Nostr notes by John Overholt

Bringing weaving patterns from a 300-year-old notebook back to ...

2026-04-12T14:08:11Z

Bringing weaving patterns from a 300-year-old notebook back to life on the loom. https://www.folger.edu/blogs/collation/drafting-narratives/

Misogynists drove out the only charter female member of the ...

2026-04-06T15:08:35Z

Misogynists drove out the only charter female member of the American Chemical Society. That's not 21st century sensibilities talking--that's what they called themselves. https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/the-misogynist-dinner/

The perfect neighborhood if you hate getting pizza delivered ...

2026-03-17T14:29:47Z

The perfect neighborhood if you hate getting pizza delivered successfully.

The Wellcome Collection has digitized the sketchbook of Emily ...

2026-03-01T16:01:56Z

The Wellcome Collection has digitized the sketchbook of Emily Madden, a Victorian girl documenting the fantastical adventures of her cat, Mouton. https://wellcomecollection.org/works/rzwecsjy via [@metafilter](https://mefi.social/@metafilter )

Always a sign that things are going great when there's a ...

2026-02-20T13:23:02Z

Always a sign that things are going great when there's a prominent "Ask me about my lawsuits!" button on your homepage.

I don't disagree that we are at the stage of having overseas ...

2026-01-29T13:59:22Z

I don't disagree that we are at the stage of having overseas conferences on how to protect US cultural heritage and historical records from a regime bent on erasing them, but it's still striking to see. https://www.ucl.ac.uk/laws/events/2026/mar/state-united-states-safeguarding-knowledge-when-memory-becomes-political

@npub1zgt…c69a Huge backup of folks waiting for the 77 and 96 ...

2026-01-28T22:22:11Z

Universal Hub (npub1zgt…c69a) Huge backup of folks waiting for the 77 and 96 at Harvard.

Can someone older than me let me know when it stops being scary? ...

2026-01-27T14:33:58Z

Can someone older than me let me know when it stops being scary? TIA. https://uwmspeccoll.tumblr.com/post/806835037422157824/milestone-monday-jules-feiffer

Nostr event nevent1qqstpqgca7e5uj8aucv2a797ecjl9qydt5ndk088l4sz84sjupwlerszyqqyy6zg7qaymfpjyeggnsapujvhqejta4axgzgayu3h7q7tx7hhkl6mgsf

2026-01-25T02:32:39Z

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Massacre

Alaska Art Student Arrested for Eating Another Student’s ...

2026-01-20T17:44:05Z

Alaska Art Student Arrested for Eating Another Student’s AI-Generated Art in Protest https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/alaska-art-student-arrested-eating-ai-generated-art-protest-1234770081/ via Calishat (npub1ua0…ccmx)

My colleague the Curator of Printing and Graphic Arts just got ...

2026-01-13T17:56:51Z

My colleague the Curator of Printing and Graphic Arts just got something amazing—a Spanish technology encyclopedia from the 1910s full of multilayer plates to see inside all the machines.

PSA: I’m turning 55 next month, and there’s an issue with ...

2026-01-11T18:47:43Z

PSA: I’m turning 55 next month, and there’s an issue with people who got vaccinated for measles around the same time I did as a kid having waning immunity. I got tested and it turned out I had no immunity, so I got revaccinated this week. Don’t listen to the science deniers: measles is not a trivial disease if you’re 5 or 55 and we can no longer rely on herd immunity.

A week after Pearl Harbor, an Italian professor at Penn details ...

2026-01-11T15:41:34Z

A week after Pearl Harbor, an Italian professor at Penn details the Fascist persecution that forced him to flee the country. https://uniqueatpenn.wordpress.com/2026/01/07/my-desire-of-breathing-a-free-air-giorgio-levi-della-vida-letter-as-an-enemy-alien-december-1941/

My brain woke me up to tell me that everyone’s very clever in ...

