When I worked at a public library system in Utah, there was a staff professional development day that included a pimp my bookcart contest--I think using only materials provided, but I can't remember for sure. I remember no entries, but do remember the absolute joy everybody was having doing it.

That's Bernie Moreno, used car salesman turned senator from Ohio, much to my annoyance as an Ohioan.

Police Officers Involved in Highway Shooting Were Crime Victims

Reminds me of the take by the Ohio Supreme Court last year that police officers involved in a shooting can be "victims" and their named redacted: courtnewsohio.gov/cases/2025/S...

Other thought: there was no real viable opportunity for me to stay in Canada after the degree, which I think is fairly common? So if they're hoping to go there for school as a way to migrate permanently, that might not be feasible?

I was very lucky to have some savings and land a campus job and find very cheap rent (the limits on work were tricky, and just being abroad in general was much more effort than I expected). I wouldn't *strongly";discourage but I would suggest thinking hard about it.

I completed my degree at University of Alberta as a US person two decades ago. Which is probably a little different because ALA accredits Canadian schools as well, making the degree very easy to bring back with me.

I don't fully understand what determines the changes in Kidz Bop covers, but the Pink Pony Club line being changed to "a Pink Pony girl/who swings at the club" is such a weird one to me. Swinging at a club, to me, seem much more suggestive than dancing!

My current theory about the bringing prices down 600% etc is that it's been described to him as "the price will be 1/6 the current price" and he honestly doesn't understand fraction to percent conversions. Or, you know, he's just making stuff up.

To be fair, they do somewhat split the difference by repeating the lines with the less wistful version. But muddling comes first!

I am a "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" fundamentalist in that I think the original "muddle through" line is 1000x better than "highest bough". But I would not expect of all cover for freakin' Kidz Bop to honor the reality that Christmas is constantly laced with melancholy, too.

Cover of The Queer Thing About Sin: Why the West Came to Hate Queer Love, by Harry Tanner. Cover is bright pink with classical sculpture of two men on it.

Last day of #LibFaves25 is THE QUEER THING ABOUT SIN. A real sweet spot for both experts and casual readers. It fundamentally altered my views of the origins of homophobia and would have deeply helped and comforted me as a young, queer religious guy trying to sort out the whole snarl.

Cover of the novel My Friends by Fredrick Backman. Illustration of three young people seen below water from the neck down.

Penultimate #LibFaves25 is MY FRIENDS. Backman's smooth as silk writing always makes even the most sentimental moments feel unhackneyed and this one has just enough twists about each character's life that you'd be hard pressed to anticipate just about anything in it.

Not loving having a second weather day already this winter for kiddo. Very grateful for a job with significant flexibility, but bracing for more if this winter continues to be this serious!

Cover of the novel The Road to Tender Hearts by Annie Hartnett. Illustration of older man pushing a station wagon alongside a cat in a desert-like landscape. There is a young woman laying on top of car, a boy standing up through the window and a woman leaning on the door through open window.

Day 8 #LibFaves25 is THE ROAD TO TENDER HEARTS. I love a book of an older protag getting a new chance at life and also reluctant sudden parents (see also The Guncle, Nothing to See Here).

Cover of We Could be Rats by Emily Austin. Cover is pink with blue writing and illustration of pairs of people seen from behind on carnival swings.

Day 7 of #LibFaves25 WE COULD BE RATS. I love everything Emily Austin writes (can't wait for her upcoming one featuring a librarian!), and this one is just so sharp and clever

Cover of novel GREENTEETH by Molly O'Neill. Illustration shows green, human-like figure surrounded by plants in a pond

Choice for day 6 of #LibFaves25 is GREENTEETH. Read this fairly early this year and still am thinking about this lovely reworking of a monster and the story's delicate thinking through of agency.

Cover of novel Ruth by Kate Riley. Shows group of sheep from behind. One standing in the center apart from the others.

My Day 5 of #LibFaves25 is RUTH. Absolute catnip for me--snippets from a life finding all the meaning in the small moments, laugh out loud funny, and treating religion and its believers with the right blend of tenderness and exasperation.

It is a DELIGHT. If you're into books that seem lighter at first and then swerve into heavier stuff without losing their humor, this is definitely worth a look!

Three student recorded presentations in a row all adding an fi into two-factor authentication. I'm guessing a formation to align with "identification"? But weird that they are all doing it (while reading a text on the slides, even!)

Book cover for A Town With Half the Lights On by Page Getz. Illustration of storefronts on bottom with bulk of cover navy blue with clouds and stars.

Day 4 of #LibFaves25 is A TOWN WITH HALF THE LIGHTS ON. Epistolary-ish novel that hilariously and tenderly nails the different voices of characters, the weirdness of small towns, and the erosion of snobbery when you find a place you belong.

Book cover for Max in the Land of Lies by Adam Gidwitz. Cover is a cartoon drawing of a white young boy holding a folder with two small human figures on each shoulder. Men wearing uniforms are in the background watching him.

#LibFaves25 Day 3: MAX IN THE LAND OF LIES. While I perhaps loved the first book more, this second one is a deeply powerful, wrenching holocaust story that connects with readers. When son is a few years older, this duology will certainly be an excellent way to spark conversations.

A bit frazzled today and just tried to eat my grapes with a fork.

Getting chuckle from this example from Adrienne Warner's article on library tours and the need to make educated guesses about what student feedback means:

'For example, the “torturing rooms on the third floor,” was inferred to mean “tutoring rooms on the third floor.”'

Cover the book If anyone builds it, everyone dies: why superhuman AI would kill us all by Eliezer Yudkowsky and Nate Soares. Cover is black with glow red horizon line and text is white.

Day 2 of #LibFaves25: IF ANYONE BUILDS IT, EVERYONE DIES. At a campus pushing hard for AI-fluency without much detail on what that means yet and a general grumbler about AI, this alarming look at a very plausible future unless we quickly make some big decisions is truly horrifying.

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Herriman would like a word???

Cover of the book The Usual Desire to Kill. Has title and author's name (Camilla Barnes). Cover is light red with two silhouettes of llamas.

My pick for day 1 for #LibFaves25 is THE USUAL DESIRE TO KILL. It's riotously funny, but then sweetly tender and could easily have been written about my family.

Had some 6th graders visit the library. When I opened it up to questions, two boys were VERY interested in my powers to ban people from the library (what acts merited it, how long I could do it, if I've ever done it, etc, etc). A very curious concern to have!

Once again pulling myself from the edge of being radicalized by that almost painfully, willfully misconstrued review that has somehow become dogma whenever someone mentions liking the author targeted by it. Just bamboozled by poor critical reading skills by professed lovers of reading!

We switched to Primo this summer. I'm constantly annoyed/baffled by how much harder it is to find ANYTHING. And we do use the terminology "everything" but then also "beyond my library". Which is not clear at all! Why is "beyond my library" not included in "everything"?!

I'm not saying it's designed to annoy me specifically, but somehow my library's acoustics are piping somebody's earphone overflow into my office just loud enough to irk but not loud enough outside it for me to track down who it is.