Tom Lehrer made all of his music 100% public domain so if seeing people sad about his death makes you want to check them out… it’s free. he wanted you to share them. tomlehrersongs.com

Since the index expansion was supported by a Patrick Leary Field Development Grant in 2024 it was especially heartwarming to share it in person at #RSVP2025 among many colleagues whose work helped me in development, including @patrickleary.bsky.social himself of course. Great conference all around!

Of use to those working on 1852-1879, it includes a chronological index of open-access copies of the Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine, a widely read (affordable) secular early women’s monthly miscellany. jmsw.github.io/edm-index/ Now updated with a searchable spreadsheet of contents by category!

The project as a whole is available open access via @olddominionu.bsky.social repository at digitalcommons.odu.edu/english_etds... and there are some OER teaching tools and github data sets shared in the appendixes.

Grateful to share that my PhD dissertation project was awarded the 2025 Sally Mitchell Prize from @rs4vp.org Just back from their conference in Chicago, where I learned so much, presented some of my own work, and most magically, met several of the folks whose work has influenced me most-a real joy.

"So hope for a great sea-change On the far side of revenge. Believe that a further shore Is reachable from here. Believe in miracles And cures and healing wells. [...] It means once in a lifetime That justice can rise up And hope and history rhyme." —Seamus Heaney

Like other forms of care work, library workers are always asked to extend care (through services, programs, collections, and so much more) to their communities without ever receiving care themselves. Material support is necessary to make this work sustainable in any way.

The (U.K.) National Archives launches guidance for archivists working in fast response situations 📜 www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/t...

Hey if anyone is considering backing up any datasets for some reason today, the Open Science Framework has free storage up to 5G/private repository, and up to 50G/public repository. (The OSF is run by a 501c3 (Center for Open Science), so if you do this you might also consider making a donation.)

Absolutely in for this 100%. Joy matters and always has. 1 like = 1 thing I love. And I’d love to hear yours, too.

Favorite audiobooks for falling asleep? Narrator recs also welcome! I’ve relistened to Lucy Worsley’s Jane Austen at Home about 8 times now. Before that was Juliet Stevenson reading Middlemarch, also several times over!

Archival joy moment of the day - the linen-embroidered autographs of some 1897 Colorado college students.

I can't think of a better way to articulate how to approach the present moment than this: "Comprehension, in short, means the unpremeditated, attentive facing up to, and resisting of, reality--whatever it may be." --Hannah Arendt, 1950

Clearing out a drawer today I ran across this ancient iphone 3gs I last used in 2012. Have to admit that curved back and small size felt great compared to my current phone somehow.

Mister Rogers never misses

I have a colleague (not on social media) who likes to say that works don't *fall* into the public domain, they *ascend* into the public domain. I really love that.

For Maths fans, 2025 is a square. 45² = 45 x 45 = 2025 Also, 9² x 5² = 2025 40² + 20² + 5² = 2025 My favourite? 1³+2³+3³+4³+5³+6³+7³+8³+9³ = 2025 #Mathematics #teaching #education

I love the wild randomness of public domain day. This is still not a pipe but you can reproduce it like crazy now.

You know why I love reading? These days it’s one of the few respites from being constantly advertised to.

There it is again that best worst feeling: closing up shop on a class full of amazing students that really put in the work and care. I’ll remember this semester forever, yes partly for the election, but mostly for them.

And he just won Goodreads Choice for the History/Biography genre! Here’s to academic folks being able to write popularly readable, beautiful books about their special subjects. A fav concept every time.

Every academic right now

Note to Americans who travel to the UK: after January 8 you will need an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA). You apply once, it’s about $13 USD, & it is good for 2 years. It opened for applications today & mine was approved in minutes, FWIW. www.gov.uk/guidance/app...

10 DIY public domain print-and-fold books for holiday crafting if you’re that kind of person: sayeth.itch.io/minibooks

The tweet I have framed on my desk is from Lucie Britsch who I don’t see on this platform yet but what a gem it was 5 years ago this week. “Write like the ghosts of all the women who weren’t allowed to write are standing next to you wondering what a laptop is and why you’re still in your pajamas.”

Excited to see results from these AI cataloging pilot projects at the Library of Congress. Very much appreciate the way the LC team is documenting and sharing their decision making frameworks about AI tools too.

our ancestors accomplished more, with less, against worse. stay locked in.

for anyone trying to extricate yourself from the clutches of Amazon: bookstores make more than a third of their money between now & New Year’s, & most bookstores ship nationwide 💌

new biopic when

Introduce yourself with some jobs you have done apart from what you do now: - campus mail sorter & deliverer - group home overnight supervisor - scholarship donation phonebanker - piano teacher - fake patient for pharmacist exams

Cobbling together some HTML on GitHub Pages to organize my dissertation’s digital components even though there’s so much left to learn. Something > nothing, so take that, decision paralysis!

In a very cool development Project Gutenberg in partnership with Microsoft and MIT have processed 5,000+ books using text to speech AI and made the audio books freely available 📚

Seems appropriate that my first post here would be about teaching writing. With most college semesters starting over the next couple of weeks, I thought I'd share my Quick-Start Guide for Teaching a Writing Class: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19zo4q68baHHsctJxIMUg46fcnxBzh8ToGHiWjAf5cwM/edit

Gamifying my dissertation drafting this summer with the friendly tools of the nanowrimo website was something I wasn’t sure would be helpful but as the summer is winding down I can see it definitely was! 😂 Apparently I draft at 5wpm.