2026-01-10T12:30:50Z

My brain woke me up to tell me that everyone’s very clever in the Canny Valley.

Mrs. Chicken, are you trying to seduce me? ...

2025-12-30T15:31:49Z

Mrs. Chicken, are you trying to seduce me?

The simple edit you need to make Fairytale of New York usable is ...

2025-12-24T01:11:30Z

The simple edit you need to make Fairytale of New York usable is “braggart”. You’re welcome.

I'm taking a shift as the lobby greeter this morning and my ...

2025-12-22T15:31:19Z

I'm taking a shift as the lobby greeter this morning and my most important role so far has been chasing down people who tentatively peer in the door but are afraid to come in. By god you're going to experience the joy of special collections if I have anything to say about it!

The 1884 case that established the precedent that even if ...

2025-12-17T17:38:41Z

The 1884 case that established the precedent that even if you’re shipwrecked and starving, it is not OK to just decide you’re going to eat the cabin boy. https://www.harvardmagazine.com/politics-and-law/harvard-law-school-cannibalism-ethics

Fediverse Gone Wild ...

2025-12-17T02:42:42Z

Fediverse Gone Wild

I’m sure it’s nothing. ...

2025-12-16T19:15:25Z

I’m sure it’s nothing.

This is surely much more of this than you actually want, but we ...

2025-12-12T20:44:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…t27l
_________________________

This is surely much more of this than you actually want, but we have digitized all of our accession records from our opening until 1983. https://listview.lib.harvard.edu/lists/drs-432564916

We paid $70,000 in current dollars for the Declaration of ...

2025-12-12T20:35:35Z

We paid $70,000 in current dollars for the Declaration of Independence in 1947, approximately a 99% discount on what it would cost you today.

Did I buy this to complement the American cookbook collection at ...

2025-12-03T18:27:45Z

Did I buy this to complement the American cookbook collection at the Schlesinger Library and because it has a contemporary female ownership inscription? Yes.

Did I buy it because it calls people who work in food preparation the "Officers of the Mouth"? Also yes.
#NewAcquisition

At the rate I go through letterhead and business cards I’ll ...

2025-11-18T20:30:01Z

At the rate I go through letterhead and business cards I’ll have to restock if I stay in this job another century or two.

This is a sheet of unused turnpike tickets from an 18th century ...

2025-11-17T20:08:41Z

This is a sheet of unused turnpike tickets from an 18th century English toll road. Something like this is so completely unremarkable in its time that it almost never survives, but in this case it was used as wastepaper to fill out a binding, and then recently discovered inside. #NewAcquisition

I'm learning a lot about my distinguished colleague President ...

2025-11-17T14:00:15Z

I'm learning a lot about my distinguished colleague President Summers. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/11/17/summers-epstein-wing-man-woman-described-as-mentee/

Verify you are human: click here to feel ongoing anxiety about ...

2025-11-17T13:43:26Z

Verify you are human: click here to feel ongoing anxiety about whether you badly handled a minor interaction the other person involved forgot about 10 seconds later.

“You know what happened to the last man who crossed me? I ate ...

2025-11-15T16:34:52Z

“You know what happened to the last man who crossed me? I ate him.”

I had the Quiet Car booked for a 6 1/2 hour ride to Baltimore, ...

2025-11-13T20:52:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…h4ge
_________________________

I had the Quiet Car booked for a 6 1/2 hour ride to Baltimore, but my train got cancelled and I had to take whatever they could squeeze me into. (I have to change seats in NYC because there wasn’t one free the entire way.)

Maybe Amtrak should have just one “People are Allowed to Talk ...

2025-11-13T20:36:17Z

Maybe Amtrak should have just one “People are Allowed to Talk Car.”The default is all wrong here.

Plur1bus Step Up 2 the Streets M3gan L4yer Cake 5nal Destination ...

