Writing a personal remembrance of Randy Riley is something I’d never expected I would do during my career. It’s difficult because his passing was sudden and is so much to process as someone who knew and worked closely with him. It’s also not difficult because of how grateful I am for him and everything he gave so many as a leader and colleague, and as a person. Through his work and in life, Randy made a profound, incalculable difference.
As many statements from organizations including the Library of Michigan (LM), Library of Michigan Foundation, Michigan Academic Library Association (MiALA), Michigan Library Association (MLA), and University of Michigan School of Information have noted, Randy was a singular and exemplary professional. Through his decades of devoted service to libraries and citizens throughout Michigan, he supported and led many important initiatives and fostered and promoted excellent access to a wide array of information. Randy’s affinity for genealogy and special collections tracked along with changing technology (e.g., in the form of LM’s support for the DPLA Michigan Service Hub, Michigan Memories, and the Michigan Digital Preservation Network [MDPN]). His strong support for MeL, the Michigan Notable Books program, LM’s grant programs, library staff professional development, and more endeared him to hundreds of libraries statewide. Randy was known as a relentless advocate who was generous with his time and help for libraries and library staff. He fielded as many questions and inquiries, visited as many libraries, and met with as many groups as he could. During the visits he and I made together, I marveled at his knowledge of what was happening at libraries of all sizes.
Randy also kept the Michigan library community connected to the wider profession through his work with the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA) and as a member of the MCLS Board of Directors. He maintained countless long, positive, productive relationships with deep connections, including with some of us at MCLS, and called on his vast network to help the community through hard times when needed. People knew they had Randy’s support and answered his call in return whenever possible. His steady hand was invaluable through all the federal and state political and budget turmoil of 2025, and he rallied and guided many to engage and speak on behalf of MeL and other critical programs.
Randy was an articulate, incisive, thoughtful, passionate, and supportive constant presence on the MCLS Board for over ten years. As with so many other groups, it was rare that he’d miss a Board meeting. Though he would usually have plenty to say, he’d often let others in a larger group speak before weighing in on an issue. After we’d served on the Board together for a few years, Randy was one of the first people I called to seek advice about whether to apply for the Executive Director position. He urged me to go for it, and doing so changed my life. When I joined MCLS, our relationship evolved. We shifted from being fellow Board members to being the people who had the responsibility of leading the organization that made MeL possible and the organization that supported it. I came to see more facets of the complex person Randy was. I’d known him to be approachable, open, caring, direct, and funny. He also resisted anything he considered “touchy-feely,” and sometimes had an edge. He could be impatient when urgency to make a point got the better of him. I learned quickly that when he’d interrupt me mid-sentence, it was because he had an important point to make or question to ask based on his experience and thoughtful deliberation. He played such an important role that I always listened. When we were together, we would often have intense conversations on topics ranging from libraries to state and federal government to many aspects of life outside of work. He was usually much more concise in writing, often emailing a single sentence or question with the simple signature “r.”
Beyond libraries, we spoke often about our families, activities that included travel (e.g., family visits and his fishing trips), books he recommended, and our shared passion for music from many genres. Knowing Randy was nearing retirement, I asked for updates on his future plans. He’d say that he wanted to continue working while he could still “do cool things.” He wanted to guide newer LM staff including managers Michelle Bradley and David Votta. He also said that he didn’t want to end his career in bad times for libraries. He suggested that there were cycles of support for libraries and that we were either in or approaching a trough period. I appreciated how often he would urge us to stay strong and find ways to climb back up to a peak. As pained as Randy was by those who label librarians as “groomers” and “pedophiles,” he truly believed that libraries could have a bright future if librarians love and engage with people.
Randy used to joke that he had a “life sentence” on the MCLS Board until retirement (as the Indiana and Michigan state librarians each have a permanent Board seat). I knew the day would come when Randy would leave our Board, and I had not yet prepared fully for what it would mean to lose his voice, his experience, and his belief and faith in our organization through its successes, challenges, and potential. He told me during the November 2025 MCLS Board retreat that it would be his last, and I took that to mean that he was planning to retire in 2026 though he hadn’t announced anything official. I looked forward to wishing Randy the long, happy, and healthy retirement he so richly deserved.
On January 4, I learned Randy had passed the previous night. I was absolutely shocked and heartbroken.
I am heartbroken.
