Reposted by lizbrarian
In addition to money donations to food banks & food aid for people, please also consider donating money or food & litter to pet food pantries. Many people who rely on SNAP to feed themselves will now need to redirect $ to buy groceries that they would have spent on pet food before.
US Department of Agriculture says no food aid benefits will be issued next month reut.rs/3WohHMk
US Department of Agriculture says no food aid benefits will be issued next month
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Saturday that food benefits under one of the country's biggest social assistance programs will not be issued next month amid the ongoing federal government shutdown.
reut.rs
October 26, 2025 at 6:14 PM
In addition to money donations to food banks & food aid for people, please also consider donating money or food & litter to pet food pantries. Many people who rely on SNAP to feed themselves will now need to redirect $ to buy groceries that they would have spent on pet food before.
Sunday afternoon storytime with the whole family
October 19, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Sunday afternoon storytime with the whole family
Reposted by lizbrarian
🧵It has been clear for years that a key difference between past instances of book banning and the present censorship cataclysm is that the banning happening now targets not only books, but librarianship as a profession and libraries as an institution. 1/4
October 15, 2025 at 1:58 PM
🧵It has been clear for years that a key difference between past instances of book banning and the present censorship cataclysm is that the banning happening now targets not only books, but librarianship as a profession and libraries as an institution. 1/4
Reading with the cats again (a very good stress-relieving activity, if you need one). Yesterday, A Mouthful of Dust by Nghi Vo, and today, All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles. Good spooky vibes for the weekend.
October 10, 2025 at 11:52 PM
Reading with the cats again (a very good stress-relieving activity, if you need one). Yesterday, A Mouthful of Dust by Nghi Vo, and today, All of Us Murderers by KJ Charles. Good spooky vibes for the weekend.
can't believe Archie did not win the Nobel Peace Prize for this
A lesson in de-escalation from Archie: when your opponent is ready to attack and pops up to strike, just start making out with him.
October 10, 2025 at 4:42 PM
can't believe Archie did not win the Nobel Peace Prize for this
Archie, a librarian's son, spent some time trying to figure out the bookshelves this morning
October 3, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Archie, a librarian's son, spent some time trying to figure out the bookshelves this morning
Reposted by lizbrarian
Saw someone say, “Stop hoarding books, we don’t need paper books anyway” and I can’t express how misguided this is. Online libraries disappear, digital books can be altered, and with Big Tech seeking to destroy history and literacy, print media has never been more essential.
October 1, 2025 at 9:10 PM
Saw someone say, “Stop hoarding books, we don’t need paper books anyway” and I can’t express how misguided this is. Online libraries disappear, digital books can be altered, and with Big Tech seeking to destroy history and literacy, print media has never been more essential.
Reposted by lizbrarian
This would be why I am such a strident critic of digitization as a substitute for actual archival preservation. My sixteenth century documents are far sturdier and likely to survive another 500 years than the detritus on the internet. And digitization is not democratization.
September 29, 2025 at 7:21 PM
This would be why I am such a strident critic of digitization as a substitute for actual archival preservation. My sixteenth century documents are far sturdier and likely to survive another 500 years than the detritus on the internet. And digitization is not democratization.
Saturday afternoon, amidst the doom scrolling: a good book, a cat, and my favorite John Prine t-shirt (my only John Prine t-shirt, but still my favorite)
September 27, 2025 at 7:56 PM
Saturday afternoon, amidst the doom scrolling: a good book, a cat, and my favorite John Prine t-shirt (my only John Prine t-shirt, but still my favorite)
Reposted by lizbrarian
Also great! "That's why I think we should fund libraries more. It's not just because they're a great resource, it's because I don't wanna know what librarians will do if we don't give them a place to go."
September 16, 2025 at 5:32 AM
Also great! "That's why I think we should fund libraries more. It's not just because they're a great resource, it's because I don't wanna know what librarians will do if we don't give them a place to go."
Good morning from already flooded Milwaukee
August 12, 2025 at 12:44 PM
Good morning from already flooded Milwaukee
A friend of mine wrote a book about the history of film censorship in Milwaukee and it's being turned into a documentary! The filmmaker needs at least 250 people to follow the project at the link below to ensure it will be available streaming. Donating is great too if you can do so!
Outlaws, Rebels, & Vixens - Film and Storytelling | Seed&Spark
This is more than a film- it's a reckoning with forgotten history.
In an era where debates over what should be seen, said, and shared are intensifying, VIXENS offers essential historical context. It's...
seedandspark.com
August 9, 2025 at 11:21 PM
A friend of mine wrote a book about the history of film censorship in Milwaukee and it's being turned into a documentary! The filmmaker needs at least 250 people to follow the project at the link below to ensure it will be available streaming. Donating is great too if you can do so!
One of my favorite digital collections! I created this back when I got to do this kind of thing, and almost a decade later, the local NPR station interviewed my former colleague about it.
Milwaukee Public Library’s Wisconsin Concert Poster Collection is pretty punk
Milwaukee Public Library's Timothy Rush talks about the Rare Books Room's collection of almost 200 gig posters.
www.wuwm.com
July 23, 2025 at 7:20 PM
One of my favorite digital collections! I created this back when I got to do this kind of thing, and almost a decade later, the local NPR station interviewed my former colleague about it.
