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Martin O Connor

@martinoconnor.bsky.social

1.6K followers 550 following 290 posts

Librarian. Communications Coordinator at University College Cork Library. LAI / CILIP Ireland Library Staff Champion 2021. Libfocus. Blackpool Sentinel. Shush! Sounds from UCC Library I'm here for Libraries, Music & anything else you fancy

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Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · Jan 5

I've created a Starter pack for Irish Libraries & Libraries. It's by no means comprehensive so please let me who I should add to it.
And let's try to build a lovely little Irish Library community like we used to have on the other place.
go.bsky.app/HZuHx7y

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Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · 10h

a man in a suit says anyone there in the desert

ALT: a man in a suit says anyone there in the desert

media.tenor.com

Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · 5d

I'm looking forward to my next Takeover show on Shush. Alan promises to be a great guest and his music selection, let's just say, is right up my indie street... (with one or two left field choices )

Shush! Sounds from UCC Library @shushradio.bsky.social · 6d

@akellyucc.bsky.social, Head of UCC’s School of Food & Nutritional Sciences, joins me for a Shush Takeover on Monday morning at 11am
We’ll talk about his work and research, his connection to libraries, and his music selection.
Tune in on UCC 98.3FM or catch up on our podcast later

Alan Kelly holding a large block of yellow cheese in front of industrial food processing equipment. He is wearing a blue jacket over a light blue shirt. Text below reads: 'TAKEOVER SHOW ALAN KELLY MONDAY 11 – 12

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Shush! Sounds from UCC Library @shushradio.bsky.social · 18d

Tune in to Shush! Sounds from UCC Library on UCC 98.3FM, Monday at 11am.
I’m kicking off our first takeover show of the 2025/26 academic year with a very special guest — @lizjolly.bsky.social , UCC’s new Librarian.
Expect an hour of great music and library chat.

www.ucc.ie/en/news/2025...

A smiling woman with short dark hair and glasses sits outdoors holding a glass of wine. She is wearing a black outfit, with a stone wall and iron railings behind her. Text on a purple border reads: “Takeover Show – Liz Jolly – Monday 11–12.

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Shush! Sounds from UCC Library @shushradio.bsky.social · 24d

Shush! Sounds from UCC Library is back on air tomorrow, 11–12 on UCC 98.3 FM.

This first show of the year features music chosen by colleagues from UCC Library.

Tune in at 11 to hear their selections.

Listen live at www.ucc.ie/en/983fm/

A professional recording setup featuring a large microphone with a pop filter mounted on a boom arm. In the background, a screen displays the bold red text “ON AIR,” indicating a live broadcast. A caption below reads: “A WELCOME BACK SHOW MONDAY AT 11,”

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Cork University Press @corkup.bsky.social · Sep 3

Looking forward to seeing you at our Symposium next week.
bit.ly/CUPSymposium
📘 Session 1:
Paul McSweeney on Urban Milk Supply.
Síle Ní Mhurchú on Dánta Gráda.
Iarla Ó Lionáird on Irish Music.
Cormac Ó Gráda on Cork’s Economic History
Other session details to follow

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Richard Ovenden @richove.bsky.social · Sep 3

I had the pleasure of being in discussion in Sydney last week with the legendary David Marr on ABC’s Late Night Live concerning libraries, book banning and the fight for knowledge.

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Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · Sep 1

Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents (1998) feels eerily prescient today.
I doubt she could have imagined just how close America would come to her vision.

Photo of a book page from Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents, page 177. The passage reads

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From EARTHSEED: THE BOOKS OF THE LIVING

Choose your leaders
with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward
is to be controlled
by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool
is to be led
by the opportunists
who control the fool.
To be led by a thief
is to offer up
your most precious treasures
to be stolen.
To be led by a liar
is to ask
to be told lies.
To be led by a tyrant
is to sell yourself
and those you love
into slavery.

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Justin Lewis @whenisbirths.bsky.social · Aug 29

The first copy of #IntoTheGroove is here! I am so delighted with it. Thanks to my supportive, generous first readers: @quantick.bsky.social, @davidstubbs.bsky.social, @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social, @wadeywade.bsky.social and @juderogers.bsky.social.
Out in the UK on Thur 2 Oct. @eandtbooks.bsky.social

Front cover of
INTO THE GROOVE:
THE 1980S:
The Ultimate Decade in Music History
by Justin Lewis (me)

Inside front cover:
The eighties was one of the most innovative periods in the history of pop music - and even forty years on remains one of the best loved, championed by radio, television, advertisements, theatre and films, with many of the key acts still performing and recording.

Into the Groove is a tale of pop and circumstance. It charts the global state of pop music month by month from January 1980 to December 1989, highlighting a wide variety of events and tracing the career paths of hundreds of noteworthy acts around the world, from Salt-N-Pepa to the Sugarcubes, Kate Bush to Kraftwerk, Run-DMC to INXS, and Neneh Cherry to Youssou N'Dour.

It celebrates genres of all kinds - the enduring and the faddish, the mainstream and the underground, post-punk and acid house, heavy rock and electronic, hip hop and teen pop. And it showcases many of the decade's landmark recordings, figures and events, while also revealing plenty of intriguing lesser-known stories to create a wry and diverse musical tapestry.

The perfect gift for any music lover or eighties aficionado, Into the Groove is an endlessly entertaining homage to the 1980s.

£16.99

Jacket author bio for Into the Groove:

JUSTIN LEWIS is a writer, researcher and editor, who grew up during the 1980s and even started writing and presenting for local radio before the decade ended. He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of popular music and a deep understanding of what makes it such a passion for so many people. He was been an editor, writer and contributor to various print and online music publications for more than thirty years, including The Guinness Book of Hit Singles and The Rough Guide to Rock. His most recent book is Don't Stop the Music: A year of Pop History, One Day at a Time. He lives in Swansea, in Wales.

ELLIOTT & THOMPSON (publishers)

Back cover reviews:

TRAVEL BACK TO THE 1980S...
and discover an epic collection of remarkable facts, notable events and fascinating anecdotes from the decade's diverse and inventive music scene.

'Justin Lewis tells pop's never-ending story brilliantly. Every day he writes the book, and the book is amazing.'
DAVID QUANTICK, Emmy Award-winning writer and novelist

'Forensic, forthright and downright unputdownable, the perfect pop book for anyone who came of age (or indeed anybody else) during pop's giddiest and most experimental decade.'
IAN WADE, author of 1984: THE YEAR POP WENT QUEER

'Like a treasure chest of pop riches... I loved this book!'
SAMIRA AHMED, journalist and broadcaster

Additional reviews:

'A brilliantly detailed topography of probably the greatest of all pop decades, the 1980s, whose music even those unborn back then still live with and love on a daily basis. Invaluable both for pop fans and pop historians.'
DAVID STUBBS, music journalist

'A delightful, curious compendium, full of flipsides to pop’s glossiest decade'
JUDE ROGERS, music journalist and broadcaster

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America Xanadu @johnxuandou.bsky.social · Aug 13

This is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed, the craft here is impeccable.

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Paul McSweeney @paulmcs.bsky.social · Aug 13

Was out for a walk today and (honestly) my first thought was “Isn’t that shop very handy now for people at a match…” 😖

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Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · Aug 13

😂

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Hannah Shelley, MLIS (Metadata, Lattes & Impostor Syndrome) @hannahshelley.bsky.social · Aug 13

Since search is dead, how soon do you think Google Scholar is headed for the Google Graveyard? I'm betting it's soon, and academia is NOT prepared

Google Scholar Is Doomed

Academia built entire careers on a free Google service with zero guarantees. What could go wrong?

hannahshelley.neocities.org

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Cork University Press @corkup.bsky.social · Aug 12

Celebrate 100 years of Cork University Press, Ireland’s oldest university press
Join us Thu 11 Sept in UCC’s Dora Allman Room for a symposium on landmark works, from Dánta Grádha to the award-winning Atlas Series, (plus an evening reception.)
Free & open to all

www.eventbrite.com/e/cork-unive...

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Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · Aug 10

Got to give a listen 🤘

Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · Aug 10

A great article from @kenanmalik.bsky.social on how AI is not necessarily the problem, it’s a society, and a university sector, that devalues education and knowledge as a positive thing in itself.
Put this and AI into the mix and the result could be bad.

Kenan Malik @kenanmalik.bsky.social · Aug 3

“It is less that AI is the cause of degradation in reading and thinking, and more that the creation of a culture that views knowledge primarily in an instrumental manner has made it easier to misuse AI.” My ‪@theobserveruk.bsky.social column: observer.co.uk/news/opinion...

AI thrives where education has been devalued | The Observer

A culture that views knowledge as a means to an end invites the misuse of new technology

observer.co.uk

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Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · Aug 10

Thanks for sharing this @stane.bsky.social - excellent article by @kenanmalik.bsky.social
I do believe though that most of this article can be equally applied to Ireland though.
The problem is not immigration - it’s poverty and the marginalisation of working class interests.

Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · Aug 9

Very nice…. Best of luck with it…

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Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · Aug 8

Congrats Kevin… 🤘🤘
Discipline? Topic?

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Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · Aug 7

I was not expecting to see this in Eason, Patrick Street, Cork, today

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Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · Aug 4

Wrong Martin…

Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · Aug 1

Happy Yorkshire Day

a man wearing headphones is sitting in the cockpit of a plane and talking .

ALT: a man wearing headphones is sitting in the cockpit of a plane and talking .

media.tenor.com

Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · Jul 30

Totally… I was rooting for both characters so it definitely got me involved. 🙂

Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · Jul 30

Listening in now 🙂

Martin O Connor @martinoconnor.bsky.social · Jul 30

Ditto… enjoyed it. Even if I had issues with how schematic it was in terms of plotting.

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UCC Library @ucclibrary.bsky.social · Jul 30

UCC Library is currently hiring for Two roles:

Learning Support Librarian
Deadline: 5 August, 12pm

Head of Special Collections & Archives
Deadline: 19 August, 12pm

More info and applications:
www.ucc.ie/en/hr/vacanc...

Job advertisement featuring two open positions: 'Learning Support Librarian' with a closing date of 05 August 2025, and 'Head of Special Collections & Archives' with a closing date of 19 August 2025. The text 'We are hiring a' appears at the top in green. The background shows a modern building with large windows and surrounding trees

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