Lesley Pitman
@lesleypitman.bsky.social
Librarian at large. Chair of CILIP ILIG. Used to be a Slavonic librarian. Posts a random mix of libraries, Russia, food (gluten free) and the joys of life in Tooting.
https://hcommons.org/members/lesleypitman/
https://hcommons.org/members/lesleypitman/
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
Everybody has a right to make their own mind up, informed by a range of good information - that's power. It's also a fundamental issue for our profession. Yet is under attack. CILIP members & non-members can join this new #IntellectualFreedom Committee www.cilip.org.uk/news/713670/...
November 26, 2025 at 10:30 AM
Everybody has a right to make their own mind up, informed by a range of good information - that's power. It's also a fundamental issue for our profession. Yet is under attack. CILIP members & non-members can join this new #IntellectualFreedom Committee www.cilip.org.uk/news/713670/...
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
The @scottpolar.bsky.social are looking for a librarian. This is a rare opportunity! Work with (probably) the world's largest dedicated polar library alongside archive and museum colleagues. The dream 😍
📜
📜
Librarian
The Library of the Scott Polar Research Institute is one of the most comprehensive collections of published polar information in the world. This highly specialist reference collection, which attracts
www.cam.ac.uk
November 25, 2025 at 8:45 PM
The @scottpolar.bsky.social are looking for a librarian. This is a rare opportunity! Work with (probably) the world's largest dedicated polar library alongside archive and museum colleagues. The dream 😍
📜
📜
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
“a restoration team from Gaza's Ministry of Religious Endowments is painstakingly retrieving historical manuscripts, rare volumes, and archival documents — some nearly 700 years old — from beneath the rubble.”
The secret mission to save Gaza's historical artefacts
Palestinians scramble to save centuries-old books and manuscripts before they are lost
With a ceasefire in effect in Gaza, a restoration team is painstakingly retrieving historical manuscripts, rare volumes, and archival documents from beneath the rubble of a destroyed mosque.
www.rnz.co.nz
November 23, 2025 at 10:41 AM
“a restoration team from Gaza's Ministry of Religious Endowments is painstakingly retrieving historical manuscripts, rare volumes, and archival documents — some nearly 700 years old — from beneath the rubble.”
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
This is on the X account of the UK Home Office. A Labour government.
Where is this country going?
I would like to remind the British government that among the taxpayers in the UK there are millions of non-British people.
#notonationalism #migrantsarenotcriminals
Where is this country going?
I would like to remind the British government that among the taxpayers in the UK there are millions of non-British people.
#notonationalism #migrantsarenotcriminals
November 22, 2025 at 12:21 PM
This is on the X account of the UK Home Office. A Labour government.
Where is this country going?
I would like to remind the British government that among the taxpayers in the UK there are millions of non-British people.
#notonationalism #migrantsarenotcriminals
Where is this country going?
I would like to remind the British government that among the taxpayers in the UK there are millions of non-British people.
#notonationalism #migrantsarenotcriminals
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
I used to handle interlibrary loans for a public library. ILL is a magnificent expression of the idea that readers deserve books, and books deserve readers. It’s libraries everywhere pooling their resources for the benefit of everyone.
Killing IMLS could have killed ILL.
This is great news. 📚
Killing IMLS could have killed ILL.
This is great news. 📚
Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries IMLS
librarytechnology.org/pr/31973
librarytechnology.org/pr/31973
Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries
Press Release: Court permanently blocks Trump's executive order to dismantle federal agency for America's libraries. The U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island struck down the Trump Adm...
librarytechnology.org
November 22, 2025 at 3:23 PM
I used to handle interlibrary loans for a public library. ILL is a magnificent expression of the idea that readers deserve books, and books deserve readers. It’s libraries everywhere pooling their resources for the benefit of everyone.
Killing IMLS could have killed ILL.
This is great news. 📚
Killing IMLS could have killed ILL.
This is great news. 📚
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
On Holodomor Remembrance Day, Ukrainians light a candle at 4 pm
and place it on the windowsill to honor the millions who died in the 1932-1933 famine.
🕯️4 pm in Ukraine
and place it on the windowsill to honor the millions who died in the 1932-1933 famine.
