Congrats @lauraconnaughtonmu.bsky.social & @mulibrary.bsky.social Self Assessment Team: the first professional unit at Maynooth University & the first library in Ireland & the UK to receive the award. The real work of implementation is only beginning but let’s acknowledge & celebrate this success.

The first year students taking Early Irish @ceilteachomn.bsky.social enjoyed a visit to the gorgeous Russell Library this morning @maynoothuniversity.ie 📚📜

Excited to be attending the Athena Swan Ireland Awards at SETU Carlow campus. So important to acknowledge and celebrate achievements. @maynoothuniversity.ie @mulibrary.bsky.social

Last week at our Arqus alliance Libraries of the Future seminar @Graz I presented our host Pamela Stückler with @maynoothuniversity.ie pennant as a symbol of our partnership. We also discovered that a member of Graz library staff had studied at Maynooth & had fond memories @mulibrary.bsky.social

2nd Arqus Libraries of the Future hybrid seminar is a wrap. Grateful to all at University of Graz for their excellent organisation, programme & friendly welcome! lnkd.in/eaPXerb9 Our next hybrid event will be hosted by @dulib.bsky.social in Jan ‘26 & will focus on the topic of European heritage.

Today @hughm.bsky.social spoke at Arqus Libraries of the Future CoP hybrid seminar at the University of Graz about Artificial Intelligence in @mulibrary.bsky.social & Irish academic libraries. Key points incl the eco-impact, diversity of approaches, governance, academic implications & workflows

Delighted to see this guest blog post from Helen Fallon as part of our events to mark 30 years since the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa. It catalogues the amazing work of Helen and library colleagues to promote and share Ken’s archive and includes Helen’s poetry. mulibrarytreasures.wordpress.com

Job opportunity at @mulibrary.bsky.social If you would like a change and have a passion for digital services this could be of interest. Closing date is 20th Nov 2026. universityvacancies.com/maynooth-univ

A pleasure to attend the launch of the School of Nursing @maynoothuniversity.ie . Speakers incl Prof Fintan Sheerin, President Eeva Leinonen , Minister James Lawless Rachel Kenna , Carolyn Donohoe & Kate Killeen White . Superb keynote from Michael Dowling. Well done & good luck to all Involved.

This is wonderful news - the first library in Ireland and the UK to be awarded the Athena Swan award. Well done to all of my library colleagues esp Laura Connaughton the chair. Special thanks to our superb @maynoothuniversity.ie EDI team who helped us.The work to live up to the award starts now!

Well done Faculty of Arts & Humanities ADR Dr. Loïc Bourdeau for organising the Research Connections event @maynoothuniversity.ie .Great turnout & highlighted the strength of faculty research. Special thanks Ciaran Q for his contribution about ORCID. It was an inspiring & engaging session.

Well done Lori on the news at one on @news.rte.ie news at 1 this afternoon a great ambassador for libraries and libraries ireland open day tomorrow 27th September 2025 @lorimoriarty.bsky.social

A great programme for Culture Night @mulibrary.bsky.social 👇

You now have access to the Cochrane Library, a trusted database of high-quality, independent medical and healthcare research. You can access it now via the Linktree in our bio🩺 #MULibrary #MULibraryeResources #CochraneLibrary

Check out our newly advertised full-time, permanent position for a Book & Paper Conservator, based in the Russell Library here at Maynooth University📚🕰️ Applications close Wednesday 24th September ✨Apply now by searching for Library roles on 🔍maynoothuniversity.ie/human-resources/vacancies

Thanks to everyone who helped to make today’s Arqus Alliance Libraries of the Future Community of Practice seminar @mulibrary.bsky.social @maynoothuniversity.ie such a success. Delighted that over 50 participants from 8 countries participated.

Up next this morning is our Arqus & Open Scholarship & Open Science feat. Lisa Schilhan from Graz University, @librarystuart.bsky.social from @durham-university.bsky.social , Iñaki Aréa de la Villa from the Universities of Sevilla and Granada and Dr. Erivelton Nepomuceno from @maynoothuniversity.ie

We welcome our Keynote speaker @lisagriffith.bsky.social from @dri.ie who will discuss The Future of Open Scholarship and Open Science in Europe at this mornings Arqus Seminar.

We are excited to host the Arqus European University Alliance Libraries of the Future Community of Practice Hybrid Seminar today. Featuring speakers from Ireland, Spain, Austria and the UK this seminar will consider the challenges for libraries associated with open scholarship.

Celebrating 10 years of the Lexicon public library. I had the pleasure of bringing LBES to see it in 2016 as part of a mid-year. It was also the venue for the fantastic cultural evening during @ifla.org WLIC 2022. A beautiful library and a resounding success! www.irishtimes.com/culture/book...

