Melissa Adler
@murmz.bsky.social
Prof, FIMS-Western-Ontario. American-Canadian. Cruising the Library (Fordham), Peculiar Satisfaction: Jefferson in the History of Libraries, Archives & Museums (Fordham 2026) Surveillance in the Empire of Liberty Bloomsbury 2026) She/her 🌈
Reposted by Melissa Adler
"...we can locate the early systemization of racial categories in American cultural institutions by looking to Jefferson’s classificatory and information management techniques." thewayofimprovement.blog/2026/01/19/t...
The Author’s Corner with Melissa Adler
Melissa Adler is Associate Professor of Information & Media Studies at Western University. This interview is based on her new book, Peculiar Satisfaction: Thomas Jefferson and the Mastery of Su…
thewayofimprovement.blog
January 19, 2026 at 2:18 PM
"...we can locate the early systemization of racial categories in American cultural institutions by looking to Jefferson’s classificatory and information management techniques." thewayofimprovement.blog/2026/01/19/t...
I’m co-chairing the program committee for the 4S conference in Toronto this year. Looking forward to seeing lots of submissions!
I'm co-chairing the Society for Social Studies of Science @4sweb.bsky.social Conference in Toronto, Oct 2026. #STS #scipol #innovation
Theme: "TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures".
Open panel submissions portal is open! ls!
Deadline: 2nd February 2026
www.4sonline.org/about_the_co...
Theme: "TechnoPower • Technoscientific Futures".
Open panel submissions portal is open! ls!
Deadline: 2nd February 2026
www.4sonline.org/about_the_co...
About the Conference
www.4sonline.org
January 14, 2026 at 4:46 PM
I’m co-chairing the program committee for the 4S conference in Toronto this year. Looking forward to seeing lots of submissions!
Reposted by Melissa Adler
A new issue of The Political Librarian includes ‘Truth-telling in library land: In defense of emancipatory and justice-based frameworks in library and information science’ by Jamillah R. Gabriel and Amber Matthews.
buff.ly/filKaJt
buff.ly/filKaJt
December 9, 2025 at 10:15 PM
A new issue of The Political Librarian includes ‘Truth-telling in library land: In defense of emancipatory and justice-based frameworks in library and information science’ by Jamillah R. Gabriel and Amber Matthews.
buff.ly/filKaJt
buff.ly/filKaJt
Reposted by Melissa Adler
"GenAI adoption in industry is overwhelmingly aimed at automating and replacing human effort, often with the expectation that future “AGI” will render human intellectual and creative labor obsolete. This is a narrative we will not participate in."
openletter.earth/an-open-lett...
openletter.earth/an-open-lett...
An open letter from educators who refuse the call to adopt GenAI in education
openletter.earth
December 12, 2025 at 7:19 PM
"GenAI adoption in industry is overwhelmingly aimed at automating and replacing human effort, often with the expectation that future “AGI” will render human intellectual and creative labor obsolete. This is a narrative we will not participate in."
openletter.earth/an-open-lett...
openletter.earth/an-open-lett...
Reposted by Melissa Adler
A round of applause is in order for Ideas on Fire author Melissa Adler @murmz.bsky.social! 👏 Her new book Peculiar Satisfaction: Thomas Jefferson and the Mastery of Subjects is out now from Fordham University Press.
fordhampress.com/peculiar-sat...
#IoFAuthors
fordhampress.com/peculiar-sat...
#IoFAuthors
December 9, 2025 at 3:22 PM
A round of applause is in order for Ideas on Fire author Melissa Adler @murmz.bsky.social! 👏 Her new book Peculiar Satisfaction: Thomas Jefferson and the Mastery of Subjects is out now from Fordham University Press.
fordhampress.com/peculiar-sat...
#IoFAuthors
fordhampress.com/peculiar-sat...
