TeamMidwest

TeamMidwest, 8 days ago to random

Is anyone conducting long range systematic research into the future of archives at small colleges that are closing due to enrollment declines? I’ve seen some scattered articles, case studies and conference presentations, but this feels like the kind of thing that could use a major study #archives #archivists

TeamMidwest, 13 days ago to random

Academic librarians arguing that relinquishing librarian faculty status will somehow magically lead to reductions in workplace inequality are really carrying water for neoliberalism and I will die on this hill. I will acknowledge that faculty status can contribute to hierarchies, but the way to deal with workplace inequalities is union contracts, not parroting anti-faculty administrator talking points dressed up in the language of workplace equality.

TeamMidwest, 29 days ago to random

Wendell Berry's the Mad Farmer Liberation Front poem always hits so hard, and every line is somehow better than the last. If you've never seen it, it's worth the read. https://ag.arizona.edu/~steidl/Liberation.html

TeamMidwest, 1 month ago to random

Apparently the Ohio State president is on a bitcoin mining company board and invited an OSU alumna who hawked bitcoin to give the commencement speech. You can’t make this shit up!

TeamMidwest, 1 month ago to Unions

A lot of the super exciting #archivist #librarian #curator #unionization wins/campaigns in recent years seem to be concentrated in the Midwest - Newberry Library, Minnesota Historical Society, U. Michigan. If anyone knows of any other #GLAM examples from the southern United States, I would be IMMENSELY grateful! #librarians #archivists #curators #unions #museums #libraries #archives

TeamMidwest, 1 month ago to random

Man, we gotta talk about stuff like this. The tendency of library leaders to not speak out fearing further retaliation rarely proves to be a winning strategy, and in fact can be demoralizing for staff: "Library directors are seeking opportunities to speak to others at peer institutions about these issues without drawing public attention. They do not want organizations to speak for them or advocate on their behalf, out of fear that it will draw negative attention to their libraries."

TeamMidwest, 2 months ago to random

A terrific essay on the parallels between the Lowell Mills labor organizing history and Etsy seller organizing, complicated by the challenges of platform capitalism and the freelancer economy https://open.substack.com/pub/taramcmullin/p/organizing-indie-labor?r=sx43&utm_medium=ios

TeamMidwest, 2 months ago to random

I'm sorry but why are we advertising archivist jobs that require an MLIS that pay less than $35k? Yes, living in Frankfort KY is a low cost of living area, but this is the salary I made more than 10 years ago - as a paraprofessional. It is also more than $15k below what the MIT Living Wage average salaries page says for education/library jobs in this county. #YouOughtToBeAshamed #archivists https://careers.archivists.org/jobs/19926055/kentucky-historical-society-archivist

TeamMidwest, 2 months ago to random

I am not a long time member of ALA so maybe I should hold my fire here (my professional association loyalty is with organizations that primarily serve archivists, not librarians) but I see the “the executive director of ALA needs an MLIS” chorus has been reactivated and y’all….. do you understand professional association executives are a thing? We don’t require the ED of SAA to be an archivist, and frankly I think that’s a good thing!!!!

TeamMidwest, 2 months ago to random

As part of my appendicitis recovery I have asked folks to sign up to go on walks with me to maintain my mobility. I’ve been so touched by how many of my former coworkers from my academic library days have signed up. What they tell me about what’s happened since I left academia last year has resulted in basically net negative interest in ever returning to academia until it’s run by all the Marxists that the right-wing loves to fantasize about than the neoliberals who are actually in charge.

TeamMidwest, 2 months ago to random

Historians of tech and STS folks, do we have any examples of a technology being developed that clearly had grave ramifications and there was a rapid “no we will stop developing this, it’s too dangerous” response? I am far from a nuclear or AI expert but it seems like there are a lot of rhetoric of inevitability/Cold War parallels between both and this got me wondering if there are counter examples of wholesale squashing technological development in its tracks.

