections functions: independent research libraries, liberal arts colleges, small society libraries, etc.

So let’s change the conversation. Let’s compile a HANDY-DANDY LIST of NON-ARL libraries that do rare books (as opposed to stand-alone archives, which I’m guessing SAA has a handle on).

Here is the form: http://goo.gl/forms/1l6kpTGuBv

All information gathered will be made open access to anyone who wants it. Let’s change the research conversation by including more folks!

(Better yet, if this work has already been done and I missed it, please point me to it!)

 

New Verity! Episode 105 — Chatty Daleks

We’re back to 60s Who this week with the next installment of season 1. Join Deb, Erika, Liz, and Lynne as we talk about all seven parts of “The Daleks”. We chat about how they compare to their modern counterparts, TARDIS team-building, praise for info-text, and the social context of a really rather dark story. Also Lynne has a cold and Liz hates the nickname “P-Cap”.

How do you feel about “The Daleks”? Do you recommend watching it all in one go like Erika did? Do you prefer the Peter Cushing film? Do you agree that Barbara is “made of awesome”? Let us know in the comments!

^E

Also covered:

Lynne

is the proud owner of a River Song Funko Pop fig!
looks forward to seeing Deb for #uncannycabin part 2!


Erika

loves adding Doctor Who podcasts to her Hugo nomination ballot!
can’t wait to see P-Cap in  Class later this year!


Liz squees over

the release of her new book, The Black Archive #3: The Ambassadors of Death!
and the pics of it people have tweeted her!


Deb

delights in a Newsweek interview with P-Cap!
swoons over P-Cap drawing pictures of other Doctors on  The Fan Show !

Bonus links:

Dr. Who and the Daleks

Verity!’s Dalek episode

Lazy Doctor Who covers “The Daleks”

Download or listen now (runtime 1:24:24) Audio Player

C2E2 is coming this weekend! You can find me there on SUNDAY.

The Thomases will only be doing one day of C2E2– SUNDAY. I have a couple of panels!

10:45 AM – 11:45 AM  With Great Power: Mentoring the Next Generation of Geeks S405A

How can we open doors for new creators? What are some of the biggest challenges in advocating for greater inclusion of under-represented stories and perspectives in our fields? This panel of writers, editors, filmmakers, and nerdy community leaders will lead a vibrant discussion about what it means to provide mentorship and guidance to fresh voices looking to make their mark in geek culture. Audience Q&A to follow panelist discussion. Sponsored in part by Chicago Nerd Social Club. Lynne M. Thomas, Ytasha Womack, Wesley Sun, Michi Trota, Aaron J. Amendola (M)

12:00 – 1:00 PM Ode to Sidekicks S405a

Frodo wouldn’t have made it to Mordor without Samwise Gamgee, and Daenerys Targaryen owes her success to her fire-breathing buddies. Harry Dresden & Bob, Rachel Morgan & Jenks, and Batman & Robin–they work so much better together than separately. More often than not, sidekicks are the ones responsible for getting our heroes across the finish line, so join a panel of authors as they shine a spotlight on some of the best unsung heroes of SFF: the humble, yet completely essential sidekicks. Kelley Grant, Lynne M. Thomas (M), Judd Winick, Christina Henry, Jaleigh Johnson, Lexie Dunne

SIDEKICKS PANEL followed by autographing at table 21. Books by the authors on the panel will be available for sale! I’m moderating the panel, so I won’t be at the entire autographing session, but will likely hang for a few minutes as they get underway, so if you happen to have one of my collections you’d like signed, feel free to ask.

Otherwise, keep a lookout for Michael and Caitlin, who will be trying to meet a whole bunch of her favorite wrestlers, and hopefully Melissa Benoist from Supergirl, too.

Notes to self: article(s) worth adding next time I teach

“The Archive” is Not An Archives: Acknowledging the Intellectual Contributions of Archival Studies / Michelle Caswell.” Reconstruction 16.1 (2016).

Edited to add: Allison Jai O’Dell’s Hack Your Library site, with new ways to leverage finding aids.

…other contenders in the comments? I’ve been so buried in The Next Book and Program Prioritization that I’ve not had the chance to do anything else…