A baroness telling us all that protesting genocide is the real crime btw. Interesting way to ensure your name is only remembered for one terrible thing.

The #BLA26 conference hashtag, and many others related to librarians and related professions and topics, are listed here. Mostly since hashtags started working properly on BlueSky in 2024, though some going back to the previous year.

❗ BLA Year in Review: call for submissions! ❗ BLA members, tell us how the past year went! You can do this by filling out this form: bla1.glasscubes.com/form/0e89109... Or you can send a Word file to [email protected]. The deadline to send your submission is Monday 15th June.

🎉 Countdown to BLA Summer Conference - 23 days to go! 🎉 👉 Submit your Year In Review! You can fill out our new form: bla1.glasscubes.com/form/0e89109... Or you can send a Word file to [email protected]. The deadline to send your submission is Monday 15th June. #bla26 #libraries #conferences

CALC really set a new standard on how to start a conference. If your conference does not start with a live stream of Pandas or Puppies - what are you doing? #calc26

We’re proud to support the National Year of Reading — putting libraries at the heart of a national celebration with #LibrariesChangeLives through literacy and reading. Download our editable resources to publicise your events. https://ow.ly/8cgs50YVzsv

“A masterful blend of economics, science and moral urgency that shows that climate action is not a cost but the greatest engine of prosperity of our times.” — Peter Frankopan, Professor of Global History, University of Oxford Available now via #OpenAccess: https://doi.org/10.31389/lsepress.tgs

Library workers are a special kind of civil servant. Our mandate is to give you and everyone else free access to some of the best things you can have: learning, self-enrichment, community, contemplation, fun, and simple peace and quiet. the best way to appreciate us is to come use us. 🙂 📚

Is it just me or are there quite a few trad wife themed horror books come out in the last year or so? I swear, I found at least three.

Not my housemate using the last of our shared rubbish bags we use for kitchen rubbish to throw away her room rubbish, and getting upset the next day that there are no rubbish bags left for kitchen. Pray for more rubbish bags magically appear later 🙏

❗ Members Spotlight - an opportunity to self-promote and share your personal experience being a business librarian! We published two instalments and are looking for more BLA members to feature. ❗ If you are interested, feel free to message us here, on Linkdln or email [email protected] .

95.9% of anecdotally gathered evidence shows that whenever you are stuck walking behind a person and struggle to walk around them is because they are staring at their phone.

AI is increasing the intensity of work rather than reducing it, according to one of the biggest studies of AI’s effects on work habits to date.

Listening to a panel about finding joy in reading/writing/publishing and an audience member decides to complain about the word Diversity. Points to panel members for non engaging with this comment beyond polite acknowledgment. So tired.

Impression at #LBF26 no.2: @englishpen.bsky.social has done (and is doing) an excellet set of pannel talks. Enjoyed every one of them so far! Also, the only place I noticed where librarians are mentioned, which is very appreciated.

Impression at #LBF26 : audience and pannel members are becoming more comfortable asking uncomfortable questions, challanging assumptions. About time!

Don’t Steal This Book, AI protest at London Book Fair

What I read in February. "Nova Scotia" and "Memories of Ice" stood out. #2026Reads #FebruaryReads

**NEW POST** LLMs hallucinate, & they hallucinate WORSE on topics we don't already know/write a lot about. This creates a huge accuracy gap. This week I tested ChatGPT on Beethoven & Smyth to show how big this gap is & why it matters. It made up a LOT. leahbroad.substack.com/p/chatgpts-a...

I have returned 3 books to the library and taken out 6 more. This is the correct way. And there are nerds in here playing Dungeons and Dragons. It may just be the most perfect place on earth. #libraries

For those interested in following #CopimConference we recommend following the wonderful @emmabooth.bsky.social for her excellent threads ⭐

maybe the humanities are needed bc without them the rich say things like "people are like horses"

Dan has been incredibly proactive: organising the #bla26 conference, and doing two presentations at the #blawe26 event, one quite extensive one on library marketing. Impressive work. BLA is in good hands!

A recurring theme when talking about student usage of AI is uncertainty of their own knowledge. Keyword/database searching is still a challange. Tendency to accept AI answers as true. #blawe26

Absolutely fascinating presentation on activities one can do in an AI-centric session. I am definitelly taking some ideas to my library sessions. #blawe26

Content, for sure.

