M
@mlibrarian.bsky.social
Library worker. Cataloging and collections.
“By teaching us how to read, they had taught us how to get away.” - Robert C. O'Brien
“By teaching us how to read, they had taught us how to get away.” - Robert C. O'Brien
Reposted by M
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stay strong everybody! the things we do with students really do matter, and even the most vanishingly small moments of connection —stuff we might not even notice, or know we did, or that feel swallowed up by the awfulness of AI— end up making huge changes in people's lives later on
Hearing, and seeing, many university professors express despair, of this sort, this fall. Faculty are famously headstrong and truculent, if sometimes grouchy. But this affect is new. ’ve never seen the widespread descent into sorrow before, that I am seeing now.
Today I'm teaching the last few classes of the worst semester of my career. Just poor attendance, rampant AI use, disruptive students, and a sea of blank, disinterested faces. That last one is especially tough. It's hard to perform for a crowd that seems intent on giving no reaction whatsoever.
December 4, 2025 at 3:48 PM
stay strong everybody! the things we do with students really do matter, and even the most vanishingly small moments of connection —stuff we might not even notice, or know we did, or that feel swallowed up by the awfulness of AI— end up making huge changes in people's lives later on
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Reminder that the CSU system is spending $17 million on ChatGPT.
Some more context on my university’s proposal to discontinue offering a Philosophy degree.
scienceforeveryone.science/humanities-a... 🧪
scienceforeveryone.science/humanities-a... 🧪
December 3, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Reminder that the CSU system is spending $17 million on ChatGPT.
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Absolutely devastating account of the CSU's $17 million capitulation to ChatGPT, from a fellow faculty member watching it happen www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
www.currentaffairs.org
December 3, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Absolutely devastating account of the CSU's $17 million capitulation to ChatGPT, from a fellow faculty member watching it happen www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
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"The message was clear. Let ChatGPT redesign your class. Let ChatGPT tell you how to evaluate your students. Let ChatGPT tell students how to use ChatGPT. Let ChatGPT solve the problem of human education. It was like being handed a Mad Libs puzzle for automating your syllabus."
Absolutely devastating account of the CSU's $17 million capitulation to ChatGPT, from a fellow faculty member watching it happen www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...
AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself
Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.
www.currentaffairs.org
December 3, 2025 at 4:25 AM
"The message was clear. Let ChatGPT redesign your class. Let ChatGPT tell you how to evaluate your students. Let ChatGPT tell students how to use ChatGPT. Let ChatGPT solve the problem of human education. It was like being handed a Mad Libs puzzle for automating your syllabus."
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December 3, 2025 at 2:17 AM
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Here's Sandy Berman's whole self-interview lowereastsidelibrarian.info/interviews/s...
He starts with "Q: Should ALA really be celebrating its 150th anniversary?"
"A: No. Instead, it should be devoting its energy and resources to atoning for its checkered history" and continues in that vein.
He starts with "Q: Should ALA really be celebrating its 150th anniversary?"
"A: No. Instead, it should be devoting its energy and resources to atoning for its checkered history" and continues in that vein.
December 2, 2025 at 1:06 AM
Here's Sandy Berman's whole self-interview lowereastsidelibrarian.info/interviews/s...
He starts with "Q: Should ALA really be celebrating its 150th anniversary?"
"A: No. Instead, it should be devoting its energy and resources to atoning for its checkered history" and continues in that vein.
He starts with "Q: Should ALA really be celebrating its 150th anniversary?"
"A: No. Instead, it should be devoting its energy and resources to atoning for its checkered history" and continues in that vein.
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I talk about this sometimes to folks not in academic or archival spaces and they scoff, then they get 👀👀, then they drink
One of the books in my office is 290 years old. It’s still in excellent condition and easy to read. I wonder how easy it’ll be to read electronic texts 290 years from now. I expect it’ll be rather trickier.
