The amazing story of how UNRWA staff rescued millions of documents from destruction by Israel

Couldn’t be more excited that @maplibrarian.bsky.social is this year’s Fordham Award winner! What a deserving award to a dedicated, compassionate, determined, and brilliant map librarian. #maps 🗃️

Congratulations to our 2026 medals and awards recipients! 🏆🏅 This year, 27 individuals have been recognised for their outstanding contributions to geographical research, fieldwork, teaching, professional practice and public engagement. Find out more 👉https://ow.ly/zrWJ50YXu3o

A federal judge granted the motion for a summary judgment on all counts in favor of the AHA, @acls1919.bsky.social, and @modernlanguage.bsky.social in our lawsuit to restore the NEH, ruling that the mass termination of grants was “unlawful, unconstitutional, ultra vires, and without legal effect." 🗃️

Museum Repatriation from Missouri State Museum. meskwakimedia.smugmug.com/2026/0428-Mu...

#Libraries #Librarians

Always loved this series of maps. 👁 Also: Comics! h/t @anuncivilphd.bsky.social & @iansociologo.bsky.social

A big thank you to @brittashoot.com for this lovely story about the small team of volunteers working to rephotograph all 500,000 panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Pro tip: have tissues handy. www.kqed.org/arts/1398904...

1. I wouldn't take at face value anything a candidate up for reelection says about his future plans for a higher office. 2. He's running. 3. He's going to win. www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnj-...

It cost me $177 to renew my driver license today. Requiring certain ID to vote without making that ID easy, accessible, and free is 100% a poll tax.

No girl farmers allowed

This is why in the Ethics of Linked Data we included "ethical sunsetting" sections to each of our checklist sections--you have to plan for your project's death before you plan for it's launch

The United States now has the most government restrictions on academic freedom of any high-income country. www.chemistryworld.com/news/academi... Raw data from @vdeminstitute.bsky.social —> academic-freedom-index.net/research/Aca...

You LOVE to see it, good work everyone, keep up the relentless dunks on AI, all these bros deserve a wedgie/swirlie combo and they are not allowed to sit at our table ever again.

No joke: I got angry hate mail today for writing an obituary of a Black woman scientist—because the person felt she did didn’t deserve the recognition. Which just makes me want to share it again: www.nature.com/articles/d41...

📣 Another call for action, #DataRescuers! 📣 This time, Christopher Steven Marcum shares the request to save #WorldFactbook, including ways you can get involved. Learn more: www.datarescueproject.org/guest-post-t...

A lot of people think that every international student admitted means one fewer spot for domestic students, when the opposite is more likely true - the tuition revenue international students bring allows public universities to provide substantial discounts to domestic students, improving access.

This program changed my life. I was fortunate enough to have my loans forgiven in January, right before Trump took office. I encourage everyone to submit a comment in support of the PSLF program.

The David Rumsey Map Center is holding their biennial cartography conference 10/8 - 10/10. It’s free and there’s an online option. The theme is “Above and Below” and will feature talks on “cartography of anything but the earth’s surface.”Register at www.eventbrite.com/e/barry-lawr...

"messages that librarians should be enthusiastic + optimistic about technological changes... frequently described as inevitable, often imply or outright assert that those who question or resist certain tech developments are simply overwhelmed by irrational fear + anxiety that they need to overcome."

I'm guest editing a special issue of the Journal of Map and Geography Libraries focusing on the state of map librarianship. The call for papers is here: bit.ly/3TDpTaf Please share widely!

A detailed and heartbreaking report on how Israel systematically destroyed Gaza’s bookstores, printing presses, and publishing houses. It turned centers of learning and knowledge production into ruins and ashes. Please share widely.

We're advertising two artist's residencies at Thin Ice Press: the York Centre for Print. Please share! www.thinicepress.org/research/pri...

It's always a good day to revisit this one.

'“I don't think that people appreciate how few people are working to keep these collections online, even at huge institutions,” Weinberg told me. “It's usually an incredibly small team, one person, half a person, half a person, plus, like their web person who is sympathetic to what's going on.'

Are you a history professor who has been pressured to alter your curriculum — particularly regarding the history of Black & African American people in the United States? We would love to talk to you. Send us a DM!

Cultural & heritage workers and institutions around the world must speak out against these attacks. How best can we do this?

On advance access: "The Atmosphere in Spatial History: Digital Evidence and Visual Argument" by Luca Scholz (University of Manchester) #OpenAccess doi.org/10.1093/past...

