Have you heard of Lilian Redstone? She was one of the first women to make history her profession and helped establish the first county record offices in Suffolk, shaping how the county's history is kept and shared today. We're honouring her life and work with a range of events https://orlo.uk/1LVxg

#RBSCG26 Registrations are OPEN! This year's conference, on the theme 'A Sense of Place: Collections and Communities in Context', will take place at St John's College, Cambridge, 9th-11th September 2026. View the programme and book a place via our website: www.cilip.org.uk/members/grou...

We are delighted that Karen Attar's conference paper from our 2024 conference has now been published in extended form in the Art Libraries Journal, 50(4), Oct. 2025: doi.org/10.1017/alj..... We're sure that #RBSCG26 papers will be of just such high calibre, so don't snooze on booking your place!

#RBSCG26 Registrations are OPEN! This year's conference, on the theme 'A Sense of Place: Collections and Communities in Context', will take place at St John's College, Cambridge, 9th-11th September 2026. View the programme and book a place via our website: www.cilip.org.uk/members/grou...

Green's Books at @worcestercathedral.bsky.social library: 📚 Understanding Bookbindings Course 🗓️ Mon 22 & Tues 23 June 2026 | 10am-4pm 📝 Focus: the structural features of bookbindings, their development over time, and the reasons they degrade. 💰 £360 www.worcestercathedral.org.uk/whats-on/und...

THIS is your sign to come and do #bookhistory research in Antwerp in the outstanding collections of Museum Plantin-Moretus and the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library. Apply here for the Nottebohm Fellowship by Oct 1: sl1nk.com/i61nfmk 💙📚 📜 Come and join us... It’s pretty great here! 😉

Today we're looking at this 18th-century copy of a technical treatise on the painting of miniatures, in print from 1673. Includes information on the reduction of images and mixes of pigments for landscapes, flowers, faces, drapery, and jewels. (UPenn Ms. Codex 1645) 🔗: https://bit.ly/4tMVt57

New blog alert! 📣 'Thomas de la Warre’s Trans-Atlantic Manuscript.' This remarkable story traces one of medieval Manchester’s earliest books from its origins with Thomas de la Warre to its home today at the The Huntington Library. 🔗Read more on our blog: library.chethams.com/blog/thomas-...

Good morning to everyone, but especially to all the bees, for today is their special day! 🐝 This engraved frontispiece by Thomas Loveday is from ‘Melisselogia: Or, the Female Monarchy…’, a book about bees by John Thorley, published in 1744. 📷 Reserve 595.799 THO #WorldBeeDay #BeeDay #RareBooks

My latest books cartoon for @theguardian.com

Correction: This is our Spring Newsletter, not our Summer issue! London's beautiful weather this week got me a bit ahead of myself☀️Don't worry - you lucky people have another whole issue to look forward to in Summer proper!

Our Summer #Newsletter is live and packed full of goodies! Talk of AI & Libraries is not slowing down, so we've made it the focus for this issue, including a project to develop an ethics-based approach to using AI for metadata generation. Read the full issue here: cdn.ymaws.com/www.cilip.or...

Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit!🇮🇪 According tradition, St Patrick used the shamrock to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity. The symbol became linked with his teaching and remains central to modern celebrations. ☘️ Shelfmarks: MS. Tanner 17, fol. 031r MS. Douce 80, fol. 196r MS. Douce 256, fol. 013r

We have two lonely titles, desperately waiting to find the one who will sweep them off their feet, take them home and lovingly craft a review for the RBSCG Newsletter. Could it be you they're looking for? Let us play matchmaker; get in touch with Jane & Katherine (details below) today 💞

Just a few days left (until Friday!) to tell us about AI usage in your #heritagesector organisation! Contact Katherine & Jane (email addresses below) to express interest in writing for our Newsletter.

The next @ies-sas.bsky.social #HistoryofLibraries seminar is tomorrow, Tuesday 3rd March: The National Lending Library for Science and Technology and its collection of Russian scientific literature in Cold War Britain Free to attend; book now at sas.sym-online.com/registration...

