2 Sentenced to House Arrest in Long-Running Scheme to Steal Rare Books; The New York Times, June 20, 2020

Michael Levenson, The New York Times; 2 Sentenced to House Arrest in Long-Running Scheme to Steal Rare Books

[Kip Currier: We've been exploring this egregious breach of public trust and abject dereliction of institutional leadership as a case study in the new The Information Professional in the Community graduate course I launched this term.

Glaring and appallingly negligent instances of organizational malfeasance and breach of fiduciary responsibility -- over the course of more than 20 years -- are replete throughout this sordid saga. Much, if not all, of what was perpetrated by the morally-deficient defendants, archivist Gregory Priore and local bookshop owner John Schulman, was foreseeable and preventable by those charged with the duties of safeguarding and shepherding our cultural heritage and scientific treasure. Organizational leaders and Boards should also be held accountable for these kinds of ethical lapses and fiduciary failures that occur on their watches.]

"Patrick Dowd, board chair of the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, said the thefts “will forever raise doubts about the security of all future charitable donations, particularly to the Carnegie Library.”"

Supreme Court Delivers Major Victory To LGBTQ Employees; NPR, June 15, 2020

Nina Totenberg , NPR; Supreme Court Delivers Major Victory To LGBTQ Employees

"The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that the 1964 Civil Rights Act barring sex discrimination in the workplace protects LGBTQ employees from being fired because of their sexual orientation. 

The vote was 6-3 with conservatives Chief Justice John Roberts and Neil Gorsuch joining the court's four liberal justices in the majority. 

The opinion is available here."

Sentencing Thursday for two accused in Carnegie Library rare book theft; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 14, 2020

Paula Reed Ward, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; Sentencing Thursday for two accused in Carnegie Library rare book theft

"It doesn’t matter that the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh was insured by Traveler’s Insurance, and has received, to date, $6.5 million paid in three separate installments.

“The library will need to work to build its reputation and standing within the community and gain the trust of collectors and patrons,” wrote the appraisal group, Pall Mall Art Advisors. “The long-term effect is actually far greater than the value they may have lost in the tangible assets.”...

In asking for an aggravated sentence, Deputy District Attorney Brian Catanzarite wrote, “The scope, breadth and impact of the crimes perpetrated by John Schulman and Gregory Priore cannot be overstated.

“The devastating financial loss to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh pales in comparison to the irreparable damage that the defendants caused the community.”...

Kornelia Tancheva, Hillman University librarian and director at the University of Pittsburgh, urged Judge Bicket to sentence the men to prison to send a message that a crime like theirs has consequences.

“The theft of special collections from any library, but especially from a public library, is an egregious crime against the integrity of the cultural record and against the public good,” she wrote. “It compromises the public trust in cultural institutions and sets a precedent that goes against everything that libraries stand for — unfettered access to information for all, curation and preservation of materials important not just now but for the whole future of humanity, as well as public support for cultural institutions.”"

To my white friends, the time for talk has passed. Now is the time for work.; The Washington Post, June 12, 2020

Brian S. Lowery , The Washington Post; To my white friends, the time for talk has passed. Now is the time for work.

"Maybe you believe you have nothing in common with those people, that good intentions, tolerant upbringings or enlightened parenting will protect against such corruption. Maybe you believe the diverse activism on display nationwide will make things right. But sincere concern and time have not fixed our problems. They are not enough to protect any of us from the influence of the malignant system we all live in...

The question going forward is whether people suppress the desire to deny this problem or distance themselves from it. The forces that created the monsters so many now decry also help to generate white privileges. Talk alone will not dismantle a system that has torn at all Americans — body, mind and soul — since this country’s inception. It’s time to educate friends and family, and demand more of leaders. It is time to be more than a cheerleader or ally and find ways to make permanent change."

What Do I Do if My Employer Does Something I Can’t Abide?; The New York Times, June 12, 2020

Roxane Gay, The New York Times; What Do I Do if My Employer Does Something I Can’t Abide?

You have to calibrate the difference between dumb and unacceptable, what you can live with and what you cannot.

"You have to pick your battles. You have to calibrate the difference between stupid and unacceptable, what you can live with and what you cannot. Because you work for a newspaper that will always publish a range of content, some of which you agree with and some of which you do not, you also have to calibrate the difference between disagreement and disgust.

That’s the tidy answer that doesn’t really force you to make the difficult decision. But now, more than ever, with so much at stake, we have to be willing to make difficult decisions. We have to be willing to make ourselves uncomfortable in service of what’s right. When the Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kept his knee on George Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, three of his co-workers stood by and did nothing. When a police officer in Buffalo shoved a 75-year-old man to the ground, dozens of his co-workers walked past that fallen man, bleeding from his ear. They did nothing.

Most situations in which you object to your employer’s conduct won’t be so extreme. But something terrible happened in this country, something that has happened with horrifying frequency. Each time we think maybe this time, something will change. For a few days or even a few weeks, change seems possible — and then we all get comfortable again. We forget about whatever terrible thing once held our attention. A new terrible thing happens. We get outraged. It’s a vicious cycle, but it is one we can break. When your employer does something that violates your ethical code, when it does something that endangers employees or the greater community, you have to ask yourself if you are going to do nothing — or get angry, vent and hold your employer accountable in whatever ways you can. I am, perhaps, simplifying the choices you can make, but maybe doing the right thing is far simpler than we allow ourselves to believe."

'Trump thought I was a secretary': Fiona Hill on the president, Putin and populism; The Guardian, June 12, 2020

Julian Borger, The Guardian; 

'Trump thought I was a secretary': Fiona Hill on the president, Putin and populism

[Kip Currier: Much to learn about emotional intelligence and organizational savvy from this Guardian interview with Fiona Hill, a former top expert on Russia for the Trump administration. Hill recounts, in an excerpt below, how showing respect for a secretarial staff person -- whom she did not know was a member of the selection committee for Harvard -- changed her life.]

