It's me, if you believe it, I actually wrote the most read article on the Impact Blog last year. It's like the spotify wrapped of academic publishing chat. I feel like Taylor Swift... Alas, there will be much more to say about 'Transformative' Agreements this year as well

⚡We are recruiting🌟 We are looking for a fixed-term Digitisation Officer and a fixed-term Digital Engagement Officer (with possibility to extend) to work in our Special Collections, Heritage and Archives team! Find out more info here 👀👀➡️ tinyurl.com/4epkcfp2

I leave the University of Sheffield 3 weeks today 😢. As such I am clearing out my google docs folders. So please allow this retrospective of the nonsense they have allowed me to get away with over the last ten years #libraries #skybrarians

Uk library peoples! Concerned about inter library loans and copyright in the light of potential journal cancellations? Well m’colleague and all round delightful chap, Andrew Johnson, has written all about it here so hopefully you can stop your panics doi.org/10.1629/uksg...

You're welcome

💥New: How scholarly publishers wield soft power ✍️Eleonora Colangelo #AcademicPublishing #ScholComm #SciComm

📢 Come work with us! The Open Research Manager is a reformulated role in our team - it would suit someone with a strong research support background, but I'm happy to chat to anyone about the role and criteria.

"An unreasonable expectation would be if that librarian felt the need to make sure that that patron, or any patron, never had a negative thing to say about the library. In my experience, it appears that librarians and libraries seem to have high expectations of influence."

I mean, that quote seems to indicate that Clarivate has no agency in the embedding. These tools are being actively added to products by without the option of turning them off. Here's a thought. Maybe get the products right before releasing them like an untested virus into the scholarly environment?

32% of researchers use AI tools to support peer review, yet 57% wouldn’t want AI reviewing their work. This is one of several insights from our latest global survey, explored by Laura Feetham-Walker in her Q&A with Research Professional News, marking #PeerReviewWeek. 🔗 ow.ly/BCbU50WXooV

"Our job is to look at the big picture - across the university, across our consortia, across the publishing landscape—and make decisions based on that specialized knowledge...[stakeholder] input is critical... but that there’s not a straight line from their input to the final outcomes."

More news from outside the the library bubble... Did you know that Dora the Explorer is a significantly more popularly thing to search for than Dora the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment 🤯

New OA Book by Lever Press one of the publishers that @sheffielduni.bsky.social Library supports via its Open Scholarship Fund 🔓📘

While looking for an old @uksg.bsky.social talk, I have stumbled across the other UKSG!! (UK Speedrunning Gathering) where people try and complete computer games quickly. I expect a WWF style lawsuit... (we can't have people playing sonic when they should be learning about OA policy)

"more than 60% of librarians see themselves as key figures in AI guidance at their institution, more than academic staff, more than support staff... and far more than senior leadership" www.helibtech.com/helibtech-vi...

rewriting a journal article and still grumbling on the feedback "the language choices are esoteric" But "esoteric" as a descriptor is an esoteric choice in itself.😡 Reviewer, review thyself

In a new #RLUK blog post, @davidprosser.bsky.social looks at how we can anticipate future challenges for research libraries & how this may shape the development of RLUK’s next strategy.

Many UK universities are likely to walk away from journal access agreements after several publishers put forward “business-as-usual proposals” with “year-on-year price rises” rather than the cheaper deals demanded by national negotiators, a library chief has predicted. @jgro-the.bsky.social reports

It's true there are sustainability problems with S2O, but there is with virtually all academic publishing. Why not strategically invest in a more sustainable alternative - the end game of which might be that the money doesn't come from the library and those budgets shrink accordingly

Is there actually no-one in the UK Library landscape who wants to become Chair of the CILIP LGBTQ+ Network, or are we just not getting the message out. I can't continue - way to much going on, but without a chair, the network folds... If you've been mulling it over, now is the time to get in touch!

Since search is dead, how soon do you think Google Scholar is headed for the Google Graveyard? I'm betting it's soon, and academia is NOT prepared

Out now! We've published Issue 07 of @proghist.bsky.social's Bulletin // Boletín // Bulletin // Boletim. We highlight the French team's call for reviewers, thank a long-term member, and invite you to our first webinar on reuse of PH lessons under CC-BY. Read it here! tinyurl.com/bulletin-iss...

With today's sad news about PubPub, is it time to roll out the much-overused infrastructure image? A reminder that funders, agencies, ministries, and institutions continue to fund outputs and new projects that sit precariously atop software, projects, and community initiatives that go un(der)funded.

