At the #TallShips event in #Aberdeen, where the weather could be better but we are all making the best of it, especially the seagulls.

Despite the rhetoric of the right, the allowance provided to people seeking asylum is miniscule. It is not enough for most to survive on. If this government wants to stop unscrupulous employers, they need to provide asylum seekers with the right to work. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Reform UK councillor’s boast about removing ‘trans-ideological’ books from children’s library sections falls flat (they were never there) | The Guardian share.google/ZQVeLnLWpdw2...

Last week @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social hosted @scurlscottish.bsky.social #SCURL2025 in @aberdeenunilib.bsky.social - I've never seen a happier group of conference delegates!

Great to see @cilipscotland.bsky.social and others fighting for the rights of Glasgow's children and young people

If our audience looked past the slides and out of the window, they would be able to see the University’s Cruickshank Botanic Garden just across the main road. There must be some library/garden plant humanities project funding potential here 🤔 #SCURL2025

I was hugely impressed by what GCU are doing and need to do a field trip. They’ve actually doing what I’ve only been aspiring to. #SCURL2025

I was thrilled to announce this today, at the @scurlscottish.bsky.social annual meeting, here @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social www.abdn.ac.uk/news/24473?d...

Thread. 👏

Thanks @louiscoiffait-gunn.bsky.social @cilip.bsky.social for a shout out for @aberdeenunilib.bsky.social partnership with Aberdeen City to host a public library in our library building. That’s a good plug for my panel talk later! #cilips25

Heading to Dundee to join a panel with @scurlscottish.bsky.social colleagues at #cilips25. I never tire of the view along the Scottish east coast, though many folk clearly aren’t ready for Monday morning and are napping with their window blinds down. @cilipscotland.bsky.social @cilip.bsky.social

Anyone sane urges Labour to root out Blue Labour to get back to being decent and intelligent.

The view from @aberdeenunilib.bsky.social this afternoon during a short shower. At least one of the ends appeared to be on campus. Goodness knows we could do with a pot of gold just now.

2024/25 SCOTTISH CUP WINNERS 🏆

tired: people AI-generating rando images of themselves as anime WIRED: AI’s energy use already represents as much as 20 percent of global data-center power demand, new analysis has found

A snakebite and black toast to the @aberdeenunilib.bsky.social Open Research team for finding an open access publishing angle to World Goth Day 🦇 Kudos!

I am in sunny Stirling for this event tomorrow, where I shall be ranting about the state of academic publishing to geoscientists. I notice there are two #sages2025 hashtag events on Bluesky, and am guessing that this isn’t the one that’s discussing colorectal emergencies 🤔

"Reading #ethnographies is a very important part of learning about #anthropology ... but there’s very uneven access to those books." Find out why @robotforaday.bsky.social chose to publish his book #OpenAccess and remove barriers to teaching and learning in this new blog post: 👉 bit.ly/3ZlKK52

It’s been six years now, and I’m still enjoying the novelty of working so close to the beach!

We're pleased to announce the release of the latest issue of the Journal of Scottish Thought, available #OpenAccess at jst.aberdeenunipress.org/issue/37/info/ This issue focuses on the Scottish Presbyterian minister and thinker, and American Founding Father, John Witherspoon

Good piece from @richove.bsky.social on the threat of the US govt to libraries, archives and thus knowledge on.ft.com/3FbaZ7h

Librarian of Congress fired by Trump by email. I had the pleasure of meeting Carla Hayden in 2017 and hugely admire her commitment to access and opportunity for all. The antithesis of the present administration. www.heinrich.senate.gov/newsroom/pre...

This is a good response to recent criticism. PCE is doing the right thing. Now we need to focus on doing it right. That’s what the pilot process now underway is all about.

OUT NOW! Digital editing and publishing in the twenty-first century, edited by @jamesosullivan.bsky.social et al. is now published #OpenAccess 20 chapters reflecting on the current state and future of the scholarly edition 📖 Read and download free: doi.org/10.62637/sup... #DigitalHumanities

amazing turnout in aberdeen today to say transphobia is NOT welcome in our city and jk rowling and her fascist mates do not speak for scotland. this is what solidarity looks like 🏳️‍⚧️✊

Change of scenery and sector for me today, as I get trained in how to be a scottishlibraries.org public library peer assessor, here at the AK Bell Library in Perth.

Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions - rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking steps to make sure students can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope others follow suit.

Librarians in UK increasingly asked to remove books, as influence of US pressure groups spreads

I see Tesco is using apostrophes to reinforce its status as a serious grocer.

Ha - very good!

Go Francesca! @aberdeenunilib.bsky.social is lucky to have you - just one example of some terrific work. #UKSG2025

Great to see our fledgling open press represented at #UKSG2025 And more generally, good to see a fairly active UKSG conference hashtag on Bluesky. I no longer have anything to do with X, so don’t have a sense of how it compares.

The sky is gorgeously blue in Aberdeen this morning, though I’ll just have to imagine the warm temperatures being forecast elsewhere. Felt almost autumnal first thing.

On a recent trip to Europe, I was repeatedly asked the same question, “what can we do?” My answer: don't look away davidlankes.org/dont-look-aw...

You want to undermine public trust in science and scientific institutions? Do *precisely* what The @royalsociety.org have done…

Scottish voters split over free tuition as university financial crisis deepens report @severincarrell.bsky.social @richada.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/education/20...

It’s day three of #RLUK25. Anticipating our levels of fatigue at this point, these were on offer at the break to keep us all focused.

Looking good #RLUK25!

Reflecting on how the #RLUK25 conference venue is the giraffe taller cousin of the @aberdeenunilib.bsky.social zebra-like Sir Duncan Rice Library (and how both Aberdeen and Liverpool have an endlessly sunny climate…)

Good to hear a question about the environmental impact of AI. There are a lot of references online to a ChatGPT query generating over 20 times as much CO2 as a Google query (I can't find a credible source for that though - maybe AI could help...) #RLUK25

This doodle from St Andrews attracted some knowing laughter from an audience very familiar with well-meaning donors. Fascinating to hear experiments with AI to assess donations, with mixed success. #RLUK25

Fascinating presentation and discussion on AI led by @ciarantalbot.bsky.social at #RLUK25 On the issue of a westernised and white research corpus, I don't think ensuring researchers are aware of it is enough. It feels like LLMs will drag the world in a direction that we badly need to steer away from

Ah, that old 'we must have print books on shelves for serendipity' chestnut. #RLUK25

Really good presentation just now at #RLUK25 on 'responsible stewardship' from Joe Marshall from @natlibscot.bsky.social A tongue in cheek comment at the start to this being a rebrand to get away from the dullness of the title 'collection mgt policy', but clearly much more than that! Great work.

We are very pleased to have Olha Krytska and Yana Fandikova from Sumy State University 🇺🇦 with us at #RLUK25   📸 with RLUK Chair @masudk.com Vice-Chair @janeharvell.bsky.social & @davidprosser.bsky.social & Kirsty Lingstadt   #RLUK stands with all our colleagues in Ukraine

#rluk25 opening keynote @christophersmith.bsky.social has been talking to us about trusted research. A great job has been done on this recently by my colleagues @uniofaberdeen.bsky.social www.abdn.ac.uk/staffnet/res...

In Liverpool for #RLUK25 this week, and had time this morning to enjoy the sights in the sunshine. Only one of these fab five is a conference delegate.

I think the best I can do for this particular part of the country is ‘hotter than Denmark’.

For those of my advanced years, see also the Spycatcher effect. Still remember snapping it up on holiday in Majorca for no other reason than Thatcher banning sales in the UK.