2025-11-12T14:35:57Z

Plur1bus
Step Up 2 the Streets
M3gan
L4yer Cake
5nal Destination
Se7en
The H8ful Eight

(Is there a 6 out there I’m missing?)

FedEx is sending a package from the city in which I live, to the ...

2025-11-12T13:16:56Z

FedEx is sending a package from the city in which I live, to the city where I work a few miles away, via Chicago. I wish they’d let me know sooner, I could have just swung by and saved everyone a lot of trouble.

VAXXED 2 THA MAXX By which I mean I just got my COVID ...

2025-11-11T20:09:56Z

VAXXED 2 THA MAXX

By which I mean I just got my COVID vaccination, got flu a few weeks ago, and I’m getting my measles antibodies checked now that we’ve managed to save it from the verge of extinction.

I’m turning 55 in a few months and I have decided that’s old ...

2025-11-07T17:15:52Z

I’m turning 55 in a few months and I have decided that’s old enough that I can buy this hat without being that guy. I just want to keep my head warm and look put together, and I promise not to say “Llllladies…” at any point.

Everybody who vowed to leave New York, please note that you have ...

2025-11-05T02:43:29Z

Everybody who vowed to leave New York, please note that you have two weeks to do so, beginning at midnight.

I don’t have a rooting interest in the World Series, but I do ...

2025-11-02T02:40:20Z

I don’t have a rooting interest in the World Series, but I do know who’d be mad if Canada won.

“Apologies came back from the [AI-cheating] students, first in ...

2025-11-02T01:21:35Z

“Apologies came back from the [AI-cheating] students, first in a trickle, then in a flood. The professors were initially moved by this acceptance of responsibility and contrition… until they realized that 80 percent of the apologies were almost identically worded and appeared to be generated by AI.” https://arstechnica.com/culture/2025/10/when-caught-cheating-in-college-dont-apologize-with-ai/

News you can use: How to Spot a Poison Book (If you grew up on ...

2025-11-01T16:04:04Z

News you can use: How to Spot a Poison Book (If you grew up on Mr. Yuk ads like I did, it turns out that was good training.) https://blogs.lib.ku.edu/spencer/how-to-spot-a-poison-book/

Eager to drum up anti-Mamdani stories for his right-wing ...

2025-10-30T23:05:26Z

Eager to drum up anti-Mamdani stories for his right-wing newspaper a (London) Times reporter interviewed a completely different Bill DeBlasio without confirming his identity. The Long Island wine importer used ChatGPT to script the answers he gave through his Ring Doorbell while away in Florida. I am not making this up. https://www.semafor.com/article/10/29/2025/british-newspaper-spoke-to-the-wrong-deblasio-not-an-imposter

Ever since I was bitten by a radioactive Cis ...

2025-10-29T15:27:52Z

Ever since I was bitten by a radioactive Cis

University of Alabama Special Collections, you have misunderstood ...

2025-10-29T13:48:00Z

University of Alabama Special Collections, you have misunderstood the assignment. https://cdm17336.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p17336coll2/id/153

There’s lots of nice book history in this video of the recently ...

2025-10-26T01:26:36Z

There’s lots of nice book history in this video of the recently refurbished Spaceship Earth ride at EPCOT Center, but I must protest that Gutenberg should not be standing in front of a stack of bound volumes—before the industrialization of printing in the 19th century, buyers largely received unbound sheets and took them to their own binder. https://youtu.be/nnt5jYvY62c?si=G5oewMFy_8R_UUjK

A great exhibition idea from my colleagues at the Fine Arts ...

2025-10-21T13:27:43Z

A great exhibition idea from my colleagues at the Fine Arts Library: "Trying to Forget: The Removal of Figures from Early Photographic Images." https://harvardfineartslib.tumblr.com/post/798016873966026752/editing-photographs-wasnt-so-easy-before-the

@npub1l3c…kj65 Can a headline be a perfect sentence? (For me, ...