#IoFAuthors
Reposted by Melissa Adler
HUGE mail week for critical library histories. @cindyanguyen.bsky.social @murmz.bsky.social
December 4, 2025 at 2:04 PM
HUGE mail week for critical library histories. @cindyanguyen.bsky.social @murmz.bsky.social
Reposted by Melissa Adler
Reading Peculiar Satisfaction by @murmz.bsky.social at the Jefferson Memorial in DC! #ASIST2025
November 16, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Reading Peculiar Satisfaction by @murmz.bsky.social at the Jefferson Memorial in DC! #ASIST2025
@fordhampress.bsky.social is having a 25% off sale, and free shipping to the U.S. AND Peculiar Satisfaction is available! Jefferson and the making of US libraries, archives, and museums. Thinking with Walter Benjamin, Sylvia Wynter, and others. fordhampress.com/peculiar-sat...
Peculiar Satisfaction - Melissa Adler
How Thomas Jefferson’s vision for knowledge shapes what we know and how we access it—and why that matters more than ever As the United States approaches the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Ind...
fordhampress.com
November 10, 2025 at 4:08 PM
@fordhampress.bsky.social is having a 25% off sale, and free shipping to the U.S. AND Peculiar Satisfaction is available! Jefferson and the making of US libraries, archives, and museums. Thinking with Walter Benjamin, Sylvia Wynter, and others. fordhampress.com/peculiar-sat...
If you’re going to #4S2025 check out our panel!
Very excited to be doing this panel "Ontologies at the End of the World" with @murmz.bsky.social on Instauration in Bruno Latour and Francis Bacon — our talk Memory, Reason & Imagination, and the Coloniality of Knowledge Organization
August 27, 2025 at 9:59 PM
If you’re going to #4S2025 check out our panel!
@fordhampress.bsky.social Catalog is out. Preorder Peculiar Satisfaction: Thomas Jefferson and the Mastery of Subjects or get Cruising the Library (2017). Both address the paradox of access to information in libraries. Both are written from a place of love for public institutions.
August 20, 2025 at 7:53 PM
@fordhampress.bsky.social Catalog is out. Preorder Peculiar Satisfaction: Thomas Jefferson and the Mastery of Subjects or get Cruising the Library (2017). Both address the paradox of access to information in libraries. Both are written from a place of love for public institutions.
Reposted by Melissa Adler
AI isn't magic. AI is land, real estate, and energy.
Wanna see a crazy chart? Of course you do.
Spending on constructing datacenters and manufacturing facilities for computers & electronic products in the US now exceeds the entire retail and wholesale industry and almost as much as the rest of the office and manufacturing sectors combined.
Spending on constructing datacenters and manufacturing facilities for computers & electronic products in the US now exceeds the entire retail and wholesale industry and almost as much as the rest of the office and manufacturing sectors combined.
August 6, 2025 at 12:46 AM
AI isn't magic. AI is land, real estate, and energy.
Reposted by Melissa Adler
All but a few of the nearly 400 books that the U.S. Naval Academy removed from its library because they dealt with anti-racism and gender issues are back on the shelves after the newest Pentagon-ordered review
Most books pulled from Naval Academy library are back on the shelves in latest DEI turn
All but a few of the nearly 400 books that the U.S. Naval Academy removed from its library because they dealt with anti-racism and gender issues are back on the shelves.
buff.ly
May 28, 2025 at 3:02 PM
All but a few of the nearly 400 books that the U.S. Naval Academy removed from its library because they dealt with anti-racism and gender issues are back on the shelves after the newest Pentagon-ordered review
Really looking forward to my first CAIS. And my first visit to Halifax. And what I know will be exciting, thoughtful conversations.
