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madison

@beastlibrarian.bsky.social

1.7K followers 3.3K following 270 posts

📍 seattle 📚 art librarian 👩🏻‍🏫 part-time faculty teaching arts librarianship this is an unprofessional account! I’m here for people with librarian in their bio.

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madison @beastlibrarian.bsky.social · Apr 19

how can artists, writers, filmmakers, poets, etc
ever get a creative block
when small town historical newspapers from the 19th century exist

Reposted by madison

Phil Bildner @philbildner.bsky.social · 5h

Students Banned From the Library

Thank you Kelly Jensen and @bookriot.bsky.social for reporting on what's now happening in one Texas school district... just like we feared/knew would happen.

New Braunfels ISD has closed its libraries to middle and high schoolers.

bookriot.com/new-braunfel...

A Texas District Has Just Banned Students from Secondary School Libraries

In order to ban books from its libraries, New Braunfels Independent School District has just closed its libraries to middle and high schoolers.

Reposted by madison

Cascadia Journal @cascadiajournal.bsky.social · 5h

Oh look, Trump hates #Cascadia.

Yonah Freemark @yonahfreemark.com · 6h

Trump admin has frozen or cancelled $28 b for projects, almost all in Dem districts. Small amount of frozen funds in GOP districts are in predominately Dem states (CA, OR, WA, CO, MN, IL, NY, MD), or in predominately Dem cities (St Louis, Atlanta, Greenville) www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Trump admin is freezing or cancelling billions of dollars in funding for projects in Democratic areas.

Reposted by madison

jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 12h

a real water is wet scenario here

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 12h

POLITICO: “.. They referred to Black people as monkeys and ‘the watermelon people’ and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies .. and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.

@politico.com
www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

Reposted by madison

William Carruthers @williamcarruthers.bsky.social · 22h

And, fwiw, how is the labour market universities’ fault? It isn’t, and it would be very useful if people understood this.

Margot Finn @eicathomefinn.bsky.social · 22h

'A “challenging” graduate labour market in the UK could further erode trust in the higher education sector, with the “bad times” showing little sign of ending.'

All the more reason to have a serious, nationwide discussion of what universities do and what they are for.

Faith in universities ‘at new low’ as graduate jobs dry up

Challenging economic conditions may have led to bump in student recruitment numbers this year but experts fear long-term damage after institutions pegged futures to employability agenda

www.timeshighereducation.com

madison @beastlibrarian.bsky.social · 1d

anyway. I wish all academic libraries had community engagement librarians to promote & cultivate programs like this. and to collab with folks outside of the university.

madison @beastlibrarian.bsky.social · 1d

given how so many museum libraries and gallery libraries are getting cut and closed - I’m sure this is happening all over creative orgs - university libraries can step in and help support the work being done at these institutions by offering free borrowing privileges.

madison @beastlibrarian.bsky.social · 1d

lots of places manage to make it happen! when there’s a will there’s a way to help these folks out.

madison @beastlibrarian.bsky.social · 1d

esp when this comes to areas that public libraries don’t/can’t collect extensively in. public libraries are literally the best, but not all have the extensive, historical, research level collections in certain creative disciplines members of our communities might need or want. Not bad, just diff!

madison @beastlibrarian.bsky.social · 1d

we have an institutional borrower’s fee and individual borrower’s fee folks can get for borrowing books. but so many artists and cultural workers just aren’t going to have the money for that. it’s such a small thing we could do to support creative and cultural work in our communities.

madison @beastlibrarian.bsky.social · 1d

I’ve long argued that university libraries (esp pub ones) can and should offer *free* institutional borrowing privileges for those at museums, galleries, theaters, and other artistic, performing arts, & cultural orgs.

folks in power at my current library don’t have the will to make it happen.

Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 8d

Working at a museum without access to a university library means spending 6 years thinking about/reading Mark Twain & his reception and then every time I think I had an original thought it turns out @mattseybold.bsky.social tweeted it out in the form of a peer-reviewed article a decade ago.

madison @beastlibrarian.bsky.social · 1d

looking at you university libraries 👍🏻

Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 1d

This just happened again and it really drives home the extent to which scholarly orgs could build great bridges with museums/historical sites by figuring out how to help them get access to scholarly materials. Those places might, in turn, help support those orgs with people and money.

Erin Grievances @erinbartram.bsky.social · 8d

Working at a museum without access to a university library means spending 6 years thinking about/reading Mark Twain & his reception and then every time I think I had an original thought it turns out @mattseybold.bsky.social tweeted it out in the form of a peer-reviewed article a decade ago.

Reposted by madison

shaka 🦁👑 @beejonson.me · 1d

Weird how western liberals and conservatives are super "pro democracy", but when you suggest a DEMOCRATISATION of the workplace, so that workers can own the means of production; sit on company boards, and get a share of the profits (instead of just wages), they suddenly don't like democracy anymore.

Reposted by madison

Chanda Prescod-Weinstein 🌌 @chanda.blacksky.app · 1d

This is a very big deal 🧵

Deborah McDowell @dem8z.bsky.social · 1d

PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!!

