Guest host Troy Swanson chats with Dr. Bradley Custer, higher education expert, about his experience at the U.S. Department of Education, the impact of recent mass firings, and what these changes mean for students, educators, and the future of American education.

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Dr. Bradley Custer is a higher education policy expert in Washington, D.C. He was most recently an analyst at the U.S. Department of Education, where he resolved complex complaints from student loan borrowers. He was previously a researcher at the Center for American Progress and a student services administrator on public college and university campuses. He holds a Ph.D. in higher, adult, and lifelong education from Michigan State University.  

SHOW NOTES:

Dr. Bradley Custer on LinkedIn
U.S. Department of Education

In this milestone 300th episode of Circulating Ideas, Steve Thomas chats with Rich Harwood, president and founder of the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation and author of “The New Civic Path: Restoring Our Belief in Each Other and Our Nation,” about Harwood’s inspirational journey, the importance of community in building hope, and how libraries and local organizations can help restore hope, dignity, and civic engagement in America.

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We are suffering from a crisis of belief in our country today. So many people have lost faith in America—in our leaders, institutions, and even one another. The status quo is not working for far too many of us. Our central task today is to meet this historic moment. But how do we grow our belief that we can get things done together—not as Republicans or Democrats or Independents, but as Americans? How do we rebuild trust and reclaim agency?

In this deeply personal manifesto written while crisscrossing the country for his “Enough. Time to Build.” civic campaign, Richard C. Harwood reveals how we can address the fundamental challenges holding us back in America today. We must dedicate ourselves to forging a new civic path that grows our belief that we can move forward amid our real differences. The New Civic Path is a must-read for those who want to spark civic renewal and get our communities and the country moving again.

Richard C. Harwood, President and Founder of The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation, is an innovator, author, and speaker. For nearly 40 years, he has devoted his career to revitalizing the nation’s hardest-hit communities, transforming the world’s largest organizations, and reconnecting institutions to society. He has been recruited to solve some of the most difficult problems of our time, including being called into Newtown, CT, after the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School. He has appeared in numerous national media outlets and has written scores of articles, groundbreaking reports, and nine books. In 2025, Rich and the Institute are running the Campaign for the New Civic Path, anchored by his manifesto, The New Civic Path: Restoring Our Belief in One Another and Our Nation. 

SHOW NOTES:

The New Civic Path: Restoring Our Belief in One Another and Our Nation
The Harwood Institute

Steve chats with Max Brallier, author of The Last Kids on Earth and the Destructor’s Lair, about the evolution of the series over its ten-year run, the appeal of post-apocalyptic stories for kids, the enduring importance of friendship at the heart of the series, and the challenges of balancing humor with darker themes.

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Jack and Quint are trapped in the Monster Dimension! Their mission: prevent Rezzoch the Ancient, Destructor of Worlds, from reaching Earth and annihilating civilization. To do this, they must secure an audience with a creature more mysterious than any other. It’s a race against time—and a race through the monster dimension! But before they can get back home to June and Dirk, Jack will find himself in a confrontation that will change everything. . . .

SHOW NOTES:

The Last Kids on Earth and the Destructor’s Lair
The Last Comics on Earth: A Song of Swords and Stuffies
Circulating Ideas 258: The Last Comics on Earth: Too Many Villains! by Max Brallier

Steve chats with Becky Siegel Spratford, editor of Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature, about her deep involvement and interest in the horror genre, the inspiration and process behind her book, the diversity of voices in horror, how horror can foster empathy and address real-world anxieties, and the dangers of quicksand (it’s everywhere).

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A love letter to the horror genre from many of the most influential and bestselling authors in the industry.

For twenty-five years, Becky Siegel Spratford has worked as a librarian in Reader Advisory, training library workers all over the world on how to engage their patrons and readers, and to use her place as a horror expert and critic to get the word out to others; to bring even more readers into the horror fold.

Why I Love Horror is a captivating anthology and heartfelt tribute to the horror genre featuring essays from several of the most celebrated contemporary horror writers including, Grady Hendrix, Paul Tremblay, Stephen Graham Jones, Josh Malerman, Victor LaValle, Tananarive Due, and Rachel Harrison.

SHOW NOTES:

Why I Love Horror: Essays on Horror Literature
RA for All
RA for All: Horror
Why I Love Horror: The Book Tour
StokerCon 2025 Keynote Speech: “Why We Need Horror Authors in the Fight For the Freedom to Read”

Steve chats with Dr. Steve Albrecht, author of The Library Leader’s Guide to Human Resources: Keeping It Real, Legal, and Ethical, about the importance of library leaders learning about human resources, handling performance reviews, onboarding, and why civility is the key to a healthy and effective workplace culture.

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The human resources (HR) function for libraries can range in size and scope, depending on the size of the library. The complexities of HR today call for a guiding manual to help keep the multitude of processes fair, legal, and accurate. This book provides the level of detail for new and seasoned HR leaders to use to staff and operate their libraries with the best employees they can find. It offers legal advice from labor law attorneys, and operational steps, policies, and processes from Dr. Steve Albrecht, a longtime HR consultant for municipal government.