One for the National Year of Reading: here’s Chaucer selling books for W. H. Smith in 1923. #BookHistory

Want to boost your #CPD for the year? Why not review a book for our #Newsletter? Currently awaiting reviews are: - Library Catalogues as Data: Research, Practice and Usage - The Routledge Companion to Libraries, Archives, and the Digital Humanities Get in touch (details below) if interested!

Get in touch to tell us how your heritage sector organisation is already using, or would like to use, AI. We’re seeking contributions of 300-500 words. Express interest to our Newsletter Editors, Katherine ([email protected]) and Jane ([email protected]) by 6th March.

Get in touch to tell us how your heritage sector organisation is already using, or would like to use, AI. We’re seeking contributions of 300-500 words. Express interest to our Newsletter Editors, Katherine ([email protected]) and Jane ([email protected]) by 6th March.

Seeking contributions for our next #Newsletter on: 💻 AI in the Heritage Sector 🏛️ Already using AI in your organisation, or wanting to start? Tell us about it in 300-500 words! Submit your contributions to Katherine and Jane ([email protected] & [email protected]) by Friday 6th March.

Thinking to yourself 'Valentine's has passed and I've missed my chance to propose'? THINK AGAIN! Get down on one knee (at your computer), write a speech (400 words) and tell us you love a sense of place in libraries and spec coll. We can't guarantee a yes, but doesn't that make it more exciting?

For #CoffeeWithACodex on February 26, curator @leoba.bsky.social#CoffeeWithACodexwill bring out a selection of manuscripts from Ethiopia, including a prayer book, an illustrated protective roll, and a liturgical book. (The mss are 19th c but still #medievalsky) Register here: https://bit.ly/3MAE2oE

Thinking to yourself 'Valentine's has passed and I've missed my chance to propose'? THINK AGAIN! Get down on one knee (at your computer), write a speech (400 words) and tell us you love a sense of place in libraries and spec coll. We can't guarantee a yes, but doesn't that make it more exciting?

OBS / Lincoln College research associate position! We invite early career / grad scholars to apply to our new 2-week research associate position @lincoln.ox.ac.uk. Any interesting projects that will benefit from 2 weeks at Lincoln -- £500, accommodation and meals. Deadline 27th March

We are VERY excited to open the 📮call for papers📮 for #RBSCG26, which takes as its theme: ✨A Sense of Place: Collections and communities in context✨ and will explore the influence of place on collections and collections on places.

On Friday 13 March, an in-person training day in digital methods for bibliographical study has been arranged by the Institute of English Studies and the Bibliographical Society, in association with the John Rylands Research Institute at the University of Manchester who will host the event.

What an absolute treasure the @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social special collections are! One email to @andreahart.bsky.social and I can look at not one, but TWO copies of Des Murs' "Iconographie d'oiseaux" to see variations in hand coloured lithographs 🥰 So important for collections based research!

My book history course is largely taught using this amazing archive of lectures. Just taught @illdottore.bsky.social on Roman writing tools last week, Margaret Bruchac on wampum belts today. So much better than texts with few/no images, and you get to see amazing scholars work through their method.

For #CoffeeWithACodex on February 19, curator Dot Porter will bring out Ms. Codex 201, a copy of the New Testament translated into Middle English by John Wycliffe. It was made in England in the late 14th or early 15th century. #medievalsky Register here: https://bit.ly/4rLzF9n

Starting on Wednesday at 8pm on Channel 5, watch Our Hospital Through Time. Tune in to see us showing @profaliceroberts.bsky.social our collection items and discussing the history of St Bartholomew's Hospital #History #Archives #HistMed #HistNursing

🗓️ Tuesday 17th March, 2026 1:30-3.30pm 📍 Brotherton Library, University of Leeds 🎟️ Tickets: £45 www.eventbrite.com/e/introducti...

Imagine your documents were marked up for editing with this guy. Terrifying! MS.B.2.25 mss-cat.trin.cam.ac.uk/Manuscript/B... #marginaliamonday #medievalsky

📚 Historical Bibliography, 17th March, Leeds We'll cover all aspects of the mechanics of hand-press printing and assume no prior knowledge. Focusing on the early press, session one covers type, paper, composition, imposition, press work, decoration and illustration, bookbinding and bookselling.