The University of Texas-Austin is beginning a process to eliminate the Black Studies, Latino Studies, and Gender Studies departments in the College of Liberal Arts. This is a grave threat to the educational liberty of students, faculty, staff, and the people of Texas. 1/

Reposted by madison

Micah @rincewind.run · 1d

it is more important to read books you actually enjoy reading than books that are Literature

Rachel Feder @rachelfeder.bsky.social · 1d

Tell me your most unhinged literary opinion, as a little treat

Reposted by madison

Blake Leyh @earlofedgecombe.bsky.social · 3d

If you think you know why US newspapers died, this feature documentary now streaming for free on PBS might surprise you. It wasn't the Internet. Newspapers were specifically targeted by vulture capitalists.

I composed the score for the film, which features electric cello & Crowfoot guitars.

Stripped for Parts: American Journalism on the Brink

A handful of journalists rebel against a hedge fund that is gutting newspapers nationwide.

Reposted by madison

Sarah Pyke @sarahpyke.bsky.social · 2d

I wish someone would do for picture books what Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics does for comics and graphic novels

Reposted by madison

Matthew Parkinson-Bennett @matthewpb.bsky.social · 1d

Returns from a chain bookshop have reduced our sales to a minus figure in the most important sales month of the year.

Please support independent bookshops this Christmas.

Reposted by madison

derek guy @dieworkwear.bsky.social · 2d

It's hard to help Americans left behind because so much of US identity is rooted in individualism. The average American conservative holds all three positions at once:

— Virtue signals about supporting US manufacturing
— Against raising the minimum wage
— Buys foreign imports because they're cheap

HardPass4 on Twitter tweets: "I'm willing to pay more for quality products if they are made in America, by Americans, who are paid a decent income." The tweet shows Norman Rockwell's "Freedom of Speech" painting, which is often used to show the tweeter is expressing a brave opinion.

HardPass4 on Twitter tweets: "MINIMUM WAGE JOBS WERE NOT MEANT TO BE A CAREER. Why does no one understand this? Entry level jobs are STEPPING STONES to better jobs. No one wants to work towards that though."

HardPass4 on Twitter tweets: "Buy $5 gloves instead of $50 ones. Trust me." The tweet shows a box of "Gorilla Grip" gloves.

The label on Gorilla Grip gloves show they're made in China.

Reposted by madison

Ryan Nanni @celebrityhottub.bsky.social · 4d

baseball is the best preparation for death because it does not come with a clock that tells you when your suffering will end one way or the other

Reposted by madison

Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 4d

People think the first thing Gutenberg printed was the Bible. This is false. The first things he printed were a political prophecy, propaganda about the Turks’ threat to Christendom, & a popular school text. If you want a parallel to AI, that’s it: making $ from conspiracies, racism, & school slop.

Olivia Guest · Ολίβια Γκεστ @olivia.science · 4d

really nice piece on this btw from @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social sonjadrimmer.com/blog-1/2025/...

"The Printing Press Democratized Knowledge": When Slogans Masquerade as History — Sonja Drimmer

The phrase is said so frequently it seems, like the mechanism it celebrates, to mechanically replicate itself.  It's become a favorite catchphrase among tech boosters of any sort (see my post on...

sonjadrimmer.com

Reposted by madison

Schnickelfritz 🍻 @schnickilfritz.bsky.social · 4d

God I love baseball

Posts from Aaron Rupar and Chris Hayes.

Aaron Rupar: This Mariners-Tiger battle is one of the best baseball games I've ever seen.

Chris Hayes: This game is deranged.

Reposted by madison

Soraya Nadia McDonald @sorayanadiamcdonald.com · 4d

I think a lot about how Michelle Obama remarked on regularly being in rooms with the most powerful and wealthy people in the world and her chief takeaway was that they're just not that smart

Reposted by madison

Barred and Boujee aka Madiba Dennie @audrelawdamercy.bsky.social · 4d

aaand we are officially in the hide-your-neighbors stage

Sophie Sherry @sophiesherry.bsky.social · 4d

During a military-style raid on a building in Chicago’s South Shore, one resident heard a knock on his door.   It wasn’t the feds — it was a mom and her 7-year-old daughter, pleading for help.

He let them hide in his unit for the next 3 days.

chicago.suntimes.com/immigration/...

Neighbor shielded 7-year-old during South Shore federal raid: ‘I didn’t want them to take her’

During the Sept. 30 raid one tenant protected a terrified girl and her mom. Remnants at the complex, including a detailed map of all the units, offer clues to what authorities may have known before th...

chicago.suntimes.com

Reposted by madison

Slackermom @slackermom.bsky.social · 4d

Was just at a neighborhood school at dismissal. Hundreds of people with whistles surrounding the school and stationed down every block making sure ICE doesn’t snatch anyone. The same is happening at all the schools around here. I love my neighborhood and I love Chicago.

Reposted by madison

Clare Hooper @clarehooper.bsky.social · 4d

Open letter on the future of small press publishing in the UK.

www.thebookseller.com/comment/open...

Open letter on the future of small press publishing in the UK

The industry must work together to ensure the longevity of the UK’s independent presses.

www.thebookseller.com