Robert Spitzer,' Most Influential Psychiatrist,' Dies at 83; Associated Press via New York Times, 12/27/15

Associated Press via New York Times; Robert Spitzer,' Most Influential Psychiatrist,' Dies at 83:

"Gay-rights activists credit Dr. Spitzer with removing homosexuality from the list of mental disorders in the D.S.M. in 1973. He decided to push for the change after he met with gay activists and determined that homosexuality could not be a disorder if gay people were comfortable with their sexuality.

At the time of the psychiatric profession's debate over homosexuality, Dr. Spitzer told the Washington Post: "A medical disorder either had to be associated with subjective distress — pain — or general impairment in social function."

Dr. Jack Drescher, a gay psychoanalyst in New York, told the Times that Spitzer's successful push to remove homosexuality from the list of disorders was a major advance for gay rights. "The fact that gay marriage is allowed today is in part owed to Bob Spitzer," he said.

In 2012, Dr. Spitzer publicly apologized for a 2001 study that found so-called reparative therapy on gay people can turn them straight if they really want to do so. He told the Times in 2012 that he concluded the study was flawed because it simply asked people who had gone through reparative therapy if they had changed their sexual orientation."

Apple Makes Shifts in Senior Management; New York Times, 12/17/15

Katie Benner, New York Times; Apple Makes Shifts in Senior Management:

"Apple’s chief executive, Timothy D. Cook, is continuing to make over the company’s executive ranks.

On Thursday, Apple made several shifts in its senior management team, including the promotion of a longtime executive, Jeff Williams, to the job of chief operating officer, a position that had gone unfilled since 2011...

The changes, which include new leadership in the company’s hardware and marketing divisions, are the latest executive moves by Mr. Cook, who became chief of Apple in 2011. Early in his tenure, Mr. Cook shook up the management team that had been put in place by his predecessor, Steven P. Jobs, by pushing out Scott Forstall, the mobile software head."

Star Wars Trigger Warnings: These are the microaggressions you are looking for; Reason.com, 12/15/15

Zach Weissmueller, Austin Bragg, & Justin Monticello, Reason.com; Star Wars Trigger Warnings: These are the microaggressions you are looking for:

"Before seeing Star Wars, read the trigger warnings.""

Mustaches Outnumber Women Among Medical-School Leaders; Chronicle of Higher Education, 12/17/15

Steve Kolowich, Chronicle of Higher Education; Mustaches Outnumber Women Among Medical-School Leaders:

"Q. There’s an absence of female leaders in many professions. Are there reasons specific to the medical field that explain why there aren’t more women in charge?

A. Our data show that there is variation based on type of specialty. There are certain specialties that have fewer women — many of the surgical specialties, for example. There are several steps that department leaders can take to address these issues. In addition to policies that limit sexual harassment and allow for maternity leave, there are two really strong, evidence-based solutions that we make.

One is ensuring that people doing the hiring have well-defined, very specific hiring criteria. Unconscious bias is well documented: When interviewers and recruiters are making hiring decisions, they tend to favor the male candidate and then excuse or explain their decision in retrospect. Having very clear, a priori criteria makes them more likely to make a fair decision.

The second thing is that women are penalized for taking short breaks off for childbearing when jobs are structured in a way that reward long, continuous hours. So giving more control over where you work and how you work really helps women’s advancement."

Big-Box Bookstores Don’t Have to Die; Slate.com, 12/15/15

Stephen Heyman, Slate.com; Big-Box Bookstores Don’t Have to Die:

"While Barnes & Noble devolves from a bookstore into a thing store, Waterstones, the biggest bookstore chain in Britain, is plotting an entirely different course. In 2011, the company—choked with debt and facing the same existential threat from Amazon and e-books as B&N—nearly declared bankruptcy. Today, however, Waterstones isn’t closing shops but opening a raft of them, both big-box (in suburban shopping centers) and pint-size (in train stations). It has accomplished a stunning turnaround under the leadership of its managing director, James Daunt, who just announced Waterstones’ first annual profit since the financial crisis. How he pulled that off is a long story, involving old-fashioned business cunning, the largesse of a mysterious Russian oligarch, and some unexpected faith in the instincts of his booksellers."

IUP president calls for campus-wide discussion following racist photo; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12/10/15

Bill Schackner, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; IUP president calls for campus-wide discussion following racist photo:

"Fallout from the photo is being felt across campus and beyond, including IUP president Michael Driscoll, who told the campus this week he already had grown uneasy this fall about “how we talk about and treat each other” on the campus of 14,000 students.

In a campuswide e-mail sent a day after the photo surfaced on social media, Mr. Driscoll announced that a series of campus discussions will occur during spring semester. He urged the community to take stock over the upcoming holiday break of what can be done.

“My concern is not about a single incident or some specific sequence of events. It is not just about free speech, stereotypes, civility or prejudice -- although all of those are important parts of the discussion,” he said. “Rather, it is about how we come together as a family to challenge ourselves to grow individually and as a collective.”

Michelle Fryling, an IUP spokeswoman, said Thursday that the photo’s source was a female student, whom she declined to identify. She would not comment on prospects that the woman would be disciplined, but when asked about campus rules in general, Mr. Fryling said: “If you read the student code (of conduct) there are very clear guidelines about civility, about harassment or ethnic intimidation, which follow a lot of state and legal guidelines.”

Ms. Fryling said the photo was sent on a private Snapchat account not controlled by IUP. She said without elaborating that the student since has faced threats.

In recent months, a number of U.S. campuses have become flash-points over race, ethnicity and inclusion, sometimes due to events within their boundaries, and other times over broader national debates about such topics as police use of deadly force, immigration and events overseas."

How to defeat Donald Trump and his ilk: fight fire with fire; Guardian, 12/12/15

Jonathan Freedland, Guardian; How to defeat Donald Trump and his ilk: fight fire with fire:

"Think of it as a vaccine, a small dose of right-wingery that can inoculate the rest. The exemplar remains the greatest slogan of left populism of recent times: New Labour’s “tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime”. Because you’ve reassured to your right, you’re allowed to go left. The trick is to get the dosing right, and not let the message of reassurance drown out the rest.

Once that’s done, all kinds of paths are open to the left populist. In today’s US, you could appeal to empathy, telling those hailing Trump that their Irish or Italian or Polish great-grandparents were once just like today’s Muslim would-be immigrants to America: decent, faithful people looking for a better life. You could appeal to their better angels, telling them that you know them – and that they’re better than this. Or you could cast Trump as the villain, doing what the rich and powerful have always done – pitting the poor and disadvantaged against each other rather than against the banks, big business and their enablers in Washington, those truly responsible for the pain they’re in. Labour MP Jon Cruddas, who has defeated his share of fascists in his Dagenham constituency, likes to deploy an English version of that message: “Don’t let these people play you for a mug. All they’re doing is pouring petrol on your grievance without offering you a solution.”

The point is, the new populists are on the march. Their rage cannot be fought with statistics. Their canny articulation – and exploitation – of people’s visceral pain cannot be defeated by an appeal to cool reason alone. The blaze has started. It’s time to start fighting fire with fire."

Better Together: The Cohort Model of Professional Development; Library Journal, 12/3/15

April Witteveen, Library Journal; Better Together: The Cohort Model of Professional Development:

"Higher ed is changing fast right now, and so is librarianship. Traditional in-person library and information science (LIS) education provided students with a robust network of peers for support. Over the last couple of decades, however, trends in higher education have reduced that automatic peer group—not only asynchronous online courses but also “unbundling,” in which students take classes at their own pace and from a variety of institutions. Postgraduate professional development opportunities, ranging from one-day conferences to workshops to certificate programs, were already more isolated, and these, too, have felt the further distancing impact of the digital shift. In addition, the proliferation of new competencies in librarianship can mean that a given librarian’s coworkers may have few if any points of overlap with what they do every day or need to learn—especially if they’re the sole representative on staff of a new library function.

Fortunately, there’s a movement afoot offering learners increased peer support without forgoing the benefits of self-directed and distance learning. Back in 2004, in a College Quarterly article titled “Cohort Based Learning: Application to Learning Organizations and Student Academic Success,” Kristine Fenning defined the term, noting that a paradigm shift toward learning communities, particularly those supported by a cohort-based framework, was under way. The cohort model has gained significant traction in higher ed. Cohorts are also growing in popularity across the LIS field, creating new venues for professional development and project management at multiple points in career paths, from MLS graduates just starting out to seasoned library leaders."

Santa's Powerful Message For Boy With Autism: 'It's Okay To Be You'; Huffington Post, 12/10/15

Dominique Mosbergen , Huffington Post; Santa's Powerful Message For Boy With Autism: 'It's Okay To Be You' :

"“Santa sat him next to him and took L's hands in his and started rubbing them, calming them down. Santa asked L if it bothered him, having Autism? L said yes, sometimes. Then Santa told him it shouldn't. It shouldn't bother him to be who he is,” Johnson wrote in her post.

