“In the meadow we can build a snowman / And pretend that he is Parson Brown / He’ll say ‘Are you married?’ / We’ll say …

British Library staff are on strike from the 8th to the 12th December 2025. Full solidarity with them, please don't cross the physical or digital picket lines. I wrote a little in my latest piece on the Library about how poor senior management has driven the staff to this position.

I've got a new piece at @lseimpactblog.bsky.social today following on from my previous piece about the British Library cyberattack and arguing that, since the UK Government clearly doesn't care about the UK knowledge sector, we need to develop our own community-led tech and infrastructure solutions.

This is too funny. (You don’t have to have seen the Sid James/Benjamin Britten meme, but it might help.)

Everybody has a right to make their own mind up, informed by a range of good information - that's power. It's also a fundamental issue for our profession. Yet is under attack. CILIP members & non-members can join this new #IntellectualFreedom Committee www.cilip.org.uk/news/713670/...

Thei did the Mash; thei did the Monstere Mash. The Monstere Mash: beholde, sepulchral smash! Thei did the Mash, and it kaughte on moost fast - Hark, heare the Mash! Forsooth, the Monstere Mash!

@scribblesscript.bsky.social Google’s AI thinks you are Steven Moffat 😆 (only superficially funny)

Long got summers are overrated. Emily Brontë had it right!

Perfect timing for the first weekend of Autumn - the new issue of The Linguist has just been published on the CIOL website! Full of features and news from the world of languages, download your copy here👇 www.ciol.org.uk/thelinguist #CIOL #TheLinguist #Translation #Interpreting #LatestNews #Languages

We're hiring! Have you got experience in collections-related higher education library work? Come and work with me @manchester.ac.uk @uomlibrary.bsky.social, and help turn ideas into practical solutions. #skybrarians #library #vacancy #ModernCollections www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

"Trans & #gender diverse people are present in all areas of #library work" from 'Decistifying #trans & gender diverse inclusion in library work: A literature review' ⬇️ www.inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org/2024/decisti... #Librarian #LibraryWorker #LGBTQ #LGBTQIA #NonBinary #Queer

Do you have skills and experience in managing modern academic library collections? Help me do it AT SCALE in the Uni of Manchester Library @uomlibrary.bsky.social @manchester.ac.uk Watch the video for tips on how to apply www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai... #libraryjobs #skybrarians #colldev

In diese Stadt hatte ich mich verliebt. In der Stadt auch. 😍

Free stuff! First batch of items from the Rylands' Early European Print collection is now fully digitised and freely available to explore online via Manchester Digital Collections #EarlyModern #incunabula #TheRylands #HistoryOfTheBook www.digitalcollections.manchester.ac.uk/collections/...

It's not just #Quakers who do silence.

Doing a guest slot at Sacred Trinity in a Taizé service jointly devised with my dear colleague @timcalvert2.bsky.social I may have snuk in my favourite chant by Margaret Rizza 🎶

The tradition of the Library Cat being upheld by my #ModernCollections team @uomlibrary.bsky.social Manchester. “Last one out please turn off the cat” 🙀

How’s this for embodied theology? Tattoo highlights from the Genesis3 story as subverted by the Pratchett/Gaiman #GoodOmens story, where knowledge and asking questions is a good thing and angels are on the side of humans alongside demons.

High summer is apparently the time to buy boots on sale. This brown box is giving me a Magritte vibe.

Best of this week’s 3 conferences today: in Leeds for #QuakerStudies with Ben @cosmichope.bsky.social on Fox+Blake & @barbarabirch.bsky.social on embodied theology. Mention of the CONTAINER #metaphor not by me but @markdruss.bsky.social

We're looking forward to showing off our #Shakespeare titles at the @bsashakespeare.bsky.social conference today! #BSA2025 If you’re not attending, explore our #ShakespeareStudies #books, enjoy FREE chapter access, and grab discounted books here 👇 manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/blog/2025/06...

Librarian thrills: when a user finds what they needed in a previously gnostically obscure library, cos you made the right labels and signs - and they read them. In dyslexia-friendly fonts on off-white paper, of course. (Apologies to the Gnostics) #skybrarians #metadata #catNclass #classification

Where does the @uomlibrary.bsky.social Collections Team go for a brilliant awayday? To the #FestivalOfLibraries workshop on dictionary-making and words @mancathedral.bsky.social with @uomcreativemcr.bsky.social and the Linguistic Diversity Collective.