"In place of a network, Hill had karma and a certain amount of luck. A chance meeting with a US academic on a work trip to Russia led to [sic] her to try for a place at Harvard. At the interview in London, only she and another northern girl, a farmer’s daughter from Sunderland, took the time to chat to the secretary. It turned out that the secretary was part of the selection panel, and it was the two northerners who won the fellowships."

Microaggressions Are A Big Deal: How To Talk Them Out And When To Walk Away; NPR, June 9, 2020

Andrew Limbong, NPR; Microaggressions Are A Big Deal: How To Talk Them Out And When To Walk Away

"Kevin Nadal, a professor of psychology at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, has spent years researching and writing books on the effects of microaggressions. As these big structural issues play out, he says it's important to confront the small stuff...

So what would you say are three quick bits of advice on having these difficult dialogues?

Do your own work before you even get there. Read blogs and personal essays, understand the lived experiences of historically marginalized groups, watch documentaries and try to think outside of your own perspective.

Set realistic expectations of what you want from these conversations. Also think about, is this actually helping? Is this a conversation that I view as being helpful in any way, shape or form? It's important to acknowledge that no one is going to learn everything in one conversation overnight.

Always be aware of yourself and your mental health when having these conversations. In a world where we all fought for social justice all the time, we would be getting into productive arguments and fights and having protests every day and changing laws, but we don't and we can't because we're also human and we need to rest. 

But again, think about your role and your positionality, because if you're a person with privilege and you could fight a little bit longer, then do it. But if you're a person of a historically marginalized group, we want you to be alive and we want you to be healthy in order to continue this fight toward justice."

Narcan or No?; American Libraries, June 1, 2020

Anne Ford, American Libraries; Narcan or No?

Several years into the opioid crisis, public librarians reflect on whether to stock free naloxone

"“I think some libraries are concerned about liability, even though most states have Good Samaritan laws around naloxone,” Duddy says. “And I think some people feel there’s not an [opioid overdose] issue where their library is located.”

The libraries to which American Libraries spoke cited different reasons for not seeking the free Narcan."

[Podcast] Carla Hayden & Lonnie Bunch, Cultural Institutions at Times of Social Unrest; Library of Congress, June 5, 2020

[Podcast] Library of Congress; Carla Hayden & Lonnie Bunch, Cultural Institutions at Times of Social Unrest

"As part of our National Book Festival Presents series for June, "Connecting the World With Words," Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and Smithsonian Institution Secretary Lonnie Bunch discuss the future of their institutions and how they remain accessible and relevant during a period of global pandemic coupled with nationwide protests against injustice. Bunch is the author of “A Fool’s Errand: Creating the National Museum of African American History and Culture in the Era of Bush, Obama, and Trump.”"

[Podcast] Trade Secrets: Protection and Defense; Fish & Richardson, March 26, 2020

[Podcast] Leeron Kalay, Seth Sproul, Katie Prescott, Fish & Richardson; Trade Secrets: Protection and Defense

"Trade secrets derive economic value primarily from being unknown by others. But to establish the existence of a protectable trade secret, companies must demonstrate that they have taken reasonable steps to maintain the secrecy of the information in question. A robust trade secret strategy can both protect a company’s trade secrets while also allowing it to defend itself from accusations of trade secret theft. Companies must consider this strategy at all times, including:

• When recruiting and hiring new employees
• When handling employee departures
• When collaborating with business partners and prospects

In this webinar, Fish attorneys Katherine Prescott, Leeron Kalay, and Seth Sproul discuss how to craft a trade secret strategy that protects your company from accusations of trade secret theft while also protecting your company’s trade secrets.

Click the link to download a copy of the webinar slides.

Presenters: Leeron Kalay, Seth Sproul, Katie Prescott"

Best Practices: How to Protect Trade Secrets From Loss Through Departing Employees; JD Supra, June 5, 2020

Fish & Richardson, JD Supra; Best Practices: How to Protect Trade Secrets From Loss Through Departing Employees

"1. Introduction

We start with the assumption that your company has already laid the foundation for IP protection, including the creation of a rock-solid trade secrets program (for more on this topic, see the Fish Trade Secrets: Protection & Defense webinar)...

What follows can help you to build an employee departure checklist to make sure valuable trade secrets aren’t lost.

2. Best Practices For Dealing With Departing Employees"

Kaetrena Davis Kendrick on Low Morale Among Public Librarians; Library Journal, June 3, 2020

Lisa Peet , Library Journal; Kaetrena Davis Kendrick on Low Morale Among Public Librarians

"You mentioned in a recent webinar that boards, human resources departments, and others with oversight are rarely helpful in these situations. 

Those are enabling systems. It's not just that behaviors are going on—these systems are in play. That's significant for people to know, because people move through these experiences blaming themselves, thinking that they're not doing enough. Really, it's the enabling systems. I use the term enabling for a reason: if you're familiar with substance overuse circles, people who are enabling think they're helping, but they're actually doing things to continue negative behavior. Enabling systems are systems that you would think were designed to help, but they inadvertently prolong or continue the experience of workplace abuse or neglect.

Leadership, overwhelmingly, is cited as an enabling system. You go to your leader and think, if I tell my leader, then they'll do something and stop it. But leaders generally have been shown to be most often the perpetrators of the workplace abuse and neglect. It might be a leadership style, authoritarian or toxic leadership, or even just not leading. I call them laissez-faire leaders. Perhaps you have a leader who's never there, who dismisses your complaints—radio silence."