Landon told Santa that he sometimes “gets in trouble at school and it's hard for people to understand that he has autism,” but that he's “not a naughty boy.”

“You know I love you and the reindeer love you and it’s OK. You’re a good boy,” Santa told WOOD-TV, recalling the exchange with Landon. “You’re a good boy, you know.”

Johnson said she was incredibly moved by Santa's thoughtful words.

“This stranger in a red suit told my son the same message I've been trying to get through to him for a while now -- that he's special and I love him just the way he was made,” the mom told Today.com. “Seeing Landon's face light up in that moment was just incredible. I couldn't stop crying.”"

Baldwin Township man leaves $500,000 to Carnegie Library system; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12/4/15

Marylynne Pitz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Baldwin Township man leaves $500,000 to Carnegie Library system:

"A retired Baldwin Township man who researched his investments at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s Downtown branch did well enough to donate $500,000 to the library system.

Last month, a plaque was installed at the Downtown and Business branch entrance to honor the donor, Orest Seneta, who was in his late 80s when he died in 2011.

Mr. Seneta graduated from McKees Rocks High School and attended the University of Pittsburgh. He moved away but later returned and lived in Baldwin Township at the time of his death. His brother, John Seneta of Dunn Loring, Va., told library leaders that his brother regularly did research on his investments at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s Downtown and Business location.

In a prepared statement, John Seneta said, “This is a fitting tribute to my brother and a way to ensure that others have the same access to resources into the future,” noting how much libraries have evolved over the years since his brother did his research manually...

Ms. Cooper said the bequest was “one of the more significant gifts that we have gotten from an unknown donor. If people are interested in leaving money to the library, we’d love to meet them.”"

[Post-Public Draft 2016-2020 Strategic Plan] Positioning the United States Copyright Office for the Future: Strategic Plan 2016-2020; U.S. Copyright Office, December 2015

[Post-Public Draft 2016-2020 Strategic Plan] Positioning the United States Copyright Office for the Future: Strategic Plan 2016-2020:

[Excerpt]"This Strategic Plan organizes and prioritizes objectives for the next five years. It draws on four years of internal evaluations and public input — that is, two initial years of fact-findings, public inquiries, and special projects, and two additional years of public roundtables, reports, and Congressional hearings. These initiatives, announced in October 2011, coincided with government-mandated budget cuts as well as staff reductions and backlogs. We seized these challenges, however, as an opportunity to examine inefficiencies, dismantle dated practices, and propose new paradigms. Much of this exciting work and our accomplishments to date are described in the back of this Plan. We also introduce here a revised mission statement that better captures our statutory mandate.

Here is my vision for a modern Copyright Office:

Customers should be able to transact with the Office easily, quickly, and from anywhere at any time, using mobile technologies and any number of consumer-friendly platforms and devices to secure rights or access data. They should have at their fingertips an integrated life-cycle of copyright information — not only the date on which a work was created, published or fell into the public domain, but also all of the authors, owners, licensees, derivative uses, rights, and permission information that are both relevant to the marketplace and invaluable to meaningful research. The Office should have businessto-business capabilities that both leverage and support private sector activities, while ensuring and facilitating transparency and fairness.

Although technology improvements are an essential part of the future, true modernization involves much more than making incremental upgrades to hardware or software. It requires re-envisioning almost all of the Copyright Office’s services, including how customers register claims, submit deposits, record documents, share data, and access expert resources, and it requires meeting the diverse needs of individual authors, entrepreneurs, the user community, and the general public.

Maria A. Pallante

United States Register of Copyrights,

Director, U.S. Copyright Office

COPYRIGHT OFFICE NEEDS MORE TECH AND DATA EXPERTS; NextGov.com, 12/2/15

Hallie Golden, NextGov.com; COPYRIGHT OFFICE NEEDS MORE TECH AND DATA EXPERTS:

"To keep pace with the demands of the digital age, the U.S. Copyright Office needs fewer file clerks and more techies, Maria Pallante, the office's director, told lawmakers on Wednesday.

“It used to be catalogers, now it needs to be technology and data [experts],” Pallante described the agency’s hiring needs. “I don’t know how we can administer the law without it.”

Every year, the Copyright Office's staff examines and register hundreds of thousands of copyright claims submitted by book authors, music artists, software manufacturers and other creators of intellectual property.

The office needs to restructure its workforce, Pallante told members of the Committee on House Administration during a hearing on the office’s tech plans. The office would like to eventually “morph” about a third of its staff -- 150 employees -- into tech and data experts, she said.

“These experts should not merely be assigned or on-call from another part of the agency, but rather be integrated into the copyright office mission where they can work side by side with legal and business experts,” she said."

Library of Congress, Copyright Office butt heads over IT vision; FedScoop.com, 12/2/15

Whitney Blair Wyckoff, FedScoop.com; Library of Congress, Copyright Office butt heads over IT vision:

"During the hearing, U.S. Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante reiterated a call for more autonomy over her agency’s technology. She referenced a report her agency released Tuesday that laid out a five-year plan that heavily focused on technology improvements.

“What we’re asking for is the autonomy to make sure that IT is intertwined with our business and legal expertise,” Pallante said. (Some House lawmakers have been shopping a draft bill to make the office an independent agency, but the legislation has yet to be introduced.)

Pallante also underscored the need to update the office’s 10-year-old copyright registration system, called eCO — which she said was “probably outdated by the time it was implemented.” The system, she said, simply replaced rather than improved upon paper copyright registration forms. It doesn't have a digital interface that is interoperable with the private sector technology and isn't flexible enough to be updated as copyright law evolves, she said...

“Your predecessor did many wonderful things in his long career,” Lofgren said to acting Librarian Mao. “Being a techie was not one of his fine points. So you have your work cut out for you.”"

Copyright Register: IT outage shows why agency must modernize; FedScoop.com, 11/30/15

Whitney Blair Wyckoff, FedScoop.com; Copyright Register: IT outage shows why agency must modernize:

"U.S. Register of Copyrights Maria Pallante still grimaces at the mention of a major IT outage that struck her agency this summer.

What started as routine data center maintenance shuttered critical Library of Congress IT systems — including those at the Copyright Office — for nine days. Pallante said it forced her staff, who were unable to fix the problems directly, to field angry calls from customers unable to register their songs, books or other creative works online.

“This is an illustration of the fact that my IT, and my databases, are in the hands of people who are not statutorily responsible for that information,” she told FedScoop, speaking in a Copyright Office conference room lined with the portraits of past registers. She added, "I just really feel that people who work on Copyright Office IT should be in the Copyright Office, in the mission, working side by side with the other experts."

It’s a point alluded to in the Copyright Office's five-year strategic modernization plan, finalized and released Tuesday. The 65-page document includes overarching goals that span from building a robust and flexible technology enterprise to recruiting a diverse workforce. But woven into the report is the need to tailor the office's technology to the needs of the people it serves.

“I think the main message of this is that the Copyright Office has to be directly involved in technology — for one, we can’t administer the law without having control of tools to allow us to do that,” said Pallante, who spent nearly 10 years as intellectual property counsel and director of the licensing group at the Guggenheim Museums before coming to her current job in 2011."

A Spin on the Book Sorter; New York Times, 11/6/15

Emily S. Rueb, New York Times; A Spin on the Book Sorter:

"Inside the Library Services Center in Queens, a 238-foot conveyor belt sorts about 30,000 items for the New York and Brooklyn Public Libraries."

Beneath New York Public Library, Shelving Its Past for High-Tech Research Stacks; New York Times, 11/15/15

Tom Mashberg, New York Times; Beneath New York Public Library, Shelving Its Past for High-Tech Research Stacks:

"As they skate or snack in Bryant Park, visitors might dismiss the stately New York Public Library next door as a dog-eared relic in an age of digital information.

But unbeknown to most of them, 17 feet below ground, in a concrete bunker worthy of the White House, the library is expanding and updating one of the most sophisticated book storage systems in the world.

Since March, after abandoning a much-criticized plan to move the bulk of its research collection to New Jersey, the library has been working instead to create a high-tech space underground for the 2.5 million research works long held in its original stacks.

The books will begin arriving in April, and by the end of spring library officials expect to be using a new retrieval system to ferry the volumes and other materials from their 84 miles of subterranean shelving, loaded into little motorized carts — a bit like miniaturized minecars carrying nuggets of research gold.

To fit all the books in the allotted space, the library will have to abandon its version of the Dewey Decimal System, in which shelving is organized by subject, in favor of a new “high-density” protocol in which all that matters is size."

[Job Position] Open Data and Knowledge Manager; Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

[Job Position] Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh; Open Data and Knowledge Manager:

"POSITION TITLE: Open Data and Knowledge Manager

LOCATION: CLP- Main

POSTING DATE: October 30, 2015

REQUISITION NUMBER: 151123

Job Summary: Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh has a strong interest in using data to achieve our strategic goals and mission. The candidate is responsible for helping CLP staff treat information as an organizational asset, bootstrapping a unified data repository and working to ensure consistent, reliable, and easily accessible sources of library data. The candidate will help make strategic decisions in how the library creates, structures, manages, shares, and uses information, assisting CLP staff to incorporate data literacy into public service. The candidate will develop and update a series of organizational metrics to track progress. The candidate will also collaborate with external stakeholders to use information to improve the communities we serve, and develop open data sets to aid in regional civic data projects."

