Marian Lefferts
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mrlefferts.bsky.social
Marian Lefferts
@mrlefferts.bsky.social
Loves the Middle Ages, book bindings, special collections librarians, DH. Works for the Consortium of European Research Libraries (www.cerl.org)

#earlymodern #bookhistory #skystorians
Join us for this hybrid event on Founding Collections, taking place on 5 December 2025 and hosted by the @guildhalllibrary.bsky.social

Programme and registration details on www.cerl.org/services/sem...
November 3, 2025 at 9:50 AM
Reposted by Marian Lefferts
Chatbots — LLMs — do not know facts and are not designed to be able to accurately answer factual questions. They are designed to find and mimic patterns of words, probabilistically. When they’re “right” it’s because correct things are often written down, so those patterns are frequent. That’s all.
June 19, 2025 at 11:21 AM
Really looking forward to the CERL annual seminar tomorrow. This year on Founding Collections and hosted by the wonderful National Library of Scotland. Such a joy to be back in Edinburgh, getting to hang out with friends old and new

www.cerl.org/services/sem...
October 20, 2025 at 6:32 AM
Reposted by Marian Lefferts
NOS/Nieuwsuur maakte vorige week een alarmistisch item over onvrije debatcultuur aan Nederlandse universiteiten. Mirko Tobias Schäfer en ik schreven er een opiniestuk over: 'Dat de academische vrijheid onder druk staat, komt niet door linkse cancelcultuur.'

dub.uu.nl/nl/opinie/un...
‘Universiteit kan geen vrijplaats voor feitenvrije meningen zijn’
Dat de academische vrijheid onder druk staat, komt niet door de ‘linkse cancelcultuur’, betogen universitair docent Dick Zijp en universitair hoofddocent Mirko Tobias Schäfer. Zij hekelen de beeldvorm...
dub.uu.nl
September 25, 2025 at 9:46 AM
Reposted by Marian Lefferts
this iconic advertising copywriter named Kathy Hepinstall Parks died over the weekend and I wanted to share something from her website I thought Bluesky would like
August 22, 2025 at 2:20 PM
Tomáš Klimek of the National Library of the Czech Republic marks the 900th anniversary of the death of the Czech chronicler Cosmas, with new research, an exhibition and a catalogue - all coming out this year.
Cosmas’ Chronicle and his sources – towards an exhibition
By Tomáš Klimek, National Library of the Czech Republic This year marks the 900th anniversary of the death of the first Czech chronicler, Cosmas, who served as dean of the Prague chapter and died in 1125. His life’s work, the Chronicle of the Czechs, written towards the end of his long life, is the earliest known account of Czech history. And without exaggeration, we can say that Cosmas didn’t merely record history – he helped shape it.
cerlblog.wordpress.com
August 4, 2025 at 11:09 AM
The Democratization of Library Heritage Collections

By Louise Amazan, Daryl Green & Garrelt Verhoeven (IFLA RBSC) Introduction On April 24th 2025 the Standing Committee for Rare Books & Special Collections (RBSC) of IFLA and CERL’s Bookbinding group joined together for a seminar at the…
The Democratization of Library Heritage Collections
By Louise Amazan, Daryl Green & Garrelt Verhoeven (IFLA RBSC) Introduction On April 24th 2025 the Standing Committee for Rare Books & Special Collections (RBSC) of IFLA and CERL’s Bookbinding group joined together for a seminar at the Bibliothèque National de France. With the title Médiations du patrimoine en bibliothèque: enjeux et perspectives / Meditations on Libraries and Heritage Collections…
cerlblog.wordpress.com
July 8, 2025 at 8:12 AM
Reposted by Marian Lefferts
CERL - Consortium of European Research Libraries - is now on Blue Sky.

Our mission is to connect European book heritage with the world.

Expect to see news on rare books, manuscripts and events from our community.

www.cerl.org

Give us a follow!
Supporting Europe's written heritage [CERL]
www.cerl.org
June 11, 2025 at 8:56 AM
Where do European early imprints pop up? Attend this online seminar and find out! Please obtain your zoom link from secretariat@cerl.org
June 2, 2025 at 11:50 AM
The next CERL event is only a month away! I warmly invite you to come to KBR Brussels for

Mapping Knowledge: Collaboration of Retrospective National Bibliograhies with research and heritage projects

The programme is here: www.cerl.org/services/sem...