TeamMidwest, 2 months ago to random

I'm researching the idea of zero growth/steady state libraries (believe it or not, an idea that has existed for decades) as part of my work on net zero archives. Curious if anyone into #libraryhistory can speak to the 1976 Atkinson report, prepared for UK universities. From what I've gathered from 1970s library literature, this report seemed to have a wide impact on the thinking of library leaders around the world on starting to rethink space allocation needs for major research libraries.

TeamMidwest, 3 months ago to random

If there are any #digitalpreservation practitioners who are using AWS and have admin rights, I would love, love, love to see what the customer carbon accounting reports look like if you're willing to share a copy of your org's with me. Happy to sign a confidentiality agreement or similar to make this happen. https://docs.aws.amazon.com/awsaccountbilling/latest/aboutv2/ccft-overview.html

TeamMidwest, 3 months ago to random

Spotify keeps recommending obscure women folk singers from the 1960s (Barbara Dane, Connie Converse) to me and I'm not mad about it except for the part when I read their wikipedia article and see how the music industry treated them like shit so they stopped recording

TeamMidwest, 3 months ago to random

please stop using words like "effectuate" in reports that are already likely to lapse into jargon given the topic, thank you!

TeamMidwest, 5 months ago to random

I'm in the market for a standing desk with up/down switches (as opposed to a crank). Willing to spend $500-$1,000. Do you have one that you love and can recommend?

TeamMidwest, 5 months ago to random

This is my annual “you are seen” shout out to my fellow slow readers. The quantification of reading really bugs the hell out of me, and I think it does a real disservice to reading to talk about how many books you read in a year versus what you actually LEARNED or how books helped you. It does no good to compare your reading habits to others if it in any way makes you feel bad, guilty, or incompetent.

TeamMidwest, 6 months ago to random

Hey if you have taught/assigned any of my work within the last 3 years, please send me a copy of your syllabus! These are extremely useful to keep in my files for all sorts of reasons. Thank you :)

TeamMidwest, 6 months ago to random

I suspect I’m going to need to take this question to MetaFilter but are there any women fiction writers similar to Carl Hiaasen? I love his weird gonzo Florida chaos style and also want something slightly less male gaze.

TeamMidwest, 6 months ago to random

My 91 year old dad has used cellphones for years but as his cognitive capacity has declined significantly in recent months, the touchscreens of modern cell phones are confounding him, a lot, leading to significant frustration whenever he wants to just place a call to us. Any kind of accessibility settings or mods we try doesn’t help. We’re now looking at Jitterbug type phones - can anyone weigh in with experience?

TeamMidwest, 6 months ago to random

One of my absolute favorite "nuclear history is the weirdest shit on Earth" stories has always been Operation Teapot and telling people "actually yes we have evidence based research on how well a file cabinet would do following a nuclear attack" https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/vital-records-protection-nuclear-test-file-cabinets-operation-teapot

TeamMidwest, 7 months ago to random

I'm low key wondering if Woody Guthrie's Columbia River recordings are in the public domain because from what I can tell it was work done for the US government? (please do not mansplain copyright law to me, I am an archivist who knows about copyright investigations and my husband used to work for a law school prof whose work on IP law has literally been cited in SCOTUS opinions)

TeamMidwest, 7 months ago to random

Love to see digital archivists encouraging people to delete things because everything digital has material storage costs!!!!! YES!! https://thespinoff.co.nz/internet/04-11-2023/the-true-cost-of-your-digital-memories

TeamMidwest, 7 months ago to random

Have we found a word or phrase yet that means "financially viable" that isn't "sustainable"? This is literally the linguistic thing that causes me the most issues and it's also something I've had clients straight up ask me about. I'm also desperately tired of reading about "sustainable" things in the GLAM world that do not touch on environmental sustainability in any manner.

TeamMidwest, 7 months ago to random

Normally I agree with critiques of linear time but folks if you’re presenting near lunch time it’s very important to not blow past your time when your audience has already been listening for hours and is ready to eat