George H.W. Bush slams ‘iron-ass’ Cheney, ‘arrogant’ Rumsfeld in new biography. Also faults Bush 43; Washington Post, 11/5/15

Justin Wm. Moyer, Washington Post; George H.W. Bush slams ‘iron-ass’ Cheney, ‘arrogant’ Rumsfeld in new biography. Also faults Bush 43:

"“The big mistake that was made was letting Cheney bring in kind of his own State Department,” Bush told Meacham. “… But it’s not Cheney’s fault. It’s the president’s fault.” He added: “The buck stops there.”"

As U.S. Libraries Are Outsourced, Readers See Public Trust Erode; Bloomberg, 11/2/15

James Nash, Bloomberg; As U.S. Libraries Are Outsourced, Readers See Public Trust Erode:

"A Maryland company that runs public libraries has more than doubled in size in the past decade as governments seek savings. Bibliophile residents complain that an investment in knowledge and culture is being milked for profit.

Library Systems & Services LLC is running into opposition as it seeks to add the 24 libraries in Kern County, California, to its portfolio of 82 in six states, allowing the county to shed a unionized workforce of 118. The county north of Los Angeles would be the largest addition for LSSI since the firm, which is owned by Wayne, Pennsylvania-based Argosy Capital Group Inc., got into the book business in 1997.

The only coast-to-coast operator of public libraries has capitalized on a recession-driven trend of contracting out government functions."

Long Line at the Library? It’s Story Time Again; New York Times, 11/1/15

Winnie Hu, New York Times; Long Line at the Library? It’s Story Time Again:

"Story time is drawing capacity crowds at public libraries across New York and across the country at a time when, more than ever, educators are emphasizing the importance of early literacy in preparing children for school and for developing critical thinking skills. The demand crosses economic lines, with parents at all income levels vying to get in.

Many libraries have refashioned the traditional readings to include enrichment activities such as counting numbers and naming colors, as well as music and dance. And many parents have made story time a fixture in their family routines alongside school pickups and playground outings — and, for those who employ nannies, a nonnegotiable requirement of the job.

In New York, demand for story time has surged across the city’s three library systems — the New York Public Library, the Brooklyn Public Library, and the Queens Library — and has posed logistical challenges for some branches, particularly those in small or cramped buildings. Citywide, story time attendance rose to 510,367 people in fiscal year 2015, up nearly 28 percent from 399,751 in fiscal 2013."

Favorite son: Duquesne has a proven leader in Gormley; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 11/6/15

Editorial Board, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Favorite son: Duquesne has a proven leader in Gormley:

"Nine months ago, when outgoing Duquesne University President Charles Dougherty announced his plans to retire in June 2016, board members of Pittsburgh’s largest Catholic campus started a nationwide search for his successor. They found what they were looking for right at home in Ken Gormley, a Swissvale native who has been dean of its law school since 2008.

Mr. Gormley, 60, is a highly respected legal scholar, author and teacher who took over the leadership of Duquesne’s law school at a time of turmoil. He recruited alumni and practicing judges and lawyers for an advisory panel, hired new faculty, increased courses and raised the national stature of the school, as seen in the improved ranking of U.S. News & World Report...

As Duquesne’s 13th president and the third who is not a priest, Mr. Gormley, who is Catholic, said his top priorities will be increasing the endowment, completing a strategic plan and strengthening Duquesne’s connections with the city’s foundations, corporations and elected officials."

Reinventing the Library; New York Times, 10/23/15

Alberto Manguel, New York Times; Reinventing the Library:

"It is in the nature of libraries to adapt to changing circumstances and threats, and all libraries exist in constant danger of being destroyed by war, vermin, fire, water or the idiocies of bureaucracy.

But today, the principal danger facing libraries comes not from threats like these but from ill-considered changes that may cause libraries to lose their defining triple role: as preservers of the memory of our society, as providers of the accounts of our experience and the tools to navigate them — and as symbols of our identity."

Strategic Plan 2016-2020 Public Draft: Positioning the United States Copyright Office for the Future; U.S. Copyright Office, 10/23/15

U.S. Copyright Office; Strategic Plan 2016-2020 Public Draft: Positioning the United States Copyright Office for the Future:

"Register of Copyrights Maria A. Pallante today released a public draft of the Copyright Office’s Strategic Plan, setting forth the Office’s performance objectives for the next five years.

Reflecting the results of four years of internal evaluations and public input, the Strategic Plan lays out a vision of a modern Copyright Office that is equal to the task of administering the Nation’s copyright laws effectively and efficiently both today and tomorrow. It will remain in draft form for 30 days to permit public feedback, and will take effect on December 1, 2015."

Author explains why libraries matter even in the Internet age; Deseret News, 9/21/15

Chandra Johnson, Deseret News; Author explains why libraries matter even in the Internet age:

"Today, when people want information on the Internet, they turn to Google.

The search engine has grown in popularity exponentially since its first year in the late 90s. In 1998, Google averaged 9,800 searches per day and 3.6 million searches that year. In 2014, there was an average of 5.7 billion Google searches per day and 2 trillion searches that year.

All of this is good news for Google and anyone with money for a computer and Internet connection. But it's not great for libraries, the go-to for information in the pre-Google days, says John Palfrey, a director of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society and founder of the Digital Public Library of America.

In his new book, "Bibliotech: Why Libraries Matter More Than Ever in the Age of Google," Palfrey argues that society still needs libraries for many reasons, including that the Internet doesn't provide free access to information for anyone as libraries do."

Senate Passes 10 Year Term for Librarian of Congress; Library Journal, 10/13/15

Bob Warburton, Library Journal; Senate Passes 10 Year Term for Librarian of Congress:

"As President Obama ponders his choice for the next Librarian of Congress, the first time in nearly three decades that such a nomination will be necessary, the U.S. Senate has passed a bill to put a 10-year term on the position. If passed by the House and signed by the president, the bill will strip the job of the lifetime tenure it has carried since 1802...

Politics aside, another reason supporters feel the limit is now necessary is the accelerating rate of change—in library service, in technology, and in the demands on and challenges to copyright law that tech brings in its wake."

More Companies Say Targets Are the Key to Diversity; Wall Street Journal, 9/30/15

Rachel Feintzeig, Wall Street Journal; More Companies Say Targets Are the Key to Diversity:

Realizing that simply voicing support for diversity initiatives won’t lead to meaningful change, big companies are setting discrete goals for hiring and retaining women. These include mandating that diverse candidates are interviewed for jobs, and ensuring that new hires get interviewed or vetted by someone other than white men.

J&J, Intel Corp. , BASF SE and many others say putting hard numbers around diversity and tying those numbers to pay and performance helps ensure real progress when it comes to advancing women. Data suggest that the approach makes a difference. But it remains controversial in the U.S., where companies must battle the stigma associated with quotas as well as risks of unintended consequences."

Delving Into Leadership Development Programs; Library Journal, 9/30/15

Steven Bell, Library Journal; Delving Into Leadership Development Programs:

Like that of many academic library leaders, my career path has included stops at library leadership programs. There is no dearth of them; many are organized and managed by library associations. Academic institutions offer them as well, some in cooperation with associations, such as the Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL)’s Harvard Leadership Institute for Academic Librarians (LIAL). When I took a position as a college library director, one of my first development moves was to attend the ACRL College Libraries Section program for new college library directors, College Library Director’s Mentor Program (CLDMP). It gave many aspiring leaders one-on-one executive mentoring by matching them with a seasoned college library director. In addition to three days of training, it was an opportunity to bond with other new directors and join a network of more experienced ones. The program gave me more confidence in my leadership abilities and a support system to help me grow as a leader. Sometime around 2002 I also attended a Harvard program for academic administrators. I was the only librarian so it made for a rather different learning experience, but one that helped make me a better leader by exposing me to new ideas, practices, and colleagues.

One of the other newbie directors in my CLDMP cohort was Irene Herold. Through the years we have shared a number of leadership experiences, including stints with ACRL’s College Libraries Section and on the ACRL Executive Board. Herold took more than a passing interest in leadership. She went on to take positions of increasing leadership responsibility in academic libraries and is now the University Librarian at the University of Hawai′i at Mānoa. Along the way Herold earned a Ph.D. in Managerial Leadership in the Information Professions from Simmons College and made leadership development the focus of her doctoral research. Herold did a deep dive into library leadership programs. That research has led to the publication of a new book, Creating Leaders: An Examination of Academic and Research Library Leadership Institutes, which includes a review of 18 academic librarian leadership development programs from 26 past participants for an examination of whether they develop leadership.

Herold was kind enough to share what she learned about library leadership development programs with me in a recent interview."