🕯️4 pm in Ukraine
November 22, 2025 at 2:07 PM
On Holodomor Remembrance Day, Ukrainians light a candle at 4 pm
and place it on the windowsill to honor the millions who died in the 1932-1933 famine.
🕯️4 pm in Ukraine
and place it on the windowsill to honor the millions who died in the 1932-1933 famine.
🕯️4 pm in Ukraine
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
Latest update from @britishlibrary.bsky.social says they are launching a new version of their main catalogue on Monday 8 December and around that time also launch an interim version of their Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue. Hooray!
www.bl.uk/stories/news...
www.bl.uk/stories/news...
Restoring our services – November 2025 update
In the coming weeks and months we will be restoring a number of key functions.
www.bl.uk
November 22, 2025 at 12:19 PM
Latest update from @britishlibrary.bsky.social says they are launching a new version of their main catalogue on Monday 8 December and around that time also launch an interim version of their Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue. Hooray!
www.bl.uk/stories/news...
www.bl.uk/stories/news...
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
Today is Holodomor remembrance day, one of the worst human rights atrocities of the 20th century.
If you are wanting to know more, this episode of @originstorypodcast.bsky.social is excellent, featuring justifiable moral outrage from @iandunt.bsky.social and @dorianlynskey.bsky.social
If you are wanting to know more, this episode of @originstorypodcast.bsky.social is excellent, featuring justifiable moral outrage from @iandunt.bsky.social and @dorianlynskey.bsky.social
🚨NEW EPISODE🚨 Welcome back to Origin Story: The Story of Socialism as we resume the story of Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin in part three @iandunt.bsky.social and @dorianlynskey.bsky.social discuss Terror 👉 linktr.ee/originstoryp...
#originstory #lenin #trotsky #stalin
#originstory #lenin #trotsky #stalin
November 22, 2025 at 10:04 AM
Today is Holodomor remembrance day, one of the worst human rights atrocities of the 20th century.
If you are wanting to know more, this episode of @originstorypodcast.bsky.social is excellent, featuring justifiable moral outrage from @iandunt.bsky.social and @dorianlynskey.bsky.social
If you are wanting to know more, this episode of @originstorypodcast.bsky.social is excellent, featuring justifiable moral outrage from @iandunt.bsky.social and @dorianlynskey.bsky.social
Good grief the abuse the London Mayor gets is terrible. Systematic, orchestrated and vile. I hope he doesn’t see much of it. Probably a waste of time, and a drop in the ocean, but I just reported a comment on FB. We do what we can.
November 22, 2025 at 1:20 PM
Good grief the abuse the London Mayor gets is terrible. Systematic, orchestrated and vile. I hope he doesn’t see much of it. Probably a waste of time, and a drop in the ocean, but I just reported a comment on FB. We do what we can.
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
The Witkoff-Dmitriev plan is even more amateurish than I imagined. It favours Russia although does contain elements that Russia will not like. Premature leaking means that it is no more than work in progress. Here is an annotated version (This is free). open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...?
The Witkoff-Dmitriev peace plan annotated
We now know a bit more about the process which led to the new peace plan and we now have a copy of its contents, to which I will turn soon.
open.substack.com
November 21, 2025 at 11:36 AM
The Witkoff-Dmitriev plan is even more amateurish than I imagined. It favours Russia although does contain elements that Russia will not like. Premature leaking means that it is no more than work in progress. Here is an annotated version (This is free). open.substack.com/pub/samf/p/t...?
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
Harvard Law School Library releases first complete set of digitized Nuremberg Trials records
hls.harvard.edu/today/harvar...
hls.harvard.edu/today/harvar...
Harvard Law School Library releases first complete set of digitized Nuremberg Trials records - Harvard Law School
Harvard Law School's Nuremberg Trials Project has finalized the first complete, keyword searchable online collection of more than 750,000 pages of Nazi war tribunal documents.
hls.harvard.edu
November 21, 2025 at 11:33 AM
Harvard Law School Library releases first complete set of digitized Nuremberg Trials records
hls.harvard.edu/today/harvar...
hls.harvard.edu/today/harvar...
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
Hire some experienced senior (and Chartered) librarians, invest in recovering from the cyber attack. Sensible as ever from Hetan
The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care?
