Book Board Chat

An Interview with Sarah Hinman Ryan

Sarah Hinman Ryan is a research director at the Albany Times Union. She is a blogger. bringing sleuthing skills and a knowledge of databases to news stories every day. She approaches an investigative story like a bloodhound on a trail.

What’s your work?
I’m a journalist who specializes in using public-records and data-based reporting to look for patterns and connect the dots. I have a knack for what I like to call “forensic interviewing” using electronic sources like court documents, property records and financial records to build a database that lets me figure how and who got the money and how they spent it.

The word ‘librarian’ seems to have fallen out of favor?
Unfortunately, people just can’t let go of the silly, so-yesterday stereotype of a mean lady with spectacles who wields a wicked “shhhh.” “With so much of the job involving technology and with a focus now on finding and sharing information beyond just what is available in books, a new type of librarian is emerging.”

What do you do when you’re not working?
I do some volunteer work with animals and I recently became a card-carrying member of the Mohawk Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. (I am passionate about history and genealogy and this is a great combination of both.)

You recently posted a blog about Petey, a pit-bull-mix puppy that was abandoned and later found. How is he doing?
Petey has won the puppy lottery, thanks to the several dog lovers and local pit-bull rescue Out of the Pits, from which I adopted my dogs. He is in a foster home with another foster puppy, two grown dogs and a little boy, who dotes on them all. The veterinary surgeon who examined him believes that his deformed paw may have been the result of an injury rather than a birth defect.

Speaking of animal protection, what are the big issues and what are the remedies?
Three issues jump out: animal overpopulation, irresponsible owners and an under funded system that struggles to catch animal abusers and prevent them from offending again. My own analysis of data related to animal abuse, “dangerous dogs” and dog bites is getting people to spay/neuter their animals, which could be helped along by increasing license fees for un-fixed animals. This would do wonders for public safety as well, as data shows that the majority of dogs bites involve un-neutered male dogs. Another step would be cracking down on bad people who get animals for the wrong reasons and mistreat them.

Last year, Michael Vick said: “I would love to get another dog in the future. I think it would be a big step for me in the rehabilitation process.” Your thoughts?
I would like to believe his statement is more than a public relations ploy, but I find it hard to do so. Last month I interviewed Rebecca Huss, the court-appointed law guardian for the “Vick dogs” while they were being held as evidence. I learned that, in addition to fighting and brutally breeding dogs, Vick personally tortured pit bulls to death by hanging, beating and drowning them.

What advice would you give to other bloggers?
Relax and have fun. Don’t worry too much about crafting the perfect post.

What books are you reading?
I love historical fiction and crime novels. Recent books in my stack are “The Physick Book of Deliverance Dane” by Katherine Howe and “Lethal Legacy,” a fantastic – and library related – police procedural by Linda Fairstein.

Are you ready to give up ink-on-paper books for an eBook?
No, I think I’ll always enjoy a mixture of print and digital media. I guess I’m an info-omnivore. If I’m sitting on the couch on a Sunday morning, I want the print newspaper. If I’m flying on a plane or sitting in a coffee shop, I want my laptop.

Favorite quote?
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” Emerson

Blogger of the week: Sarah Hinman Ryan