Class of 2019 is most diverse ever; University Times, 9/17/15

University Times; Class of 2019 is most diverse ever:

"The University welcomed 4,872 new undergraduates to the Pittsburgh campus this fall: 4,054 freshmen and 818 external transfer students.

This fall’s freshman class is not only larger than expected, it’s more diverse than ever, with the class of 2019 hailing from 44 states and 1,312 high schools, plus 17 other countries. The proportion of nonwhite freshmen — 26.2 percent — is a record for Pitt, with 1,061 minority students among the class, said Marc Harding, chief enrollment officer.

The average SAT score for freshmen held steady from last year at 1297.

Sixty-four percent of freshmen come from within Pennsylvania, while 36 percent are from out of state. Of the in-state freshmen, 13 percent are from Allegheny County; 51 percent come from elsewhere in Pennsylvania.

Most out-of-state freshmen — 83 percent — were drawn from 10 states: New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Maryland, Virginia, Massachusetts, California, Illinois, North Carolina and Connecticut."

Upcoming survey will examine diversity in Pittsburgh workforce; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/18/15

Ed Blazina, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Upcoming survey will examine diversity in Pittsburgh workforce:

"Pittsburgh Today and Vibrant Pittsburgh want to hear opinions from CEOs, supervisors and low-level employees about diversity in the local workforce and their experiences with diverse colleagues.

The two groups, part of a team of agencies and organizations working to improve workplace diversity, are conducting an on-line survey as the second step in a process to address the situation. A study by the group released earlier this year showed the Pittsburgh area’s workforce ranked the lowest among 15 comparable regions with blacks, Hispanics and Asians and others making up less than 11 percent of the workforce...

“This is really an opportunity for everyone to share their voice,” said Melanie Harrington, president and CEO of Vibrant Pittsburgh. “We want to hear from CEOs and the people who do the hiring to find out the problems they face and the diverse people in the workforce to find out what their experience has been.”...

Pittsburgh’s challenge is that because its diversity level is so low, “We have a bigger hole to dig out of,” Ms. Harrington said. And the region has an aging workforce that is expected to need another 140,000 workers in the next few years to replace those who are between 55 and 65 years old."

We’re All Artists Now; New York Times, 9/4/15

Laura M. Holson, New York Times; We’re All Artists Now:

"Choosing to be more creatively focused, though, can be disturbing at first. Ms. Cameron argues in “The Artist’s Way” that it can upend the delicate balance of relationships. “Many of us find that we have squandered our own creative energies by investing disproportionately in the lives, hopes, dreams and plans of others,” she writes. Others perceive a creative life as a quit-your-job-or-nothing proposition. They “like to think they are looking at changing their whole lives in one fell swoop,” Ms. Cameron writes, adding that, in “fantasizing about pursuing our art full time, we fail to pursue it part time — or at all.”

Indeed, many people aren’t interested in a wholesale career switch. Instead they are simply seeking a respite from a harried work and home life...

Beyond grown-up coloring books, the possibility for creative self-exploration is everywhere — especially in our phones. It is easy now to record and edit images, audio and video on our cellphones, making the commoditization of creativity even more pronounced. “We’ve become fascinated with innovation as a culture,” said Aaron Rasmussen, a founder of MasterClass, a new online education company that features writers, actors and sports figures teaching classes about the creative process. “People used to look at a movie and say, ‘I could do better than that,’ but they had no vehicle.”"

60 Real Women Front The Limited's 'New Look Of Leadership' Campaign; HuffingtonPost.com, 9/4/15

Jamie Feldman, HuffingtonPost.com; 60 Real Women Front The Limited's 'New Look Of Leadership' Campaign:

"The brand called upon 60 diverse female leaders in business, education, government, healthcare, technology and entertainment to star in its "The New Look Of Leadership" campaign.

In an effort to redefine what it means to be a leader today, Diane Ellis, chief executive officer of The Limited, said the idea sparked from conversations with clients...

Gabrielle Bernstein, a New York Times best-selling author and one of the 60 powerful women included in the spread, explained to The Huffington Post why being included was so meaningful to her. "I am deeply passionate about inspiring women to own their leadership power and rise up. I'm grateful that The Limited is bringing the empowering message of women and leadership to the forefront. Fashion and leadership go hand-in-hand when it comes to making an impact, leading with confidence and owning your power," she said."

Friends at Work? Not So Much; New York Times, 9/4/15

Adam Grant, New York Times; Friends at Work? Not So Much:

"In a study led by the social psychologist Jeffrey Sanchez-Burks, Anglo-American, Mexican and Mexican-American participants watched a four-minute video of two people working together. Shortly after, the Americans generally remembered just as much as the Mexicans and Mexican-Americans about the task, but much less about the social interaction. Anglo-Americans struggled to remember the socioemotional aspects, such as smiling, handshaking and discussions about movies and weekend plans. In other studies, Americans were less likely to notice subtleties in communication when a message was described as having been sent from a manager at a large company than when the same message was supposedly sent from a friend. There was no such discrepancy between the professional and personal among people from China or South Korea.

Why are Americans so determined to get down to business?

The economic explanation is that long-term employment has essentially vanished: Instead of spending our careers at one organization, we expect to jump ship every few years. Since we don’t plan to stick around, we don’t invest in the same way. We view co-workers as transitory ties, greeting them with arms-length civility while reserving real camaraderie for outside work...

Whether we bond at work is a personal decision, but it may involve less effort and vulnerability than we realize. Jane E. Dutton, a professor at the University of Michigan, finds that a high-quality connection doesn’t require “a deep or intimate relationship.” A single interaction marked by respect, trust and mutual engagement is enough to generate energy for both parties. However small they appear, those moments of connection can transform a transaction into a relationship."

At West Point, Annual Pillow Fight Becomes Weaponized; New York Times, 9/4/15

Dave Philipps, New York Times; At West Point, Annual Pillow Fight Becomes Weaponized:

"Upperclassmen overseeing freshmen “allowed the spirit activity to occur out of the desire to enhance the spirit of the class,” Colonel Kasker said, adding that those upperclassmen took “mitigating measures” to prevent injury, including requiring cadets to wear helmets.

But video shows that many of the cadets did not wear helmets. Cadets said that in at least a few cases helmets became weapons stuffed into pillowcases.

“West Point applauds the cadets’ desire to build esprit and regrets the injuries to our cadets,” Colonel Kasker said. “We are conducting appropriate investigations into the causes of the injuries.”

So far no cadets have been punished, and the academy has no plans to end the annual tradition. Colonel Kasker said commanders were not available for comment on Friday."

Why Is Science So Straight?; New York Times, 9/4/15

Manil Suri, New York Times; Why Is Science So Straight? :

"Underrepresentation is just one factor that reduces visibility. Unlike women and minorities, whose status is usually obvious, sexual orientation is a hidden characteristic. The fact that a sizable proportion of the L.G.B.T. STEM work force is closeted (43 percent, according to a 2015 estimate) further deepens this effect.

There is a another, more insidious factor at work. STEM culture is very problem-focused. Conversations, even over lunch, typically remain restricted to work matters (which is very different from what I’ve noticed in arts and humanities settings)...

In another interview, a chemical engineer working for a multinational oil company describes the atmosphere as “almost militaristic in terms of how they manage people” and said that they don’t even think diversity is an issue. To cope, many gays and lesbians must learn to suppress crucial aspects of their personalities and compartmentalize their lives...

Although there has been a concerted effort to make STEM fields more diverse in terms of gender and race, L.G.B.T. participation has received comparatively scant attention or resources. An exception is a recent grant by the National Science Foundation to address prejudice against sexual minorities in academic engineering departments. Grass-roots organizations like Out in STEM and the National Organization for Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals are taking the lead to provide mentoring and networking — activities that have proved indispensable in the retention of women and minorities.

An essential step is to break self-perpetuating patterns of concealment. Teachers must come out not just to colleagues, but to students — some of whom will need role models, and all of whom must get used to visible L.G.B.T. professionals to prepare for future workplace settings.

More critically, STEM culture must rein in the pressure to separate professional and personal identities. It should view its workers more holistically, welcoming their interests and differences as sources of enhanced resourcefulness."

The New Romantics in the Computer Age; New York Times, 9/4/15

David Brooks, New York Times; The New Romantics in the Computer Age:

"Empathy becomes a more important workplace skill, the ability to sense what another human being is feeling or thinking. Diabetes patients of doctors who scored high on empathy tests do better than patients with low-empathy doctors.

The ability to function in a group also becomes more important — to know how to tell stories that convey the important points, how to mix people together.

Secure workers will combine technical knowledge with social awareness — the sort of thing you get from your genes, from growing up in a certain sort of family and by widening your repertoire of emotions through reflection, literature and a capacity for intimacy...

There is the hero of serious thought. “Even early on,” Edmundson says, “as they enter the first phase of their lives as thinkers, they’ll have one of the greatest satisfactions a human being can have: They won’t lie. They’ll follow Socrates, and they’ll look out at the world, and with whatever mix of irony and sweetness and exasperation, they will describe it as it is to them. When others trim and sidestep, they will have the satisfaction of voicing honest perceptions.”"

