In the Library with the Lead Pipe

In just over an hour I'll discuss AI Editorial Policies with @bpfiedler.bsky.social & Imogen Clarke as part of the Library Publishing Coalition's Panel. (Representing @libraryleadpipe.bsky.social & @ubiquityopen.bsky.social.)

9am Pacific / 10am Mountain / 12pm Eastern / 5pm UK

Hope you'll join us!

And our next open submission window is January 2026

See submission guidelines here - pay attention to the sub-pages with information about journal style, our AI policy, and our open review process.

Some brief updates about the journal:

Our last article of the year came out last week.

We're now working with authors for the spring/summer batch - lots of exciting pieces in the pipeline!

We're also working to move to a more stable platform - look for more information about that in a few months.

"Should [not] “We find that this behavior undermines our fundamental human dignity” [be] sufficient to inform the conversation?...

While it may not be possible to steer the broader institution or society, it is possible to act in an informed manner to provide more inclusive and welcoming spaces"

This is the first time I've been cited, what an honour to have it be about a topic as important as this one! An excellent read.

"This is partially a story of my own cowardice and partially a cautionary tale about employee retention, but perhaps more importantly, it is a story of institutional cultural ineptitude."

"This article speaks to the cultural context of the harm that racism and colonialism cause for Indigenous peoples that they encounter in institutions of higher education, including libraries."
www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2025/more-th...

Coming out Wednesday, George Gottschalk talks about "More Than Sage Smoke and Mascots: How Well Do You Know Your Indigenous Patrons and Employees?"

"Neuroinclusive: Practices, processes, and policies that create welcoming and safe spaces for people of all neurocognitive functions"

"While we’ve had successful conversations about changing hiring practices, we also know that it can be tricky convincing people to stop an interview practice that has always been done – or worse, has become almost a hazing ritual."

Appendix A and B include best practices for neuroinclusive hiring, from rewriting job postings to rethinking how you structure on-site interviews.

"While we’ve had successful conversations about changing hiring practices, we also know that it can be tricky convincing people to stop an interview practice that has always been done – or worse, has become almost a hazing ritual."

This is an excellent article.

When I had time to reflect in my finalist interview, I noticed that I thrived when I had my questions in advance (all of them during the screen), but was a deer in headlights outside of my prepared presentation...

I'm thrilllled this research is finally out there! Library hiring prob isn't the worst out there, but as a field we have a long way to go when it comes to being inclusive of neurodivergent job candidates.
TY Lead Pipe for being such a wonderful group to publish my first peer-reviewed article with!

"... best practices are better implemented as the default so that all candidates, regardless of whether they are neurodivergent or neurotypical, can benefit without the added burden of disclosure at potential personal risk."

Are We Implementing Neuroinclusive Hiring Practices?: An Investigation for Academic Library Positions by Liz Bellamy, Alex Flores Glosson, James Glosson, Mary Oberlies, Michael Runyon and Paul Showalter

"Knowledge workers are obligated to maintain and preserve these [biomedical] materials because of their epistemic and cultural value, in spite of their awful, nonconsensual origins. We wanted to create an ethical and methodological framework that enabled the divestment of stolen human biomatter..."

I’m looking forward to more dev on the OP platform w @mdalmau.bsky.social & Sean Purcell bc they’re both brilliant writing partners. The @libraryleadpipe.bsky.social & outside referee experience was a model for generous peer review. Now to get Part II out there in the world!

Thanks @plach.bsky.social ! The open peer review process w/ @libraryleadpipe.bsky.social was constructive & generative-the best peer review experience. Writing w/Sean Purcell was an inspiration & of course, @kalanicraig.bsky.social, forever my work spouse. Looking forward to part 2 of the article.

"The opaque protocols we used to redact images and text were also moments of refusal—of denying the reader access to stolen, coerced, and unethically extracted materials produced in biomedical research."

"... our current knowledge infrastructure depends on extraction enacted through theft and hidden in plain sight. [We] need to acknowledge that the materials we maintain, use, and reproduce are so defined by their extraction–thefts of people’s biomatter, their history, and their secrets."

Proud to serve as the publishing editor for this fantastic piece. The authors position refusal as an ethical/methodological stance for working with "materials that depend on the objectification of, and through that objectification the commodification of, human subjects." It's a must read!

"We refuse the processes that turn people into objects. We refuse to place the value these materials offer our institutions and disciplines above the people whose bodies were made into valuable epistemic resources."

The Digital Opaque: Refusing the Biomedical Object by Sean Purcell, Kalani Craig and Michelle Dalmau

www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2025/digital...

Coming out Wednesday -

The Digital Opaque: Refusing the Biomedical Object

"... this essay creates frameworks for scholars working with archival or historical materials that were obtained through violent, deceitful, or otherwise unethical means."

"This article shares one academic library’s research and assessment of library vendors’ corporate practices... and how to move forward when it is discovered that a provider’s business ventures could harm our library patrons or their families."

Going back a few years, to a topic that remains timely -

Ethical Financial Stewardship: One Library’s Examination of Vendors’ Business Practices by Katy DiVittorio and Lorelle Gianelli

"An unreasonable expectation would be if that librarian felt the need to make sure that that patron, or any patron, never had a negative thing to say about the library. In my experience, it appears that librarians and libraries seem to have high expectations of influence."

boosting a recent post that people have said they found helpful for navigating what's going on --

"The practice placing one’s anxieties into circles of concern, influence, and control... is a means of cultivating agency and preventing needless rumination."

For those looking to bring an autism-affirming approach to their work, let's revisit --

Autistic Students and Academic Library Research: Recommendations for a Neurodiversity-Informed Approach by Jessica Hinton-Williams