AI company Anthropic agrees $1.5bn to settlement with authors . Worth about $3,000 for each of an estimated 500,000 books. “it’s the largest copyright recovery ever,” said, a lawyer for the authors. “It is the first of its kind in the AI era.” www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

The passport office is regularly the recipient of fully deserved praise for its efficiency. Institutionally the parking office @maynoothuniversity.ie provides an extraordinarily efficient service: I applied for the permit yesterday afternoon & received the disc this morning!

Congratulations to Dr Hugh Murphy @mulibrary.bsky.social who graduated this afternoon @maynoothuniversity.ie !

This morning we bid farewell to our home of almost 10 years, @mulibrary.bsky.social, as we move to our new office! We would like to thank the MU Library team for hosting us, and for all of their support through the years. @maynoothuniversity.ie

Congratulations to Stuart Hamilton for his presentation of the accounts at the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) General Assembly in Astana. #TeamIreland

The Irish caucus at @ifla.org WLIC 2025!

A pleasure to present with @mcojo.bsky.social at @ifla.org World Library and Information Congress 2025 in Astana about the work taking place @mulibrary.bsky.social and @dculibrary.bsky.social around open scholarship and open science. #wlic2025

Great to present at #WLIC2025 with my colleague @cathalmccauley.bsky.social about the work underway in @dculibrary.bsky.social and @mulibrary.bsky.social to advance Open Science.

Calling all Irish delegates attending IFLA WLIC 2025. We are organising an informal Irish caucus during the Congress. If you would like to attend please contact me by 15th August for more details. @ifla.org @laibluesky.bsky.social

Never a dull moment @mulibrary.bsky.social

Recently @mulibrary.bsky.social the Chair of CONUL made a presentation to @morleyfme.bsky.social thanking Fiona for completing a 3-year term as CONUL Conference Chair. After 3 hugely successful conferences in Cork, Belfast & Tullamore I think it is fair to say mission accomplished. Congrats Fiona!

Successor to PRTLI promised as Minister James Lawless @deptoffhed.bsky.social secures €4.55 billion for research and innovation. www.gov.ie/en/departmen...

It was my pleasure as Chair of CONUL to mark the launch of the new CONUL strategy with Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, James Lawless TD, this week. #conul @collinssandra.bsky.social @cathalmccauley.bsky.social conul.ie/minister-law...

Drop by our 'Summer Reads' display and grab a book to enjoy in the sunshine – including the wonderful Flight by Maynooth University's own Oona Frawley ☀️ #MULibrary #SummerReads

Fantastic post from Ciara Joyce (Maynooth University library) @mulibrary.bsky.social about her work on two collections relating to the theatre in Ireland. The archive of the New Theatre Group and An Damer . mulibrarytreasures.wordpress.com

3-d printed guns amongst material seized by Gardaí ( Irish police) www.rte.ie/news/regiona...

Meta’s use of books to train AI considered fair use by US judge www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Meta’s use of books to train AI considered fair use by US judge www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Congratulations Donal Ryan the winner of the prestigious Orwell Prize for Political Fiction for his novel 'Heart, Be At Peace' this evening in London. www.rte.ie/culture/2025...

Shameful. The decision & the rationale. “Hungarian police said they are banning the Budapest pride parade. Hungary's parliament passed legislation in March that created a legal basis for police to ban LGBTQ+ marches, citing the protection of children.” www.rte.ie/news/world/2...

Great to see such a wonderful array of papers from @mulibrary.bsky.social colleagues @conulconference.bsky.social . I’m sorry I can’t it make it this year. Massive congrats to @morleyfme.bsky.social who concludes her term as conference chair. Fiona & the committee have done fantastic work!

Delighted to join Caroline Ball @heroicendeavour.bsky.social this afternoon to speak to @biall.org.uk (Association of Law Librarians) about the #ebookSOS campaign. In addition to the common problems of availability, pricing & onerous terms ebooks cause particular problems for law libraries.

Thanks for having us along to talk about how #ebookSOS impacts law libraries! For follow up, feel free to get in touch here, or with @heroicendeavour.bsky.social or @cathalmccauley.bsky.social directly. Link for slides in post below.

The stuff of nightmares. YNWA news.sky.com/story/liverp...

Wonderful atmosphere at the Africa Day celebrations in Kilcock today. Well done to all involved.

More of the kind of sinister behaviour I wrote about recently (www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2... ) While there have been some successes recently (e.g. a reprieve for the IMLS) this latest action is another attack on education and academia www.rte.ie/news/us/2025...

The first census carried out by the State will be available online next year making available information on almost three million people living in Ireland on that night 100 years ago. www.rte.ie/news/politic...

It was a pleasure to chair session 2 of the Historic Houses International Conference @maynoothuniversity.ie 2. excellent papers from Rachel Daly @keeleuniversity.bsky.social & Emma Arthur @ox.ac.uk about the role of reading & music in country houses. Huge interest & lots of questions & discussion.

I’m generally pleased when something I write comes out but it’s very sad that I had to write this and the Trump administration’s attacks on libraries have intensified since I submitted it.