Valerie
@valerie-knebel.bsky.social
She/her. Chinese-Canadian. Librarian. Dog mum. Tea drinker. 📍Kitchener, ON
VERY proud that Issue 7 of Emerging Library & Information Perspectives (ELIP), FIMS faculty @westernu.ca's #openaccess student-run journal, is available! Read articles by #libraryschool students now at: ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/el... Loved being part of this editorial team 🥹 #librarians
Vol. 7 No. 1 (2025): Emerging Library & Information Perspectives
| Emerging Library & Information Perspectives
ojs.lib.uwo.ca
August 10, 2025 at 3:51 AM
VERY proud that Issue 7 of Emerging Library & Information Perspectives (ELIP), FIMS faculty @westernu.ca's #openaccess student-run journal, is available! Read articles by #libraryschool students now at: ojs.lib.uwo.ca/index.php/el... Loved being part of this editorial team 🥹 #librarians
I love this quantitative method of demonstrating the necessity of public libraries. Sometimes proving the social impact of PL's can be hard (we're not just about book circulation!) but this is one easy way to raise awareness!
My friends make fun of me for relying on the library and not buying books. They say "why don't you just buy it." This. This is why. #booksky
July 9, 2025 at 1:20 PM
I love this quantitative method of demonstrating the necessity of public libraries. Sometimes proving the social impact of PL's can be hard (we're not just about book circulation!) but this is one easy way to raise awareness!
OBSESSED with this argument for the Chewy Decimal System to standardize grocery stories. Libraries are the best. Make everything a library.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxMR...
@hankgreen.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxMR...
@hankgreen.bsky.social
How to Fix Grocery Stores | Smartypants Presentation
YouTube video by Dropout
www.youtube.com
June 2, 2025 at 5:15 AM
OBSESSED with this argument for the Chewy Decimal System to standardize grocery stories. Libraries are the best. Make everything a library.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxMR...
@hankgreen.bsky.social
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxMR...
@hankgreen.bsky.social
Wonderful to see alternatives to Dewey/Library of Congress systems. Love reading about this important work!!
www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu...
www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu...
Wellington Library trials new shelving system based on Māori deities
Te Awe Library is trialling a new way of cataloguing its mātauranga Māori books.
www.rnz.co.nz
May 26, 2025 at 10:51 PM
Wonderful to see alternatives to Dewey/Library of Congress systems. Love reading about this important work!!
www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu...
www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu...
Incontrovertible proof that my puppy is baby
May 22, 2025 at 1:25 AM
Incontrovertible proof that my puppy is baby
Reposted by Valerie
"“You don’t get paid enough to meet your basic needs. Your autonomy at work is consistently under threat. People who think that they know better how to do your job are trying to get the power to push you out of your position,” @edrabinski.bsky.social said."
📚
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
📚
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Being a librarian was already hard. Then came the Trump administration
Already facing burnout and book bans, librarians face a ‘catastrophe’ for institutions deemed central to democracy
www.theguardian.com
April 16, 2025 at 12:29 PM
"“You don’t get paid enough to meet your basic needs. Your autonomy at work is consistently under threat. People who think that they know better how to do your job are trying to get the power to push you out of your position,” @edrabinski.bsky.social said."
📚
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
📚
www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...
Reposted by Valerie
Thank you for everything, school librarians & library workers!
At a loss for words thinking of how you somehow find a way to continue doing your unnecessarily stressful jobs. I have to think your library kids are a big part of why.
Whatever the reason… thank you. We love you, we support you 💛
At a loss for words thinking of how you somehow find a way to continue doing your unnecessarily stressful jobs. I have to think your library kids are a big part of why.
Whatever the reason… thank you. We love you, we support you 💛
April 4, 2025 at 6:55 PM
Thank you for everything, school librarians & library workers!
At a loss for words thinking of how you somehow find a way to continue doing your unnecessarily stressful jobs. I have to think your library kids are a big part of why.
Whatever the reason… thank you. We love you, we support you 💛
At a loss for words thinking of how you somehow find a way to continue doing your unnecessarily stressful jobs. I have to think your library kids are a big part of why.
