Vanessa Freedman
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vrfreedman.bsky.social
Vanessa Freedman
@vrfreedman.bsky.social
1K followers 350 following 69 posts
Hebrew & Jewish Studies librarian at University College London. Co-convenor, Hebraica Libraries Group. Posts are my own views etc She/her
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
drleonj.bsky.social
You know what we won't need once handwriting recognition software has done its thing? Archivists, curators, conservators, catalogers, codicologists, or paleographers. We won't need archives either. We won't need diplomatics, editorial theory, book or media history, or material culture studies 🗃️🧵
November 26, 2025 at 10:12 PM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
lseimpactblog.bsky.social
💥New: Creative commons licenses and copyright may not stop academic work being used to train AI

✍️ @eve.gd

#CreativeCommons #ScholComm #AcWri
Creative commons licenses and copyright may not stop academic work being used to train AI - Impact of Social Sciences
Considering the legal standing of creative commons licenses & copyright, Martin Eve suggests legal protections for academic work are unlikely to be forthcoming.
blogs.lse.ac.uk
November 24, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
lseimpactblog.bsky.social
👀ICYMI: "It matters less that Grokipedia succeeds than whether it helps to delegitimise Wikipedia."

@gildersleve.uk #Grok #Wikipedia #Knowledge
Grokipedia falls flat, but AI is already rewriting Wikipedia’s future - Impact of Social Sciences
Launched as a competitor to Wikipedia, Grokipedia is one of the first LLM based encyclopaedias, but how does it compare to the last best place on the internet?
blogs.lse.ac.uk
November 24, 2025 at 4:42 PM
vrfreedman.bsky.social
This is cute - it's a shame there are no UK libraries on there though
www.jewishbookcouncil.org/pb-daily/map...
Map of Jewish Libraries
One hundred years ago, the head librarian of the Boston Public Library’s West End Branch—a young Russian immigrant named Fanny Goldstein—founded Jewish Book Week.
www.jewishbookcouncil.org
November 26, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
sgollance.bsky.social
Looking forward to presenting @uclssees.bsky.social next week on Tea Arciszewska’s life and her (tragically timely) modernist play about children in wartime, “Miryeml.”
@uclhjs.bsky.social @biajs.bsky.social @yiddishbookcenter.bsky.social
uclssees.bsky.social UCL SSEES @uclssees.bsky.social · 6d
Please join us for this Study of Central Europe seminar with @sgollance.bsky.social, will discuss her translation of Tea Arciszewska’s play 'Miryeml' as part of a broader effort to uncover Yiddish plays by women.

🗓️ 2 December at 6pm
📍 UCL SSEES
➡️ buff.ly/dOMrzrO

@uclhjslibrary.bsky.social
Event poster for 'Mourning a lost future: Miryeml, a Yiddish Drama of Children in Wartime' with a photo of Tea Arciszews­ka.
November 25, 2025 at 7:03 AM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
biajs.bsky.social
📜 Our 2025 bulletin is live! Read a message from our incoming president @bengidley.bsky.social, a report from this year's conference, details of our book prize, the CFP for our 2026 conference @bisa-bkk.bsky.social, reports from institutions & more

➡️ bajsbulletin.wpcomstaging.com/wp-content/u...
November 24, 2025 at 2:35 PM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
sgollance.bsky.social
@uclhjs.bsky.social has issued a statement regarding an antisemitic incident at UCL last week where a speaker at a student event made Blood Libel accusations–a pernicious medieval claim that Jews use Christian blood in Passover matzoh.
www.ucl.ac.uk/arts-humanit...
Statement from HJS on Blood Libel incident
We applaud UCL for taking swift action and look forward to UCL leadership communicating directly to the UCL community to specifically call out ideas and language that will not be tolerated on campus.
www.ucl.ac.uk
November 20, 2025 at 4:47 PM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
jewishchron.bsky.social
Limmud promises ‘something for everyone’

www.thejc.com/community/li...
Limmud promises ‘something for everyone’ - The Jewish Chronicle
From crossover electronic Yiddish music to discussions on the Jewishness of AI, there will be no shortage of novel sessions at this year’s annual Jewish festival
www.thejc.com
November 20, 2025 at 5:56 PM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
timeshighered.bsky.social
Research behemoth’s plans to better coordinate staff at faculty level met with fierce opposition, amid fears of pay cuts and demotions
https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/ucl-staff-feel-betrayed-over-professional-services-shake
November 21, 2025 at 6:15 AM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
sgollance.bsky.social
“Scholars from Vilnius University in Lithuania have launched a breakthrough AI tool capable of reading handwritten Yiddish.”
www.jns.org/vilnius-univ...
Vilnius University launches new AI tool that accurately reads handwritten Yiddish
This will “contribute to advancing archival research on the history of Jews in Eastern and Central Europe,” said Sergii Gurbych, who created the model.
www.jns.org
November 21, 2025 at 7:15 AM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
mlnjournal.bsky.social
We are thrilled to announce a call for our inaugural Yiddish & Hebrew issue edited by @samspinner.bsky.social
Please circulate widely. We are open to work that engages with Jewish literature, culture, and thought in any language.
@hopkinspress.bsky.social
November 20, 2025 at 7:50 PM
vrfreedman.bsky.social
Meanwhile in England pupils attending a secular school are still required to take part in an act of collective worship each school day that is wholly or mainly of a broadly Christian character lordslibrary.parliament.uk/research-bri...
November 19, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
davidprosser.bsky.social
We've been working with partners on a new initiative to collectively ensure that research libraries coordinate on the retention of their print monographs. @timeshighered.bsky.social today carries an article on the UK Print Book Collection:

