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.
Emma Merkling
@emmamerkling.bsky.social
Lecturer (Assist. Prof.) in British Art @manchester.ac.uk | c19 Horror/Occultism @cncsi.bsky.social | Co-Host @drawingbloodpod.bsky.social | Writing & teaching c19 British art & science | Victorian ecologies, bodies, occultisms, subjectivity | they/she 👻🔮
I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful
'Its outsourced guards are barred from the building’s high-quality “hub” – bright and airy recreation rooms that are available to the institution’s mainly white employees. They are not allowed to take their breaks there, or even sit in that area.' 1/2
National Gallery security staff segregated like ‘second-class citizens’, curator claims
Exclusive: Outsourced guards, largely from minority ethnic backgrounds, barred from staff hub for mainly white employees
theguardian.com
"Students anted to know what their classmates thought rather than what a large language model produced; they wanted to wrestle with difficult readings+complex ideas. They didn’t want to outsource any of this effort to gen AI. They wanted to do the work.” www.insidehighered.com/opinion/care...
Students as Conscientious Objectors to Gen AI (opinion)
We should listen to them—and treat their objections with respect.
insidehighered.com
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
Kudos to Liverpool for actually running a 2-phase proof-of-concept pilot of Copilot rather than rushing to universal roll out. That universities that pride themselves on their research status have adopted a roll out first, test maybe later approach is telling. (And that Copilot is opted for, ditto).
Caution urged over blanket roll-out of AI to staff and students
Several universities have committed to giving everyone access to latest technology, but expert says a more nuanced approach is needed
timeshighereducation.com
it's a monday afternoon at the end of july, of course we're writing syllabi against-a-i.com is here for you! and if you're a humanities teacher who's developed materials you'd like to contribute as we glow up for fall, PLEASE SEND! against-a-i.com
AGAINST AI -
against-a-i.com
Many in the migrants' rights sector have been warning about exactly this. AI is absolutely not suitable for being used in asylum cases. Not only because of the risk of "hallucination", but also because it is unable to deal with the nuance and complexity. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...
Home Office used ‘AI hallucinated’ information to refuse asylum claim, judge suggests
Upper tribunal unable to find document cited in case and claims it is ‘analogous to relying on bogus evidence’
theguardian.com
‘Anthropic described the project as “our effort to disruptively scan all the world’s books” in an internal memo, which noted “we do not want it to be known that we are pursuing this project”.’
Eli Valley@elivalley.bsky.social · last wk.Dystopia www.news.com.au/technology/o...
How about we make education about the fundamentals of being able to navigate the world and democratic citizenship, and leave workplace training until the actual workplace. Local business needs aren't one thing, and they change quickly (and even more quickly). www.theguardian.com/politics/202...
Burnham to tell schools in England to adapt teaching to local business needs
PM wants curriculums for students aged 14 and above to be more responsive to local jobs market
theguardian.com
Cities dismantled their tram networks to become “motor cities of the future”. The result? You could travel further within 30 mins via public transport in 1957 than you can in 2026. Cities are seeking billions to rebuild networks. Incredible piece of work this.
The Exchange@theexchangeleeds.bsky.social · 2w agoIf you stood on Briggate at 8am on a weekday in 1957, and stood there again in 2026, in which year could you reach more of the city in half an hour? Samuel Bancroft has crunched the numbers. Since the 1950s, Leeds has got bigger - but the city has effectively shrunk.
Just spotted this @nhm-london.bsky.social blog on 'Beyond Botany': a very cool project about c18th–19th women illustrators of natural history, recently completed by Isobel Elstob, Carol Adlam, and @andreahart.bsky.social, based in @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social: www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/...
The women who drew the natural world | Natural History Museum
Exploring research into the historical contribution of female artists to natural history illustration, challenging traditional ideas about who could contribute to the study of natural history.
nhm.ac.uk
The table of contents for the Cambridge Companion to Literature and the Weird is now available on the Cambridge site:
The Cambridge Companion to Literature and the Weird | Cambridge University Press & Assessment
cambridge.org
We are hiring a new Editorial Fellow who specialises in pre-1800 CE history from any part of the globe 🌍 👉 this 2-year fellowship runs from October 2026 - September 2028 👉 this role is paid and part-time (3 hours per week) 👉 the application deadline is Friday 7 August Please share widely!
Call for Applications: Editorial Fellowship at History Workshop, 2026
History Workshop is seeking to appoint one Editorial Fellow in 2026, with specialism in pre-1800 CE history from any part of the globe.
historyworkshop.org.uk
#TheVictorianBookoftheDead Three different boxes for mourning pins. These were used to fasten veils to mourning bonnets and often had black or white bead heads, although some were merely lacquered or enamelled black.