Whatever the reason… thank you. We love you, we support you 💛
Reposted by Valerie
They are dismantling Libraries and Museums!
Entire staff at federal agency that funds libraries and museums put on leave
The staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services was placed on administrative leave Monday morning, following a meeting between IMLS leadership and DOGE staff.
www.npr.org
April 1, 2025 at 3:55 PM
They are dismantling Libraries and Museums!
Reposted by Valerie
SCOOP: DOGE notified the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS) today that the entire staff is being put on administrative leave effective immediately, I’ve learned from an agency source.
They’ll be cancelling huge swaths of grants/contracts and starting a Reduction in Force (RIF).
They’ll be cancelling huge swaths of grants/contracts and starting a Reduction in Force (RIF).
March 31, 2025 at 6:01 PM
SCOOP: DOGE notified the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS) today that the entire staff is being put on administrative leave effective immediately, I’ve learned from an agency source.
They’ll be cancelling huge swaths of grants/contracts and starting a Reduction in Force (RIF).
They’ll be cancelling huge swaths of grants/contracts and starting a Reduction in Force (RIF).
UM?!?!?!?!??!?!!??
What do you mean The Librarians tv show is getting a spinoff and it premiers this year? What do you mean?!
March 29, 2025 at 4:12 AM
UM?!?!?!?!??!?!!??
Reposted by Valerie
FRIEND: how are you?
ME: [the least okay I’ve ever been] I’m okay
ME: [the least okay I’ve ever been] I’m okay
March 7, 2025 at 2:31 AM
FRIEND: how are you?
ME: [the least okay I’ve ever been] I’m okay
ME: [the least okay I’ve ever been] I’m okay
Reposted by Valerie
My latest for @truthout.org reports on librarians who are running for office and taking power. As Ilana Stonebraker says, we need to imagine ourselves as the deciders.
Librarians are growing sick of censoring and defunding — so they’re running for office.
What Would It Look Like If Librarians Ran the Government Instead of These Fools?
Librarians are growing sick of censoring and defunding — so they’re running for office.
buff.ly
March 2, 2025 at 6:03 PM
My latest for @truthout.org reports on librarians who are running for office and taking power. As Ilana Stonebraker says, we need to imagine ourselves as the deciders.
Spending election night & celebrating Freedom to Read week at the Waterloo Public Library talking about the role of PL's in civic literacy ✔️
February 28, 2025 at 12:12 AM
Spending election night & celebrating Freedom to Read week at the Waterloo Public Library talking about the role of PL's in civic literacy ✔️
A Report: Israeli Damage to Archives, Libraries,
and Museums in Gaza, Oct 2023–Jan 2024 via LibrariansWithPalestine.org
librarianswithpalestine.org/wp-content/u...
and Museums in Gaza, Oct 2023–Jan 2024 via LibrariansWithPalestine.org
librarianswithpalestine.org/wp-content/u...
librarianswithpalestine.org
February 18, 2025 at 8:03 PM
A Report: Israeli Damage to Archives, Libraries,
and Museums in Gaza, Oct 2023–Jan 2024 via LibrariansWithPalestine.org
librarianswithpalestine.org/wp-content/u...
and Museums in Gaza, Oct 2023–Jan 2024 via LibrariansWithPalestine.org
librarianswithpalestine.org/wp-content/u...
Reposted by Valerie
This year, get her what she really wants for Valentine’s Day.
Revenge.
Revenge.
February 12, 2025 at 4:33 PM
This year, get her what she really wants for Valentine’s Day.
Revenge.
Revenge.
Reposted by Valerie
“…in 2021, formal challenges to books in libraries began a sharp climb upward. By 2023, book challenges in Canada increased nearly four times the pre-pandemic average…Nearly half the book challenges in 2023 were related to 2SLGBTQ+ materials, up from 9.8 per cent in 2019.”
