Here a compilation of stupid things library consultants have said to me in solidarity with library pals at Lambeth Libraries where genius consultants has decided that a qualified head of library service post isn't really essential.

Bede's World! Bede's World! Party time! Venerable!

i don't like to police genre, but it's not dark academia unless somebody gets squished in one of these bad boys

Yesterday the beauty of David Parr's house. Today - brush on a stick. I don't think he would approve

Probably using "give me strength" as a search example is not politic

The Union Chapel is advertising for a part-time archivist - it's a great job for someone. I've spent a lot of time there and the staff are great. The archive starts c.1820 and the postwar sections esp. are crammed with ephemera on all kinds of music and performance.

This is just to say I have OCRed the text thet was in tne arch:ve and whicb yov were prabaldy seamhing for "breahtast" Fargme ms fheg mem debo:w5 sb ?mccf mmb 5c oc1b

Writing help guides and it really makes it apparent that search interfaces should not have a button that is called different things before and after log in and that might have a different post logged in value for every single user

This is quite sur le nez

Urgh - mandatory training that uses a digital narrator to read out the words that are on the screen anyway

Thinking about this in a medical context where the user might ask for arguments against a course of action

Aaron Tay@aarontay.bsky.social · last wk.

Last thread i promise. 1/ Powerful AI makes the inside view extraordinarily seductive. Ask an LLM for the strongest case for one side Ask it to expose methodological weaknesses. Ask it to rebut every objection. Soon you may feel that you have mastered the debate.

You can kill a French vampire with a baguette. It's a painstaking process but it works.

We’ve listened carefully to your feedback on our new website, and you are absolutely right to hold us to account. During the development phase we used AI generated images as place holders, and unfortunately not all of these were replaced before the site went live.

Please share! A rare PhD studentship @kingshistory.bsky.social *fully* funded by @slaveryinwar.bsky.social to work with myself and Maeve Ryan, supported by a broader community of experts in Caribbean history, transatlantic slavery, and the history of war. www.kcl.ac.uk/study/fundin... 🗃️

AHRC Studentship: Slavery and the Seven Years’ War within and across the Caribbean Archipelago | King's College London

The Leverhulme Centre for Research on Slavery in War (CRSW) is pleased to announce the availability of a fully funded AHRC doctoral studentship, to be jointly supervised across History and War Studies

kcl.ac.uk

How is everyone going on about the King and Queen arriving in a TARDIS and not the GIANT FLAMING TUNNOCK'S TEA CAKE??!!???

Amazing!

Love this on “salary guide” www.cilip.org.uk/learn-develo...

New CILIP website is a mess of AI slop images. Check out the images of senior professionals and try and imagine the prompt that generated them. All backed by walls of fake books that look like the ones sold by the yard to furnish pubs www.cilip.org.uk/learn-develo...

YOU CANNOT GRIND THE BONES OF YOUR ENEMIES INTO DUST TOMORROW IF YOU DO NOT DO YOUR STRETCHES.

An AI slop image that is, sadly, an all to real presention of the challenge of finding out what has been published inside a magazine

All of my professors at Goldsmiths are on strike as management tries to force involuntary redundancies and shutter courses. They're running an art raffle to support the striking workers, so if you want to support them you can buy tickets here. www.gucu-raffle.com

This is a great read on the importance of equity considerations and hidden costs in AI blogs.lse.ac.uk/medialse/202...

The Intelligence Dividend – not just AI that works, but AI that pays back - Media@LSE

LSE’s Dr Ruhi Khan argues that the firms scaling AI fastest are not always scaling it smartest, and that they should be considering the Intelligence Dividend.

blogs.lse.ac.uk

Can't believe I didn't notice until now that Andy Burnham is a pirate

Ran past this - it is totally out of place on the edge of the forest. Really surprised to see it nominated for a prize

afasia archzine@afasiaarq.bsky.social · 3w ago

#Sergison Bates ift.tt/dwhLftY | posted by afasia | daily entries on contemporary art and architecture #afasiaarchzine #afasiaarq | #architecture #arquitectura #design High Beach villa . Epping Forest Sergison Bates architects . photos: © J…

Much loved Billy cat doing his own thing right to the end

Extreme wildfire warning issued for Epping Forest The London Fire Brigade has warned parts of the Epping Forest such as Hollow Ponds, Leyton Flats, and Wanstead Flats are at extreme risk of wildfires https://walthamforestecho.co.uk/2026/07/15/extreme-wildfire-warning-issued-for-epping-forest/

Extreme wildfire warning issued for Epping Forest

The London Fire Brigade has warned parts of the Epping Forest such as Hollow Ponds, Leyton Flats, and Wanstead Flats are at extreme risk of wildfires

walthamforestecho.co.uk

Your occasional reminder that @acts435.bsky.social offers support to folks on the knife-edge of poverty; if you can spare a fiver or tenner towards, say, getting a family a working fridge in this weather, this is how to do it.

Acts 435

Acts 435 is an online giving charity that connects those who want to help with those who have a need, through a network of churches and charities.

acts435.org.uk

Correlation is not causation

Last #libraruns of #ICML2026

Hearing "football's coming home" belted out in a Glasgow pub was not on my planner for the week

One day we will be able to stop people emoji responding to mailing lists but not this day

AlanFricker@alanfricker.bsky.social · 3w ago

News from the office that I seem to have stopped emoji responses to closed service desk tickets reopening them #winning