🎉 Welcome to the Public Domain, BLONDIE (1930) 📰 👒 Blondie debuted as a carefree flapper in Chic Young’s comic strip. Her early adventures focused on attempts to win the blessing of Dagwood's snooty, rich family. Read the 1930 Blondie dailies ➡️ archive.org/details/blon... 🧵1/2 #PublicDomainDay

pure elite capture - the uk just folded to a hardline anti-trans campaign pushed by a tiny number of people www.thepinknews.com/2026/02/11/n...

"I have to multitask to mske this worth my time" - a perfect explanation why I read at the gym.

BLA committee was delighted to visit University of Birmingham campus last week! Book your place here: bla1.glasscubes.com/form/91aa313... All bookings close on 30th March 2026. Here are some images taken during the tour. Photo credits: @sjoukjeschots.bsky.social #bla26 #conferences

❗ Call for Members Papers! ❗ Send your proposals by filling out this form: bla1.glasscubes.com/form/9f47c71... Deadline: 20th February. #conference #bla26 #librarianship

My dear colleague Jacob has a new book out! Very excited to read this as soon as my pre-order arrives (in UK). Also, just look at this cover!

I wrote a bit about the books I read in 2025, which included The AI Con by Bender & Hanna (obviously) and Imagination: A Manifesto by Ruha Benjamin. acrlog.org/2026/01/09/a...

Incredibly honoured to present a talk with the amazing Cara Clarke! The lineup for this year looks really interesting!

Time to record my book reading stuff for end of the year for no one in particular. #books #booksoftheyear

I've met Dan in the last two conferences - one of the most proactive people I know!

Friends, Romans, countrymen, I read a lot of comics this year and these were the best ones

'Fewer than 60,000 people – 0.001% of the world’s population – control three times as much wealth as the entire bottom half of humanity, according to a report that argues global inequality has reached such extremes that urgent action has become essential' www.theguardian.com/inequality/2...

British Library workers withdraw their labour again! Mon 8th to Sun 14th! Improved offers (“we have no money”) are inadequate! Fair demands for fair(er) pay are reiterated! Please support the strike! Cancel / postpone! Visit the picket (in Midland Road)! If you are a Reader please join for a chat!

Is there a book or a poem that helped you explore what neurodiversity means? The Weston Library’s Space for Reading is changing themes - next up: Neurodiversity. 📚 Submit your (anonymous) suggestions here: https://forms.office.com/e/bRHBxTXBSY

This is disastrous. And the news are mostly hidden- not at all prioritised by the BBC as breaking news across their channels/platforms. I had to dig deep to find this link. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Oh joy, another helpful AI infographic via LinkedIn. Off I go to my job as a liberaian, maybe to run some critical evaligane workshops and of course use New! Boulean! Logic!

🎉 BLA summer conference announcement! 🎉 Save the date: Wednesday 1st - Friday 3rd July 2026. Place: University of Brighton. This years theme will be "Libraries as Strategic Partners: Collaboration Within and Beyond the Institution". Bookings will be open soon!

evergreen

To “my students and to anyone who might listen, I say: Don’t surrender to AI your ability to read, write and think when others once risked their lives and died for the freedom to do so.” www.huffpost.com/entry/histor...

"People who learned about a topic through an LLM versus web search felt that they learned less, invested less effort in subsequently writing their advice, and ultimately wrote advice that was shorter, less factual and more generic." gizmodo.com/learning-wit...

Discworld QOTD, from Feet of Clay, for Trans Day of Remembrance

Last night I ran my first bookclub meeting. Innitiating discussion is not as easy as it sounds; I found it difficult to not fall on Lecturing Mode or Impose My Views. Still, it was fun and people shared some interesting observations that did not occur to me. Would love to do this again!

📣 Really proud to announce the publication of Reframing Failure in Digital Scholarship, an #OpenAccess collection of essays co-edited with @amsichani.bsky.social and published by @uolpress.bsky.social that examines the role of failure in #DH and research more broadly @sas-news.bsky.social

People, who should really know better, keep asking me about this new album and latest music release of that, and what do I think of this new song. Look, I've been listening to Jan Dismas Zelenka for the last two years. Unless it's fascinating baroque counterpoint I don't have much to say.