If you were waiting for an audio version of my new book, you’re in luck. Now available on Audible and Audiobooks.com. Read by Tom Perkins and published by Tantor Media. Unabridged, run time 9:44.
Forged in War Audiobook Now Available
Lankes to join Texas iSchool as Virginia & Charles Bowden Professor of Librarianship
I am very pleased to announce that I will be joining The School of Information at The University of Texas at Austin as Full Professor and Virginia & Charles Bowden Professor of Librarianship. My appointment starts in August.
Click here for the announcement including the appointment of some great new colleagues: https://www.ischool.utexas.edu/news/texas-ischool-welcomes-new-faculty-members
Here is more information on the Bowdens and the Professorship they created: https://giving.utexas.edu/bridging-the-past-and-the-future/
The following is an email I sent out to the alumni:
Greetings Alumni of the School of Information Science,
I am writing you today to let you know about changes in administration of the school. I will be stepping down as director of the school at the end of July. I have accepted the position of Virginia & Charles Bowden Professor of Librarianship in the iSchool at University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Karen Gavigan will be interim director for the 2021-2022 academic year. There will also be a national search for a new director.
There is simply no better choice to shepherd the school through this transition than Dr. Gavigan. She has been an integral part of the school as a faculty member since 2010 and has the support of the staff, faculty, alumni, and administration.
I want to be very clear that the school is in excellent shape. Enrollment in all of our degree programs is up. We have a strong financial position and an amazing faculty devoted to students and excellence. The school’s portfolio in research, diversity initiatives, accreditation status, and international reputation are very strong and show an upward arc.
Let me say that I have loved my time as director. Certainly, there have been challenges, a global pandemic for example, but the school’s community of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners has always demonstrated resilience and actually grown through these challenges. One may rightly ask why then am I leaving for Texas?
There are two parts to that answer: the Texas position is my dream job, and the school is ready for a change in leadership. Many don’t know, but the director position is a 5 year appointment, and I have just finished my 5th year at the school. While I am eligible for reappointment, I sincerely feel the school is ready for someone to take the achievements of the past 5 years and push even further.
My job over the past years was to create a strong faculty and shared governance. I was tasked with increasing the reputation of the school, ensuring continued accreditation, and growing the undergraduate program. We have gone up in the national rankings, we received a flawless reaccreditation, and our undergraduate program enrollment has more than doubled. I am not taking credit for these achievements. My job was simply to coordinate the work of our community.
It is time for a new leader to create stronger bonds with alumni and partners while connecting directly with students. I have little doubt that Karen, and her successor will continue the growth of our strong school; growth in numbers, but more importantly in reputation, quality, and impact.
In closing, let me thank you all for your support, your thoughtful challenges, and your excellence. I will always value our time together.
One Last Lecture
At Carolina’s School of Information Science graduate hooding ceremony to I give one last lecture:
I will not be the first nor the last to point out that you are graduating at a unique point in history. A time when people are talking about a reopening. A sometimes halting, undoubtedly uneven, and often inequitable reopening of society. It is easy to look ahead to this reopening, to the time after you graduate, to the time of vaccines. This is good, and you have certainly earned it. But I ask you to also reflect on the year that has just passed. I ask you to do this because it will be a time that will drive this nation in the coming decade and as librarians, as information professionals, you form the vital memory of our nation.
For all this past year has been one of loss. For too many the loss of a loved one, friend, or colleague. But for all a loss of certainty. In this past year a pandemic made us question the safety of our neighbors, the choices of our community, and the tenuous nature of health care in this nation. In the past months an insurrection at the Capital made us question the strength of our democracy, of our own ideals, and of the intention of our leaders. The murder of black men at the hands of police have made us question our own role in eliminating racism, in our privilege, and in the foundations of our civic institutions.
Continue reading “One Last Lecture”Libraries Lead the New Normal
Libraries Lead the New Normal is a new podcast hosted by Mike Eisenberg (Dean & Professor Emeritus, Information School, University of Washington) & David Lankes (Director & Professor, iSchool, University of South Carolina).
There’s an emerging new normal. 2020 was brutal and has affected all aspects of our lives. As we come out of the pandemic in 2021 and beyond, we must ask, “Are these changes temporary and short-lived or are more fundamental and long-term?” It seems like this is a good time for re-examination and possibly reset of home-life and work-life, education, commerce, social life, politics, and even recreation. We think that this can be a valuable time for life-altering, ground breaking, and transformative change.
Continue reading “Libraries Lead the New Normal”Forged in War: How a century of war created today’s information society
Lankes, R. David (2021). Forged in War: How a century of war created today’s information society. New York, NY: Rowman & Littlefield.