2025-10-21T01:22:05Z

Ingrid Burrington (npub1l3c…kj65) Can a headline be a perfect sentence? (For me, it’s the “once again”.)
https://flipboard.com/@smithsonianmag/smartnews-343feuq8z/-/a-ViCGpoucReSpn0wlhKfhSA%3Aa%3A2586892611-%2F0

ACRL has laid off the conference planner who made it possible to ...

2025-10-20T23:02:45Z

In reply to nevent1q…0uaw
_________________________

ACRL has laid off the conference planner who made it possible to put on the RBMS conference for 23 years, and it’s devastating.

The Save Our Signs archive preserves 10,000 National Park Service ...

2025-10-19T14:06:26Z

The Save Our Signs archive preserves 10,000 National Park Service signs at risk of government censorship for accurately describing American history. https://www.infodocket.com/2025/10/13/digital-collections-save-our-signs-archive-containing-over-10000-photos-of-national-park-service-nps-interpretive-materials-launches-online/

They’re talking about astronaut ice cream on a podcast I’m ...

2025-10-19T03:13:46Z

They’re talking about astronaut ice cream on a podcast I’m listening to and I’m having an intense Proust’s madeleine experience.

Huh, it’s just a GIF of Pete Campbell yelling “Not great, ...

2025-10-16T17:26:06Z

Huh, it’s just a GIF of Pete Campbell yelling “Not great, Bob!”

If I had tried to guess the date of this image in isolation, I ...

2025-10-16T16:50:29Z

If I had tried to guess the date of this image in isolation, I would have been pretty far off. https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/le-brun-human-animal-hybrids/

Everyone knows that President Washington's farewell address ...

2025-10-16T13:24:00Z

Everyone knows that President Washington's farewell address to the nation doesn't rhyme. What my book presupposes is, what if it did?

At auction, an iPhone 1 sealed in box, estimated $8,000-12,000. ...

2025-10-16T12:40:47Z

At auction, an iPhone 1 sealed in box, estimated $8,000-12,000. https://www.bonhams.com/auction/31199/lot/1243/apple-iphone-1-sealed-in-original-box-apple-iphone-1-8gb-smartphone-2007/

We know about MK-Ultra, the CIA’s spectacularly illegal and ...

2025-10-12T13:40:10Z

We know about MK-Ultra, the CIA’s spectacularly illegal and immoral experimental mind control project, because while the CIA director ordered all the records destroyed, he missed the ones classified as budgetary records rather than project records. Cataloging matters! https://specialcollections.princeton.edu/2025/10/the-cias-quest-for-mind-control-piecing-together-project-mk-ultra-and-its-princeton-connections-part-i-allen-w-dulles-class-of-1914/

"Harvard will lay off roughly 25 percent of staff represented ...

2025-10-09T19:47:53Z

"Harvard will lay off roughly 25 percent of staff represented by its clerical and technical workers’ union at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and reorganize several offices in response to mounting funding pressures" https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/10/10/seas-staff-25-percent-layoffs/

I don't know if it's quite there yet, but like the floppy ...

2025-10-08T19:48:21Z

I don't know if it's quite there yet, but like the floppy disk save icon this is increasingly a symbol for which users have no real-world reference.

Wow, the beta version of the new catalog is way more powerful ...

2025-10-08T12:40:40Z

Wow, the beta version of the new catalog is way more powerful than I thought! My first wish, obviously, is going to be for three more wishes.

Ted Cruz should know that Wikipedia has robust systems in place ...

2025-10-07T22:25:57Z

Ted Cruz should know that Wikipedia has robust systems in place for unbiased information from the fact that it doesn’t list him as the Zodiac Killer or his dad as JFK’s assassin.

The UGA Library is fundraising for the restoration of a 1980 ...

2025-10-06T21:51:55Z

The UGA Library is fundraising for the restoration of a 1980 documentary about the burgeoning Athens music scene that gave birth to the B-52s and REM. https://give.uga.edu/funders/inside-out-funder/

So the good news is that the Harvard visiting professor arrested ...