📣 The 2025 Canadian Association for Information Science conference program is out! 27-29 May
Keynote: @edrabinski.bsky.social 🎉
Online attendance is FREE. Confs are expensive and many ppl can't travel. Here's an association acting to address these realities. Come along if you like! 📚📜
cais2025.ca
Keynote: @edrabinski.bsky.social 🎉
Online attendance is FREE. Confs are expensive and many ppl can't travel. Here's an association acting to address these realities. Come along if you like! 📚📜
cais2025.ca
May 14, 2025 at 1:12 AM
Really looking forward to my first CAIS. And my first visit to Halifax. And what I know will be exciting, thoughtful conversations.
Reposted by Melissa Adler
New blog post at ACRLog: Targeting Books for Removal at U.S. Military Libraries acrlog.org/2025/05/11/t.... I talk about how painful it is that LCSH are being used for this dirty work. #critcat 📚
Targeting Books for Removal at U.S. Military Libraries - ACRLog
In the course of looking for resources relating to critical cataloging, I stumbled on a new memorandum from the U.S. Office of the Secretary of Defense, dated May 9th and titled “Reviewing the Departm...
acrlog.org
May 11, 2025 at 11:31 PM
New blog post at ACRLog: Targeting Books for Removal at U.S. Military Libraries acrlog.org/2025/05/11/t.... I talk about how painful it is that LCSH are being used for this dirty work. #critcat 📚
Reposted by Melissa Adler
Library of Congress staff turn away new MAGA bosses appointed by felon after firing existing heads. Staff called Capitol Police and the two fake bosses withdrew for now.
It’s the library of congress and not the library of the president/wanna be king/felon.
www.thedailybeast.com/library-of-c...
It’s the library of congress and not the library of the president/wanna be king/felon.
www.thedailybeast.com/library-of-c...
Library of Congress Staff Turn Away New MAGA Bosses
Two Justice Department officials who thought they had been appointed into top roles at the library were denied entry on Monday.
www.thedailybeast.com
May 13, 2025 at 6:40 PM
Library of Congress staff turn away new MAGA bosses appointed by felon after firing existing heads. Staff called Capitol Police and the two fake bosses withdrew for now.
It’s the library of congress and not the library of the president/wanna be king/felon.
www.thedailybeast.com/library-of-c...
It’s the library of congress and not the library of the president/wanna be king/felon.
www.thedailybeast.com/library-of-c...
Reposted by Melissa Adler
“What awards are being cut by NSF?
Awards that are not aligned with NSF's priorities have been terminated, including […] those on […] misinformation/disinformation."
SO WE'RE ALL CLEAR, OUR GOVERNMENT IS TRYING TO STOP RESEARCH ON DISINFORMATION
www.nsf.gov/updates-on-p...
Awards that are not aligned with NSF's priorities have been terminated, including […] those on […] misinformation/disinformation."
SO WE'RE ALL CLEAR, OUR GOVERNMENT IS TRYING TO STOP RESEARCH ON DISINFORMATION
www.nsf.gov/updates-on-p...
Updates on NSF Priorities
www.nsf.gov
April 19, 2025 at 3:20 PM
“What awards are being cut by NSF?
Awards that are not aligned with NSF's priorities have been terminated, including […] those on […] misinformation/disinformation."
SO WE'RE ALL CLEAR, OUR GOVERNMENT IS TRYING TO STOP RESEARCH ON DISINFORMATION
www.nsf.gov/updates-on-p...
Awards that are not aligned with NSF's priorities have been terminated, including […] those on […] misinformation/disinformation."
SO WE'RE ALL CLEAR, OUR GOVERNMENT IS TRYING TO STOP RESEARCH ON DISINFORMATION
www.nsf.gov/updates-on-p...
Reposted by Melissa Adler
Not former potus saying Harvard has set a precedent for other universities and I have to hold myself back from mentioning Wesleyan, Georgetown law, Rutgers faculty senate, etc. What we're not gonna do is erase the Jesuits! Sigh, let me reread Elite Capture.
