I've been on the front lines. I've seen behind the curtain. I write for the people who have to live with the decision.
Independent guidance for libraries dealing with vendor contracts, AI, and technology decisions. No jargon. No gatekeeping. No "just trust the vendor" energy.
Best fit: mid-size public libraries and consortiums (25K+ patrons). Smaller library? Resources built for your constraints.
Steve Potash's 37-Page Masterclass in Corporate Bullshit
OverDrive CEO submitted 37 pages of testimony opposing library ebook pricing fairness. Learn how he used emotional reframing, selective data, and fear-mongering—and how you can use AI to cut through it in four seconds.
Why Trust This?
This is the resource I wish existed when I started librarianship. Two years of brain-dumping, organizing, and reorganizing everything I know. 20 years across library tech, legal tech, and cannabis tech. I've signed the contracts and I've written them. Library Journal Mover & Shaker. Ohio Library Council Innovation Award. No commissions, no sponsors, no vendor kickbacks. Nobody's paying me to say any of this.
Take it. Remix it. Rip it apart and rebuild it for your library, your district, your situation. I don't care how the knowledge gets out. I care that it gets out.
Training You Can Reuse
No portals. No logins. Just HTML pages you can send to staff or print for a workshop.
- Unhinged Librarian App Workbook: self-paced modules and exercises
- Librarian Terminal Pack: copy-paste commands and common errors
- Board Brief: Responsible AI Governance: a board-ready deck
Act
Understand
Dear Reader,
I built my career fighting for libraries and digital access. Twenty years. And I'm watching it threaten to disappear.
Some of this is stuff I wish I'd known. Some I said out loud and nobody listened. Some I never said at all because I didn't believe it myself.
I believe it now.
Here it is. All of it. Old notepads from moving boxes. Untitled docs. Voice memos from 2am. Contracts that gut budgets. Vendor tricks I watched get built from the inside. With the help of LLMs, I turned the mess into something readable. In some cases you'll find two versions: the unhinged and the board-ready. You pick.
This isn't a blog. It's alive. New thoughts, new news, new fights. It grows every time something pisses me off or clicks into place.
Hook up an RSS reader so you don't miss any of it.
Steal this. Share it. Leave it on your director's desk. I don't care how the knowledge moves. I care that it moves.
The version of me who started this career deserved all of this.
So do you.
— The Unhinged Librarian