Tessera

Martin O Connor

@martinoconnor.bsky.social

Librarian. Communications Coordinator at University College Cork Library. LAI / CILIP Ireland Library Staff Champion 2021. Libfocus. Blackpool Sentinel. Shush! Sounds from UCC Library I'm here for Libraries, Music & anything else you fancy

299 Posts1819 Follower 548 Folgt

Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Glounthaune train station earlier this evening.

L

A calm coastal scene with rippling blue water at low tide. In the foreground, wet sand curves along the shoreline, and a small cluster of rocks rises from the shallow water. Seagulls float and skim across the surface. In the background, a long stone bridge with arches stretches across the water, with trees lining the far shore under a pale blue sky.

A calm river scene with several birds flying low over rippling water. Dark patches—possibly rocks or vegetation—break the surface. In the distance, a tree-lined riverbank is visible along with a large industrial structure, such as a bridge or crane. Soft, warm light.

Sunlight reflects brightly off a rippling body of water, creating a shimmering trail. On the left, a dark, tree‑lined shoreline appears in silhouette beneath a

UCC Library @ucclibrary.bsky.social · 6mo ago

UCC Library is hiring a Scholarly Communications Librarian! Lead Open Research initiatives, manage CORA & UCC Journals, and shape scholarly publishing. Permanent, whole-time. Closing 24 March. More info www.ucc.ie/en/hr/vacanc...

A recruitment graphic announcing a job opening for a Scholarly Communications Librarian. The background shows a person reading an academic book outdoors beside a laptop and smartphone. Text on the image states the position title and the closing date of 24 March 2026.

Recruitment graphic.
The text on graphic reads as UCC Library is looking for an exceptional Scholarly Communications Librarian to join our ambitious Research Services team.

The Scholarly Communications Librarian will play a vital role in making UCC’s high-quality research publications openly accessible to the benefit of all.

In addition, the post holder will develop, assess and lead efforts in improving scholarly publishing across UCC, which will entail further service and policy development in line with the Library’s Vision & Plan 2024–2028

TUS Library Midlands @tuslibrarymidlands.bsky.social · 6mo ago

Our #oerofthemonth is our new pressbook Your Essay Builder: Clear steps to plan and structure by Roisin Kelly The book provides a starting point to reduce stress, prevent overwhelm & support learning preferences. Scan the QR code in the image below to view. #essaybuilder #tuslibrary #tusopenpress

Stephen Roddy @stephenroddy.bandcamp.com · 7mo ago

Had a great chat with @martinoconnor.bsky.social on @shushradio.bsky.social. We played some good music too! You can listen back here: soundcloud.com/shush-radio-...

Shush 313 - Stephen Roddy Takeover Show

This week my guest is Stephen Roddy Stephen is a Composer and Media Engineer working in Sound and Music Computing (SMC) at the Radical Humanities Lab and the Department of Digital Humanities at Unive

soundcloud.com

Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Just published in Health Sciences Library Journal: “We all have a story to tell…” a piece I wrote on why librarians should write and share what they do what colleagues across the profession journals.ucc.ie/index.php/hs...

We all have a story to tell: Why Librarians Should Write about and Share what they do | Health Sciences Libraries Journal

journals.ucc.ie

Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · 9mo ago

AI creating a jobs drought for young people, and it will only get worse, recruiter warns www.irishtimes.com/business/wor...

AI creating a jobs drought for young people, and it will only get worse, recruiter warns

James Reed warned vacancies ‘haven’t even hit rock bottom yet’, but impact is being felt

irishtimes.com

UCC Library @ucclibrary.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Love this article by our Learning and Teaching team setting out how they have worked together to strengthen their combined evidence synthesis skills to support research across @ucc.ie

libfocus@libfocus.bsky.social · 9mo ago

Our Latest guest post by Siobhan Bowman, Paul Breen, Stephanie Chen, Breeda Herlihy, Ronan Madden & Ben Williamson of UCC Library is now available. They write about learning together to strengthen evidence synthesis skills and support research across campus. www.libfocus.com/2025/11/libr...

Aodh Q @aodhquinlivan.bsky.social · 10mo ago

'Leading the Way', written with John Ger O'Riordan and Anne Twomey and published by Cork City Libraries is being launched by the Lord Mayor on 11 November 🚀. It is the 11th book with my name on the cover and I am proud of all of them! @ucc.ie @jfcryan.bsky.social @joh2024.bsky.social

Aodh Q @aodhquinlivan.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Excited by my takeover of shushradio.bsky.social from 11.00-12.00 on Monday. We'll be playing lots of music (heavy metal all the way!), talking about libraries, books, local government and fantasy football. Tune in if you can! 📻 @ucc.ie @ucclibrary.bsky.social @uccstafffpl.bsky.social

Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · 10mo ago

British Library reissues Oscar Wilde’s pass 130 years after it was revoked over gay conviction jrnl.ie/6846388

British Library reissues Oscar Wilde’s pass 130 years after it was revoked over gay conviction

Wilde was convicted in England of “gross indecency” under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, which criminalised same-sex relationships.

jrnl.ie

Alan Kelly @akellyucc.bsky.social · 10mo ago

I very much enjoyed being invited on the @shushradio.bsky.social radio show (link to recording below) and being able to pick my own songs (great fun, but difficult choices had to be made!) and also having a great chat about libraries (they give us power you know), food science and much more.

Shush! Sounds from UCC Library@shushradio.bsky.social · 10mo ago

Latest Takeover show is now available @akellyucc.bsky.social Head of Food & Nutritional Sciences. and Co-Director of UCC Futures in Food, Microbiome & Health joined me and we talked @ucclibrary.bsky.social , libraries, research, music & cheese and played some great tunes. bit.ly/Shush304

Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · 11mo ago

I'm looking forward to my next Takeover show on Shush. Alan promises to be a great guest and his music selection, let's just say, is right up my indie street... (with one or two left field choices )

Shush! Sounds from UCC Library@shushradio.bsky.social · 11mo ago

@akellyucc.bsky.social, Head of UCC’s School of Food & Nutritional Sciences, joins me for a Shush Takeover on Monday morning at 11am We’ll talk about his work and research, his connection to libraries, and his music selection. Tune in on UCC 98.3FM or catch up on our podcast later

Alan Kelly holding a large block of yellow cheese in front of industrial food processing equipment. He is wearing a blue jacket over a light blue shirt. Text below reads: 'TAKEOVER SHOW ALAN KELLY MONDAY 11 – 12

Shush! Sounds from UCC Library @shushradio.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Tune in to Shush! Sounds from UCC Library on UCC 98.3FM, Monday at 11am. I’m kicking off our first takeover show of the 2025/26 academic year with a very special guest — @lizjolly.bsky.social , UCC’s new Librarian. Expect an hour of great music and library chat. www.ucc.ie/en/news/2025...

A smiling woman with short dark hair and glasses sits outdoors holding a glass of wine. She is wearing a black outfit, with a stone wall and iron railings behind her. Text on a purple border reads: “Takeover Show – Liz Jolly – Monday 11–12.

Shush! Sounds from UCC Library @shushradio.bsky.social · 11mo ago

Shush! Sounds from UCC Library is back on air tomorrow, 11–12 on UCC 98.3 FM. This first show of the year features music chosen by colleagues from UCC Library. Tune in at 11 to hear their selections. Listen live at www.ucc.ie/en/983fm/

A professional recording setup featuring a large microphone with a pop filter mounted on a boom arm. In the background, a screen displays the bold red text “ON AIR,” indicating a live broadcast. A caption below reads: “A WELCOME BACK SHOW MONDAY AT 11,”

Cork University Press @corkup.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Looking forward to seeing you at our Symposium next week. bit.ly/CUPSymposium 📘 Session 1: Paul McSweeney on Urban Milk Supply. Síle Ní Mhurchú on Dánta Gráda. Iarla Ó Lionáird on Irish Music. Cormac Ó Gráda on Cork’s Economic History Other session details to follow

Richard Ovenden @richove.bsky.social · 12mo ago

I had the pleasure of being in discussion in Sydney last week with the legendary David Marr on ABC’s Late Night Live concerning libraries, book banning and the fight for knowledge.

Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · 12mo ago

Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents (1998) feels eerily prescient today. I doubt she could have imagined just how close America would come to her vision.

Photo of a book page from Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents, page 177. The passage reads

11
From EARTHSEED: THE BOOKS OF THE LIVING

Choose your leaders
with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward
is to be controlled
by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool
is to be led
by the opportunists
who control the fool.
To be led by a thief
is to offer up
your most precious treasures
to be stolen.
To be led by a liar
is to ask
to be told lies.
To be led by a tyrant
is to sell yourself
and those you love
into slavery.

Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · 12mo ago

The first copy of #IntoTheGroove is here! I am so delighted with it. Thanks to my supportive, generous first readers: @quantick.bsky.social, @davidstubbs.bsky.social, @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social, @wadeywade.bsky.social and @juderogers.bsky.social. Out in the UK on Thur 2 Oct. @eandtbooks.bsky.social

Front cover of
INTO THE GROOVE:
THE 1980S:
The Ultimate Decade in Music History
by Justin Lewis (me)

Inside front cover:
The eighties was one of the most innovative periods in the history of pop music - and even forty years on remains one of the best loved, championed by radio, television, advertisements, theatre and films, with many of the key acts still performing and recording.

Into the Groove is a tale of pop and circumstance. It charts the global state of pop music month by month from January 1980 to December 1989, highlighting a wide variety of events and tracing the career paths of hundreds of noteworthy acts around the world, from Salt-N-Pepa to the Sugarcubes, Kate Bush to Kraftwerk, Run-DMC to INXS, and Neneh Cherry to Youssou N'Dour.

It celebrates genres of all kinds - the enduring and the faddish, the mainstream and the underground, post-punk and acid house, heavy rock and electronic, hip hop and teen pop. And it showcases many of the decade's landmark recordings, figures and events, while also revealing plenty of intriguing lesser-known stories to create a wry and diverse musical tapestry.

The perfect gift for any music lover or eighties aficionado, Into the Groove is an endlessly entertaining homage to the 1980s.

£16.99

Jacket author bio for Into the Groove:

JUSTIN LEWIS is a writer, researcher and editor, who grew up during the 1980s and even started writing and presenting for local radio before the decade ended. He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of popular music and a deep understanding of what makes it such a passion for so many people. He was been an editor, writer and contributor to various print and online music publications for more than thirty years, including The Guinness Book of Hit Singles and The Rough Guide to Rock. His most recent book is Don't Stop the Music: A year of Pop History, One Day at a Time. He lives in Swansea, in Wales.

ELLIOTT & THOMPSON (publishers)

Back cover reviews:

TRAVEL BACK TO THE 1980S...
and discover an epic collection of remarkable facts, notable events and fascinating anecdotes from the decade's diverse and inventive music scene.

'Justin Lewis tells pop's never-ending story brilliantly. Every day he writes the book, and the book is amazing.'
DAVID QUANTICK, Emmy Award-winning writer and novelist

'Forensic, forthright and downright unputdownable, the perfect pop book for anyone who came of age (or indeed anybody else) during pop's giddiest and most experimental decade.'
IAN WADE, author of 1984: THE YEAR POP WENT QUEER

'Like a treasure chest of pop riches... I loved this book!'
SAMIRA AHMED, journalist and broadcaster

Additional reviews:

'A brilliantly detailed topography of probably the greatest of all pop decades, the 1980s, whose music even those unborn back then still live with and love on a daily basis. Invaluable both for pop fans and pop historians.'
DAVID STUBBS, music journalist

'A delightful, curious compendium, full of flipsides to pop’s glossiest decade'
JUDE ROGERS, music journalist and broadcaster

𝐔𝐧𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐂𝐫𝐚𝐛 @johnxuandou.bsky.social · last yr.

This is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed, the craft here is impeccable.

Paul McSweeney @paulmcs.bsky.social · last yr.

Was out for a walk today and (honestly) my first thought was “Isn’t that shop very handy now for people at a match…” 😖

Hannah Shelley, MLIS (Metadata, Lattes & Impostor Syndrome)@hannahshelley.site · last yr.

Since search is dead, how soon do you think Google Scholar is headed for the Google Graveyard? I'm betting it's soon, and academia is NOT prepared

Google Scholar Is Doomed

Academia built entire careers on a free Google service with zero guarantees. What could go wrong?

hannahshelley.neocities.org

Cork University Press @corkup.bsky.social · last yr.

Celebrate 100 years of Cork University Press, Ireland’s oldest university press Join us Thu 11 Sept in UCC’s Dora Allman Room for a symposium on landmark works, from Dánta Grádha to the award-winning Atlas Series, (plus an evening reception.) Free & open to all www.eventbrite.com/e/cork-unive...

Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · last yr.

A great article from @kenanmalik.bsky.social on how AI is not necessarily the problem, it’s a society, and a university sector, that devalues education and knowledge as a positive thing in itself. Put this and AI into the mix and the result could be bad.

Kenan Malik@kenanmalik.bsky.social · last yr.

“It is less that AI is the cause of degradation in reading and thinking, and more that the creation of a culture that views knowledge primarily in an instrumental manner has made it easier to misuse AI.” My ‪@theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · last yr.

I was not expecting to see this in Eason, Patrick Street, Cork, today

UCC Library @ucclibrary.bsky.social · last yr.

UCC Library is currently hiring for Two roles: Learning Support Librarian Deadline: 5 August, 12pm Head of Special Collections & Archives Deadline: 19 August, 12pm More info and applications: www.ucc.ie/en/hr/vacanc...

Job advertisement featuring two open positions: 'Learning Support Librarian' with a closing date of 05 August 2025, and 'Head of Special Collections & Archives' with a closing date of 19 August 2025. The text 'We are hiring a' appears at the top in green. The background shows a modern building with large windows and surrounding trees

UCC Library @ucclibrary.bsky.social · last yr.

UCC Library is recruiting a Head of Special Collections & Archives. Lead the development, digitisation, and promotion of our rare books, manuscripts & archives. Apply by 12pm, 19 Aug: www.ucc.ie/en/hr/vacanc...

UCC Library @ucclibrary.bsky.social · last yr.

We’re delighted to welcome @lizjolly.bsky.social as our new University Librarian. With a notable career in academic and national libraries, most recently as Chief Librarian of the British Library, Liz brings a wealth of leadership & vision to UCC. We very much look forward to working with her.

A person with shoulder-length brown hair, wearing a black top, stands in front of blurred bookshelves. Their face is obscured. Text on the image reads: 'Liz Jolly' and 'We are delighted to say that Liz has joined UCC as University Librarian

Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · last yr.

I really really enjoyed @28dayslayter.bsky.social I intentionally read nothing about it before hand. (Didn’t watch trailer) It was far artier than I expected. (Sort of Shane Meadows meets Video Nasties imo) On reflection & reading I realise how many things I missed. 2nd /3rd viewings required.

Three people in historical or fantasy-style clothing wade through a shallow river, holding onto a rope for support. Trees and rocks line the riverbank in the background

Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · last yr.

One of our crafty neighbours has created these beautiful birdhouses. Every time I walk by I marvel at the planning, patience blood sweat and tears that must have went into them.

Karl McDonald @karlusss.bsky.social · last yr.

Wrote for Vittles about Irish cuisine in London - our ambivalent relationship to our own food, the Yellow Bittern, the Devonshire, posh chicken fillet rolls, deep-fried rabbit, the Blaskets diet and being a country of Europe instead of Britain's mirror. www.vittlesmagazine.com/p/trial-and-...

Trial and Éire

On the new Irish cuisine in London. By Karl McDonald. Photography by Michaël Protin.

vittlesmagazine.com