I am heartbroken for Randy, his wife Lori and their family and friends that he didn’t get to enjoy retirement with them. I am heartbroken for the LM staff, the Michigan Department of Education (MDE), and the greater library community having lost him so abruptly.
As I started working through an enormous sense of loss, I started writing about the impact Randy had made and my memories of him. The words just flowed. Many of my MCLS colleagues and I were fortunate to join hundreds of others who mourned him at LM on January 9. The memorial was as singular as Randy was. The heartfelt comments from many of Randy’s colleagues, friends, and especially his brother Mark, will remain with all who were there.
Today, I move between gratitude and grief. I’m glad for so very many things, and sad for so many others. I’m glad Randy was able to provide such stable leadership at LM and for the many boards and working groups on which he served. I’m glad he was able to celebrate MeLCat’s 20th anniversary last year. I’m especially glad that Randy got to enjoy 37 years of marriage to Lori filled with so many rich experiences including all the time spent with their children Sam and Madeline and pets including his beloved dog Louis (pronounced like the French kings). He was clearly so proud and supportive of each member of his family, and I’ll miss hearing him talk about them. I’m glad Randy got to spend so much time traveling to fish, visit family, and see his favorite bands. I’m glad for the times I got to see bands with him, including The Baseball Project at Bell’s Back Room in Kalamazoo and The Hold Steady at Brooklyn Bowl Philadelphia. I’m sorry I never got to play him the bass solo he’d needled me about for years, at a Lighting Matches show. I’m grateful for the time he gave me for our monthly breakfast meetings and so many other conversations. I’ll miss wondering what discussion topics were on his list and whether I was as ready as he was to dig deeply into them that day, which eyeglasses he’d be wearing, whether or not he’d have a beard, what book and music recommendations he’d offer, and looking for his truck in the parking lot to remind me how late I was for our meeting (he was remarkably patient about that). I’ll miss his simple parting words: “Talk to you.”
Randy Riley was one of the kindest, most generous and supportive colleagues I’ve ever had. Whether he’d say so or not, he truly cared deeply about many, many people in his life. It was just obvious. While he spoke so many meaningful words so easily at library events across the state and in meetings around the country, his actions spoke much louder.
I am one of the innumerable people for whom Randy made an immense positive difference. I am thankful for his work, contributions, vision, insight, experience, humor, and everything else he shared with us. I will honor his memory by striving to be the forthright and decisive leader he pushed me to be. I’ll do what I can to help the library community stay strong, pull together, and collaborate, as he urged. I’ll read more, including the Michigan authors he championed. I’ll seek out and stay open to new music and invite others to join me to see bands more frequently.
I’m glad Randy Riley was my colleague. Working with him made my professional life richer.
I’m glad Randy Riley was my friend. Knowing him made my personal life richer.
I’m taking peace and comfort from years of great memories of Randy. If you knew him, I hope you are also.
If there is anything I can do for you, please let me know at garrisons@mcls.org.
Libraries are built from stories, and they embody the power of stories. Stories are at the heart of the relationships libraries and everyone they serve need to succeed. At the MCLS annual member event on October 9, approximately 70 total attendees focused on how libraries can tell stories effectively from the perspectives of data storytelling and crisis communication.
The path to MCLS’s first in-person event in ten years is made up of many stories from the astonishing number of changes and challenges libraries have seen since 2016. We at MCLS have collected a lot of data in the last few years that are helping us tell new stories, from our strategic plan development and implementation through recent surveys and other work our Board and staff have done.
Following some stories from MCLS Board members Mike Hawthorne and Josh Petrusa that set context for our event, Professor Kate McDowell from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s School of Information Sciences delivered an inspiring keynote based on her ten years of work on data storytelling including the Data Storytelling Toolkit for Libraries (DSTL) and her 2025 book Critical Data Storytelling for Libraries: Crafting Ethical Narratives for Advocacy and Impact. Kate’s book weaves together many helpful strands that can help us build a positive future, and I recommend it very highly to anyone seeking to improve how they combine data with narrative to tell their library’s stories.
In her keynote, Kate highlighted the Storytelling Triangle between a story, its teller, and its audience, noting that we should be mindful whose role it is to tell a particular story. Each relationship in the Triangle is a dynamic one that can be influenced by whether a story is new or being repeated by the same or a different teller, and an audience’s attitudes toward the story. Kate established that critical data storytelling “requires understanding power dynamics from a storytelling perspective,” an idea dating back to the late-19th century women who introduced using empirical data in librarianship in a systematic way, and who were not allowed to present at conferences at the time.