I think this is a positive move. KU has been very effective at getting things OA but its governance has always been a stumbling block for us at Sheffield

New Release by Lever Press. One of the publishers supported by @sheffielduni.bsky.social Library Open Scholarship Fund

Come and join our team as Production Manager at @uolpress.bsky.social! 📚 The role would particularly suit someone with production experience in academic publishing, interested in #OpenAccess books and the #humanities. More info on the job and how to apply below ⬇️ Please share!

Great reflection on the importance of libraries to society, now more than ever, from University Librarian at Maynooth University @cathalmccauley.bsky.social

Back on the picket line with Library colleagues and @sheffielducu.bsky.social It's nice to wear shorts and all but It's a testament to how consistently mismanaged this place is that we've had to do this during blizzards and heatwaves

Tomorrow our members are taking strike action to say no to job cuts! 💪 Join our picket lines from 8:30am, as well as various teach outs from 10am, and a Demo on the SU Concourse from Midday. 📣

🧵 My views after #UKSG2025, regurgitated from linkedin. Themes of lack of money, wider turmoil, malevolent tech but with opportunities everywhere to do things differently now

Can you play "Everday AI writes the book" by Elvis Costello & The Attractions #researchintegrity #uksg2025

The sea... vast, unfathomable, treacherous. Just like academic publishing #amirite? * Made it to Brighton before sunset for #uksg2025 tomorrow (*follow me for more pithy metaphors throughout the conference - maybe)

"Principal funders are the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI)... and another donor that wishes to remain anonymous" 🤔 In bid to expand, bioRxiv and medRxiv preprint servers move to newly formed nonprofit | Science | AAAS www.science.org/content/arti...

...Vibe...

Tension between recurring-revenue and perpetual ownership, but also the desire to reduce transactional cost (which is an expense for libraries too, but a key to giving our users the freedom they want)... if everyone would just choose from one platform it would be a massive efficiency but they don't

Alexei Sayle: “Austerity was the idea that the world financial crisis was caused by having too many libraries open in Wolverhampton”

Only a few days remaining to apply for this brilliant opportunity with @uksg.bsky.social

Librarian criminalization bills are growing in numbers across the US, but they're not new. Get to know what they are, how they began, what they mean, and what states are proposing them in 2025. That, plus this week's book censorship news: bookriot.com/librarian-cr...

Just got around to reading this... it's great 👏👏👏 "libraries need to act as a community... [and] commit to prioritizing investment in the kinds of publishers & initiatives that we want to see continue and flourish."

*This* is how you dress for the touchline. Segundo Castillo of Barcelona de Guayaquil in Ecuador. Pep could never

The (lack of) PR of the Clarivate decision is a fascinating case study. They either didn't consider its effect on their relationship with libraries, or assessed that their strength on the systems side would mean they could ride out the disgruntlement, but trust is a hard thing to get back

🧪 PubMed’s brief outage sent researchers into panic, underscoring global reliance on the free biomedical database. While restored, the incident raises concerns about access, resilience, and the need for backups. 🩺💻

Off to do my annual guest spot for Sheffield I-School. "Practicalities of #Library Content Suppy" 2 weeks ago I was struggling for a good case study. So for that, and that alone, I thank Clarivate

I get it, you're not allowed to say that it's cheese

Hugely impressed by how quickly and coherently Kevin O'Donovan (via @lseimpactblog.bsky.social) and @siobhanh.bsky.social (via @uksg.bsky.social ) have put together their analysis of the Clarivate debacle. I'm still at the walking round the woods chuntering stage of idea formation

💥New: As Proquest exits the print book market, will we see a new era of big deals for ebooks? 🧑‍💻Kevin O'Donovan (@lselibrary.bsky.social) #AcademicSky #ScholComm #Libraries

See also: Q3-2024 Earnings call: seekingalpha.com/article/4733... With the following (thanks to @thomaspadilla.bsky.social for pointing this out yesterday, leading me to find out the other call would be taking place today!)

"Hello, Milkman" "Yes, I'd like to buy a bottle of milk" "I'm afraid I'm not interested in selling milk anymore" "Some cream then." "No individual items, but I can offer you an AI enhanced dairy selection plan" "How much will that cost" "I'll tell you at my webinar" "Is it a bazillion pounds?"

uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/uks-rel... They're not exactly 'on the run' but interesting that AI products for legal and health are much more important to them than academic publishing (RELX is the Elsevier/Lexis parent company)