Introducing the UCL Global Centre for Democratic Constitutionalism's (@gcdc-ucl.bsky.social) event: 🔴The State of the United States: Safeguarding Knowledge: When Memory Becomes Political 🗓️ 12th March, 18:30 📍St Pancras Church (Euston Road)

Today marks international day of women and girls in science. Louyse Bourgeois (1563-1636) was midwife to the French royal family & the first woman to publish on obstetrics. #WomenInScience

From rare book (physical) to 3D scan (digital) to cleaned-up 3D model (digital) to 3D printed object (physical). This was a really fun process to think through texture and materiality of a tactile book object. This was a test, and I learned a lot from the process. More to come later this year!

Our upcoming event on ✨Historical Bibliography✨ is live! 🗓️ Tuesday, March 17, 1:30 pm to 3:30 pm 📍 Brotherton Library, @universityofleeds.bsky.social 🧑‍🏫 Ed Potten This introduction to historical bibliography covers all aspects of the mechanics of hand-press printing (no prior knowledge assumed).

Our friends at @cilip.bsky.social Library & Information History Group (LIHG) are in search of a new Chair! LIHG is devoted to the history of libraries and librarianship; they promote the history of libraries and information and organise visits, talks and events for a wide and diverse audience.

Don't miss your chance to apply for a grant from @bibsoc.bsky.social! 🕛 Deadline: 16 January 2026, 11.59 pm (GMT) 📝 Requirements: Complete application and two letters of reference ✉️ Submit to: [email protected] More information on the Society's website: bibsoc.org.uk/fellowships/...

For the first time ever, @ransomcenter.bsky.social host @rarebookschool.bsky.social courses this summer, June 7–12: L-165: Literary Manuscripts w/ Stephen Enniss & Megan Barnard (this will be excellent) G-60: Evidence in Handpress-Era Books, 1450–1830 w/ yours truly rarebookschool.org/schedule/

Huguenot Correspondence Networks in France 1660-85. A talk by Dr Janée Allsman about her project on our 1st Keeper, Élie Bouhéreau of La Rochelle. Organised by The Huguenot Society in London. Via Zoom 8pm GMT Wed 14 Jan. To sign up, please email [email protected] before 10 Jan 2026.

Excited to share our event for this year's CILIP Members' Fest: 📚 Using Special Collections in Teaching 🧑‍🏫 🗓️ 4th March 2026 🕧 12.30pm - 1.30pm 🌐 Online webinar Register today to secure your spot: www.cilip.org.uk/event/member...

🎉Happy New Year from the Rare Books and Special Collections Group!🪩 If you're struggling to get back to concentrating on work this morning, why not ease yourself back in with a hot beverage and our Autumn Newsletter? cdn.ymaws.com/www.cilip.or...

Climate Change, Sustainability and Special Collections. Friday 28th November at National Library of Ireland. Further details and booking on Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/climate-change-sustainability-and-special-collections-tickets-1589550039959

Don't miss this fascinating event @wienerlibrary.bsky.social tomorrow evening!

#EventNews: The Cranston Lecture 2025 📍St Mary's Church, Reigate 🗓️ Tuesday 21st October, 7.00pm 📚 Bountiful Benevolence: Recent Acquisitions By The Cranston Library by Andrea Thomas 📚 In All 113 Volumes Great & Small - John Seyliard And His Gift To Reigate Publick Library by Hilary Ely

This year's #PanizziLectures @britishlibrary.bsky.social are fast approaching! This year's theme is Books in their Element: Print Culture in the Age of Climate Change, and the lectures will be delivered by Isabel Hofmeyr, Professor Emeritus at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Ever wondered what stories lie behind Kew’s collections? 🌍 Today’s the day to find out – it’s #AskAnArchivist Day! Our archivists are here to answer your questions about rare books, explorers’ journals and the care of centuries-old plant records. Ask below 👇 #AskAnArchivist #KewArchives

Rare book vault flood. *a true story