Report on Pitt-CMU libraries delayed; University Times, 9/3/15

Marty Levine, University Times; Report on Pitt-CMU libraries delayed:

"Pitt and Carnegie Mellon still are exploring potential collaborations between their library systems, although a final report, originally due in June, has been delayed until this fall. (See University Times, Dec. 4, 2014.)

According to Dean Ronald Larsen of the School of Information Sciences, who chairs the review committee with CMU Dean of University Libraries Keith Webster, the group has been meeting through the spring and summer “to identify opportunities of mutual benefit to enhance collections and services to our students, faculty and staff.”

Larsen said in the spring Pitt and CMU librarians held an interactive idea workshop led by Sheila Corrall, an iSchool faculty member, and surveyed faculty on both campuses."

Avoid Worrying About a Future That May Never Happen; New York Times, 8/24/15

Carl Richards, New York Times; Avoid Worrying About a Future That May Never Happen:

"I know it’s clichéd to say that the best way to accomplish a major goal is one step at a time. But the adage acknowledges something vital. We can control the next step, but we can’t always control what comes after the next step. So why get worked up about what’s way out on the horizon?...

I find it fascinating how we get distracted by things that might happen, often to the point that we overlook what’s right in front of us. We do this a lot with money. We focus on big financial goals, like buying a home, paying for college, or retiring — and they seem so big we convince ourselves they’re impossible to reach. Then, because we feel overwhelmed, we stop trying to reach them.

Look, it’s important to know where we want to go and to set goals to get there, but we can’t let that big thing way off in the future intimidate us. We could lie in bed every night worrying about how we’ll get there, or we could follow my son’s approach: Keep our heads down and focus on the next step and then the step after that one."

Greg Schott of MuleSoft: Beware the Threats to a Positive Workplace; New York Times, 8/29/15

Adam Bryant, New York Times; Greg Schott of MuleSoft: Beware the Threats to a Positive Workplace:

"You worked at a number of tech companies before becoming C.E.O. of MuleSoft. What lessons did you learn about culture along the way?

I learned that it can take years to build a great culture and you can tear it down in very short order. It’s like a building — you can spend years building a beautiful building and then it can just collapse.

The problems I’ve seen have been lack of communication, which can lead to a lack of trust. If people don’t feel connected to the leadership and they don’t feel like they understand where the company is headed, people will fill in the blanks, and often not with positive things. It’s just human nature.

Another one is when you get leadership that looks like they’re out for themselves. People pick up on that when decisions are made that are not necessarily with everybody’s best interest at heart. It’s hard to put your finger on it, but it’s an attitude.

Factions are also a problem, and I’ve seen this in the tech world as companies grow quickly. There tends to be an old-timer group — the ones who have been around forever, which in technology is three to five years — and the new people who were brought on board later.

If there’s any kind of different treatment, like the folks who have been there since the beginning are treated as if they’re the only ones that can really figure things out, or if the new ones are considered the saviors of the company, that sends a terrible signal. We’re all here together to make it work."

Architect Sought for Obama’s Presidential Library Complex; New York Times, 8/26/15

Julie Hirschfeld Davis, New York Times; Architect Sought for Obama’s Presidential Library Complex:

"The foundation overseeing the development of Barack Obama’s presidential library began a global competition on Wednesday to select the architect who will design the elaborate Chicago complex.

The start of the selection process is the latest step in Mr. Obama’s quiet but painstaking planning for his post-presidential initiatives, which his advisers say could cost as much as $1 billion.

The library, to be located on the South Side of Chicago, where the president had his political start as a community organizer, will be the crown jewel of the effort, a high-technology take on the traditional archival presidential library that will include space for innovation labs, a community garden and sports...

“We think there’s a real value to having a diverse group of participants in every element of this process,” Mr. Nesbitt said in a conference call Wednesday. “We feel really good about the group that has been invited to respond.”

The firms have until Sept. 16 to submit statements of interest in the project, including company profiles, résumés of their staff members, photographs and drawings of past projects, and examples of their diversity efforts."

Sara Baron on librarianship, universities and being Pittsburgh bound; Duquesne Duke, 8/26/15

Seth Culp-Ressler, Duquesne Duke; Sara Baron on librarianship, universities and being Pittsburgh bound:

"On Sept. 1 Sara Baron will begin her new position at Duquesne as head librarian for Gumberg Library. Baron comes to the Bluff with a wealth of librarianship experience, most recently as the dean of the university library at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Consider this her formal introduction to campus, as well as an invitation for all faculty and staff to welcome her with a good old Duquesne greeting when she arrives...

Q: It may be a bit early for this, but do you have any plans in mind for Gumberg Library?

A: Naturally I’m going to have to get there and really talk to people and meet people and really have some conversations before I can come up with a specific plan. But I can tell you that I think the Gumberg Library team already works with excellence. I think they’re already doing a lot for students and for the local campus community. So for me I just want to help them do that even more. I think there probably needs to be some space enhancements. I don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like, but I do think there’s always opportunities to make library spaces more conducive for students, for student work, for group work, for collaborative work. Those are some initial thoughts, but of course I can’t say anything specifically until I get there and actually talk to people and get a real sense of what the needs are. Ultimately, though, students come first. So the library has to meet all the needs of the students and really things they aren’t even expecting. I like to surprise students, so when they walk in they say ‘Wow, this is a great place, this is somewhere I want to be.’"

The Closing of the Canadian Mind; New York Times, 8/14/15

Stephen Marche, New York Times; The Closing of the Canadian Mind:

"THE prime minister of Canada, Stephen Harper, has called an election for Oct. 19, but he doesn’t want anyone to talk about it.

He has chosen not to participate in the traditional series of debates on national television, confronting his opponents in quieter, less public venues, like the scholarly Munk Debates and CPAC, Canada’s equivalent of CSPAN. His own campaign events were subject to gag orders until a public outcry forced him to rescind the forced silence of his supporters.

Mr. Harper’s campaign for re-election has so far been utterly consistent with the personality trait that has defined his tenure as prime minister: his peculiar hatred for sharing information.

Americans have traditionally looked to Canada as a liberal haven, with gun control, universal health care and good public education.

But the nine and half years of Mr. Harper’s tenure have seen the slow-motion erosion of that reputation for open, responsible government. His stance has been a know-nothing conservatism, applied broadly and effectively. He has consistently limited the capacity of the public to understand what its government is doing, cloaking himself and his Conservative Party in an entitled secrecy, and the country in ignorance."

How libraries became the front line of America’s homelessness crisis; Washington Post, 8/19/15

Richard Gunderman and David C. Stevens, Washington Post; How libraries became the front line of America’s homelessness crisis:

"Helping homeless and mentally ill clients is a challenge that libraries all over the country are grappling with, but library science curricula don’t seem to have caught up.

According to one newly minted librarian who received her master’s degree in library science a few years ago, contemporary library education typically includes no coursework in mental illness. It focuses on the techniques and technology of library services, especially meeting the needs of patrons for access to information.

Learning strategies to assist mentally ill and homeless patrons might not be on library curricula, but the American Library Association has long had policies in place emphasizing equal access to library services for the poor, and in 1996 formed the Hunger, Homelessness, and Poverty Task Force.

Across the country, libraries have developed helpful strategies for serving homeless and mentally ill patrons. One, at least for large libraries with sufficient numbers of personnel, is to designate a member of the staff as a specialist in these matters, who serves as a resource person for other employees.

At the metropolitan library we visited, one of the more civically oriented librarians acts as a liaison between various local mental health agencies and homeless shelters. She has cultivated a relationship with a mental health crisis clinician at the county hospital, who has organized workshops to educate the library staff about mental health and substance abuse."

Is Donald Trump an American Putin?; Washington Post, 8/18/15

David Ignatius, Washington Post; Is Donald Trump an American Putin? :

"Putin, like Trump, seems to understand that power and showmanship are inseparable, especially for a nation that is traumatized by military and economic losses. It’s a confidence game. “Within the system, Mr. Putin has developed his own idealized view of himself as CEO of ‘Russia, Inc.’ In reality, his leadership style is more like that of a mafia family Don,” write Fiona Hill and Clifford G. Gaddy in their book, “Mr. Putin: Operative in the Kremlin."...

What’s surprising about Trump is that he has attracted such a wide following. He’s Reagan without Reaganism, running a campaign nearly devoid of ideas. Americans have had flirtations with demagogues, from Father Charles Coughlin in the 1930s to Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s. But the bullying authoritarian personality — the Putin style — usually doesn’t work here. This summer has been an exception, but history suggests that it won’t last."

Data-Crunching Is Coming to Help Your Boss Manage Your Time; New York Times, 8/17/15

David Streitfeld, New York Times; Data-Crunching Is Coming to Help Your Boss Manage Your Time:

"A new generation of workplace technology is allowing white-collar jobs to be tracked, tweaked and managed in ways that were difficult even a few years ago. Employers of all types — old-line manufacturers, nonprofits, universities, digital start-ups and retailers — are using an increasingly wide range of tools to monitor workers’ efforts, help them focus, cheer them on and just make sure they show up on time.

