Andy Hickner
@andyhickner.bsky.social
Medical librarian, dog dad, urbanist, YIMBY, abundance-pilled, Chicagoan.
It baffles me how many library school students/prospective LIS students/early career librarians use library Reddit to ask questions they could easily find answers to much more quickly using Google. You're a librarian! Knowing how to do research efficiently is the most basic aspect of our work!
October 17, 2025 at 5:28 PM
It baffles me how many library school students/prospective LIS students/early career librarians use library Reddit to ask questions they could easily find answers to much more quickly using Google. You're a librarian! Knowing how to do research efficiently is the most basic aspect of our work!
Ross Barkan is writing about writing/editorial/media jobs, but he could just as easily be describing similar patterns in libraries and archives that result from too many candidates chasing too few jobs:
rosselliotbarkan.com/p/the-matter...
rosselliotbarkan.com/p/the-matter...
October 16, 2025 at 9:21 PM
Ross Barkan is writing about writing/editorial/media jobs, but he could just as easily be describing similar patterns in libraries and archives that result from too many candidates chasing too few jobs:
rosselliotbarkan.com/p/the-matter...
rosselliotbarkan.com/p/the-matter...
If you do happen to be represented by a Republican in the House and/or Senate, by all means, pick up the phone and express your opinion to whoever answers, and ask for a written response. That’s the way to do it.
While I share everyone's distress about Trump administration's layoffs of the CDC librarians, I don't love EveryLibrary's astroturf-based approach. Signing online petitions to Congress doesn't work. It only provides you with the illusion that you're doing something effective. (1/2)
October 15, 2025 at 2:13 AM
If you do happen to be represented by a Republican in the House and/or Senate, by all means, pick up the phone and express your opinion to whoever answers, and ask for a written response. That’s the way to do it.
While I share everyone's distress about Trump administration's layoffs of the CDC librarians, I don't love EveryLibrary's astroturf-based approach. Signing online petitions to Congress doesn't work. It only provides you with the illusion that you're doing something effective. (1/2)
October 14, 2025 at 9:08 PM
While I share everyone's distress about Trump administration's layoffs of the CDC librarians, I don't love EveryLibrary's astroturf-based approach. Signing online petitions to Congress doesn't work. It only provides you with the illusion that you're doing something effective. (1/2)
@npr.org newscasters, this is your friendly reminder that Grand Blanc in Michigan is pronounced “Grand BLANK.” This is true of pretty much every French place name in MI btw - think of how a 7-year-old native English speaker would pronounce it the first time she encountered it on the page
September 30, 2025 at 8:15 PM
@npr.org newscasters, this is your friendly reminder that Grand Blanc in Michigan is pronounced “Grand BLANK.” This is true of pretty much every French place name in MI btw - think of how a 7-year-old native English speaker would pronounce it the first time she encountered it on the page
"Instead of ostracizing the people they hate, Bluesky’s progressives are only isolating themselves... Within this little hothouse world that American progressives have created for themselves, there’s not much to do except try to cancel each other."
The Bluesky-ization of the American left
Progressives discovered a seemingly invincible weapon. One day it stopped working.
www.noahpinion.blog
September 15, 2025 at 6:05 PM
"Instead of ostracizing the people they hate, Bluesky’s progressives are only isolating themselves... Within this little hothouse world that American progressives have created for themselves, there’s not much to do except try to cancel each other."
As a librarian, I think nursing reference/lit searches are MUCH harder than medical ones. Nurses come to us with the craziest questions, most of which aren't answerable with conventional bibliographic database searches.
August 27, 2025 at 5:44 PM
As a librarian, I think nursing reference/lit searches are MUCH harder than medical ones. Nurses come to us with the craziest questions, most of which aren't answerable with conventional bibliographic database searches.
Welp that’s the last time I use the Lyft bikeshare option
August 16, 2025 at 3:14 AM
Welp that’s the last time I use the Lyft bikeshare option
Thank Betty Who!
In the 1990s, Donna Lewis’s “I Love You Always Forever” was ubiquitous, inescapable, the sound of top 40. Then in the 2000s and 2010s you never heard it. You had to google a half-remembered snatch of lyrics just to confirm it was real. Now it gets played again. Much to consider.
August 2, 2025 at 3:38 AM
Thank Betty Who!
Reposted by Andy Hickner
Conscientious SUV Shopper Just Wants Something That Will Kill Family In Other Car In Case Of Accident theonion.com/conscie...
July 5, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Conscientious SUV Shopper Just Wants Something That Will Kill Family In Other Car In Case Of Accident theonion.com/conscie...
After tonight they are updating the criteria for clinical diagnosis of homosexuality to test whether the patient can recognize Cole’s wig as an homage to Bernadette Peters
June 9, 2025 at 5:17 AM
After tonight they are updating the criteria for clinical diagnosis of homosexuality to test whether the patient can recognize Cole’s wig as an homage to Bernadette Peters
At the risk of sounding like an asshole, I have to say I really don't think the library literature needs another study about imposter syndrome among librarians. We get it. It's a thing that some of us have.