The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity
www.cityam.com
November 19, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Hire some experienced senior (and Chartered) librarians, invest in recovering from the cyber attack. Sensible as ever from Hetan
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
Huge win for Missouri and for all libraries. Thank you to MASL, MLA, the ACLU, and everyone involved! @la-cac.org #FReadom
www.stlpr.org/government-p...
www.stlpr.org/government-p...
Missouri court strikes down book ban law that pushed libraries to remove hundreds of titles
A law creating a misdemeanor offense for school employees who supply ‘sexually explicit material’ to students is now void.
www.stlpr.org
November 19, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Huge win for Missouri and for all libraries. Thank you to MASL, MLA, the ACLU, and everyone involved! @la-cac.org #FReadom
www.stlpr.org/government-p...
www.stlpr.org/government-p...
Seeing a lot of muddled reporting today. There is nothing illegal about seeking asylum. It is a human right.
November 17, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Seeing a lot of muddled reporting today. There is nothing illegal about seeking asylum. It is a human right.
Great to see this important piece from one of my favourite authors.
‘Why children's books matter’ – the keynote speech at the Booker Prize 2025 ceremony was given by Penelope Lively, the only author to have won both the Booker Prize and the Carnegie Medal for children's writing.
youtu.be/a8SdOg94uiQ
youtu.be/a8SdOg94uiQ
Penelope Lively on why children's books matter | The Booker Prize
YouTube video by The Booker Prizes
youtu.be
November 17, 2025 at 11:32 AM
Great to see this important piece from one of my favourite authors.
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
"Given that the UK needs more graduates with languages qualifications, the task of universities is not to accelerate the decline of language learning but to find ways to bolster their student intakes."
The universities of Nottingham and Leicester are taking a swing at language departments. But those proposing closures have taken their eye off the ball, say four linguists
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/latest-threat-uk-modern-languages-yet-another-faux-pas
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/latest-threat-uk-modern-languages-yet-another-faux-pas
November 14, 2025 at 9:58 AM
"Given that the UK needs more graduates with languages qualifications, the task of universities is not to accelerate the decline of language learning but to find ways to bolster their student intakes."
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
The universities of Nottingham and Leicester are taking a swing at language departments. But those proposing closures have taken their eye off the ball, say four linguists
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/latest-threat-uk-modern-languages-yet-another-faux-pas
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/latest-threat-uk-modern-languages-yet-another-faux-pas
November 14, 2025 at 7:05 AM
The universities of Nottingham and Leicester are taking a swing at language departments. But those proposing closures have taken their eye off the ball, say four linguists
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/latest-threat-uk-modern-languages-yet-another-faux-pas
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/opinion/latest-threat-uk-modern-languages-yet-another-faux-pas
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
🌍 42.5m refugees
Over 70% of them are hosted by low- and middle-income countries.
🇬🇧 548k refugees
= 0.78% of the UK population.
It is not refugees who tear our country apart, it is the mainstreaming of far right policies. And that’s a risk to all of us.
My letter to my MP.
#asylum #Mahmood
🧵
Over 70% of them are hosted by low- and middle-income countries.
🇬🇧 548k refugees
= 0.78% of the UK population.
It is not refugees who tear our country apart, it is the mainstreaming of far right policies. And that’s a risk to all of us.
My letter to my MP.
#asylum #Mahmood
🧵
![Dear [my MP’s name],
As the Home Secretary prepares to announce sweeping changes to the UK’s asylum system, I see it as both my duty as a citizen and responsibility as a migration expert to do all I can to urge policymakers to oppose the proposals—not only for what they will do to refugees, though that is the first concern, but also for what they will mean for all of us and the future society we live in.
That is why I am writing to you as my MP. This letter explains why I consider the need to oppose the Home Secretary’s proposals urgent and, at the most fundamental level, in the national and your constituents’ interest.
I was born in Germany, a country whose history taught me how quickly societies can go down dark paths; how quickly our leaders can fail in the choices they make. But the history of the displacement of people that the Nazi regime was responsible for also shaped my understanding of why refugee movements occur—and why our response to any of them can never compromise what are, and must always be, universal human rights.
Which is why what is happening in the UK now is so deeply alarming.