April 15, 2025 at 12:30 PM
Not former potus saying Harvard has set a precedent for other universities and I have to hold myself back from mentioning Wesleyan, Georgetown law, Rutgers faculty senate, etc. What we're not gonna do is erase the Jesuits! Sigh, let me reread Elite Capture.
Reposted by Melissa Adler
Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions - rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking steps to make sure students can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope others follow suit.
April 15, 2025 at 3:52 AM
Harvard has set an example for other higher-ed institutions - rejecting an unlawful and ham-handed attempt to stifle academic freedom, while taking steps to make sure students can benefit from an environment of intellectual inquiry, rigorous debate and mutual respect. Let’s hope others follow suit.
Reposted by Melissa Adler
Further dismantling of our public institutions.
Just got word from my college roommate - who is the state archivist for the state of South Dakota - that due to the DOGE shutdowns of IMLS, they can no longer fund InterLibrary Loan in SD.
This means exchange between libraries, ability to get books delivered across the system, is gone as of 4/30.
This means exchange between libraries, ability to get books delivered across the system, is gone as of 4/30.
April 15, 2025 at 3:04 AM
Further dismantling of our public institutions.
The titles for these executive orders are incredible. Weirdly makes me think of the time Jefferson made demands for “reparations”. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1. Purpose and
www.whitehouse.gov
March 28, 2025 at 3:27 PM
The titles for these executive orders are incredible. Weirdly makes me think of the time Jefferson made demands for “reparations”. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Reposted by Melissa Adler
Don't mess with lady profs of a certain age. Once the kids are out of the house, we spend a lot of time in the gym.
The 66-year-old woman kicking this guy’s ass is a retired professor of medicine with 16,000 citations on Google Scholar
Goals
Goals
March 25, 2025 at 10:31 AM
Don't mess with lady profs of a certain age. Once the kids are out of the house, we spend a lot of time in the gym.
“even under the best forms, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted into tyranny; and it is believed that the most effectual means of preventing this would be to illuminate…the minds of the people at large.” -Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge
March 22, 2025 at 6:48 PM
“even under the best forms, those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted into tyranny; and it is believed that the most effectual means of preventing this would be to illuminate…the minds of the people at large.” -Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge
Reposted by Melissa Adler
Horrific EO dropped last night! Below is an interactive map to see EXACTLY the libraries + museums which will be heavily impacted with the IMLS being defunded:
@exploratorium.bsky.social Science Center of MN; Nat'l Children's Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art....the list goes on and on.
@exploratorium.bsky.social Science Center of MN; Nat'l Children's Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art....the list goes on and on.
IMLS Interactive Map
www.imls.gov
March 15, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Horrific EO dropped last night! Below is an interactive map to see EXACTLY the libraries + museums which will be heavily impacted with the IMLS being defunded:
@exploratorium.bsky.social Science Center of MN; Nat'l Children's Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art....the list goes on and on.
@exploratorium.bsky.social Science Center of MN; Nat'l Children's Museum; Museum of Contemporary Art....the list goes on and on.
Reposted by Melissa Adler
AOC: It is almost unthinkable why Senate Democrats would vote to to hand the few pieces of leverage that we have away for free when we've been sent here to protect social security, protect medicaid, and protect medicare.
March 14, 2025 at 12:16 AM
AOC: It is almost unthinkable why Senate Democrats would vote to to hand the few pieces of leverage that we have away for free when we've been sent here to protect social security, protect medicaid, and protect medicare.
This is happening. Due out in November. This research has changed the way I see almost everything about the institutions that are essential to American democracy-libraries, archives and museums. www.fordhampress.com/978153151193...
Peculiar Satisfaction
How Thomas Jefferson’s vision for knowledge shapes what we know and how we access it – and why that matters more than everAs the United States approaches...
www.fordhampress.com
March 14, 2025 at 12:00 PM
This is happening. Due out in November. This research has changed the way I see almost everything about the institutions that are essential to American democracy-libraries, archives and museums. www.fordhampress.com/978153151193...