Lorcan Dempsey

Lorcan Dempsey

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

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!

Featured posts
Document chat: an early AI use case
AI

Document chat: an early AI use case

AI-assisted document query and summarization services are becoming more common. This post compares the 'ask a PDF' outputs of several services. Overall responses were good, with reasonable variation, and no significant hallucinations. It also touches on some characteristics of AI-based services.
Lorcan Dempsey 24 min read
Teaching: one year in
Research ∕ Learning

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 Dempsey 13 min read
So-called soft skills are hard
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 Dempsey 12 min read
The narrative website: from signposting to storytelling
UX

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 Dempsey 16 min read
The technology career ladder
Institutions

The technology career ladder

Library leaders should be drawn from across the organization. Any idea that technology leaders are overly specialised or too distant from general library work is outmoded and counter-productive.
Lorcan Dempsey 7 min read
Latest posts
Document chat: an early AI use case
AI

Document chat: an early AI use case

AI-assisted document query and summarization services are becoming more common. This post compares the 'ask a PDF' outputs of several services. Overall responses were good, with reasonable variation, and no significant hallucinations. It also touches on some characteristics of AI-based services.
Lorcan Dempsey 24 min read
Teaching: one year in
Research ∕ Learning

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 Dempsey 13 min read
So-called soft skills are hard
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 Dempsey 12 min read
Celebrating Ohio
Meta

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 Dempsey 29 min read
The narrative website: from signposting to storytelling
UX

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 Dempsey 16 min read
Explore topics
Systems

Systems

Doing things with software and data.

1058 posts
Institutions

Institutions

Libraries are social organizations, entangled in multiple histories, politics and value systems.

417 posts
UX

UX

Broadly construed .. how we experience systems, services and interfaces.

333 posts
Books

Books

Notes about books, movies and reading.

307 posts
Research ∕ Learning

Research ∕ Learning

Research and learning behaviors drive academic library change.

294 posts
Misc

Misc

Some things don't go elsewhere

183 posts
Social

Social

The network organization of personal, social and academic life.

171 posts
Collections

Collections

Collective, inside-out, facilitated, optimized, pluralized and computationally analyzed.

114 posts
Meta

Meta

Comments about the site, or more personal observations or topics.

30 posts
*Classics

*Classics

Posts which introduced concepts or vocabulary which have gained some currency.

25 posts
AI

AI

Posts about evolving AI story and its implications for libraries.

9 posts
Collaboration

Collaboration

Balancing common goals and institutional autonomy makes library collaboration difficult.

8 posts
Fonts

Fonts

Fonts make language visible, and can communicate a particular feeling. How are they used in libraries, cultural institutions, universities and related organizations?

2 posts
icon

Lorcan Dempsey dot Net

The social, cultural and technological contexts of libraries, services and networks

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