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libfocus.bsky.social
libfocus
@libfocus.bsky.social
1K followers 1.6K following 47 posts
A communal blog with a broad and open-minded take on the subject of library and information management. We love guest posts! https://www.libfocus.com/
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libfocus.bsky.social
Get your roundup of library and information news from this month's link-out! Discover the online rival for Amazon, the Live Aid archives, the good and bad of AI, forgotten children's classics, librarians fighting censorship and much more over at www.libfocus.com
Three images: A cartoon image of two policeman carrying a monkey over the text curious george, a man holding a pile of books, pictures of singers performing
October 24, 2025 at 2:33 PM
libfocus.bsky.social
Read our latest post from @jennylibrarian.bsky.social about the @lirheanet.bsky.social annual seminar. Learn about the insights shared by keynote speaker Dr. Daniela Bultoc around communities of practice in higher education at www.libfocus.com/2025/10/lir-...
A woman standing in front of two mounted screen facing a seated audience
October 17, 2025 at 10:12 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Congratulations to Hayley Brabazon from @dculibrary.bsky.social whose blog post 'What a TikTok ‘Thirst Trap’ Taught Me About Library Outreach in the Age of Disinformation' was highly commended in the 2025 @conultraindev.bsky.social Library Assistant Blog awards. Read it now over at www.libfocus.com
A photo showing a group of students in a classroom looking at an image on a large screen.
October 10, 2025 at 8:57 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Well done to Rebecca Cairns from @ria.ie whose article 'Drawing from nature: The botanical drawings of Eileen Barnes' has won 3rd prize in the 2025 @conultraindev.bsky.social Library Assistant Blog awards. Read it now over at www.libfocus.com
Image of botanical drawings depicting various plants
October 6, 2025 at 9:08 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Well done to Alana Mahon O'Neill from @dculibrary.bsky.social whose article 'How I learned to stop worrying and love Leganto' has won 2nd prize in the 2025 @conultraindev.bsky.social Library Assistant Blog awards. Read it now over at www.libfocus.com
Sepia image that shows a tiny stick figure standing in front of a square at the centre of four patterned weaving paths
October 1, 2025 at 7:47 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Congratulations to Claire Dunne @ucdlibrary.bsky.social winner of the 2025 @conultraindev.bsky.social Library Assistant Blog Award! Read her blog post 'Shells, Shorthand, and Skipping Classes: Documenting Prize Bookplates in the John Manning Collection of Children's Books' now at www.libfocus.com
Two rows of colourful books with white slips of paper in them
September 29, 2025 at 8:07 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Unlike the current Irish weather our link-out is always reliable, bringing you the latest library & info news each month! Get up to date on the wicked scholarly publishing system, the endurance of libraries & the war on knowledge, AI & Open Access, the Google Graveyard and more at www.libfocus.com
Five images clockwise from top left: Two hands shaking, A smiling man sitting with a book in this hands, white shelves with green potted plants on them, graphic of hand taking a book off the shelf, an open book with blue sparkling lights above it
September 15, 2025 at 7:32 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
New on Libfocus: @helenfallon.bsky.social writes about her current project supporting prison libraries in Malawi.

A powerful reminder of how libraries transform lives.

www.libfocus.com/2025/09/pris...
Three people in Malawi Prisons uniforms stand in a library. A woman in the foreground reads an open book on a wooden table, while two men stand behind her, smiling and holding books. Shelves filled with books line the background. A man in a tan uniform stands in front of a chalkboard, smiling and pointing to a physics textbook he is holding. In front of him, a table is stacked with boxes of exercise books and piles of school textbooks, including titles on chemistry, mathematics, geography, and English grammar Two people stand smiling inside a shop. A woman in a cream and black dress holds a ream of paper, while a man in a tan uniform and cap also holds it. Shelves behind them display stationery, electronics, and office supplies
September 6, 2025 at 3:36 PM
libfocus.bsky.social
Our August link-out is here and it's jam-packed with the latest #library and information-linked news! Get the latest updates about AI, publishers in crisis and librarians working with journalists. Look back on Live Aid and discover how #libraries inspired Martin Luther King www.libfocus.com
5 images: clockwise from top: A robot hand holding a pen, wavy line, a picture of two men (musicians Paul McCartney and David Bowie), a woman looking at a screen, a person standing in front of a stack of books
August 15, 2025 at 8:13 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Calling all library assistants in CONUL Libraries - have you submitted to the @conultraindev.bsky.social Library Assistant Blog awards yet? Only 3 days to go to be in with a chance to win 1 of 3 prizes including the top prize of €200 AND be published in @libfocus.bsky.social conul.ie/library-assi...