Even with the support of an HR Department (however large or small), all library leaders who have supervisory responsibility over their staff (hiring, firing, performance evaluation, assigning job duties) must have a working, updated knowledge of HR issues related to employing people in their branches. (And don’t forget that even student interns, unpaid volunteers, and part-time employees have similar employment rights as full-time, paid employees.) This means that besides the myriad of other duties required to run a safe, efficient, useful library for the community, library leaders – from the Director, to the department heads, to the managers, to the frontline supervisors, to the PIC (Person in Charge on each work shift) – each must know what they can and cannot do when it comes to HR laws, policies, guidelines, and best practices.

This includes: legal issues related to screening interviewing, and hiring applicants; successful on-boarding and new-employee orientation programs; coaching for improved work performance or employee behavior; mentoring employees for both promotional opportunities and succession planning; the challenges of attendance, sick leave, ADA and FMLA issues; fair and legal performance evaluations; working with employees in a union or an association; HR practices related to testing, promoting, disciplining, or terminating library employees; and keeping all employees motivated and connected, using wellness, stress management, and programs to prevent burnout or “quiet quitting.” Other books for library leaders may touch on HR issues as part of a broader look at supervising employees. This book will focus on it.

Dr. Steve Albrecht is well known in libraries for his workshops, webinars, podcasts, and articles on library service, safety, and security. He has worked as an HR consultant and security trainer for several decades. He is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management (www.SHRM.org) and has been board certified by them as “Professional In Human Resources” (PHR) since 1996.

SHOW NOTES:

The Library Leader’s Guide to Human Resources: Keeping It Real, Legal, and Ethical
Library 2.0

Guest host Troy Swanson chats with Nicole A. Cooke, editor of The Legacy of Black Women in Librarianship: When They Dared to Be Powerful, about the history, impact, and ongoing contributions of Black women in the library profession, what drew her to the University of South Carolina, and preserving the stories of trailblazing librarians whose legacies continue to inspire.

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Nicole A. Cooke is the Augusta Baker Endowed Chair and a Professor at the University of South Carolina. Her research and teaching interests include human information behavior, critical cultural information studies, LIS Education, and diversity and social justice in librarianship. She has been awarded the 2019 Association of Library and Information Science Education (ALISE) Excellence in Teaching Award, the 2021 MLK Social Justice Award presented by the University of South Carolina, and the 2024 American Library Association (ALA) Lippincott award. She has edited and authored several books, including Information Services to Diverse Populations (2016) and Fake News and Alternative Facts: Information Literacy in a Post-truth Era (2018). She is the Founding Editor of ALA Editions/Neal-Schuman’s Critical Cultural Information Studies series, and her latest book is The Legacy of Black Women in Librarianship: When They Dared to Be Powerful (2025).

SHOW NOTES:

The Legacy of Black Women in Librarianship: When They Dared to Be Powerful

Steve chats with Michael Hanegan and Chris Rosser, authors of Generative AI and Libraries: Claiming Our Place in the Center of a Shared Future, about generative AI as an arrival technology, why librarians should play a central role in shaping an ethical future of AI, practical frameworks for AI integration, and how libraries can leverage their trusted position to guide community’s through rapid technological change.

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In the form of generative AI, libraries are facing technological transformation of unprecedented speed and scale. Both controversial and disruptive, the sudden ubiquity of AI has already triggered uncertainty as well as the need for rapid adaptation. As AI reshapes how humans learn, work, and interact with information, libraries across the ecosystem—from public to academic, from school to special libraries—must resist the temptation to merely serve as static support and instead claim the center by becoming a dynamic, positive influence. Because, as the authors of this book persuasively argue, libraries are uniquely positioned to lead AI’s ethical and human-centered integration within communities. Blending theory and concepts with an unswervingly pragmatic approach, from this book readers will

As this book demonstrates, by embracing their unique position as ethical stewards and trusted guides, libraries have an unprecedented opportunity to shape how AI transforms society—not from the margins, but from the center of a shared future.

Michael Hanegan is the founder and chief research officer of the Center for the Future of Learning and Work. He is an adjunct professor at Rose State College and the University of Central Oklahoma. His research and practice spans K–12 schools, higher education, the library ecosystem, and industry to cultivate and sustain human-centered approaches to the future of learning and work. He lives in Edmond, Oklahoma.

Chris Rosser is First Year and Transfer Experience Librarian at Oklahoma State University. From 2009 to 2024, Chris served as an instructional and Theological Librarian at Oklahoma Christian University. His expertise centers around pedagogy, instructional design, and innovative approaches to learning, including gamification, and AI-empowered learning. His work has been featured at the American Library Association annual conference, American Theological Librarian Association, Oklahoma Association of College and Research Libraries, Transformative Learning Conference, and Christian Scholar’s Conference. He lives in Edmond, Oklahoma.  