2025-10-06T11:05:55Z

So the good news is that the Harvard visiting professor arrested for shooting a pellet gun at a synagogue on Yom Kippur was not motivated by antisemitism, but was merely hunting rats. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/10/6/gouvea-synagogue/

Either you can read, or you can believe it’s an open question ...

2025-10-05T14:31:33Z

Either you can read, or you can believe it’s an open question whether people born in the U.S. are citizens.

Either you can read, or you can believe it’s an open question whether Trump can legally run for President in 2028.

Competent journalism on these subjects should indicate whether the author can read.

When you have a shift staffing the Houghton Consultation Room, ...

2025-10-03T17:10:19Z

When you have a shift staffing the Houghton Consultation Room, the new scheduling system puts an event in your calendar called "C.R. Desk" and I suspect I am never not going to hear this to the strains of Beauty and the Beast.

Good news: The Harvard Gazette is going to come and do a story on ...

2025-10-02T15:42:30Z

Good news: The Harvard Gazette is going to come and do a story on my Banned Books Week popup exhibition next Thursday afternoon! (Open to the public, please stop by if you're around.) https://libcal.library.harvard.edu/event/15380035

Bad news: I have a week to make sure I'm at published-in-Harvard's-official-newspaper levels of knowing what I'm talking about.

I'm going in a couple of hours to get this year's flu ...

2025-10-01T14:53:08Z

I'm going in a couple of hours to get this year's flu vaccination. I neglected a lot of important health stuff for many years because (among other reasons) of intense needle-phobia. I have lately adopted this advice, substituting "anxiety" for "cat".

We're getting to the time of year when it's important to ...

2025-09-29T18:40:10Z

We're getting to the time of year when it's important to have a qualified visual inspection of household chimneys to guard against hazardous obstructions, so don't forget to get your flue shot.

What the hell, Autocomplete? ...

2025-09-29T14:11:56Z

What the hell, Autocomplete?

Dr. Sophie Herzog was buried in 1925 at the age of 79 in a ...

2025-09-28T13:45:25Z

Dr. Sophie Herzog was buried in 1925 at the age of 79 in a necklace made of the bullets she extracted from the bodies of Wild West gunslingers. https://circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov/2025/09/25/doctor-sophie-herzog-the-gunfighters-physician/

Nostr event nevent1qqspehhgkrhrwtjagahl0uwczkr8l66lltfyhla54vzzv03hc522s8czyqqyy6zg7qaymfpjyeggnsapujvhqejta4axgzgayu3h7q7tx7hhkhg92sc

2025-09-26T11:03:45Z

Ten Watergates a day is a DDOS on American democracy.

"Harvard School of Public Health Dean Andrea A. Baccarelli ...

2025-09-24T12:35:25Z

"Harvard School of Public Health Dean Andrea A. Baccarelli received at least $150,000 to testify against Tylenol’s manufacturer in 2023 — two years before he published research used by the Trump administration to link the drug to autism, a connection experts say is tenuous at best." https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/9/24/autism-dean-public-health/

Harvard Gazette covers the new exhibition I co-curated ...

2025-09-23T17:16:52Z

Harvard Gazette covers the new exhibition I co-curated "Fashion Police." https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/09/how-fashion-police-have-been-walking-beat-for-centuries/

"Over the past five years, SHARP has supported 25 scholars ...

2025-09-22T17:58:02Z

"Over the past five years, SHARP has supported 25 scholars through its Research Development Grants for BIPOC Scholars. The decision to stop issuing these grants stems from the potential risk to SHARP's non-profit status as a US-registered organization, a risk posed by an Executive Order that seeks to ban the privileging of a person's racialized identity in selection and evaluation processes." https://mailchi.mp/2298b4dd36f8/your-sharp-membership-12749099?e=32e244dcf2

New term of abuse just dropped. ...