Hands typing on a keyboard below the text: CONUL consortium of national and university libraries training and development Entries for the 2025 Library Assistant Blog awards for an article in the style of a blog post are now being accepted. The competition is open to staff at all library assistant and equivalent grades in CONUL Training & Development member libraries. The theme of your blog entry must be library related. This could include any aspect of your current work; your ideas on a particular library development; some training/developmental activity you undertook; an event/innovation in your library; a particular item in your library’s collection; your library building etc. The closing date for entries is the 31st July 2025. 1st Prize €200 2nd Prize €150 3rd Prize €100 Please see the following Blog Guidelines and Judging Criteria for further details.
July 28, 2025 at 9:56 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Today's guest post is by Anne Charlotte Danhiez from the Robert de Sorbon Library in France. Learn about her thought-provoking and inspiring visits to CONUL Libraries as part of the @conultraindev.bsky.social Erasmus Library Staff Mobility Week in Dublin #ErasmusDub25 www.libfocus.com
Sixteen people standing or sitting in a row, facing the camera.
July 18, 2025 at 8:11 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
In her @conulconference.bsky.social review, @hollymeadekennedy.bsky.social from @mulibrary.bsky.social shares how empowering it was for her to hear from so many female library leaders at #CONUL25. Read more about a conference experience that was 'rare and radical' at www.libfocus.com
A close-up picture of two women
June 26, 2025 at 8:15 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Michelle McMeekin's @conulconference.bsky.social review gives an excellent snapshot of #CONUL25 in Tullamore. It is the first of three conference reports from this year's bursary winners. Read all about the conference talks, trends and tastes at libfocus.com
Graphic of a rectangle with a heart hands and feet and a magic wand with the caption something that you would do differently. A suitcase with the caption one thing you'll take away with you. A thought bubble that reads something you will remember and a bin that reads something you didn't like.
June 24, 2025 at 3:14 PM
libfocus.bsky.social
Our latest guest post is from Isabell Seeger, soon-to-be MLIS graduate from @ucdischool.bsky.social. She outlines her motivation for a career change from tech into librarianship and the surprising parallels and transferable skills from one to the other over at www.libfocus.com
A picture of a woman, white computer text on a purple screen that beings with 'how do large language models work? and a picture of books on shelves
June 19, 2025 at 7:52 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Our latest link-out covers #library controversies and #libraries championing climate action, endangered crafts and book-inspired songs, must-read LGBTQ+ authors to celebrate #pridemonth, the latest in AI and open science and more at www.libfocus.com
5 images clockwise from top left: Hands holding a flame to red plastic material, two men with dyed hair standing shoulder to shoulder, a building viewed through slatted blinds, a woman with an SFSU tshirt lying on pages, a red circle with an x on it in the middle of a picture of a map system
June 11, 2025 at 8:15 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Our latest guest post is from Paraic Elliott @dculibrary.bsky.social who shares his thoughts about censorship and what the current issues around censorship are for libraries www.libfocus.com
An AI generated image of the interior of a wooden building containing tables and lit candles. Blue flashes of lightning can be seen at the top of the picture.