The programs foster connections and sometimes increase productivity among employees who are geographically dispersed and often working from home. But as work force management becomes a factor in offices everywhere, questions are piling up. How much can bosses increase intensity? How does data, which bestows new powers of vision and understanding, redefine who is valuable? And with half of salaried workers saying they work 50 or more hours a week, when does working very hard become working way too much?"

Depiction of Amazon Stirs a Debate About Work Culture; New York Times, 8/18/15

New York Times; Depiction of Amazon Stirs a Debate About Work Culture:

"Amazon recently surpassed Walmart as the most valuable retailer in the country. It is ceaselessly inventive, unafraid to try something and fail. Its ambitious goal: sell everything to everyone everywhere. It is also figuring out how to extract the most from its employees, whose dedication and obsession is the real engine behind the company’s success.

A recent article in The New York Times —“Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace” — offered a glimpse into what could be described as a workplace that is both bruising and thrilling. It gave accounts of workers who suffered from cancer, miscarriages and other personal crises who said they had been evaluated unfairly or edged out rather than given time to recover in Amazon’s intense and fast-paced workplace.

The reaction to the story was voluminous and spirited. On websites like Reddit and Hacker News, tech workers, Amazon employees and friends and relatives offered thoughtful and detailed reflections of their experiences at the company. Jeff Bezos, its chief executive, also weighed in."

Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace; New York Times, 8/15/15

Jodi Kantor and David Streitfeld, New York Times; Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace:

"But just as Jeff Bezos was able to see the future of e-commerce before anyone else, she added, he was able to envision a new kind of workplace: fluid but tough, with employees staying only a short time and employers demanding the maximum.

“Amazon is driven by data,” said Ms. Pearce, who now runs her own Seattle software company, which is well stocked with ex-Amazonians. “It will only change if the data says it must — when the entire way of hiring and working and firing stops making economic sense.”

The retailer is already showing some strain from its rapid growth. Even for entry-level jobs, it is hiring on the East Coast, and many employees are required to hand over all their contacts to company recruiters at “LinkedIn” parties. In Seattle alone, more than 4,500 jobs are open, including one for an analyst specializing in “high-volume hiring.”

Some companies, faced with such an overwhelming need for new bodies, might scale back their ambitions or soften their message.

Not Amazon. In a recent recruiting video, one young woman warns: “You either fit here or you don’t. You love it or you don’t. There is no middle ground.”"

Great Leaders Don't Have Followers: They Collaborate; Huffington Post, 8/10/15

Don Tapscott, Huffington Post; Great Leaders Don't Have Followers: They Collaborate:

"I was asked recently about my leadership style and what makes a great leader. As Peter Drucker said years ago, stable times require excellence and good management. As we transition to a new age, our organizations need more; they need leadership. So managers shouldn't just manage. Today they need to lead and think of themselves primarily as leaders rather than just managers.

In the past, tinkering could do the trick. These times require deep innovation and transformation, though, and that means leadership. However, leadership is changing too.

The type of leadership I embrace mirrors the digital revolution I've spent my life studying. The old model of technology was based on the mainframe; all intelligence was in the host computer, and mainframes communicated with peripherals down the hierarchical network.

Similarly, the old model of leadership was focused in a single, powerful individual. Great leaders were often those with the biggest brain or brain/mouth combination. They created a vision and sold it down to others.

Command-and-control leadership worked well with command-and-control computing and command-and-control business. That's not how technology is modeled anymore, and increasingly not how business is done. Why should we keep the old ideas about leadership?

My approach to leadership is collaborative. This approach is the antithesis of the old-style, brilliant visionary, take-charge, rally-the-troops type. In the past, Winston Churchill, Thomas Watson, and Lee Iacocca embodied the single dominant leader. Today, the leader is a collective, networked, virtual force and no longer necessarily embodied in a single individual."

Frances Oldham Kelsey, F.D.A. Stickler Who Saved U.S. Babies From Thalidomide, Dies at 101; New York Times, 8/7/15

Robert D. McFadden, New York Times; Frances Oldham Kelsey, F.D.A. Stickler Who Saved U.S. Babies From Thalidomide, Dies at 101:

"The sedative was Kevadon, and the application to market it in America reached the new medical officer at the Food and Drug Administration in September 1960. The drug had already been sold to pregnant women in Europe for morning sickness, and the application seemed routine, ready for the rubber stamp.

But some data on the drug’s safety troubled Dr. Frances Oldham Kelsey, a former family doctor and teacher in South Dakota who had just taken the F.D.A. job in Washington, reviewing requests to license new drugs. She asked the manufacturer, the William S. Merrell Company of Cincinnati, for more information.

Thus began a fateful test of wills. Merrell responded. Dr. Kelsey wanted more. Merrell complained to Dr. Kelsey’s bosses, calling her a petty bureaucrat. She persisted. On it went. But by late 1961, the terrible evidence was pouring in. The drug — better known by its generic name, thalidomide — was causing thousands of babies in Europe, Britain, Canada and the Middle East to be born with flipperlike arms and legs and other defects.

Dr. Kelsey, who died on Friday at the age of 101, became a 20th-century American heroine for her role in the thalidomide case, celebrated not only for her vigilance, which spared the United States from widespread birth deformities, but also for giving rise to modern laws regulating pharmaceuticals.

She was hailed by citizens’ groups and awarded honorary degrees. Congress bestowed on her a medal for service to humanity and passed legislation requiring drug makers to prove that new products were safe and effective before marketing them. President John F. Kennedy signed the landmark law that she had inspired, and presented her with the nation’s highest federal civilian service award."

How Emotional Intelligence Became a Key Leadership Skill; Harvard Business Review, 4/28/15

Andrew Ovans, Harvard Business Review; How Emotional Intelligence Became a Key Leadership Skill:

"Anyone trying to come up to speed on emotional intelligence would have a pretty easy time of it since the concept is remarkably recent, and its application to business newer still. The term was coined in 1990 in a research paper by two psychology professors, John D. Mayer of UNH and Peter Salovey of Yale. Some years later, Mayer defined it in HBR this way:

From a scientific (rather than a popular) standpoint, emotional intelligence is the ability to accurately perceive your own and others’ emotions; to understand the signals that emotions send about relationships; and to manage your own and others’ emotions. It doesn’t necessarily include the qualities (like optimism, initiative, and self-confidence) that some popular definitions ascribe to it.

It took almost a decade after the term was coined for Rutgers psychologist Daniel Goleman to establish the importance of emotional intelligence to business leadership. In 1998, in what has become one of HBR’s most enduring articles, “What Makes a Leader,” he states unequivocally:

The most effective leaders are all alike in one crucial way: they all have a high degree of what has come to be known as emotional intelligence. It’s not that IQ and technical skills are irrelevant. They do matter, but…they are the entry-level requirements for executive positions. My research, along with other recent studies, clearly shows that emotional intelligence is the sine qua non of leadership. Without it, a person can have the best training in the world, an incisive, analytical mind, and an endless supply of smart ideas, but he still won’t make a great leader."

What a Leader Looks Like; Huffington Post, 7/30/15

Fidji Simo, Huffington Post,; What a Leader Looks Like:

"I confided to one of my coworkers that I was worried about people keeping this "weak" image of me in mind even after I returned to full health after seeing me so many times on VC calls lying in bed. I told him how I would try to hide my emergency trips to the hospital, so people didn't think I was unreliable. But to my surprise, he told me that most people in the office were impressed by how strong they thought I was throughout all this  --  both for continuing to care about my team and their efforts, and for my outlook and positivity. It was the last sentiment I would have imagined.

Although I wouldn't wish this experience on anyone, I am grateful for what it's teaching me about myself. While I would still much rather be on my high heels, and in my familiar armor, I've come to appreciate that vulnerability doesn't have to be a weakness. While I focused on my external image of power, I realize now that I wasn't focused enough on my inner strength. An inner strength that, now that I am aware of it, will help me lead in many different ways through life's many different messy situations. An inner strength that is not measured by outward poise, or my appearance. I look forward to the day that can I wear my heels and my make up again, but only because I truly love them, and no longer because I think I need them in order to feel powerful. Leadership is not an image, it's a quality. I hope one day to teach my daughter that lesson."

Leaders and Their Library Message | Leading From the Library; Library Journal, 7/30/15

Steven Bell, Library Journal; Leaders and Their Library Message | Leading From the Library:

"Every leader will face situations when they need to be their most articulate and “leaderly” in delivering a response. Having a well-thought out library message and the ability to quickly and confidently get and stay on message will make the difference. That’s not to say that leaders are know-it-alls who must always have the answer to every question. Good leaders know that on occasion the best answer will come from someone on the library team, perhaps the collection or budget expert. Savvy leaders also know that sometimes the best strategy is to acknowledge the complexity of a question and use it as an opportunity to engage community members in a conversation about a controversial or difficult issue. What matters is thinking ahead about communication situations, having the library message ready, and taking time to practice the delivery. Communication is among the most essential skills that library leaders need for success, whether it’s communicating with staff, community members, or other leaders. Look for every opportunity to learn to get better."

