Terri Daly is a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mom, and a librarian. She's also a reader, a planner, a traveler, and my delightful guest for Episode No. 230.
You can find Terri on TikTok and Instagram at @librarianonvacation, and while you're at the latter, please give @heartlandbookfest a look and a follow as well.
Terri and I came together for this conversation via the oddest of circumstances in that one of her TikTok videos landed on my FYP, and I reached out to her about a chat. A little way through that process we discovered that -- not only do a few of our kids go to the same school -- we've actually met in real life!
In chatting with Terri I learned so much about the world of modern school libraries and how tech-y some of them have become. Beyond the reality of some libraries no longer being a quiet, shush-able place were terms like "makerspace," concepts like 3D printing, plus the notion of digital books and their waitlists. While fascinated, I was equally pleased to hear that there are still books full of shelves and the Dewey Decimal System as their organizer.
Terri shared a bunch of really cool family (both origin and current) stories with me and it was really cool to learn how she so came to love travel and reading. We talked a great deal about the device struggle some of us parents have when it comes to screen time for our kids and their developing minds. And we talked about the wonky, intimidating road to launching a social-media platform.
We also had a look at a few of her favorite albums, which were these:
U2's The Joshua Tree (1987)
Jagged Little Pill (1995), Alanis Morissette
KT Tunstall's Eye to the Telescope (2004)
The Life of a Showgirl (2025), Taylor Swift
Perhaps of greatest importance was Terri's passion and support of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, which you can visit and support here. For the unfamiliar (as I was), "Moms Demand Action is a grassroots movement of Americans fighting for public safety measures that can protect people from gun violence." Please consider visiting their site and supporting them if you're able.
Many thanks to Terri for both the time and the conversation (as well as patience during a technical difficulty), and thank you to all that support the show.
copyright disclaimer: I do not own the rights to the audio samples contained within this episode. They are snippets from a Widespread Panic tune called "Aunt Avis," which can be found on their 1997 release, Bombs and Butterflies, c/o Volcano Entertainment III.