June 3, 2025 at 12:28 PM
libfocus.bsky.social
Our May link-out is finally here! Read about libraries as political battlegrounds and as champions of good, get the latest on open access and ChatGPT and find out what the pope thinks about AI. This and more at www.libfocus.com
Images clockwise top left to bottom right: A large yellow building with a turret, the pope dressed in white addressing an audience of cardinals with red hats, two people sitting in a bright room with tables and chairs, a man with his hand to his head standing between rows of books, a woman dressed in red, a graphic of a man standing in front of a keyhole
May 27, 2025 at 3:32 PM
libfocus.bsky.social
Our latest guest post is by Kevin Tuohy who writes about his archival and cataloguing project for the Cape Clear Heritage Centre in West Cork. The materials in the collection offer a rich insight into 20th century cultural, linguistic, and political life in Ireland. This and more at www.libfocus.com
Aerial view of an island
May 23, 2025 at 8:06 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
This month's link-out features articles from @archive.org @brewster.kahle.org @uk.theconversation.com @ellacreamer.bsky.social @theguardian.com @librarycongress.bsky.social @ala-acrl.bsky.social @alicecann.bsky.social @researchireland.bsky.social and more at libfocus.com
Image of the libfocus blog site showing the latest article libfocus link-out for April 2025
April 25, 2025 at 8:02 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Our April link-out has arrived! Get up to date on the latest library and info news with articles covering the Big publishers vs digital preservation, the secret history of the ENIAC women, threats and developments in open access, book bans, Brian Eno and more libfocus.com
Images clockwise from top left: Graphic depicting different types of storage media under the text vanishing culture, a red road sign that reads reduce speed, a black and white photo of a woman in front of a large wall computer, a raised hand, a man with a beard looking out from foliage
April 25, 2025 at 7:48 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Today's guest post is by Sharon Corrigan from @dculibrary.bsky.social's SC&A directorate. Get lost in the pages of their early printed books from the 1500s where you will find intricate woodcuts, mythical creatures and insights into printing in 16th Century Europe. libfocus.com
A man and a woman looking at a book placed on a cushion. Picture credit: DCU Library/ Kyran O'Brien
April 11, 2025 at 9:36 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Dive into our March link-out and discover the Masochists' Book Club, the pros and cons of AI use in Open Science, the future for systems librarians, the renaming of @tcddublin.bsky.social's Berkeley Library and much more - all over at libfocus.com
Images clockwise from top left: Two women beside a sign that reads Eavan Boland agus Coláiste na Tríonóide, The CRAAP Test Currency Relevance Accuracy Authority Purpose, Woman holding a book standing beside book shelves, SCONUL The Future of the Systems Librarian, Woman sitting at a desk, picture of a woman (poet Eavan Boland), circular graphic depicting open science
March 21, 2025 at 9:34 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Our February link-out is hot off the press! Find out about disappearing data, AI junk science, inclusive library collections, the first Valentine's love letter, the fight against publisher package deals, how to show up for your students and much more at libfocus.com
Six images clockwise from top left: Advice for discouraged sailors written under a painting of a boat on the sea; illustration of a woman with two ducks; latin text above an illustration of a man kneeling in front of another man with a sword raised over his head; a black and white photo of three seated children; a collage of people sorting files, a building and a large room of wall cabinets and a body and arm shelving books
February 24, 2025 at 1:36 PM
libfocus.bsky.social
In our latest guest post, Holly Meade-Kennedy describes the career journey that has brought her to @maynoothuni.bsky.social #Library. Discover the transferable skills and shared goals that have made her transition from teacher to library assistant so successful www.libfocus.com #libraries
A library atrium that shows a double staircase in an open plan area with indoor plants
February 10, 2025 at 9:14 AM
libfocus.bsky.social
Get all the library news you need in our first link-out of 2025! Discover the #library that lends out people, read about welcome and wellbeing in #libraries and uncover the latest in open access, censorship and AI at www.libfocus.com
Two seated people talking, a blue circle with AI written in the centre being touched by a hand, a bin filled with crumpled up paper, a person holding out cupped hands that have paper cut outs of people in them, colourful cups spelling out welcome
January 27, 2025 at 9:53 AM