June 4, 2025 at 8:02 PM
At the risk of sounding like an asshole, I have to say I really don't think the library literature needs another study about imposter syndrome among librarians. We get it. It's a thing that some of us have.
Stolen from substack:
May 30, 2025 at 10:11 PM
Stolen from substack:
Everyone on social media loves to hate Matt Yglesias, but if you actually read him it turns out he does, in fact, have fairly persuasive reasons for supporting heterodoxy among Democrats that aren’t just trolling progressives.
May 17, 2025 at 4:14 AM
Everyone on social media loves to hate Matt Yglesias, but if you actually read him it turns out he does, in fact, have fairly persuasive reasons for supporting heterodoxy among Democrats that aren’t just trolling progressives.
When returning from travel, what are your favorite things to come home to? Mine are 1. Our dog, 2. Our big bed pillows, 3. Our bidet.
May 15, 2025 at 2:46 AM
When returning from travel, what are your favorite things to come home to? Mine are 1. Our dog, 2. Our big bed pillows, 3. Our bidet.
Medical Library Association members: I'm sharing this statement about the difficult decision to change the name of MLA's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee, authored by Community Building and Belonging Committee Chair Kelsa Bartley. (1/2)
Name Change Statement by MLA’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee
On April 9, 2025, the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee requested that the MLA Board approve its name be changed to the Community Building and Belonging (CBB) Committee and requested…
www.mlanet.org
May 8, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Medical Library Association members: I'm sharing this statement about the difficult decision to change the name of MLA's Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Committee, authored by Community Building and Belonging Committee Chair Kelsa Bartley. (1/2)
What's up with librarians randomly putting proper names in all caps? I'm thinking of Ovid, which for some reason everyone writes out as OVID (my favorite is "OVID Medline"), and then today I encountered "CANVAS" (for the Canvas LMS).
May 8, 2025 at 1:00 PM
What's up with librarians randomly putting proper names in all caps? I'm thinking of Ovid, which for some reason everyone writes out as OVID (my favorite is "OVID Medline"), and then today I encountered "CANVAS" (for the Canvas LMS).
Grateful my director fought for our travel funding this year. I know a lot of my colleagues aren’t so lucky, and I will have to self-fund next year. I can only speak for myself but… (1/2)
May 2, 2025 at 5:20 PM
Grateful my director fought for our travel funding this year. I know a lot of my colleagues aren’t so lucky, and I will have to self-fund next year. I can only speak for myself but… (1/2)
Visiting Pittsburgh has reminded me how low-key my favorite American cities are all the historic second-tier ones east of the Mississippi that have seen their best days: PGH, Baltimore, Providence, New Haven, etc. Honorable mention to Montreal which is Canadian but falls in the same category IMO
April 27, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Visiting Pittsburgh has reminded me how low-key my favorite American cities are all the historic second-tier ones east of the Mississippi that have seen their best days: PGH, Baltimore, Providence, New Haven, etc. Honorable mention to Montreal which is Canadian but falls in the same category IMO
My coauthors and I are thrilled to announce our newly published article in JMLA, which provides 2 validated search filters that can be used to retrieve research about queer women's health in PubMed. Read the full article for free: jmla.mlanet.org/ojs/jmla/art...
April 21, 2025 at 1:43 PM
My coauthors and I are thrilled to announce our newly published article in JMLA, which provides 2 validated search filters that can be used to retrieve research about queer women's health in PubMed. Read the full article for free: jmla.mlanet.org/ojs/jmla/art...
TIL the EMTREE for "skin aging" is "cutaneous parameters"?!? I want to slap whoever made this decision.
April 17, 2025 at 2:57 PM
TIL the EMTREE for "skin aging" is "cutaneous parameters"?!? I want to slap whoever made this decision.
OK I’m a little fat, but I’m not “Downloading the bundt cake app to my phone” fat, OK?
April 10, 2025 at 7:17 PM
OK I’m a little fat, but I’m not “Downloading the bundt cake app to my phone” fat, OK?
RIP SLA. It is a really, really hard time for library professional organizations right now. sla.org/news/697073/...
SLA Announces Dissolution - Special Libraries Association, Inc.
The Special Libraries Association (SLA), a global organization dedicated to supporting information professionals and specialized librarians, has announced it will begin a dissolution process after 116 years of service to the profession.
sla.org
March 26, 2025 at 9:31 PM
RIP SLA. It is a really, really hard time for library professional organizations right now. sla.org/news/697073/...
Every time I see this sign I read it in Gia Gunn voice
March 6, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Every time I see this sign I read it in Gia Gunn voice
I love that Laura Dern and Isabella Rossellini are each other’s date to the Oscars 😍
March 3, 2025 at 1:47 AM
I love that Laura Dern and Isabella Rossellini are each other’s date to the Oscars 😍