Lorcan Dempsey

Hi ... I am a librarian, writer, and adviser. I enjoy working with groups of libraries to develop shared services, products and directions. I have guided national and international cooperative and R&D programs. I have been very lucky to work for library, educational, and non-profit organizations in Ireland, the UK, the EU and the US.

I am currently Professor of Practice and Distinguished Practitioner in Residence at the Information School, University of Washington. Explore my reflections about the evolution of libraries in their social and cultural contexts in these pages.

Please get in touch if we can work together. And sign up to follow along!

Teaching: one year in

I reflect on my first year of teaching at the iSchool in the University of Washington. A little about teaching. A little about Canvas, the library, and some software tools. A little about me and my learnings.

Lorcan Oct 6, 2024 13 min read

Libraries, AI and the messy middle

Introduces an annotated presentation about AI, libraries and a range of related issues. It is influenced by the consequences of considering AI as a new 'cultural technology.'

Lorcan Jun 5, 2024 3 min read

Institutions

So-called soft skills are hard

So-called soft skills are important across a range of library activities. Existing trends will further amplify this importance. Describing these skills as soft may be misleading, or even damaging. They should be recognized as learnable and teachable, and should be explicitly supported and rewarded.

Lorcan Mar 7, 2024 12 min read

Generative AI and libraries: seven contexts

Libraries are engaging with AI in their educational, service and policy work. This post discusses seven contexts in which that work is taking place.

Lorcan Nov 12, 2023 30 min read

Collections

Collection directions accelerated? Pandemic effects

Over the past few years I have been talking about three systemic ways in which collections, broadly understood, are evolving in a network environment. They are: the collective collection, the facilitated collection, and the inside-out collection.

Lorcan May 19, 2020 11 min read

Teaching: one year in

Lorcan Oct 6, 2024 13 min read

Libraries, AI and the messy middle

Introduces an annotated presentation about AI, libraries and a range of related issues. It is influenced by the consequences of considering AI as a new 'cultural technology.'

Lorcan Jun 5, 2024 3 min read

Books

Smile: let's see your teeth

I was excited to discover the graphic novel Smile by Raina Telgemeier. The subject matter has strong personal resonances for me.

Lorcan Apr 25, 2024 3 min read

Institutions

So-called soft skills are hard

Lorcan Mar 7, 2024 12 min read

AI, OpenAI and the evolving AI environment

For a few days recently, the news was dominated by reports of organizational upheaval at OpenAI. Here are some reflections on what happened, with some connections to library topics.

Lorcan Dec 17, 2023 12 min read

Using a custom GPT to ask about collections and collaboration

OpenAI now allows you to develop custom chatbots which use the power of GPT4 but can be tailored to work with your data and carry out particular actions. I discuss them in general and introduce an example built on some of my own publications.

Lorcan Dec 8, 2023 9 min read

AI ... and the rhinoceros in the room redux

Understanding the discussion about AI benefits from hands-on experience of tools and services.

Lorcan Dec 3, 2023 6 min read

Generative AI and libraries: seven contexts

Libraries are engaging with AI in their educational, service and policy work. This post discusses seven contexts in which that work is taking place.

Lorcan Nov 12, 2023 30 min read

Twenty years of blogging and still going!

It is hard to believe, but this blog celebrates its twentieth birthday on 20th October 2023. Topics have varied, but have almost always been about libraries in some way.

Lorcan Oct 12, 2023 7 min read

Celebrating Ohio

A temporary relocation makes me realize how much there is to like and to say about Ohio, where we have lived for the last 22 years. We moved to Ohio from the UK (and lived in Ireland before that). Here are some observations based on our travels around the State over the years.

Lorcan Sep 18, 2023 29 min read

The narrative website: from signposting to storytelling

As we move from a collections-based to a relational library, storytelling becomes very important. One trend is the emergence of a stronger narrative or storytelling emphasis on websites, which helps position the library, promote its services, and address specific interests.

Lorcan Jul 10, 2023 16 min read

Generative AI, scholarly and cultural language models, and the return of content

AI momentum continues to grow, and we are seeing more applications in the scholarly and cultural spaces. Several organizations have been creating specialist large language models based on reservoirs of curated scientific and cultural data.

Lorcan Jun 28, 2023 22 min read