David Whelan

David Whelan Blogs

Blog Authors

Latest from David Whelan

Reading Time: 7 minutes
Our law library has been operating in a hybrid mode deliberately for over a year now. It was one of the first things I focused on when I arrived. Staff had been operating in a hybrid model through the pandemic upheaval so one choice would have been to return to pre-pandemic staffing (everyone in a physical
Continue Reading Present, Unwrapped

Reading Time: 4 minutes
I had to travel recently and unexpectedly, which always creates a bit of turmoil. Did I put an out-of-office email up? What about my phone? Did I feed the budgie? I left my laptop behind—on purpose—and tried an Android tablet and Bluetooth keyboard combination I hadn’t tried in awhile. It actually worked out pretty well even
Continue Reading Sunset for the Work Phone

Reading Time: 6 minutes
Our family recently experienced one of those things that is stressful in the moment but funny after the fact. No threat to life or reputation, just something you wished you could avoid. As we were discussing it afterwards, one of the kids parroted back to me some pearls of wisdom that I’m sure I’d said. It
Continue Reading I Can’t Get No

Reading Time: 6 minutes
I had a lot of fun at the AALL annual meeting in Boston. It’s making me rethink professional conference attendance. Not necessarily not going, but having to be more deliberate to get what I want out of it. Last year, I found the numbers of people a bit much, and figured it was post-pandemic. But
Continue Reading You Are Too Kind

Reading Time: 6 minutes
I have been reading The Big Con, a book that looks at large consulting organizations and their impact on their clients, especially public ones like government. I’ve long been skeptical about how consulting fits into business operations, libraries or otherwise. This book spoke to me, reinforcing my concerns about expertise and knowledge loss, and especially hollowing
Continue Reading The Place for Expertise

Reading Time: 7 minutes
I like to think I’m a mid-career law librarian but, if I’m frank, it may be that I’m already at the end of my career based on my position. We have shallow organizational hierarchies and becoming a director is just a couple of hops up the chain from an entry level role. That’s not to say
Continue Reading Lateral Leadership

Reading Time: 6 minutes
It is a time that reminds us that information consumption changes. The tools we use, the expectations we have. I think, like perhaps many other people, I had gotten accustomed to the stability of platforms and expectations for what I would (and would not) find on them. Now that is changing, and I’m finding myself leaning
Continue Reading The Centrality of RSS