2025-09-22T15:15:57Z

New term of abuse just dropped.
https://flipboard.com/@smithsonianmag/smartnews-343feuq8z/-/a-5hee_y8zThWPKoWXqqftiQ%3Aa%3A2586892611-%2F0

I’m old enough to remember when a website would take no for an ...

2025-09-22T01:17:40Z

I’m old enough to remember when a website would take no for an answer instead of just “ask me again tomorrow “.

A new online exhibition at the Grolier Club showcases the ...

2025-09-20T14:55:01Z

A new online exhibition at the Grolier Club showcases the manuscript treasures of the Jewish Theological Seminary. https://grolierclub.omeka.net/exhibits/show/jewish-worlds-illuminated

I am in awe at the level of obsessive nerdery on display ...

2025-09-20T01:37:44Z

I am in awe at the level of obsessive nerdery on display here—using a CT scanner (in Cambridge!) to see inside espresso pucks. https://youtu.be/CX-aoSKLRzg

Notoriously financially precarious Harvard University. ...

2025-09-19T22:21:29Z

Notoriously financially precarious Harvard University. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/9/20/harvard-heightened-cash-monitoring/

Check out the cool poster my colleague made for my special Banned ...

2025-09-19T20:43:56Z

Check out the cool poster my colleague made for my special Banned Books Week popup exhibition!

I can’t say your message is convincing me of the scrupulousness ...

2025-09-19T18:59:46Z

I can’t say your message is convincing me of the scrupulousness of the work that went into this publication.

A really good example of iron gall ink burn--it's acidic and ...

2025-09-18T18:59:09Z

A really good example of iron gall ink burn--it's acidic and can sometimes eat through the paper over time. https://nrs.lib.harvard.edu/urn-3:fhcl.hough:106468728?n=281

Apparently it is impossible to describe an area where cars have ...

2025-09-18T16:34:06Z

Apparently it is impossible to describe an area where cars have no access purely in an American context. https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/09/18/metro/harvard-square-block-traffic/

Unintended consequence to putting the preferred browser ...

2025-09-16T12:26:15Z

Unintended consequence to putting the preferred browser information in the title of the course in the CMS.

Just into September, Harvard students have already maxed out the ...

2025-09-11T12:34:25Z

Just into September, Harvard students have already maxed out the university's outsourced mental health services contract for the year, which feels like an indicator of something. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/9/11/timely-care-september-appointments-canceled/

The Harvard Gazette covers our just-opened Edward Gorey ...

2025-09-09T12:45:34Z

The Harvard Gazette covers our just-opened Edward Gorey exhibition The Gloomy Gallery. I worked as the lobby greeter for an hour yesterday and by our modest standards it's a doorbuster, people are really excited to come see it. https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2025/09/g-is-for-gorey-whos-ghastly-and-great/

She’s considering the environment Before printing this message

2025-09-06T00:52:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…vz2k
_________________________

She’s considering the environment
Before printing this message

Censored passage in a work by Erasmus. Heavy applications of iron ...

2025-09-05T19:23:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…t26m
_________________________

Censored passage in a work by Erasmus. Heavy applications of iron gall writing ink can burn through paper over time.

Sweet, my new toy came! Um, I mean essential research tool. ...

2025-09-05T12:16:20Z

Sweet, my new toy came!

Um, I mean essential research tool.

Rare opportunity to introduce a stranger on the bus to some of my ...

2025-09-04T20:30:28Z

Rare opportunity to introduce a stranger on the bus to some of my favorite podcasts.

The decision from United States District Judge Allison D. ...

2025-09-03T21:47:51Z

The decision from United States District Judge Allison D. Burroughs hands Harvard a summary judgment win on core constitutional grounds, finding that the administration’s freeze orders were retaliation for protected speech. https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2025/9/4/harvard-funding-order/

The Curator of Printing and Graphic Arts posted on Teams “Come ...