www.timeshighereducation.com/news/librari...
Libraries coordinate on book disposal to safeguard rare texts
As shelves fill up and costs mount, new scheme allows librarians to discard underused books if more than seven copies exist elsewhere
www.timeshighereducation.com
November 18, 2025 at 9:41 AM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
drkarrschmidt.bsky.social
Who needs books anyway?
hetanshah.bsky.social Hetan Shah @hetanshah.bsky.social · 9d
I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...
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 18, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
hgrporg.bsky.social
This exhibition is free to view at The Wiener Holocaust Library until 30 April 2026
wienerholocaustlibrary.org/exhibition/e...
wienerholocaustlibrary.org
November 18, 2025 at 11:47 AM
vrfreedman.bsky.social
I’m excited to be presenting at Limmud Festival 2025 – a celebration of Jewish learning, culture, and creativity!
Join me (and about 2000 others!) for an unforgettable experience this December.
👉 You can book now at www.limmud.org/festival
A purple and orange poster with an orange graphic of a globe, leaves and a Hebrew letter aleph in the bottom right hand corner, and the Limmud logo in the bottom left. Text reads: I'm presenting at Limmud Festival! Will I see you there? 26th-31st Dec www.limmud.org/festival
November 13, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
sgollance.bsky.social
London music fans! Zoe Aqua (fiddler, USA) will be performing a solo set of klezmer and Transylvanian music with some special guests this Sunday 16 Nov at DB Music (in Stoke Newington). 2:30 pm doors, 3pm concert. £8. @klezmershack.bsky.social

www.dbmusiclondon.com/product/zoe-...
Image of Zoe Aqua with fiddle, repeats information from post but adds that the post code for DB Music is N16 7PL.
November 12, 2025 at 6:39 PM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
eicathomefinn.bsky.social
'The University of Cambridge has announced it has acquired and for the first time unsealed Levy’s personal archive, including letters, draft manuscripts, photographs and diary entries. It is expected the material will inform a wealth of new scholarship on her life, work and mental health.' 1/2
‘A girl of genius’: archives unsealed of Amy Levy, queer Jewish writer admired by Oscar Wilde
Levy’s work was ‘ahead of her time’ and speaks to current debate around feminism, LGBTQ+ literature and Jewish identity, say researchers
www.theguardian.com
November 13, 2025 at 7:59 AM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
sgollance.bsky.social
Plus my Yiddish New York session, "Dancing with Stories," will be hybrid, so you don't need to be in New York to participate. Sunday Dec 21 at 9:30-10:45am ET (2:30 PM BT, 3:30 PM CET, 4:30 PM IT). yiddishnewyork2025.sched.com/event/299MN/...
Yiddish New York 2025: Dancing with Stories
View more about this event at Yiddish New York 2025
yiddishnewyork2025.sched.com
November 10, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
sgollance.bsky.social
This December you can join me at Yiddish New York for my session "Dancing with Stories." We'll be doing two of my favorite things – close reading a literary dance scene (in translation) and learning the dance it describes–to the live accompaniment of the amazing Christina Crowder.
Poster for "Dancing with Stories" with Sonia Gollance. Hybrid session. Tickets on sale now! yiddishnewyork.com.
November 10, 2025 at 8:20 PM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
opensiddur.bsky.social
Resources shared for 🌐 Armistice Day (November 11th) opensiddur.org/index.php?ca...
🌐 Armistice Day (November 11th) • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶקְט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּחַ
This is an archive of prayers for International Armistice Day. Armistice Day (and Remembrance Day) is commemorated internationally by many countries to mark the anniversary of the end of World War Ⅰ. ...
opensiddur.org
November 11, 2025 at 5:27 AM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
opensiddur.bsky.social
Prayer on the Signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty on June 28th 1919 ending World War Ⅰ (Liberal Jewish Synagogue of London, 5 July 1919) opensiddur.org?p=52643
Prayer on the Signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty on June 28th 1919 ending World War Ⅰ (Liberal Jewish Synagogue of London, 5 July 1919) • the Open Siddur Project ✍ פְּרוֺיֶקְט הַסִּדּוּר הַפָּתוּח...
A prayer upon the signing of the Versailles Peace Treaty on 28 June 1919, included in a special service by the Liberal Jewish Synagogue of London on the following Shabbat. . . .
opensiddur.org
November 11, 2025 at 6:30 AM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
uclartlibrarian.bsky.social
Due to illness we have unfortunately had to cancel this event. We hope to reschedule for Spring 2026.
uclspeccoll.bsky.social UCL Special Collections @uclspeccoll.bsky.social · Oct 16
In 2025 UCL Special Collections celebrates 60 years of collecting small press. This year also marks 50 years of publishing by Coracle Press @coracle.bsky.social

Join us for a birthday bash!

12 November
17:00 - 20:00

Free & open to all / booking essential.

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/we-continu...
We continue to wave a small handkerchief at the world: Coracle Press @ 50
Join us to celebrate 50 years of Coracle Press!
www.eventbrite.co.uk
November 11, 2025 at 9:53 AM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
shammaiintl.bsky.social
I am Shammai, a Jewish sage from the Second Temple period. I'm known for my strict view of Jewish law, arguing with Hillel, and for the time I hit a man with my builder's cubit for asking me to teach him Torah while he stood on one foot.

Here are my feeds, lists, threads, and other work. Enjoy.
April 23, 2025 at 3:31 PM
Reposted by Vanessa Freedman
amaliasl.bsky.social
😂 😂😂
bucksarchives.bsky.social Buckinghamshire Archives @bucksarchives.bsky.social · 22d
Hoping this helps our colleagues across the industry
A meme of 'Is this an archive?' showing a grid with various classifications of things that might be archives based on their content and structure.
November 5, 2025 at 3:53 PM