Kate pointed out the differences between data, story, and information with the straightforward idea that “data in story context becomes information.” In her keynote (and in much greater detail in the book), she offered thought-provoking ideas about who owns data (and goals for using data) versus stories (and motivations for telling them), with examples relevant to academic and public libraries. Kate laid out the Data Storytelling Life Cycle as a framework to dealing with struggles libraries have had including translating data into stories and capturing those stories for outside audiences.
Data Storytelling Life Cycle (McDowell, 2026; used by permission) [size this image so it’s big enough to read online and scale it correctly]
The Life Cycle captures the ideas that many libraries collect and store data without really engaging and creating meaning, and that we need to make our data our own through all four steps in the cycle.
Kate then offered suggestions for to how to build stories that last and should be retold over time, such as how libraries have ended late fees to promote equitable access. She explained the cycle of story across time, from telling, to listening, to retelling, as well as a story’s chronological structure from an inciting moment though rising action, to a climax or turning point and falling action to a resolution or denouement. She cited the example of a campaign to expand a taxing district for a library whose district was smaller than its counterpart school district. Though the campaign failed, the data the library used to tell their story along the “upward arc” of rising action in their campaign increased awareness that kids outside the taxing district could come to and use the library even without a library card.
Before closing, Kate laid out three Structure Narratives from the DSTL and pointed out where data collection occurs in each:
Next, communication expert Thom Fladung led a workshop titled Putting Crisis Communications In Play, to help libraries be prepared in case of “explosive, unplanned visibility” that can damage our most important asset: our reputation. Thom’s experience as an investigative reporter earlier in his career has positioned him very well in his current role as Vice President and Chief Counselor at Hennes Communications (a division of AKCG Public Relations Counselors).
I hope you find the following summary of what Thom shared on October 9 useful. Rather than summarizing all of the valuable information he offered, please see below for images from a pocket-sized card with tips and more that Thom distributed and very kindly granted us permission to include in this piece.
Thom began with the idea that while communication can be the last thing we think about during a crisis, it can save our reputation as word spreads and the community awaits our response. He emphased how important it is to act promptly and communicate clearly and honestly in a crisis using the rules of the Damage Control Playbook:
Thom shared stories from his journalism experience to illustrate how the media works faster and more iteratively than ever before in the age of social media and search engine optimization. Media often run with what they have even if it does not represent a balanced view of a story.
He then turned to a set of five steps to manage outrage that often occurs in a crisis:
Thom laid out a “3-V framework” for bad news stories: the villain who caused the problem, the victim, and the vindicator who brings it to light for accountability. He also offered detailed strategies and tips for communicating via social media, pointing out the importance of having conduct rules for all communication including social media and how to handle comments effectively. Thom cited Traverse Area District Library’s Social Media Policy as a great example. In a crisis, he recommended putting the truth on the library’s website and making a simple social media post pointing to the website because a library has greater control over its website. To help defuse a social media storm, ask vocal commenters for a conversation away from the platform.
Libraries should ask the following questions when they identify an online reputation threat:
Following tips on determining the influence of a threat and best practices for responding, Thom turned to some media relations guidelines and interview control tools if we find ourselves contacted by the media. He staged some mock media interviews with brave event participants, seeking observations from the larger group.
Thom closed with key principles for developing a crisis communications plan:
As promised, here is the card Thom offered workshop participants:
© Hennes Communications LLC; used by permission
I’ll close here by thanking our annual member event planning committee, the staff and Board members who played a part in making the event happen, our hosts at St. Joe County Public Library, our fine speakers, and all member library staff who attended (especially those who completed our evaluation survey). Holding our first in-person event in many years was a lot of hard work, and truly a labor of love for our members.
If you were with us on October 9, I hope you’ll agree that our event was a great example of how MCLS brings libraries together to engage with valuable strategies and approaches, and of how together, we empower a strong library community. I also hope to see you at our next annual member event on April 30, 2027, back at St. Joe County Public Library in South Bend, IN. Until then, I encourage you to share questions, ideas and thoughts with me at garrisons@mcls.org.
Fall conference and event season is just around the corner, and I encourage you to engage with MCLS staff and Board of Directors members when our paths cross this fall.
