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finchinthestacks.bsky.social
Finch Collins
@finchinthestacks.bsky.social
2K followers 720 following 940 posts
PGR at the Uni of Manchester, hosted at Chetham’s Library | libraries and data, early modern books and bodies | posts my own
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finchinthestacks.bsky.social
Finch Collins @finchinthestacks.bsky.social · Sep 11
The awaited life update: I’ve moved to the UK! At the end of the month, I’m beginning a PhD at the University of Manchester. I’ll be researching how library catalogue data can surface marginalized voices in early printed books, and working with Chetham’s Library as a case study. More to come!
Finch, a white person with short brown hair, standing in front of the John Rylands Library, a red stone building with an ornate fence and the library’s name in gold on the side. Finch is smiling at the camera.
finchinthestacks.bsky.social
My immigration (student visa and IHS) cost almost £5000. I make £21k a year as a PhD student. You can do the math on how much money I pay the UK government.
damselindystopia.bsky.social Sarah Clarke @damselindystopia.bsky.social · 8h
The distinction being made between "migrant" and "taxpayer" is unsurprising, but extremely revealing.
zoejardiniere.bsky.social Zoe Gardner @zoejardiniere.bsky.social · 8h
If the PM reckons Jim Ratcliffe should apologise for spreading this exact same lie, should the Home Office apologise too, or? 🤨
February 12, 2026 at 11:43 AM
Reposted by Finch Collins
annalujz.bsky.social
Reminder: today is the last day to respond to the UK government consultation to the cruel changes to immigration rules being proposed. Can take just 20 mins.

I really recommend using Amnesty's guide to the survey because the survey is designed to catch you out
media.amnesty.org.uk/documents/Am...
media.amnesty.org.uk
February 12, 2026 at 11:10 AM
Reposted by Finch Collins
halperta.bsky.social
Time for our weekly reminder that there is only one ed tech investment that is proven to work, and it's hiring more teachers and paying them better.
mariaa.bsky.social Maria Antoniak @mariaa.bsky.social · 22h
This decision was made without consulting a single CU Boulder professor with AI expertise. And AFAIK there was one professor *total* involved.

More info, such as it is, here: https://www.cu.edu/gen-ai

Check the "Guiding Principles" section for entertainment.
February 11, 2026 at 9:01 PM
finchinthestacks.bsky.social
Has anyone studied how researchers and academics use library catalogues? I'm struggling to find any literature on researcher (not student) information needs and information seeking behavior. Any leads?

My focus is rare books/archives/special collections, but I'm looking broadly right now.
February 11, 2026 at 4:24 PM
Reposted by Finch Collins
sarahpyke.bsky.social
anyway the consultation shuts tomorrow, one minute to midnight UK time: www.gov.uk/government/c... Amnesty have some good guidance here. Go on: media.amnesty.org.uk/documents/Am...
media.amnesty.org.uk
February 11, 2026 at 8:49 AM
Reposted by Finch Collins
sonjadrimmer.bsky.social
Another day another press release for an AI grifter posing as news. Thanks to my friend (redacted here) for texting me this new one.
Screenshot of text exchange in which my friend sent me a story in the guardian “ai analysis casts doubt of van eyck paintings in Italian and us museums.” My response shown here was “ before even click the link… Carina Popovici mentioned here?“
February 8, 2026 at 1:57 PM
Reposted by Finch Collins
goodlawproject.org
And never forget that Dame Hilary Cass belittled as "shroud wavers" those of us asking, begging, for a regime that would keep trans children alive.
goodlawproject.org Jolyon Maugham KC @goodlawproject.org · 5d
One of the wickedest things Wes Streeting has ever done is push politically convenient falsehoods about suicide rates amongst young trans people. We have new data from the National Child Mortality Database that exposes the truth he tried to cover up.
New data shows surge in trans kids’ suicides following healthcare rollbacks | Good Law Project
A freedom of information request by Good Law Project has found that deaths by suicide of trans young people under 18 surged following the withdrawal of gender-affirming healthcare
goodlaw.social
February 7, 2026 at 8:07 PM
Reposted by Finch Collins
kmcdono.bsky.social
We have a poster for Fluid Environments & Spatial Humanities! (credit: Giulia Grisot)

Join us in Lancaster on Feb 27 - www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/fluid-envi...

Travel bursaries available for @n8cir.bsky.social students & staff. Details via registration.