SHOW NOTES:

Generative AI and Libraries: Claiming Our Place in the Center of a Shared Future

Continuing the 2025 Summer Reading Spectacular, Steve chats with Rachel Louise Driscoll, author of The House of Two Sisters, about her background as a librarian, the blending of Victorian Gothic and Egyptian mythology in her book, sisterhood (real and mythic!), and why Victorian England was primed for Egyptomania! Following the interview, in The Circ Desk segment, Rebecca from Library Reads and April from NoveList offer reading recommendations related to Rachel’s book!

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A young Victorian Egyptologist traverses the Nile River on a mission to undo a curse that may have befallen her family in this spellbinding novel.

Essex, 1887. Clementine’s ability to read hieroglyphs makes her invaluable at her father’s Egyptian relic parties, which have become the talk of the town. But at one such party, the words she interprets from an unusual amulet strike fear into her heart. As her childhood games about Isis and Nephthys—sister goddesses who protect the dead—take on a devastating resonance in her life, and tragedy slowly consumes her loved ones, she wonders what she and her father may have unleashed.

Five years later, Clemmie arrives in Cairo desperate to save what remains of her family back home. There, she meets a motley crew of unwitting English travelers about to set sail down the Nile—including an adventurer with secrets of his own—and joins them on a mission to reach Denderah, a revered religious site, where she hopes to return the amulet and atone for her sins.

With each passing day, she is further engulfed in a life she’s yearned for all along. But as long-buried secrets and betrayals rise to the surface, Clemmie must reconcile the impossibility of living in the light while her past keeps her anchored to the darkness.

SHOW NOTES:
The House of Two Sisters

Find out if your library has NoveList! 
Learn more about Learn with NoveList Plus and get a free infographic!
Library Reads

The Circ Desk recommends:
 London Seance Society by Sarah Penner
 Veronica Speedwell series by Deanna Raybourn
 A Master of Djinn by P. Djèlí Clark
 Shelf Life: Chronicles of a Cairo Bookseller by Nadia Wassef

Continuing the 2025 Summer Reading Spectacular, Steve chats with James Yang, author and illustrator of The Universe, Big and Small: A Story About Carl Sagan, about his creative process, the influence of libraries and picture books on his career, working with creative people in his family and later at his publisher, and the picture book illustrators who inspired him. And in The Circ Desk segment, April Mazza and Zach Woods from NoveList offer reading recommendations related to James’s book.

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Geisel Award–winning creator James Yang explores the mysteries of the universe, inspired by the work of lauded astronomer Carl Sagan.

When Carl stared out the window, he had many questions.

Astronomer and scientist Carl Sagan loved asking questions—he wanted to learn about everything from the smallest atoms to the vastness of the galaxy. And by using his imagination and allowing himself to dream up questions big and small, he inspired others to keep exploring the mysteries of the universe and our place in it.

Geisel Award-winning author and illustrator James Yang invites readers on a fantastic journey through the cosmos, inspired by the life and work of Carl Sagan.

SHOW NOTES:
A Universe Big & Small: a Story about Carl Sagan

Find out if your library has NoveList! 
Learn more about Learn with NoveList Plus and get a free infographic!
Library Reads

The Circ Desk recommends:
Your Place In The Universe by Jason Chin
Another by Christian Robinson
Mae Among the Stars written by Roda Ahmed, illustrated by Stasia Burrington
What Miss Mitchell Saw written by Hayley Barrett, illustrated by Diana Sudyka

Continuing the 2025 Summer Reading Spectacular, Steve chats with Sherry Thomas, author of The Librarians, about her love for libraries, learning English from reading books, her Lady Sherlock series, and her writing process, especially for her first contemporary mystery novel. And in The Circ Desk segment, Rebecca Vnuk from Library Reads and from April Mazza from NoveList offer reading recommendations related to Sherry’s book.

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Murder disrupts the routine for four quirky librarians who hide among books to keep their secrets in this mystery from USA Today bestselling author Sherry Thomas.

Sometimes a workplace isn’t just a workplace but a place of safety, understanding, and acceptance. And sometimes murder threatens the sanctity of that beloved refuge….

In the leafy suburbs of Austin, Texas, a small branch library welcomes the public every day of the week. But the patrons who love the helpful, unobtrusive staff and leave rave reviews on Yelp don’t always realize that their librarians are human, too.

Hazel flees halfway across the world for what she hopes will be a new beginning. Jonathan, a six-foot-four former college football player, has never fit in anywhere else. Astrid tries to forget her heartbreak by immersing herself in work, but the man who ghosted her six months ago is back, promising trouble. And Sophie, who has the most to lose, maintains a careful and respectful distance from her coworkers, but soon that won’t be enough anymore.

When two patrons turn up dead after the library’s inaugural murder mystery–themed game night, the librarians’ quiet routines come crashing down. Something sinister has stirred, something that threatens every single one of them. And the only way the librarians can save the library—and themselves—is to let go of their secrets, trust one another, and band together….

All in a day’s work.

SHOW NOTES:
The Librarians

Find out if your library has NoveList! 
Learn more about Learn with NoveList Plus and get a free infographic!
Library Reads

The Circ Desk recommends:
Village Library Demon Hunting Society by C.M. Waggoner
How Can I Help You? by Laura Sims
The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentil
The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris