#ARA2026 packed out room for the Digital Collecting Strategies workshop - we have a small group sitting on the floor at the back (note to self, stop chatting to people outside and get to sessions on time)

I'm obviously looking forward to ARA Conference for the chance to see people, hear interesting talks, be challenged etc. But I'm also really looking forward to the weather.

100 years ago my granny was 21 and a freshly qualified new primary school teacher. I'd rather be given my grandfather's job, which was "inspector of the poor" (social work). I think the motorbike he had to get round was optional rather than part of the job though.

Revan@revan.eurosky.social · last wk.

Enough “what would you do on the commune questions” If you got sent back 100 years and were given your grandparent’s job, what are you doing?

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

A digital preservation question - if you take in hard drives/CD-roms/floppy disks etc, what do you do with the physical thing when you've transferred the files?

Temperature now ideal for sitting in the garden with a glass of Aeolian Island wine (admittedly the sunflower photo is a set up) #ConfinedCocktails

An unexpected morning in Venice. Instead of sleeper and trains, we’re now having to go to Verona to fly home otherwise we wouldn’t be back in time for work!

We made it to Venice and there is complimentary Prosecco #ConfinedCocktails

UK #DEAL ALERT! One clickers unite because THE INCANDESCENT @emilytesh.net is on #sale on #Kindle UK for today only! amzn.to/4vh2mfn #TheIncandescent #ad #amazonuk

The Incandescent

Dr Walden is the Director of Magic at Chetwood School and one of the most powerful magicians in England.

amzn.to

Slowly making our way up Italy by train, we’ve got 2.5 hours in Venice to get dinner before a sleeper train. Does anyone have any recommendations for decent places conveniently close to the station? (Extremely specific request, I know!)

This thread, but this post in particular because they’re also cutting the archivists.

Margot Finn@eicathomefinn.bsky.social · last mo.

Then they turned on the historians. Because it was best for no one to keep records of this sorry tale, much less to subject that archive to analysis. 4/9

The North is the A9 from Inverness to Wick. The North-West is everything west of that and above the Great Glen. The North-East is everything east of the Cairngorms and north of Dundee. These things can be debated. Manchester, Liverpool, Lake District, Newcastle? Don't waste our time. Southerners.

Today we’re going from Sicily to Salerno, which means we’re getting the train that goes on a boat! Starting in Milazzo this morning, with bonus pic of the Aeolian islands from Lipari from yesterday.

A travesty, and also I would point out that it would be better for everyone - better for the refugee, better for integration, cheaper for the state - if we just let refugees work.

Ian Dunt@iandunt.bsky.social · last mo.

A travesty. What in God's name is the matter with her. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

The Palermo archaeology museum has turtles in their decorative pool!

You can go on the roof of Palermo Cathedral and there are views and a breeze and it didn’t give me vertigo!

Made it to Palermo, via many trains and half a day in Milan. So far, so hot.

Voting now open for the ARA Excellence Awards 2026. Find details of all the nominees for New Professional, Record Keeper and Recordkeeping Service of the Year - plus the voting link here www.archives.org.uk/ara-awards Vote closes 5pm on 16 July.

Spent Father’s Day doing a mock grading for my kickboxing brown belt (not doing the full version any time soon). Given my dad was a judo black belt, this seemed kind of fitting? And so the time passes.

Got to talk about something relevant to my university senior honours course today, so feeling very smug about proving wrong all those people I knew 20+ years ago who told me a history degree wouldn't be useful.

Proper long evening in the Highlands, this was 10pm!

If you've not read Persepolis, I have three copies to give away. It's a phenomenal books. UK only.

Hannah Nicholson 🦭 🖤🩶🤍💜🇵🇸@tooriekep.bsky.social · 2mo ago

Heartbroken to hear that Marjane Satrapi has died. Her long term partner died last year and that clearly hit her really hard but still, 56 is no age. If you've not read 'Persepolis' now would be the time to do it.

The evergreen position of being relieved I'm not an archives listserv moderator anymore.

Nominations are open for the ARA Excellence Awards - read why you should be nominating someone (or a recordkeeping service) for these awards: www.archives.org.uk/news/ara-exc...

ARA Excellence Awards — Archives & Records Association

The Archives and Records Association Excellence Awards recognise excellence and contributions by individuals and teams in our sector. They celebrate the achievements of record keeping professionals a...

archives.org.uk

Archives aren't dusty, and if cataloguing was funded properly we'd "find" a lot more stuff!

The Guardian@theguardian.com · 3mo ago

A ‘lost’ Vaughan Williams song is exciting news but what else remains to be ‘found’?

Lovely to have to dodge hail on my trip between buildings in *checks notes* mid-May.

Yesterday Kier Starmer announced Labour will nationalise British Steel, and save 2700 jobs. Today, the Uni of Nottingham put 2700 staff at risk of redundancy. This is just one university. Across the UK 15,000 higher education jobs need saving. Where is the rescue package for our universities?

Very much a UK archives post here, but: Given recent events, people really shouldn't send stuff to the archives mailing list with the title "for posting on the archives list" - my first thought was it was going to be bad and even though I'm no longer a list mod it was an instant stress response.

If you see this post something orange from your gallery.

Nina Baker@ninabake2.bsky.social · 3mo ago

If you see this post something orange from your gallery

If you’re keeping wine for “an occasion” please just drink it. This advice brought to you by someone who has just had to empty 20 bottles of wine down the sink, none of them with an intact cork, and who will not be drinking red wine for some time.