#dh #envhum #spatialhumanities #histstm
Purple poster for the Fluid Environments & Spatial Humanities workshop. Includes details on the program, sponsors, and an eventbright QR code.
February 3, 2026 at 3:57 PM
Reposted by Finch Collins
jmcoghlan.bsky.social
📣 Manchester (& nearby folks)! The brilliant @profkfh.bsky.social will be speaking about how her new book, The Sweet Taste of Empire, came to be in conversation with Dr. Fred Schurink at our next @uomenglish.bsky.social research seminar. Join us next THURSDAY, 12 Feb from 4-5 pm in Sam Alex SG.16.
Sweet Taste of Empire book event poster
February 5, 2026 at 8:59 AM
Reposted by Finch Collins
ncecire.bsky.social
The UK government is proposing radical and punitive changes to settlement rules. This is settlement, not citizenship. The consultation is open until 12 February; please respond to it and oppose these evil proposals. Amnesty have a good guide: www.amnesty.org.uk/resources/gu...
Guidance for responding to 'A Fairer Pathway to Settlement' consultation
We are Amnesty International UK. We are ordinary people from across the world standing up for humanity and human rights.
www.amnesty.org.uk
January 22, 2026 at 10:22 AM
Reposted by Finch Collins
erinbartram.bsky.social
It feels like it's been impossible to get people outside of higher ed to understand that eliminating staff/programs/majors is primarily an ideological project, whatever claims are made about finances.

What's happened at the Post is what's been happening in higher ed for ages.
February 5, 2026 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by Finch Collins
steventeasdale.bsky.social
This looks to be a very promising resource. Researchers in computational humanities at @inriaparisnlp.bsky.social have created CoMMA, a large corpus of more than 32000 manuscripts from ca. 800 to 1600. www.inria.fr/en/comma-med...
#medievalsky #earlymodern #dh #digitalhumanities
CoMMA: thousands of medieval manuscripts finally transcribed
Transcribing thousands of medieval manuscripts by hand would be a monumental undertaking. Fortunately, researchers in computational humanities at the Inria Paris Centre have been able to automate the ...
www.inria.fr
January 28, 2026 at 8:26 PM
Reposted by Finch Collins
jen1.bsky.social
The process of learning new skills in coding is bashing your head into a wall until the wall gives. If you always skip the bashing part, I'm not sure how the skills develop.
January 31, 2026 at 12:50 PM
Reposted by Finch Collins
hagenilda.bsky.social
SO SO GLAD to see a PROPER rebuttal against Silvia Federici's very wrong scholarship in the latest Magic, Ritual and Witchcraft! Thank you, Rita Voltmer!

muse.jhu.edu/pub/56/artic...
In the 1970s, an invention of tradition connected the fight for women’s liberation with the figure of the witch. However, this narrative grounded in male fantasies of the 19th century (Bachofen, Grimm, Michelet, and many others). The German “völkisch” feminism followed this pattern, as did Second Wave feminism after the Second World War, especially in its esoteric, spiritual, and ecological branch. The narrative gained ground in the European, the transatlantic and the postcolonial Women’s Movements. Modern witchcraft research has unmasked the “witchcraft narrative” as a mere invention of tradition. However, the “witch narrative” remains alive in the work of the Autonomist Marxist feminist Silvia Federici. The spirit of Grimm and Michelet, which had been conveyed via Gage, Murray and her epigones of spiritual feminism and eco-feminism, still breathes in Federici's books. This article deconstructs Federici’s witches. They are not the granddaughters of the witches who had not been burned, but simply the epigones of the witches invented by males during the 19th century.
January 31, 2026 at 3:51 PM
Reposted by Finch Collins
katbamkapow.bsky.social
jack asked if i would sketch up a poster to tell people in nearby neighborhoods about the partnership between flock and ring, and this is what i came up with. it can be printed on an 8.5x11 sheet of paper.
YOUR RING CAMERA IS AN ICE AGENT [a drawing of a ring camera with an ice agent dragging a person away in its field of vision] "In October of 2025, Amazon's Ring announced its partnership with FLOCK, an A.I. surveillance group that freely shares its footage with ICE, the secret service, and the navy. Flock customers can use A.I. tools to sift through footage to assist in all manner of operations (like raids and deportations) without a warrant. Unplug Ring! Melt ICE! Protect your neighbors! See: https://blog.ring.com/about-ring/ring-expands-community-requests-to-additional-community-safety-partners/ https://www.404media.co/ice-secret-service-navy-all-had-access-to-flocks-nationwide-network-of-cameras/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pp9MwZkHiMQ https://www.aclum.org/campaigns-initiatives/get-the-flock-out-resource-guide/
January 19, 2026 at 8:15 PM
Reposted by Finch Collins
anniekp.bsky.social
Yall outside of MN need to know that observers are STILL out protecting their neighbors. Right now. They know the news and they’re still out there.
January 24, 2026 at 4:41 PM
Reposted by Finch Collins
kellyrenebullard.bsky.social
Applications due January 16th!

Apply for research fellowships at Houghton Library! Work with collections including Printing & Graphic Arts! Bother me irl with your ideas, questions, and quandaries! (It’s not a bother.)
January 5, 2026 at 9:49 PM
Reposted by Finch Collins
johnxlibris.bsky.social
"As I have been working on an inventory of our medical instruments..." Archivists really do have the coolest jobs in libraries. From University of Louisville Libraries 📚 uofllibraries.wordpress.com/2026/01/07/f...
From the archives: When poison was medicine
By Cassidy Polack As I have been working on an inventory of our medical instruments in the Kornhauser Health Sciences Library’s historical collection, I have come across a wide variety of items. Su…
uofllibraries.wordpress.com
January 8, 2026 at 4:13 AM
Reposted by Finch Collins
sarahpyke.bsky.social
REGISTRATION NOW OPEN!!

Thinking of the Children: Book Bans, Censorship and Literature for Young People
11-13 February, over three afternoons (2-7pm CET / 2-7pm CET / 12-5pm CET)

Free, online, all welcome. Please share with interested colleagues and students!

indico.uni-muenster.de/event/3505/
White text and a stack of books on a burgundy background. Thinking of the Children: Book Bans, Censorship and Literature for Young People, 11-13 February 2026, an online conference hosted by the University of Münster. Registration open and there is a QR code which sends you to this link: https://indico.uni-muenster.de/event/3505/
January 7, 2026 at 4:49 PM
Reposted by Finch Collins
sadiahqureshi.bsky.social
Far too many Brits underestimating how many people in parliament would happily create a British ICE. Also astonishing that people have to be reminded that no one should ever be murdered by anyone.
January 8, 2026 at 10:19 AM
Reposted by Finch Collins
profgabriele.com
Just to back up Anthony as a medievalist, that’s one of the dumbest fucking claims imaginable.

There have never NOT been people from continental Europe, Africa, and Asia moving to/ from the British Isles for 2000 years. In early modernity, this included the Americas!
anthonymkreis.bsky.social Anthony Michael Kreis @anthonymkreis.bsky.social · Jan 8
I just heard a law professor claim in a recording that in early modern England, there wasn’t any significant migration to the British Isles, which is just plainly wrong.
January 8, 2026 at 12:40 PM
Reposted by Finch Collins
heroicendeavour.bsky.social
Interested in AI, ethics and open access? I’ll be speaking at this @uksg.bsky.social webinar on 5 February - it’s free to register, so please come along!

www.uksg.org/events/free-...
FREE UKSG webinar: The Open Access – AI Conundrum: Does Free to Read Mean Free to Train? - UKSG
This is a fantastic opportunity to listen to expert speakers with no travelling required. This is a free webinar - Please note that advance registration is required. This webinar will be recorded and ...
www.uksg.org
January 6, 2026 at 12:46 PM
Reposted by Finch Collins
moiradonegan.bsky.social
The most unsubtle, heavy-handed claims made by pomo academic types have turned out to all be true. Gender is a relation of domination that requires constant, affirming witness. Capitalism will require extractive colonial relations. There’s no subtlety. Every day is like a 101 seminar at Oberlin.
January 6, 2026 at 1:27 PM
Reposted by Finch Collins
jessemlocker.bsky.social
Finding novel ways to get moving on the first day back at work
Galvani, Luigi 1737-1798.; L. Galvani, De viribus electricitatis in motu; musculari commentarius, cum J. Aldini; dissertatione et notis. Acc. epistolae ad animalis; electricitatis theoriam pertinentes. Mutinae :; Soc. Typog., 1792.; Tab. II (Wellcome collection). An illustration of a man applying electrical currents to a dead sheep and pairs of frog legs to trigger movement
January 5, 2026 at 5:11 PM
Reposted by Finch Collins
appuhn.bsky.social
The politics here are reprehensible but also really sad. He was a great scholar once. He had philological skills that no one has anymore. There are very few people who could produce that kind of work today. And to some extent, that's what this is about. He's mad that our field lost its former status
nkalamb.bsky.social Nathan Kalman-Lamb @nkalamb.bsky.social · Dec 31
The reason this Harvard history professor decided he was done with one of the best and most privileged jobs in the world was, in his own words, because he was forced to lecture in a mask during peak Covid.

I’m not making this up.
My decision to retire was not a sudden one. I am coming to the end of a four-year retirement contract that I signed in the fall of 2021. That year I decided I no longer wanted to teach at Harvard. We had just endured almost two years under the university’s strict Covid regime. This was a form of emergency governance that mirrored to a fault the whole country’s uncritical acceptance of The Science and its proclivity, when backed by public power, for tyrannous invasions of private life. At Harvard, professors were told we had to lecture in masks and give seminars on zoom. Neither practice accorded with my idea of liberal education.
December 31, 2025 at 2:50 PM