📢 Call for Papers! Join us at Acutus et Argutus: Early Modern Print Culture in Motion 📚✨ Dive into the dynamic world of book history and print culture. Submit your proposals by 30 April 2025. More info: konferencijos.lnb.lt/acutus-et-ar... #CFP #AcademicConference #EarlyModernStudies

They're called public records for a reason. Starting today, WIRED will *stop paywalling* articles that are primarily based on public records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, becoming the first publication to partner with @freedom.press to offer this for our new coverage.

From PBS: 5 reasons federal cuts are hitting veterans especially hard www.pbs.org/newshour/pol...

These are religious fundamentalists, tech overlords and white supremacists. They see that education makes people liberal and reject theocracy. Education gives workers power. And education makes people have fewer babies. They want more white babies. So they want to kill all that.

Curator of Rare Books and Maps, University of Iowa #LISJobs uiowa.referrals.selectminds.com/jobs/curator...

This, by the by, is an effing disaster if it holds up. The number of public libraries that will go under if IMLS is shuttered is mind-boggling. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...

The WI Supreme Court has a 4-3 progressive ideological majority—meaning many cases involving issues like abortion rights are decided by one justice. On April 1st, voters will decide the balance of the court. Make your voting plan at myvote.wi.gov. #CrawfordForCourt #StopShadySchimel #BadBrad

Also encourage people to email LC to oppose this proposed revision, which was announced a few hours ago (with comments deadline of today 😡). Your email can be short (1-3 sentences) and can focus on impact to your patrons. #critcat #LCSH #cataloging 📚

Encyclopædia Britannica will continue to use ‘Gulf of Mexico’ for a few reasons: -We serve an international audience, a majority of which is outside the U.S. -The Gulf of Mexico is an international body of water, and the U.S.’s authority to rename it is ambiguous. 🧵⬇️

For those interested in the Data Rescue Tracker, keep in mind that we need to know/hear from you to be able to track where data is going. That's why we have a submission form. Let us know what you have and submit it! baserow.datarescueproject.org/form/dGIFuHv...

JUST ANNOUNCED! The Winterthur Library Fresh Perspectives on Collecting Symposium highlights the work and voices of the next gen of rare book, manuscript, and special collections professionals, scholars, and enthusiasts. Tune in on Zoom March 18 & 19! 📜

Y'all are probably like, "why is he talking about the WI Supreme Court??" Because the world's most insufferable Nazi is weighing in on it and so is one of the far-right's best "get out the vote" people. Some background🧵 The '23 WI SC race was the most expensive judicial race in US history.

The Internet Archive has to date downloaded 500 terabytes of US government websites, which it crawls at the end of every presidential term. The whole archive is fully searchable. This effort's housed by a donation-funded nonprofit, not a branch of the US government. blog.archive.org/2024/05/08/e...

I think some people hear “grants” and think that without them, scientists and government workers just have less stuff to play with at work. But grants fund salaries for students, academics, researchers, and people who work in all areas of public service. “Pausing” grants means people don’t eat.

Attacks on higher ed are also attacks on the economy. Pass it on.

Karen Wynn Fonstad was a cartographer who exhaustively mapped J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, the setting of “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings.” www.nytimes.com/2025/01/13/o...

Our interview w/ @kcur.org's "Up To Date" (ft. @finchinthestacks.bsky.social, Kim Masteller (Nelson-Atkins), + me) about our exhibit "Mapping the Heavens" is now up! Finch & Kim say some great stuff, and I also use words: #histSTM #histsci #histtech #rarebooks #speccolls www.kcur.org/podcast/up-t...

Hot tip for the next two years: a Republican bill does the opposite of what it’s called. A GOP bill defunding schools that mandate vaccines would be called the “Protect our Schools Act.” A GOP bill raising the retirement age for social security would be called the “Retire With Dignity Act.”

A massive wildfire reached Getty Villa in LA. How the museum protected its collection. 📜 www.yahoo.com/news/massive...

Map detectives to the rescue (bis)! We're looking for a (most probably) 2-sheet map of Geldern with this cartouche in the lower right corner (copper plates reversed here). The text reads "La deffaicte de l'Ennemy pa[r] Son Exc. Comte Henry van[den] Berg[h]"

🤷🏾‍♀️🤷🤦

Do you know how much CEO pay has skyrocketed since 1978? 100%? 500%? Try 1,085% Meanwhile, the $7.25/hr fed. minimum wage hasn't budged in 15 years and the tipped min. wage has been $2.13/hr since 1991. This is what I mean when I say the system is rigged.