A manufactured crisis
As of June 2025, there were 42.5 million refugees globally. Over 70% of them are hosted by low- and middle-income countries; most of them immediate neighbours. Overall, five countries—Colombia, Germany, Türkiye, Iran and Uganda—host a third of the total number of refugees; Germany is the main host in the EU, hosting 2.7 million.
The UK hosts 548,000 refugees; that is 0.78% of the UK population. About 110,000 people are in receipt of asylum support; that is 0.15% of the UK population.](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bru4h6s37w4hfmwhetu7veye/bafkreidmewc5timbx7nh57qyq7lm7gmhvclzidmloqhwgckpnegnddoicq@jpeg)
November 16, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
Hey Labour
Remember the majority of voters who believe in treating people decently and not stealing from those who've endured months and years of hardship fleeing war and persecution to seek a place of safety?
We're still over here 👋
Remember the majority of voters who believe in treating people decently and not stealing from those who've endured months and years of hardship fleeing war and persecution to seek a place of safety?
We're still over here 👋
November 17, 2025 at 7:49 AM
Hey Labour
Remember the majority of voters who believe in treating people decently and not stealing from those who've endured months and years of hardship fleeing war and persecution to seek a place of safety?
We're still over here 👋
Remember the majority of voters who believe in treating people decently and not stealing from those who've endured months and years of hardship fleeing war and persecution to seek a place of safety?
We're still over here 👋
A Sunday morning walk in Tooting, and who do I bump into but Dan Leno, the music hall star.
November 16, 2025 at 12:51 PM
A Sunday morning walk in Tooting, and who do I bump into but Dan Leno, the music hall star.
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
The only Legitimate Concerns about asylum seekers are concerns for their well being and safety. For a rich country like ours to incessantly whine about these people as if we are their victims is perhaps the single most pathetic spectacle in British politics over the past quarter century.
November 16, 2025 at 7:19 AM
The only Legitimate Concerns about asylum seekers are concerns for their well being and safety. For a rich country like ours to incessantly whine about these people as if we are their victims is perhaps the single most pathetic spectacle in British politics over the past quarter century.
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
Someone should ask Starmer and Mahmood whether they think the Kindertransport, for example, should have been a return ticket. Whether Alf Dubs, rather than becoming a Labour MP and now Lord, ought to have been sent back with his family to Czechoslovakia once it was liberated from German rule.
This contribution to the volume of human misery is yet another policy from Labour based on a false premise, in this case that refugees are overly attracted to Britain. It will increase bureaucratic limbo, thus making worse the problem of "cohesion" it purports to solve.
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
UK set to limit refugees to temporary stays
Shabana Mahmood is expected to say the era of permanent protection for refugees is over, in major changes to the UK's asylum and immigration system.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 15, 2025 at 9:05 AM
Someone should ask Starmer and Mahmood whether they think the Kindertransport, for example, should have been a return ticket. Whether Alf Dubs, rather than becoming a Labour MP and now Lord, ought to have been sent back with his family to Czechoslovakia once it was liberated from German rule.
It must be me. I dislike and worry about the endurance challenges that are part of Children in Need and other big charity fundraising efforts. I really don’t want to watch someone harm themselves and I choose the charities I support by other criteria.
November 14, 2025 at 7:04 PM
It must be me. I dislike and worry about the endurance challenges that are part of Children in Need and other big charity fundraising efforts. I really don’t want to watch someone harm themselves and I choose the charities I support by other criteria.
Having a play with ChatGPT today, as I do occasionally, and it is complimenting me on subtle and insightful questions. Simultaneously pleasing and weird.
November 12, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Having a play with ChatGPT today, as I do occasionally, and it is complimenting me on subtle and insightful questions. Simultaneously pleasing and weird.
Reposted by Lesley Pitman
The Oxford University Press has begun a collective consultation process, which The Bookseller understands, if approved, would result in 113 redundancies 👇 #BookSky
Oxford University Press enters collective consultation 'proposing 113 redundancies'
ebx.sh
November 12, 2025 at 10:55 AM
The Oxford University Press has begun a collective consultation process, which The Bookseller understands, if approved, would result in 113 redundancies 👇 #BookSky