Forged in War: How a Century of War Created Today’s Information Society
I am proud to announce my new book Forged in War: How a Century of War Created Today’s Information Society published by Rowman & Littlefield.
Many of what we think of as Information Age tools and media— computers, cell phones, the internet, encryption, and more— evolved directly out of modern warfare. These tools started with World War I (which began not with arms but with England cutting off underwater cables to Germany to isolate it), accelerated through World War II and the Cold War, and now play a central role in both declared and non-declared conflicts like election interference and cyberbattles.
We buy phones, smart speakers, and virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa to help us do our work and answer that one trivia question that bugs us. Yet these devices are data gatherers. They collect, repackage, and monetize our questions, purchases, photographs, and web surfing to form a data industry now larger than the oil industry.
Forged in War takes a critical look at the systems we use and how we ended up in a society that increasingly values data over personal liberty and commerce over the public good. It tells a compelling and previously untold story of how our ideas of information and knowledge reflect the century of war that has militarized our worldview.
R. David Lankes’s work has been funded by organizations such as the MacArthur Foundation, the Institute for Library and Museum Services, NASA, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Defense, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. State Department. This, his latest book, will help all of us learn how war has shaped our world and how to begin to create an agenda to stand down weaponized data and a media that seeks to own our personal, even intimate, data like one owns a gold mine.
Check out the star review in LibraryJournal: “VERDICT This most recent book by Lankes is ideal for readers seeking a more comprehensive look at information dissemination technology, its context, and its impact on the way in which we now live.“
Available to order from Rowman & Littlefield
SPECIAL OFFER
30% DISCOUNT OFF LIST PRICE USING CODE RLFANDF30
978-1-5381-4895-2 • Cloth May 2021 • $36.00 • after discount: $25.20
978-1-5381-4896-9 • eBook May 2021 • $34.00 • after discount: $23.80
Ampliemos expectativas – Expect More in Spanish Free Online
On Tuesday I had the honor of joining a launch event with the National Library of Peru. The library, working with the Library of Valencia, have translated Expect more into Spanish. It is a part of the National Library of Peru’s Reading, Library and Community Book seriesBest yet, they have released it to the world!
You can link to the Spanish eBook here: https://bpdigital.bnp.gob.pe/info/ampliemos-expectativas-exijamos-mejores-bibliotecas-para-lidiar-con-la-complejidad-del-mundo-actual-00638600
Here are my remarks for the release:
I am so happy to join you today for the launch of Expect more as part of the “Reading, Library and Community” Book series. I want to thank the National Library of Peru and the librarians of Valencia for their work translating and publishing the Spanish language version.
Continue reading “Ampliemos expectativas – Expect More in Spanish Free Online”Libraries Leading the New Normal
“Libraries Leading the New Normal.” Computers in Libraries 2021. Online.
Abstract: Insurrection, pandemic, racial awakening, climate crisis, a looming wealth gap. Libraries of all types are functioning in a time unlike any in history. What role can librarians play in times such as these? The answer must be to rebuild trust and reaffirm the foundations of our very democratic ideals one community at a time. Librarians must join with those we serve in forging a new normal that embraces diversity over division, collaboration over ideology, and seeks a unified equitable future. Doing so requires us to build a pragmatic agenda for a new normal based on a foundation beyond collections and access.
Slides: Slides in PDF
Bibliotecários construindo o novo normal
Lankes, R. David (2021). Bibliotecários construindo o novo normal. Revista Brasileira de Biblioteconomia e Documentação Vol. 17
Librarians Building the New Normal
“Librarians Building the New Normal.” Brazilian Federation of Associations of Librarians, Information Scientists and Institutions Keynote. Via Video
Speech Text: Read Speaker Script or in Portuguese
Abstract: If librarians wish a better world, they have to make it better, not wait for it to happen.
Alternative Video: Use this link to watch the video with Portuguese captions plus listed the the questions and answers.
Audio:
Librarians Building the New Normal from R. David Lankes on Vimeo.
[This is the script I used for my talk typos and all.]
Greetings, and thank you for having me. I would like to thank Dr. Prado in particular, not only for the invitation, but also for being such a great collaborator over the years.
I see that the theme for today is “Libraries for a better world.” I have to tell you that after the past year, I could certainly use a better world right now. After this past year, a world without COVID would be nice. Without the isolation of the pandemic, without the loss, and the fear would be nice. A better world where public health is not intertwined with political ideologies. Where a mask is not a statement.
A better world where we don’t pit the economy against the environment and where the color of your skin or the place of your birth does not determine your future.
Continue reading “Librarians Building the New Normal”