We aim to publish the papers
May 28, 2025 at 9:52 AM
Reposted by Marian Lefferts
I'm looking forward to discussing 'What can heritage do for society in the future?' at the '20 years of Sustainable Heritage at UCL' celebration on June 12

Some tickets still available www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/eve...
Celebrating 20 years of Sustainable Heritage at UCL
Join us for this celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Sustainable Heritage MSc programme at UCL Institute for Sustainable Heritage.
www.ucl.ac.uk
May 26, 2025 at 5:58 PM
Reposted by Marian Lefferts
Electronic Legal Deposit materials are back online in 5 legal deposit reading rooms after the British Library cyberattack! Hurrah. But not in London yet. ICYDK, this encompasses vast swathes of modern digital texts including journal papers & books, & other media. Great to see it back!
Guides: Electronic legal deposit: Introduction
Access electronic legal deposit at partner libraries
bl.libguides.com
May 26, 2025 at 1:24 PM
The English Short Title Catalogue is back online #ESTC datb.cerl.org/estc
May 13, 2025 at 5:20 AM
Reposted by Marian Lefferts
Very true. And it's a sector with high economic benefits. Universities UK report an economic impact of £158bn, or £265bn including the impact of international students. Every £1 of public money invested into UK universities generates £14 of economic benefit. www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/latest/news/...
April 11, 2025 at 4:58 PM
Reposted by Marian Lefferts
Dissolution of the Office of Digital Humanities is confirmed. #DigitalHumanities
April 10, 2025 at 2:21 PM
Explore Pigment Analysis in Historical Manuscripts Online. in this CERL blog post, Charlotte Denoël, Head of the Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts Service, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Manuscripts Department introduces the new database 'Fabrique de l' art.
A new database on pigments in illuminated manuscripts from the BnF
By Charlotte Denoël, Head of the Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts Service, Bibliothèque nationale de France, Manuscripts Department Fig. 1 Fabrique de l'art - home page of the database A new database has recently been put online, "Fabrique de l'art. Couleurs et matériaux de l'enluminure". This database has been produced as part of the research program "La couleur: artefacts, matière et cognition", conducted from 2021 to 2023 with funding from the four-year research plan at the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF), in partnership with the Institut national d'histoire de l'art (INHA).
cerlblog.wordpress.com
April 9, 2025 at 1:17 PM
Reposted by Marian Lefferts
We are increasingly concerned about the crisis in UK Higher Education. Read our joint statement with @royalhistsoc.bsky.social , History UK and the @histassoc.bsky.social https://buff.ly/4hSg16N #history #skystorians
More than ever, history and historians need a collaborative and co-ordinated approach
26th February 2025
buff.ly
February 26, 2025 at 10:29 AM
Reposted by Marian Lefferts
the loss of @neh-odh.bsky.social @nehgov.bsky.social and IMLS will undoubtedly impact humanities and digital humanities research and teaching for decades to come. Worse is the separation of the incredible staffs at those agencies who have decades of stewardship and leadership in cultural heritage.
April 4, 2025 at 11:13 PM
Reposted by Marian Lefferts
IMLS is required by law to administer their grants to states and grants to tribal libraries programs. ALA shared the letter the IMLS Board sent to the Acting Director—and quotint chapter and verse of the U.S. Code that delineates their authorities. Dear Congress www.ala.org/sites/defaul...
www.ala.org
April 1, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Reposted by Marian Lefferts
An important call to arms for the study of languages, cultures and society.
'We must not let advanced linguistic and cultural skills slip away out of a misinformed sense that technology will solve all our problems or that colonialism’s legacy will always fatally undermine efforts to promote better transnational understanding'
Modern languages departments are neither colonial nor obsolete
Advanced linguistic and cultural skills remain essential for deep insight into how people see themselves in the world, say five modern languages academics
www.timeshighereducation.com
March 12, 2025 at 9:38 PM
Reposted by Marian Lefferts
Reposted by Marian Lefferts
Want some fragmentary fun? Then join us at the London Palaeography Seminar next Tuesday, 11th March, to hear Dr Fran Alvarez on 'The Importance of being a Host' with new finds from Exeter and Salamanca. 5:30pm Senate House and online. Sign up here:
ies.sas.ac.uk/events/impor...
March 3, 2025 at 1:32 PM