In September, we’ll have staff and Board members at the following conference:
Upper Peninsula Region of Library Cooperation Annual Conference (Sept. 21-22)
In October, find us at the following conferences and events:
Association for Library Service to Children National Institute (Oct. 1-3)
MCLS Members Annual Event (Oct. 9 – list below subject to change)
Michigan Museums Association Annual Conference (Oct. 19-21)
MCLS Board of Directors Meeting and Retreat (Oct. 25-27)
Michigan Library Association Annual Conference (Oct. 28-30)
Michigan Association of School Librarians Annual Conference (Oct. 28-30)
In November, we hope to see you at the following conferences and events:
Charleston Conference (Nov. 3-6)
Indiana Library Federation Annual Conference (Nov. 8-10)
Michigan OER Network Conference (Nov. 13)
Finally, please save the date for the MCLS Annual Meeting: Tuesday, Dec. 8 at 10 a.m. Eastern (9 a.m. Central) online via Zoom. Watch your email for registration information, and we’ll look forward to seeing you there.
Our staff work hard representing MCLS at these and other conferences and events. We hope to see you and connect. Until then, contact me anytime at garrisons@mcls.org.
Have a question, idea, or story to share? Let us know!
This month, I’m sharing some data from our first annual member survey conducted this spring with the Indiana University Center for Survey Research (IUCSR). Our goal was simple: find out how well we’re delivering on the four key strategic priorities in our current strategic plan so we can use that feedback to help guide where we put our time and resources. Our key strategic priorities are Engagement and Collaboration, Invest in Innovation, Strengthen and Support, and Awareness and Accountability.
Before I share what we learned, I want to say thank you to everyone who responded to the survey. Whether you answered every question or just left us a comment, your input directly shapes decisions at MCLS. This piece is a high-level look at the results. If you’d like to know more, ask me at garrisons@mcls.org.
Who responded?
Where we’re strong
Some areas for growth
Only 56% agreed they have a greater awareness of the value of library consortia than a year ago (35% were neutral), and among the smaller group of TALK-subscribing libraries who responded (n=23), just 43% currently see TALK as valuable, with many citing limited staff time to promote it to families. Both are clear opportunities for us to keep telling our story and supporting implementation.
What you told us you value
When asked what they value about MCLS, members most often pointed to training and professional development (83 mentions), the purchasing power and discounts that come from being part of a consortium (46), and the MCLS staff themselves (38), followed by networking, MeLCat, and shared/negotiated resources.
Where you told us we can improve
The top themes were: expanding training topics and formats (31 mentions), increasing awareness of everything MCLS offers (24), tailoring outreach for specific library types and locations such as school and small academic libraries (19), improving documentation and communication (17), and bringing back more in-person gatherings (14). A number of members also asked us to push harder on vendor pricing and negotiations, and some also mentioned generative AI.
Stories of impact
75 respondents took the time to share a story about MCLS’s impact. The most common threads were classes and professional development (30 mentions), benefits to patrons and communities (23), expanded access to books and content through MeLCat and RIDES (30 combined), and cost savings passed on to your library.
A note on methodology
IUCSR designed and administered this survey online using Qualtrics from April 14 to May 16, 2026, inviting 1,926 contacts across our member libraries. We received 443 usable responses (23% AAPOR response rate), and the average completion time was about 8 minutes. IUCSR reviewed the data for quality and coded open-ended responses into themes; a second analyst checked that coding for consistency. Because subgroup sample sizes are sometimes small, we see breakdowns by library size, type, and state as exploratory rather than statistically definitive.
Thank you, and let’s keep talking
Thanks again to everyone who responded to our first annual member survey. Your feedback already gives us a clearer picture of where we’re delivering well and where we need to focus. We’ll use these results alongside our strategic plan objectives to guide our work in the year ahead. As you’ll know from other MCLS communication, we already have some things in the works like our fall member annual event that will help us deliver on what you’re asking for.
As always, I’d love to hear from you. If you have ideas for how we can boost our survey response rate next year, or any questions for me as Executive Director, please contact me directly at garrisons@mcls.org or 517-489-4071.
Executive Director’s note: I used Claude Pro to help me analyze data from our 2026 member survey report from IUCSR and draft this month’s newsletter piece. IUCSR deidentified the survey data before sending us their report. Claude Pro does not have access to any survey data for generative AI training purposes. Ask me any questions you may have about this piece at garrisons@mcls.org.
Funding for MeL is provided in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services through the Library of Michigan.