November 28, 2025 at 11:16 PM
I talk about this sometimes to folks not in academic or archival spaces and they scoff, then they get 👀👀, then they drink
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There’s just nothing left of a university’s mission if instructors can be disciplined and fired for teaching the current state of knowledge in their fields, the degrees they issue are worth precisely the value of the paper they’re printed on and not a jot more
December 1, 2025 at 12:42 AM
There’s just nothing left of a university’s mission if instructors can be disciplined and fired for teaching the current state of knowledge in their fields, the degrees they issue are worth precisely the value of the paper they’re printed on and not a jot more
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I am convinced that one reason why NPR’s Books We Love has been so successful is that while it allows you to filter in a bunch of ways, it also emulates elements of browsing. In its regular cover mode, it’s not a list, it’s an array, and when you refresh the page, it shuffles. (1/)
The death of browsing is part of the reason art is the way it is now. Our opinions are largely fed to us by algorithms. Spending a spare 15 minutes wandering around a bookstore or comic shop or video rental place was how you found stuff you wouldn't ordinarily pick up and thereby expanded your taste
Bookselling is like the most "people go to the store and buy what looks cool to them without a particular agenda" type business left, and your purchases have a huge influence on what is ordered, what is displayed, and what is recommended.
November 30, 2025 at 1:54 PM
I am convinced that one reason why NPR’s Books We Love has been so successful is that while it allows you to filter in a bunch of ways, it also emulates elements of browsing. In its regular cover mode, it’s not a list, it’s an array, and when you refresh the page, it shuffles. (1/)
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Haven't received as many contributions as usual for this year's lists--could be many things, but one aspect is surely that our ability to get this in front of people is much diminished. If you know folks whose stuff should be on here, please suggest it! contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-l...
Publications by Non-Tenure-Track Historians
Since we began publishing in 2019, Contingent has published end-of-year lists of books and articles by non-tenure-track historians released in the past calendar year. To submit something for inclusion...
contingentmagazine.org
November 24, 2025 at 3:39 PM
Haven't received as many contributions as usual for this year's lists--could be many things, but one aspect is surely that our ability to get this in front of people is much diminished. If you know folks whose stuff should be on here, please suggest it! contingentmagazine.org/yearly-pub-l...
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Old Eastern European guy comes into the garage my kid works at, where they’re discussing Christmas movies and someone said something about the Grinch.
Old Guy: “I do not know this ”Grinch”.
Kid’s boss shows Old Guy a picture of the Grinch on his phone.
Old Guy:”That is one nasty son-of-bitch, no?”
Old Guy: “I do not know this ”Grinch”.
Kid’s boss shows Old Guy a picture of the Grinch on his phone.
Old Guy:”That is one nasty son-of-bitch, no?”
November 30, 2025 at 12:21 AM
Old Eastern European guy comes into the garage my kid works at, where they’re discussing Christmas movies and someone said something about the Grinch.
Old Guy: “I do not know this ”Grinch”.
Kid’s boss shows Old Guy a picture of the Grinch on his phone.
Old Guy:”That is one nasty son-of-bitch, no?”
Old Guy: “I do not know this ”Grinch”.
Kid’s boss shows Old Guy a picture of the Grinch on his phone.
Old Guy:”That is one nasty son-of-bitch, no?”
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He wrote a lot of incredible plays, but my favorite remains Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which I will go see any production of. Stoppard directed the movie adaptation with Gary Oldman, Tim Roth, and Richard Dreyfuss: www.justwatch.com/us/movie/ros...
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead streaming
Watch "Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead" · Full movie for free · Check all streaming services (Netflix & co.), incl. 4K options!
www.justwatch.com
November 29, 2025 at 9:40 PM
He wrote a lot of incredible plays, but my favorite remains Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which I will go see any production of. Stoppard directed the movie adaptation with Gary Oldman, Tim Roth, and Richard Dreyfuss: www.justwatch.com/us/movie/ros...
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I don't think there is a digital replacement for this experience.
The death of browsing is part of the reason art is the way it is now. Our opinions are largely fed to us by algorithms. Spending a spare 15 minutes wandering around a bookstore or comic shop or video rental place was how you found stuff you wouldn't ordinarily pick up and thereby expanded your taste
Bookselling is like the most "people go to the store and buy what looks cool to them without a particular agenda" type business left, and your purchases have a huge influence on what is ordered, what is displayed, and what is recommended.
November 29, 2025 at 6:45 PM
I don't think there is a digital replacement for this experience.
This thread is good, devastating, important, IMO. I‘m only a collections librarian, but have recently developed a strong desire to teach or get *someone* to teach these classes at university and make them mandatory: (1) reading; (2) computer skills; (3) 20th and 21st c history / current affairs.
An issue we're seeing at all levels of university is that many students are simply refusing to do *anything*. They aren't reading the syllabus, aren't following assignment guidelines, aren't engaging with material, ignoring deadlines. And this might seem like old news, but it truly has ramped up.
