Charlotte Dormer
@cnkdormer.bsky.social
Academic Liaison Librarian running a library for trainee teachers. Previously a primary school librarian. MCLIP, AFHEA. She/they. Autistic. Opinions my own etc. (Languages: 🇬🇧 🇸🇪 ) YLGSE Committee & Carnegies Judge 25-26
Join us at the University of Reading for a mini-festival on the Languages of Children’s Books in the UK’s National Year of 📅 17 Sept 2026 | 10:00 – 17:00 GMT 📍 Uni of Reading & Online ⏰ Booking deadline: 10 Sept for in person | 16 Sept for online tickets
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... It's always good to see information literacy highlighted as an essential workplace skill by someone *outside* of Libraryland!
Six essential skills employers say job seekers should have to stand out
Experts have identified six key skills that will count as much as qualifications in getting and keeping a job in the coming decade.
bbc.co.uk
Creative & performing arts subjects received £16.8 million SPG 2024-25; £12.9 million in 2025-26; £ O million in 2026-27. The University of Creative Arts will thus lose half of its government funding this year; Art University Bournmouth 40.7%, Norwich U of Arts 40.4% and Leeds Arts U 30.3%. 1/2
Arts institutions hit hard as OfS details teaching grant cuts
University for the Creative Arts loses more than half of its funding after support for creative subjects reduced to zero
timeshighereducation.com
The new cilip website is so horrific that i genuinely thought for a bit that it was an elaborate attempt to steal my data. Is this meant to portray us as a trustworthy profession? Deeply disappointed.
Trying not to get wound up by this use of GenAI on CILIP's website... (Were I overthinking it, I'd think it says: are librarians principled enough to take a stance against GenAI? No. But are they competent enough to use it well? Also no. Ah, but can they proof-read websites? Still no.)
Huddersfield Exposed@huddersfield.exposed · 3mo agoJust waiting 'til you check out the binding on this book 🤯
Huge congratulations to Patrice Lawrence on becoming the new Children's Laureate! 🎉 "We are living in a divided world where many people feel isolated - we need this now, more than ever." As a publisher of inclusive, diverse children's books, we couldn't agree more. 💛
⏰ One week to go until the 2026 Carnegie Awards! Who will take home this year’s Carnegie Medals? And which shortlisted books will be chosen by young readers as the Shadowers’ Choice winners? Tune in live on Tuesday 23 June at 12pm to find out. Watch live: carnegies.co.uk/stream/ #Carnegies2026
🚨 Last chance… have your Shadower's voted? There’s still time to share your group’s choices for the #Carnegies2026 Shadowers Choice Awards. Don’t miss the chance to be part of the final results! 🏆 Winner's revealed 23 June 👉 Cast your votes: https://carnegies.co.uk/take-part/vote/
Our next event is tomorrow... and free! Grab a brew and pull up a pew:
NLISN@nlisn.bsky.social · 5mo ago#Free event on the 9th June 10-11am (UK time) Elizabeth Cardoso Fernandes will be discussing the needs and effects of masking and #disability disclosure at two Canadian #university #libraries www.eventbrite.com/e/i-the-mask... #librarian #libraryWorker #workplace #neurodivergent #neurodiversity
Here’s a thing I have learned in my 51 years on this ridiculous planet: human minds are complicated, and the person you think you will NEVER see eye-to-eye with on Tuesday will, occasionally, come up with a take you find yourself agreeing with wholeheartedly on Thursday. For example:
man, university libraries are amazing. you can just ask them to help get some obscure thing and they're like "doing that is actually our job, not only are we good at it but also we are excited to make this happen for you"
Tomorrow night we will hear from Chair of the #IBA Judges, Helen Cleaves and a selection of creators from our 2026 #InformationBookAward shortlist in an online event celebrating the Award. This event is open to anyone with an interest in #childrensbooks: bit.ly/4eWcG8k #factbooks #schoollibrary
Celebrating the Information Book Award 2026
bit.ly
Particularly in the context of (appropriate) crackdowns on LLM-generated papers (e.g., on arXiv) and more and more tales of fabricated citations, two reminders: (1) LLMs do not "cite their sources" (2) Using an LLM to generate, complete, or fix LaTeX code can result in fabricated citations
Had an excellent time at the FCBG conference yesterday. Great conversations being had about engaging reluctant readers, increasing the visibility of authors and making books really accessible. Was fantastic to catch up with publishers and my YLG friends too!