2025-09-02T19:27:44Z

The Curator of Printing and Graphic Arts posted on Teams “Come to the large classroom if you like type” so I hustled down there and got to help her sort a gorgeous font of wood type that l’s going to the printing studio.

Not sure what happened to my brain over the last few months but ...

2025-09-02T13:17:53Z

Not sure what happened to my brain over the last few months but it was a bit of a shock to find the campus awash in students this morning.

This image reminds me of the fact that there used to be clippings ...

2025-08-30T13:47:20Z

This image reminds me of the fact that there used to be clippings services that you could pay to look through all the newspapers and cut out everything about a particular subject and organize them for you. (I never worked with such a service, unless you count my late father.) https://blogs.library.columbia.edu/rbml/2025/08/27/archiving-the-red-scare-in-the-new-yorks-schools-and-colleges/

The bustle of Paris street life, a lace pattern book, and other ...

2025-08-30T13:35:06Z

The bustle of Paris street life, a lace pattern book, and other new acquisitions at the Folger Shakespeare Library. https://www.folger.edu/blogs/collation/new-acquisitions-part-i/ cc [@mem_somerville](https://mastodon.social/@mem_somerville )

When is a book not a book? When it's a blook--a book-like ...

2025-08-28T13:36:27Z

When is a book not a book? When it's a blook--a book-like object. This summer's Rare Book School lecture by Mindell Dubansky, the world expert on these pseudo-books, is available on YouTube. https://youtu.be/SsTUbRhUYDs?feature=shared

I got a new Roku last year, that was pretty sweet.

2025-08-28T13:05:09Z

In reply to nevent1q…xsan
_________________________

I got a new Roku last year, that was pretty sweet.

Next week marks my 21st anniversary at Houghton Library and I ...

2025-08-28T13:01:03Z

Next week marks my 21st anniversary at Houghton Library and I think the accomplishment I'm proudest of in that span is that I have never had to create a LinkedIn account.

Upon further reflection, at the point where I decided there ...

2025-08-28T01:15:16Z

Upon further reflection, at the point where I decided there wasn’t enough peanut butter in the jar to save and I should just start eating it straight, there was in actual fact enough peanut butter to save.

In fairness, I can’t believe it either. ...

2025-08-27T16:34:15Z

In fairness, I can’t believe it either. https://mashable.com/article/google-ai-1995-30-years-ago

Yes, it was probably cataloged in the card days, but didn’t ...

2025-08-26T16:28:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…tn3k
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Yes, it was probably cataloged in the card days, but didn’t make the transition to the online catalog.

The call number is the identifier by which it’s located on the ...

2025-08-26T16:16:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…wsa4
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The call number is the identifier by which it’s located on the shelves. We used to use an information dense but labor intensive system that encodes the place and time of publication and the author of the work, so knowing that I could figure out where it should be located.

I don’t know if I’m neurodivergent or not, but I did just ...

2025-08-26T14:35:10Z

I don’t know if I’m neurodivergent or not, but I did just spend the last hour reverse engineering the call number of a 1657 postal law that a bookseller offered us for $2000 that secondary sources said we had already but wasn’t listed in our online catalog.

“Please, do not have a panel called ‘Women in SF.’” wrote ...

2025-08-16T13:07:01Z

“Please, do not have a panel called ‘Women in SF.’” wrote Ursula K. LeGuin to an organizer of the 1979 World Science Fiction Convention. “I will be on one called ‘Men in SF’ if you like.” https://manuscriptsandmore.liverpool.ac.uk/?p=8752

The Library of Congress’s massive offsite storage facility at ...

2025-08-16T12:58:57Z

The Library of Congress’s massive offsite storage facility at Fort Meade just acccessioned its ten millionth item, with more on the way. https://blogs.loc.gov/preservation/2025/08/ten-million-books-and-counting/