Reposted by lizbrarian
I tested it in Primo Research Assistant, not surprising, I got similar results since Summon Research Assistant is sister product and both work the same by using LLM to generate Boolean search strategy. Gaza war shows no results. Tusla Race riots get a scary error message but does generate answer(1)
July 22, 2025 at 10:07 AM
I tested it in Primo Research Assistant, not surprising, I got similar results since Summon Research Assistant is sister product and both work the same by using LLM to generate Boolean search strategy. Gaza war shows no results. Tusla Race riots get a scary error message but does generate answer(1)
Reposted by lizbrarian
Terrific thread, with wonderful specific detail, about why historiography matters.
I write serious history—via biography—for a non-academic audience. So I'd like to say something about Ken Burns's remark, something that also explains why AI can't write history.
Pardon me for citing the example of one of my books, "Custer's Trials," on one of history's best-known figures.
1/12
Pardon me for citing the example of one of my books, "Custer's Trials," on one of history's best-known figures.
1/12
“We wanted to rid ourselves of the fashions of historiography,” Burns summarized at one event, “and make a film that simply shows what happened.”
That’s not how history works though. You’re making an argument about what happened & what mattered even if you don’t realize you’re doing it. 🗃️
That’s not how history works though. You’re making an argument about what happened & what mattered even if you don’t realize you’re doing it. 🗃️
July 19, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Terrific thread, with wonderful specific detail, about why historiography matters.
the kind of guy who has not been inside a library since the 90s
July 12, 2025 at 5:17 PM
the kind of guy who has not been inside a library since the 90s
Second day with this incredibly needy foster kitty. Here he is screaming at me as I try to leave the room. I love him.
June 28, 2025 at 12:36 PM
Second day with this incredibly needy foster kitty. Here he is screaming at me as I try to leave the room. I love him.
A lesson in de-escalation from Archie: when your opponent is ready to attack and pops up to strike, just start making out with him.
June 17, 2025 at 11:42 PM
A lesson in de-escalation from Archie: when your opponent is ready to attack and pops up to strike, just start making out with him.
Reposted by lizbrarian
What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders?
Digital resources, particularly eBooks and audiobooks, are going to bankrupt libraries if something isn't done to halt the extortionary pricing models of publishers.
Digital resources, particularly eBooks and audiobooks, are going to bankrupt libraries if something isn't done to halt the extortionary pricing models of publishers.
What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders?
It is good and proper in a well-kept library to dispose of books.
It is good and proper in a well-kept library to dispose of books.
What is common knowledge in your field, but shocks outsiders?
Almost all of the bugs and problems and breakage in the software you use is known to the engineers, we just aren't allowed to fix it. Gotta ship new features.
Almost all of the bugs and problems and breakage in the software you use is known to the engineers, we just aren't allowed to fix it. Gotta ship new features.
June 17, 2025 at 12:40 PM
What is common knowledge in your field but shocks outsiders?
Digital resources, particularly eBooks and audiobooks, are going to bankrupt libraries if something isn't done to halt the extortionary pricing models of publishers.
Digital resources, particularly eBooks and audiobooks, are going to bankrupt libraries if something isn't done to halt the extortionary pricing models of publishers.
Reposted by lizbrarian
We're honored to be recognized by our local freekly, The Shepherd-Express, as their "heroes" of the month.
shepherdexpress.com/news/hero-of...
#freekly #freeweeklypaper #localpress #milwaukee
shepherdexpress.com/news/hero-of...
#freekly #freeweeklypaper #localpress #milwaukee
Queer Zine Archive Project Preserves LGBTQ+ DIY History
What started as the combined zine collections of co-founders Milo Miller and Christopher Wilde has ballooned to over 4,500 archived items in their physical collection and about 600 in their digital da...
shepherdexpress.com
June 11, 2025 at 3:32 PM
We're honored to be recognized by our local freekly, The Shepherd-Express, as their "heroes" of the month.
shepherdexpress.com/news/hero-of...
#freekly #freeweeklypaper #localpress #milwaukee
shepherdexpress.com/news/hero-of...
#freekly #freeweeklypaper #localpress #milwaukee
Archie and I have been reading together again
June 5, 2025 at 7:45 PM
Archie and I have been reading together again
Reposted by lizbrarian
Programmers who rely on chatgpt are explicitly saying they are *not thinking about the code*
They're not making mental models of it, understanding how the parts work, where the problems might be.
All this also applies to literally all creative activity, from art to writing.
They're not making mental models of it, understanding how the parts work, where the problems might be.
All this also applies to literally all creative activity, from art to writing.
June 4, 2025 at 10:28 PM
Programmers who rely on chatgpt are explicitly saying they are *not thinking about the code*
They're not making mental models of it, understanding how the parts work, where the problems might be.
All this also applies to literally all creative activity, from art to writing.
They're not making mental models of it, understanding how the parts work, where the problems might be.
All this also applies to literally all creative activity, from art to writing.
My cat, an idiot, was scared of the sound of rain in the living room, so he ran into another room and hid next to a window.
May 29, 2025 at 1:34 AM
My cat, an idiot, was scared of the sound of rain in the living room, so he ran into another room and hid next to a window.