Be careful folks, today is April Fool's Day, which means that the internet will be rife with misinformation and posts designed to deceive. Don't worry though, tomorrow we will be back to normal, and the internet will be rife with misinformation and posts designed to deceive.
after much deliberation and giving AI the benefit of the doubt, Wikipedia editors have had enough of AI slop. New policy bans LLM generated content, periodt www.404media.co/wikipedia-ba...
Wikipedia Bans AI-Generated Content
“In recent months, more and more administrative reports centered on LLM-related issues, and editors were being overwhelmed.”
404media.co
This is also one of the problems for librarianship as a profession. People think we deal with books (object) but in fact we curate information in various formats, which users convert into knowledge through use. Librarianship is NOT all about books.
elizabeth: witch? 🧙 vamp? Both? 🎃@thatelizabeth.bsky.social · 7mo agoThe reification of books (the object) rather than what they contain (knowledge) is a weird idea. I get shit from people for making marginal notes in books i am using for research Chill, folks, books are just objects
Librarians select, acquire, describe, circulate, and preserve information. Selecting books for a school library is a job that people are trained to do. Censorship is a labor issue, an attack on the agency and autonomy of library workers.
Can open, worms everywhere! That said, it’ll certainly be appealed, and probably overturned by the Supreme Court.
Meta and Google found liable in social media addiction trial
The verdict marks the end of a five-week trial on the addictive nature of social media platforms.
bbc.co.uk
Note to self: fewer people have heard of the CRAAP test than you *think* have heard of it, even in situations where you think they would know about it. This brings to mind xkcd2501 m.xkcd.com/2501/ I still maintain that current tools for diagnosing mis- and disinformation also work for ai.
xkcd: Average Familiarity
m.xkcd.com
MILA and the Deep Truth Project are pleased to host a webinar on 'Deepfakes and AI-generated media: what everyone needs to know'. Mon 27 April, 12:30. All welcome, registration link below. Introduced by Ashmita Rajmohan, founder of the Deep Truth Project www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1985914701...
📚 If you are someone who is not super aware of Advanced Search options, then I guess you should read this if you can stand Substack (which you maybe shouldn't). Also, talk to a librarian (even online) to ask if you're actually looking in the right place. Many databases aren't searchable via Google
Rachel Maddow@maddow.bsky.social · 7mo agoI know this has circulated with alacrity recently, so you may have already seen it, but if you haven't... WOW BOY HOWDY it's the most useful thing. Thank you cardcatalogforlife.substack.com -- this is a very very very helpful public service: cardcatalogforlife.substack.com/p/google-has...
My excellent colleague @katiedd.bsky.social has just published this remarkable investigation into rampant book banning in a Greater Manchester secondary school library. 193 books including The Da Vinci Code, Twilight, White Teeth and 1984 Graphic Novel www.indexoncensorship.org/2026/03/scho...
School book banning escalates in the UK as Greater Manchester secondary school censors scores of books - Index on Censorship
A school librarian faced a disciplinary hearing and scores of books were removed from her school library after she stocked Laura Bates’ Men Who Hate Women
indexoncensorship.org
The biggest cause of censorship? Lack of funding. Far more books are never available to children & adults in the first place than are removed (though that's a growing problem too, it's far smaller) www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news... Prison libraries are a right, school libraries should be too
Prison libraries are a right - school libraries should be too say experts
At the London Book Fair, experts including author Juno Dawson discussed why school libraries aren't a legal right, warning that funding cuts and book bans are a threat to children
mirror.co.uk
Prison libraries are a right - school libraries should be too. Read what our CEO Louis Coiffait-Gunn has to say on school library funding, librarian provison and censorship: https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/prison-libraries-right-school-libraries-36861682 #GreatSchoolLibraries
Prison libraries are a right - school libraries should be too say experts
At the London Book Fair, experts including author Juno Dawson discussed why school libraries aren't a legal right, warning that funding cuts and book bans are a threat to children
mirror.co.uk
Happy World Book Day! Today is all about inspiring children and young people to see reading differently, because reading for fun seriously improves lives. #WorldBookDay #GoAllIn #NationalYearOfReading2026 #WorldBookDay2026
CILIP Youth Libraries Group (YLG) annual conference, 12-13 Sep in Oxford #NYoR #GoAllIn www.cilip.org.uk/events/event...
Join Nathanael Lessore, Theo Parish & Tia Fisher, hosted by Jake Hope. Shadowing, AI & creativity, copyright with ALCS + a new ALCS competition. 3 March | 12PM | Online Register: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/HmaQxnFFQGa9ya5YR8t8DA#/registration