A shadow war on libraries
Some Canadian politicians and influencers, inspired by an American-born movement, are trying to roll back 2SLGBTQ+ rights in Canada — one book at a time.
www.cbc.ca
February 9, 2025 at 11:03 PM
“…in 2021, formal challenges to books in libraries began a sharp climb upward. By 2023, book challenges in Canada increased nearly four times the pre-pandemic average…Nearly half the book challenges in 2023 were related to 2SLGBTQ+ materials, up from 9.8 per cent in 2019.”
Reposted by Valerie
“I don’t blame the groundhog, who has no understanding of racism, but naming him after one of the Confederacy’s biggest defenders is weird.”
The world of groundhog prognosticators is much weirder—and darker—than you thought.
Photo by AP Photo/Brynn Anderson via The Buffalo News Groundhog Day was over the weekend, an event I haven’t paid much attention to since I was a kid. But an odd detail from a news story — the exis…
lithub.com
February 9, 2025 at 4:00 PM
“I don’t blame the groundhog, who has no understanding of racism, but naming him after one of the Confederacy’s biggest defenders is weird.”
Reposted by Valerie
“I believe that every one of us can be an activist and that with the proper resources and commitment, communities can transform with the dreams of a single person — especially a child.“ — Marley Dias
www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/1...
www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/1...
At 10 Years Old, I Found My Voice Fighting Book Bans in the US
In her own words, activist Marley Dias shares why she started the #1000BlackGirlBooks campaign, and how she's challenging national book bans.
www.globalcitizen.org
February 7, 2025 at 8:32 PM
“I believe that every one of us can be an activist and that with the proper resources and commitment, communities can transform with the dreams of a single person — especially a child.“ — Marley Dias
www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/1...
www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/1...
"No matter what brought you to the field [of librarianship], everyday what you wake up in the morning and do, is create systems of access for people. It's not a political job, that just is the work." 💜💜
Loved talking libraries with Bill Ayers for his podcast @underthetreepod.bsky.social . Listen to our conversation here!
soundcloud.com/user-7584791...
soundcloud.com/user-7584791...
To Be Close to Books with Emily Drabinski
In America is in the Heart, Carlos Bulosan describes his good fortune at landing a job in a library where he could be close to books: “I was beginning to understand what was going on around me, and th
soundcloud.com
February 6, 2025 at 3:33 PM
"No matter what brought you to the field [of librarianship], everyday what you wake up in the morning and do, is create systems of access for people. It's not a political job, that just is the work." 💜💜
Reposted by Valerie
Sometimes self-government just means elections. And sometimes it means recognizing the deeper dignity and meaning of what it means to be a people. That means speaking up, standing out, and protesting. We can only be free together.
snyder.substack.com/p/the-logic-...
snyder.substack.com/p/the-logic-...
The Logic of Destruction
And how to resist it
snyder.substack.com
February 2, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Sometimes self-government just means elections. And sometimes it means recognizing the deeper dignity and meaning of what it means to be a people. That means speaking up, standing out, and protesting. We can only be free together.
snyder.substack.com/p/the-logic-...
snyder.substack.com/p/the-logic-...
Maps don't have to be static images of manmade boundaries. They can be conversations between human and non-human beings, expressions of shared space and memory, representations of ever-expanding connection.
February 4, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Maps don't have to be static images of manmade boundaries. They can be conversations between human and non-human beings, expressions of shared space and memory, representations of ever-expanding connection.
Reposted by Valerie
My therapist seemed genuinely puzzled that I don’t know the difference between fear and anxiety.
February 4, 2025 at 1:12 AM
My therapist seemed genuinely puzzled that I don’t know the difference between fear and anxiety.
Reposted by Valerie
Today I get to make an exciting announcement! After years of work, San Francisco Public Library's alternative headings are now live. This list represents hundreds of hours of work and I'm proud of what we've done. Here is the list if your library would like to use it: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...
SFPL_SubjectHeadings
docs.google.com
February 1, 2025 at 12:19 AM
Today I get to make an exciting announcement! After years of work, San Francisco Public Library's alternative headings are now live. This list represents hundreds of hours of work and I'm proud of what we've done. Here is the list if your library would like to use it: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...