What Pinterest is learning from the Pittsburgh Steelers about diversity; Forbes, 7/30/15

Laura Lorenzetti, Forbes; What Pinterest is learning from the Pittsburgh Steelers about diversity:

"“We think one reason it’s been so hard to get numbers to change is that companies haven’t stated specific goals,” wrote co-founder Evan Sharp in a blog post.

Pinterest laid out its diversity goals for 2016, including boosting hiring rates for full-time engineering roles to 30% women and 8% underrepresented ethnic backgrounds.

Also in the list of goals is implementing a standard that’s similar to something known as the Rooney Rule, named after Dan Rooney, the owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers and chairman of the National Football League’s diversity committee. The Rooney Rule requires all NFL teams to interview minority candidates as part of the hiring process for head coaches and senior football operation jobs.

The rule was implemented in 2003 following the firings of head coaches Tony Dungy of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Dennis Green of the Minnesota Vikings, despite both coaches having impressive winning records. Around that same time, a study came out that revealed that black head coaches, despite winning a higher percentage of games, were less likely to be hired (and more likely fired) than their white counterparts. Only three years after its implementation, the share of black head coaches had grown to 22% from 6% prior to the rule."

While Its Streaming Service Booms, Netflix Streamlines Old Business; New York Times, 7/26/15

Emily Steel, New York Times; While Its Streaming Service Booms, Netflix Streamlines Old Business:

"“Embrace change — that’s what I’ve learned here at Netflix,” Mr. Breeggemann said. “If you don’t like change, this is the wrong place. Something is going to change every single day.”

If anything, the Netflix story is one of perpetual change. The software executives Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph founded Netflix in 1997 to offer online movie rentals by mail. Netflix introduced streaming in 2007 and plans to be fully global by 2017.

Netflix’s transformation has been rocky at times, but its evolution has become an example of how companies can adapt, tapping their legacy businesses to fuel growth in new areas as the ground underneath them shifts.

Executives said the process was challenging and required juggling two distinct cultures, one with fast-paced growth and the other in long-term decline, as well as managing intense pressure from investors and investing in new initiatives, many of which did not work."

Cooperstown’s Steadiest Hand Isn’t a Hall of Famer’s; New York Times, 7/24/15

Richard Sandomir, New York Times; Cooperstown’s Steadiest Hand Isn’t a Hall of Famer’s:

"Understanding what visitors to the Hall want is critical to her, since as chairwoman she helps ensure the long-term vitality of the museum. Sometimes, she does that research personally.

“I like to stand behind a group and listen to what they say and see how they see the artifacts and see how they tie them together,” she said. “Usually it’s a father and son with a grandfather. I like to hear their perspectives.”

Board members said that Clark was a straightforward executive who sought consensus before decisions were made.

“She has an uncanny ability to measure things, of saying, ‘If we do this, this might happen,’ ” said Harvey Schiller, a longtime sports executive. He added that Clark does not overreact when board members, like Frank Robinson and Joe Morgan, argue.

Bill Gladstone, another board member, said, “She raises issues that need to be raised and listens to people’s opinions, which is what you want to see in a chairman.”

Her tenure as chairwoman, which began in 2000 after eight years as a board member, is identified with changes in the makeup of the veterans’ committees; the reduction of players’ eligibility for induction to 10 years from 15; building an endowment for the museum, which usually reports annual deficits; and the introduction of a successful commemorative coin program with the United States Mint in 2014 that brought $7.9 million in working capital to the Hall’s bottom line."

Boy Scouts Expected to End Ban on Gay Leaders; New York Times, 7/26/15

Erik Eckholm, New York Times; Boy Scouts Expected to End Ban on Gay Leaders:

"The Boy Scouts of America is expected on Monday to end its blanket ban on gay leaders — a turning point for an organization that has been in turmoil over the issue.

But some scouting groups will still be able to limit leadership jobs to heterosexuals.

To gain the acquiescence of conservative religious groups that sponsor many dens and troops, like the Mormon and Roman Catholic Churches, the policy will allow church-run units to pick leaders who agree with their moral precepts.

“There are differences of opinion, and we need to be respectful of them,” said Michael Harrison, a businessman who led the Boy Scouts in Orange County, Calif., and is one of many leaders who lobbied internally for change. “It doesn’t mean the Mormons have to pick a gay scoutmaster, but please don’t tell the Unitarians they can’t.”

Already struggling to reverse a long-term decline in membership, the Boy Scouts have been increasingly consumed over the last two decades by battles over the exclusion of gay people, divisions that threatened to fracture the organization. Conservative partners saw the policy as a bulwark against unwanted social change, but the Boy Scouts’ anti-gay stance was costing it public support and cachet as well as corporate funders, and lately has brought on the threat of costly lawsuits."

The Research We’ve Ignored About Happiness at Work; Harvard Business Review, 7/21/15

Andre Spicer and Carl Cederstrom, Harvard Business Review; The Research We’ve Ignored About Happiness at Work:

"Ever since a group of scientists switched the lights on and off at the Hawthorne factory in the mid-1920s, scholars and executives alike have been obsessed with increasing their employees’ productivity. In particular, happiness as a way to boost productivity seems to have gained increased traction in corporate circles as of late. Firms spend money on happiness coaches, team-building exercises, gameplays, funsultants, and Chief Happiness Officers (yes, you’ll find one of those at Google). These activities and titles may appear jovial, or even bizarre, but companies are taking them extremely seriously. Should they?

When you look closely at the research — which we did after the dancing incident — it’s actually not clear that encouraging happiness at work is always a good idea. Sure, there is evidence to suggest that happy employees are less likely to leave, more likely to satisfy customers, are safer, and more likely to engage in citizenship behavior. However, we also discovered alternate findings, which indicates that some of the taken-for-granted wisdoms about what happiness can achieve in the workplace are mere myths.

To start, we don’t really know what happiness is, or how to measure it. Measuring happiness is about as easy as taking the temperature of the soul or determining the exact color of love. As Darrin M. McMahon shows in his illuminating study Happiness: A History, ever since the 6th Century B.C., when Croseus is said to have quipped “No one who lives is happy,” we have seen this slippery concept being a proxy for all sorts of other concepts, from pleasure and joy to plenitude and contentment."

Case Study: Is a Promotion Worth Hiding Who You Are?; Harvard Business Review, 7/22/15

Karthik Ramanna, Harvard Business Review; Case Study: Is a Promotion Worth Hiding Who You Are? :

"Editor’s note: This fictionalized case study will appear in a forthcoming issue of Harvard Business Review, along with commentary from experts and readers. If you’d like your comment to be considered for publication, please be sure to include your full name, company or university affiliation, and e-mail address."

“That’s great news!” Mark said. “Isn’t it?” He was puzzled by the pensive look on David’s face. Of course it was natural for a boss to have mixed feelings about seeing a valued employee move on, but David was more than Mark’s manager: He was his mentor. He’d always pushed Mark to advance in his career, and this was an internal promotion, on a three-year contract, so they’d still be working for the same company. Mark might even return to San Francisco after his stint at HQ.

“I know this creates a problem for you,” Mark said, “but there are a few people around here who could take my place.”

“I just want to be sure you’re making the right move,” David said carefully.

“If I were certain you were, I’d support you 100%. But I’m not sure Korea is the best place for you — professionally or personally. Besides, your role will involve spending a lot of time in the Middle East.”

Finally it dawned on Mark. “You mean because I’m gay,” he said flatly."

Using Social Media Without Jeopardizing Your Career; Harvard Business Review, 7/20/15

Alexandra Samuel, Harvard Business Review; Using Social Media Without Jeopardizing Your Career:

"Embrace humor…cautiously. Particularly if you’re trying to build any kind of following on a social network, humor has a place in your online business writing. Your best bet is gentle self-deprecation (but nowhere near the uncomfortable line of self-loathing), good-natured cracks about broad topics like sports, parenting, or the weather (or even politics, if you don’t need to worry about alienating people with different views), or funny Internet memes (as long as they’re not offensive). If in doubt, don’t post it, forward it, or share it. (I think I need that engraved on my keyboard.)...

Be nicer online than you are offline. Aim for online communication that makes you sound about 30% nicer than you actually are. Why? Because we’re notoriously bad at judging how what we write—or rather, what we intend to write—will sound to the person reading it (and they’ll probably assume it’s worse than you intended). A good rule of thumb is to read anything you write out loud before you post or send it, particularly if it’s a challenging or controversial communication (ideally, you’ll set those aside for 24 hours, show them to another person first, and/or take the conversation offline). If you aim to be nicer online than you are face to face, you’ll probably avoid the accidental lapses in tone that can cause real relationship and business problems."