November 29, 2025 at 7:04 AM
This thread is good, devastating, important, IMO. I‘m only a collections librarian, but have recently developed a strong desire to teach or get *someone* to teach these classes at university and make them mandatory: (1) reading; (2) computer skills; (3) 20th and 21st c history / current affairs.
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I've never encountered more students who say they hate reading. Students who want to be teachers, writers, or both. I wonder if "hate" means "I have trouble reading," but I also talk with so many students who write in a genre but refuse to read in it. They can't see themselves in relation to others.
November 28, 2025 at 10:29 PM
I've never encountered more students who say they hate reading. Students who want to be teachers, writers, or both. I wonder if "hate" means "I have trouble reading," but I also talk with so many students who write in a genre but refuse to read in it. They can't see themselves in relation to others.
Reposted by M
An issue we're seeing at all levels of university is that many students are simply refusing to do *anything*. They aren't reading the syllabus, aren't following assignment guidelines, aren't engaging with material, ignoring deadlines. And this might seem like old news, but it truly has ramped up.
November 28, 2025 at 10:15 PM
An issue we're seeing at all levels of university is that many students are simply refusing to do *anything*. They aren't reading the syllabus, aren't following assignment guidelines, aren't engaging with material, ignoring deadlines. And this might seem like old news, but it truly has ramped up.
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Why are universities paying money to fascists when they could just use said money to support their faculty to do their research without fascist money? It’s so fucking stupid.
November 29, 2025 at 1:08 AM
Why are universities paying money to fascists when they could just use said money to support their faculty to do their research without fascist money? It’s so fucking stupid.
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RDA Official reads like a series of if/then statements but in text form: narrative Python. That’ll make a good set of rules!
…oh wait.
Anyway, idk where 6.2.2.10.3 is because it doesn’t refer to Original, and Official doesn’t have chapters. Thanks for the ref LC, very helpful.
…oh wait.
Anyway, idk where 6.2.2.10.3 is because it doesn’t refer to Original, and Official doesn’t have chapters. Thanks for the ref LC, very helpful.
November 19, 2025 at 5:53 PM
RDA Official reads like a series of if/then statements but in text form: narrative Python. That’ll make a good set of rules!
…oh wait.
Anyway, idk where 6.2.2.10.3 is because it doesn’t refer to Original, and Official doesn’t have chapters. Thanks for the ref LC, very helpful.
…oh wait.
Anyway, idk where 6.2.2.10.3 is because it doesn’t refer to Original, and Official doesn’t have chapters. Thanks for the ref LC, very helpful.
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the product edtech-compromised universities (that's nearly all of them) have decided your children should have access to and use, folks
November 27, 2025 at 4:42 AM
the product edtech-compromised universities (that's nearly all of them) have decided your children should have access to and use, folks
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Are we really at a stage in public education where we consider it OK to have literally Google-branded schoolchildren whose learner identities are tied to being "responsible AI" users of private for-profit technologies?
November 22, 2025 at 8:31 PM
Are we really at a stage in public education where we consider it OK to have literally Google-branded schoolchildren whose learner identities are tied to being "responsible AI" users of private for-profit technologies?
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I'm not sure if I'm legally allowed to post two #birdoftheday posts for #birdonawire
But here's a closer view of the male Black-headed Trogon, showing his darker head and iridescent back.
#CostaRica #birds #trogon #nature
But here's a closer view of the male Black-headed Trogon, showing his darker head and iridescent back.
#CostaRica #birds #trogon #nature
November 22, 2025 at 8:45 PM
I'm not sure if I'm legally allowed to post two #birdoftheday posts for #birdonawire
But here's a closer view of the male Black-headed Trogon, showing his darker head and iridescent back.
#CostaRica #birds #trogon #nature
But here's a closer view of the male Black-headed Trogon, showing his darker head and iridescent back.
#CostaRica #birds #trogon #nature
Reposted by M
An Oregon pilot program giving cash to homeless youths sees a staggering reduction in homelessness. The program gave participants $1,000 cash payments each month for two years, and at the end of the project's first phase, 91% of participants reported being in stable housing.
Oregon pilot program giving cash to homeless youths sees staggering reduction in homelessness
The state program gave participants $1,000 cash payments each month for two years. At the end of the project's first phase, 91% of participants reported being in stable housing.
www.streetroots.org
November 21, 2025 at 2:35 AM
An Oregon pilot program giving cash to homeless youths sees a staggering reduction in homelessness. The program gave participants $1,000 cash payments each month for two years, and at the end of the project's first phase, 91% of participants reported being in stable housing.