We have truly entered the Age of Onanocracy*. (*Government by w#nkers)

Zuck said Meta is in a "partnership" with White House; Google is following suit. They are all that stand between you and Trump admin data grabs. Here's a resource collection of non-US services to replace email, search, docs, music, video, backups, and more: www.wired.com/story/trump-...

Fantastic from Fara Dabhoiwala but he misses a crucial point. Libraries are at the heart of the ‘free speech’ debate - they provide a great environment for encountering diverse ideas but are under attack for doing so in the US. on.ft.com/4kxlH8g The real history of free speech.

President Trump's executive order to eliminate the Institute of Museum & Library Services would have disastrous effects for communities nationwide. We call on all Americans who value reading & learning to reach out to their elected leaders. Read ALA's full response: www.ala.org/news/2025/03...

What do #Quakers think about #Lent? Does the Q Testimony to Simplicity override Lent?? If ‘all of life is sacramental’ does that make all of life equally bland???

If Trump was President in 1940

We truly live in Mad Max times 😏

Rediscovering 1983 #gender in this throwaway line at the end of William Gibson’s #Neuromancer Fans of #GoodOmensTV may smile at “a girl who called herself Michael” 😏

Timely primer on the current upheaval in academic library books #skybrarians

35 years ago, in the night of 19-20 February, the dismantling of the Berlin Wall in the Potsdam Square area began. Former East German border troops started taking down a two-kilometre-long segment of the Wall between Brandenburg Gate and Checkpoint Charlie.

Probationary employees are receiving termination notices today at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). Notices have already started going out, per agency source.

New PhD scholarship for Black British researchers, University of Birmingham www.birmingham.ac.uk/study/postgr.... A chance to work on ‘Fanfic in the Archive: ephemera, ethics, engagement’. Deadline 30 April 2025.

Next webinar in the tenth anniversary series of Issues in #appliedlinguistics: Wed. 19th February 13.00 GMT Title: Authenticity in #languagelearning materials: where are we now? #corpuslinguistics Speaker: Dr Geraldine Mark Info: mic.ul.ie/mic-insights...

This is all deeply sinister.

‘Child ~ children’ means the same as German ‘Kind ~ Kinder’ and Dutch ‘kind ~ kinderen’, and they look alike too. However, it’s not etymologically related to them in any way. ‘Kind’ is distantly related to Greek ‘génesis’ (creation) and Italian ‘gente’ (people). ‘Child’ has a different origin:

Great to make new connections at @sacredsalford.bsky.social’s #OpenTable service last night, and enjoyed an absolute belter of a final hymn! 🎵

*NEW PROJECT ALERT* Today we are pleased to launch Neon Deutschland, a new project devoted to the majesty of neon signs in Germany. Join us here on Bluesky: @neondeutschland.bsky.social Or over on Instagram: www.instagram.com/neondeutschl...

The hurly-burly’s done for today; time to meet a couple of witchy friends and go see #Macbeth (again). #DonmarWarehouseMacbeth

Superb opportunity @uomlibrary.bsky.social for #SpecialCollections #library people! Please share! #rarebooks #vacancy #skybrarians

Fantastic new senior role @official-uom.bsky.social #library - please share this #job #vacancy widely! www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetai...

#DH job! Maternity cover (for me!) until end of 2025 in @dcch-leeds.bsky.social. Based in Faculty of Arts Humanities & Cultures/Library w emph on interdisciplinary & cross-service working, to grow DH research & digital creativity. Deadline 24 Feb @ukiedh.bsky.social jobs.leeds.ac.uk/vacancy.aspx...

Bizarrely hilarious name for a new café in my neighbourhood. Is this brazen promotion of heterosexuality? 😜#CompHet

Starting a campaign. #BuddeForArchbishop The Church of England needs leadership like hers.

On the conjunction of My Birthday + #NationalPeanutButterDay (US) I gladly share my breakfast with you (feat. #WholeEarthFoods peanut butter). What’s your favourite brand, and why?