Donald Trump's Arrogance Is Outdated In Corporate America; Huffington Post, 7/20/15

Emily Peck, Huffington Post; Donald Trump's Arrogance Is Outdated In Corporate America:

"Apple CEO Tim Cook also embodies the new leadership style. Cook’s been outspoken in his support for gay rights, first coming out as gay in an October 2014 essay for Bloomberg Businessweek, then becoming a high-profile advocate for the LGBT community. He even chastised his home state of Alabama over its treatment of poor people and minorities.

“Here’s a guy who seems to stand up for what he thinks is right,” said Kiel. “He’s also open to admitting mistakes.”

Cook’s 2012 apology for a botched rollout of mapping software stood in sharp contrast to the non-apology offered by his predecessor, Steve Jobs, over an iPhone glitch in 2010.

Under Cook, Apple’s financials have soared.

CEOs who display character run companies that perform better financially, according to Kiel’s research -- an exhaustive seven-year study of 84 CEOs across multiple industries.

Kiel defined character using four moral principles: integrity, responsibility, forgiveness and compassion. He also came up with a list of 25 behaviors and attributes that embody these principles, like “telling the truth,” “forgiveness” and “owning up to your mistakes.”

He and his team asked CEOs to assess themselves on these traits, and asked their employees how they would rank their CEOs on the same metrics. They discovered that the CEOs who were graded as having the strongest character brought in five times more for the bottom line than the low-character CEOs.

The CEOs at the bottom, said Kiel, tended to see the world as a dangerous place where people would take advantage of you. They didn’t always tell the truth. They placed their own financial security over the well-being of their company and their employees. Their workers didn’t trust them."

Ann Thornton: Collaboration, Expansion, and Library Cred; Library Journal, 7/6/15

Lisa Peet, Library Journal; Ann Thornton: Collaboration, Expansion, and Library Cred:

"Ann Thornton was appointed as the new university librarian and vice provost of Columbia University in May, replacing university librarian emeritus James Neal upon his retirement. Thornton has a long history with prominent New York City libraries, having previously served for nearly two decades at the New York Public Library (NYPL). Since starting out at NYPL’s Science, Industry, and Business Library as its first public training coordinator in 1996, Thornton has occupied a number of senior leadership positions. Most recently she served as Andrew W. Mellon director, where she was responsible for collection development, preservation, reference and research services, and exhibitions for the system’s four research libraries and 87 branch libraries. Before coming to New York, she worked at the University of Houston Libraries as a systems librarian.

Thornton had been in office just over two weeks when LJ caught up with her to talk about the differences and overlaps between the two renowned New York institutions, and her plans."

Enticed by a Library, Tourists Browse a Chinese Village; New York Times, 7/6/15

Jane Perlez, New York Times; Enticed by a Library, Tourists Browse a Chinese Village:

"Meeting the reading needs of the roughly 50 households that remain in the village is something of a sideline, though. What the building is mainly meant to be is a magnet for day-trippers from Beijing, eager to escape the city’s perpetual smog and dirt for a bit of beauty and calm.

“The library is a tool to attract people to the village,” said Mr. Li, a professor of architecture at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

When visitors come to see the library, he said, they also spend money at the village’s few restaurants, pay parking fees and donate money for the building’s upkeep...

The library has a presence on social media, and many of the visitors on the weekend are university students or young professionals. They wander around the village, snap photos of themselves and order the local delicacy, stewed chicken with chestnuts, at one of the restaurants.

And some of them actually read. Sun Liyang, 27, an automotive journalist, said a friend in Beijing had donated some books after hearing about the library online, and he decided to come for a look. “I am sitting here reading ‘The Adventures of Tintin,’” he said. “It’s taking me back to my childhood.”"

A New Kind of Leader: Transition time at the Library of Congress; Library Journal, 7/1/15

John N. Berry III, Library Journal; A New Kind of Leader: Transition time at the Library of Congress:

"The Librarian of Congress needs to be a modern library administrator, capable of curating the great collections, leading the exemplary staff of more than 3,000, and keeping LC’s array of vital services current and on technology’s cutting edge.

LC must be led by a person who understands and not only can deal effectively with the huge cultural, economic, and political differences in America but can deliver information services that enlighten our Congress and the people of the nation. The Librarian of Congress must lead us out of the jungle of conflicting claims, rival demands, and legal interpretations that obscure our implementation of the rules and regulations of intellectual property and copyright.

Simultaneously, the Librarian of Congress must be an intellectual inspiration, with an acumen and articulateness that capture the attention of an argumentative society of free people struggling to govern themselves amid the tempests of a world so complex that true cultural understanding is rare and difficult to achieve.

If that formidable job sounds like the one most librarians work at every day, then that suggests an excellent place for our president to begin the search for candidates: in our nation’s libraries.

It is our duty, through ALA and through all of our most effective connections to government, to help the president find the right librarian to lead our national library. We all know she or he is out there ready and waiting to accept the challenge."

Iggy Azalea cancels Pride appearance, but critics wary; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6/8/15

Chris Potter, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Iggy Azalea cancels Pride appearance, but critics wary:

"Organizers of this weekend’s Pittsburgh Pride activities announced Monday evening that Australian pop star Iggy Azalea, the controversial headliner for a Pride in the Street concert on Saturday, was canceling her appearance at the LGBT event.

It remains to be seen whether the move appeases critics of the Delta Foundation of Pittsburgh, which sponsors Pride.

“We’re sorry that our headliner choice caused a division within our community but we believe that change happens through conversation,” Delta said in a statement. “We are meeting with key LGBT leaders to start a discussion that will make our collective community even stronger.”"

Carnegie Museums president at center of controversy over Sweet Briar College closure; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 6/7/15

Marylynne Pitz, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Carnegie Museums president at center of controversy over Sweet Briar College closure:

"In August, Jo Ellen Parker arrived in Pittsburgh and became the 10th president of Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh and the first woman to lead the nonprofit consortium...

Maggie Saylor Patrick, a former Sweet Briar board member, in a commentary in the Washington Post’s online higher education section, blamed the closing on “poor leadership” during Ms. Parker’s presidency from 2009 through 2014. Key people in power, Ms. Patrick wrote, “froze out the broader board membership and even fired members who disagreed with their policies.”

Sweet Briar professor Daniel Gottlieb asserted in the same Washington Post section that the college’s leaders “have made misleading through numbers an art form.”

In a third Washington Post online essay, Diane Dalton, a current board member, called the attack on Ms. Parker unfair, saying she displayed “notably strong leadership at a time when a perfect storm of external forces beyond her control was brewing.” Two additional board members wrote in a fourth Washington Post column that the school’s financial woes “had been building for decades.”

Bill Hunt, chair of the trustees of Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, said he is pleased with Ms. Parker, calling her “a strong leader and visionary thinker.

“When we were searching for Carnegie Museums’ new president, our search firm, Spencer Stuart, proactively recruited Jo Ellen based on her impressive career as an educator, a college administrator and a thoughtful leader. As she was thoroughly vetted by both the search firm and our search committee — which included detailed discussions with many individuals, including Sweet Briar’s board chair — it became apparent that we had found our next president.”"

Apple’s CEO Tim Cook: Diversity Is ‘the Future of Our Company’; Time, 6/8/15

John Kell, Time; Apple’s CEO Tim Cook: Diversity Is ‘the Future of Our Company’ :

"Apple’s CEO Tim Cook doesn’t mince words when asked about the importance of diversity: “I think the most diverse group will produce the best product, I firmly believe that.”

In an interview with Mashable ahead of Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) Monday, Cook told the website that Apple is a “better company” by being more diverse. He says a lack of diversity in tech isn’t because women don’t want to be involved in the sector. Instead, Cook places the blame on the broader tech community saying generally, “We haven’t done enough to reach out to show young women that it’s cool to do it and how much fun it can be.”

Apple is certainly part of the problem. A workforce data report last year showed that just 30% of its global workforce is female. And leadership positions at Apple skew even more white and male than the broader workforce. Cook has in the past said he’s not satisfied with the numbers."

New Orleans Library Foundation Board Members Resign in Funding Scandal; Library Journal, 5/26/15

Lisa Peet, Library Journal; New Orleans Library Foundation Board Members Resign in Funding Scandal:

"Only days after a definitive victory at the polls, the New Orleans library landscape was making news again—but this time it was the Foundation, not the library itself, and the news was not good. On May 5, an investigative report by correspondent David Hammer for local New Orleans station WWL-TV revealed that between 2012 and 2013 Irvin Mayfield and Ronald Markham, who then served on the board of the New Orleans Public Library (NOPL) Foundation as chair and president, respectively, gave the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra (NOJO) at least $863,000 in funding originally given to the NOPL Foundation. At that time both Mayfield and Markham were also drawing annual salaries of $100,000 apiece from the nonprofit NOJO, Mayfield as its founder and artistic director and Markham as president and CEO.

The money was redirected to NOJO as an investment in the Peoples Health New Orleans Jazz Market, a renovated retail building in New Orleans’s Central City neighborhood that opened in April. The space currently serves as NOJO’s headquarters, a learning center, and a performance venue. The funds, Markham told Hammer, were earmarked for a satellite library installation within the Jazz Market."