Great to see the Guardian champion the SHAPE (Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences) subjects, but this piece gives impression that they are expensive, whereas many are 'cheap to teach' subjects subsidising more expensive subjects, mainly in STEM and medicine. The crisis demands better understanding.
The Guardian view on humanities cuts in universities: academic departments are more than cost centres | Editorial
Editorial: Literature, the arts and social sciences must not be sacrificed as higher education funding is squeezed
theguardian.com
Microsoft is planning to build three massive AI data centres in Leeds. It’ll drain thousands of litres of water from the River Aire & be the city's biggest carbon emitter. We can still stop the council's final sign-off, but we need more voices. Add your name: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/pr...
Stop the Microsoft AI megasite in Leeds!
Microsoft wants to build three huge AI data centres at Skelton Grange. It would drain the River Aire and become the city's biggest carbon emitter. We can still stop it - add your name to the petition.
you.38degrees.org.uk
We don’t need education about ethical *use* of AI; we need more education in how it is being *used on* and against us. 2/n
My heart is heavy that we are making a collective miscalculation in undervaluing the humanities - from my FT piece www.ft.com/content/fbde...
The Social Security data breach is a national-security disaster that could hurt Americans for the rest of their lives: whistleblower Every American’s personal data is at risk of fraud after DOGE’s alleged mismanagement. www.marketwatch.com/story/the-so...
The Social Security data breach is a national-security disaster that could hurt Americans for the rest of their lives: whistleblower
Every American’s personal data is at risk of fraud after DOGE’s alleged mismanagement, Social Security’s former chief data officer tells MarketWatch.
marketwatch.com
‘Few healthcare experts disagreed that data-sharing across the NHS needed to be improved, but many doctors had misgivings about the prospect of some of Britain’s most sensitive data being handed over to Palantir.’ @petergeoghegan.bsky.social and @lucasamin.bsky.social: www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v4...
Peter Geoghegan and Lucas Amin · ‘This looks absolutely rubbish’: Palantir and the NHS
A decade ago Palantir was largely unknown in the UK. It now holds public contracts worth hundreds of millions of pounds...
lrb.co.uk
In addition to today's data on staffing in UK HE, @britishacademy.bsky.social has produced several briefings, including one on the very significant decline in early career academics, 2012-24: bit.ly/4wGBTcl History has seen a 32% decline in early career staff numbers since 2012/13 #Skystorians 1/2
I’m (shocker) talking about ether and Evelyn De Morgan’s (meta)physics! Looking forward to it
Dr Emily Vincent@dremilyvincent.bsky.social · 3w agoLooking forward to presenting on ‘Scriptotherapy and Spiritualism’ from my forthcoming CUP monograph at the ESHS/HSS History of Science conference in Edinburgh. We’re on at 9.15am tomorrow on a #ESHS spiritualism panel with @dreframss.bsky.social @emmamerkling.bsky.social @irmorus.bsky.social 👻 ✍️ 📚
TIL Johnny Appleseed was a Swedenborgian! A beautiful review and full of important correctives on faith and masculinity and c19 America
Ashley Rattner@ashleyrattner.bsky.social · 3w agoI see we're talking about masculinity again, so here's a Johnny Appleseed review I wrote when I was a baby:
Anyone in London on 22 July, why not join us @treadwells-books.bsky.social for a soirée about 'performing magnetism'? www.treadwells-london.com/events-1/mag...
Magnetism in the 19th Century – Talk & Soirée | Treadwells
A panel of scholars explore the cultural power of magnetism across entertainment, medicine and magic. Drinks follow.
treadwells-london.com
Following the reports that the Trump administration is abandoning the decade old plan to put a portrait of Harriet Tubman on the $20, a reminder that African American women did appear on 19th century bank notes, but always as enslaved laborers either picking or holding cotton, sugarcane, or tobacco:
Heads up, Goths: Ruth Heholt and Mariaconcetta Costantini’s wonderful volume on ‘Gothic Masculinities in the Victorian Age’ has just been published in our Elements series. Available on OA for the next 2 weeks @angelawright1794.bsky.social @ruthheholt.bsky.social www.cambridge.org/core/element...
Gothic Masculinities in the Victorian Age
Cambridge Core - English Literature: General Interest - Gothic Masculinities in the Victorian Age
cambridge.org
Keen to hear from any British-based historians looking for freelance research work. Happy to hear from all backgrounds and experiences.
