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melissa1776.bsky.social
Academic LIS Scholar, Foodie, and Friend!
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Sheer insanity. Can you imagine this in any other industry? Not only giving content away for free, but paying billions for the privilege of doing so, and then paying yet more billions in order to access the content we paid to give away. Make it make sense. đź“š

Your voice matters! Contact your representative today and tell Congress to fund IMLS and keep libraries open for students, seniors, job seekers, and everyone who relies on them. Click the link to take action now! oneclickpolitics.global.ssl.fastly.net/messages/edi... #uniteagainstbookbans

Tuberculosis, the deadliest infectious disease on the planet, kills more than 1.25M people a year. New infections are expected to surge by 30% as a result of closing USAID, a memo says. The increase will inevitably lead to cases in the U.S.

There is arguably no right more rooted in American history and tradition than the right to hand out political pamphlets

A play in three acts:

They adopted a posture of total submission and it bought them precisely nothing. A lesson for the Trump era www.nytimes.com/live/2025/03...

As another Trump-induced market crisis unfolds from tariffs, it's time we ask "What's the Matter with Billionaires?" I've run the numbers. Billionaires do better under Dems. So why do billionaires keep supporting GOP policies against their economic interests? See my latest piece on why. (TLDR 🧵⬇️)

new this morning from @andrewperez.bsky.social and me www.rollingstone.com/politics/pol...

Co-wrote my first op/ed with the great @profmrs.bsky.social!!! thehill.com/opinion/whit...

"Two in five scientists ... reported harassment and intimidation ... Intimidation efforts included online abuse, physical threats, and threats to budgets or employment." theconversation.com/two-in-five-...

My friend just guest lectured in my class. This reminded me that in 2019 she wrote a dissertation on the Vlogbrothers and I told her back then I would give her 5 years, then send it to @hankgreen.bsky.social and @johngreensbluesky.bsky.social. So help me do that!!! hdl.handle.net/2142/105021

meanwhile, in the provost's office:

Come for the Oscars analysis, stay for a nuanced discussion of AI and art!!!

Got some good news today at work, it won’t be official for a few months, but it’s looking like I will be at the iSchool for a loooooong time!!!

The phrase for today: intentional systemic understaffing

Thank you for the follows and the orders! It deeply means the world to us. The store mzs.press needed this, and we needed this. Because of you, I was able to get all these NEW TITLES (and more!) for the holiday season and restock some old favs. Will be in store in the coming days! #BlueskyLuv

⏰ Please share far and wide, #foodhistory and #foodstudies friends: The CFP for the Amsterdam Food Symposium 2025 is out ⏰ This is a very special year, as it coincides with the 750th anniv. of Amsterdam and an exhibition on the history of food in Amsterdam. allardpierson.nl/en/news/call...

đź“Ł New zine!! "A Librarian Against AI; or, I Think AI Should Leave" is a 40-page zine about why we should think twice about using & supporting generative AI. violetbfox.info/against-ai/ #noAI #zines

My latest for @truthout.bsky.social

We’re hiring at the Digital Technology for Democracy Lab: 6 postdoc fellow positions for 2 yrs in tech & democracy, broadly understood. All disciplines welcome. We sponsor visas, offer research $ and benefits. Join info sessions. Come work with me, apply by Jan 15: jobs.virginia.edu/us/en/job/R0...

Shit is bad but TV is good. I’m currently halfway through Fargo season 5 and it’s excellent!!! The performances and direction and writing and Jennifer Jason Leigh’s accent. It’s also about the fall of 2019 and what things felt like then. It’s helping me right now. I hope you have some art to help.

One more thing before I get back to grading, I have an insanely fluffy dog who is very photogenic!!!

The golden age of TV may be over, but there are still so many great shows you haven’t watched: Feeling sad and want to lean in - The Leftovers or Chernobyl. Want to be sad but remember why you love humanity - Station Eleven or Enlightened. Dark and weird - Fargo or Legion. Spy shit - The Americans

Academic friends, let me introduce you to my TV friends!!! Books are great and all, but you read enough on here why not try TV!!!

Dispatches from the past about the future, from the 90s - "the Internet would bring about the rise of a new "digital generation"—playful, self-sufficient, psychologically whole—and it would see that generation gather, like the Net itself, into collaborative networks of independent peers."

As if my work place existential dread wasn’t high enough, just got an email that the optional DEI statement for P&T will remain optional so yea feeling so happy about the future of higher ed

Is there a librarian starter pack???

Share these “know your rights” cards with everyone.

I can’t help thinking about all the research talks I have heard that shared the exciting innovations of new technology for social good and the scholars that are about to find out all the social ills that they are about to contribute to. Just because you can build it, should you???

highly recommend people read this report. it is invaluable.

Please consider registering for our workshop on combating abuse in systems, such as higher education & tech HICSS 57 on 1/3 in Honolulu. Featuring @safiyanoble.bsky.social, @ubiquity75.bsky.social, and Survivor, Activist, and former NFL player Jon Vaughn. Find more info at hicss.hawaii.edu

I'm currently organizing a very exciting workshop on Abuse in Systems most notably academia and similar social spaces for the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) with some very big names. I am looking for places to promote it! Beyond this, what listservs or spaces do you love?

PASS THIS ON: "US Copyright Office is opening a public comment period around AI and copyright issues beginning AUGUST 30th" @neilhimself.neilgaiman.com @usmantm.bsky.social @chuckwendig.bsky.social @scalzi.com @astrokatie.com @lkk.bsky.social @okbjgm.bsky.social @wgawest.bsky.social

Once again added more students to team a tomato is information!!!

đź“š Library peops, Sandy Berman is having a rough time (physical health, death in the family), send him a card, even if you don't know him. Let him know what his work has meant to you. Sandy Berman 4400 Morningside Rd. Edina, MN 55416-5043 DM me on another platform if you want his number

During my first class AMA, a brilliant student asked me to choose a best and worst housewife. I’m sad to say it took me almost 2 whole minutes to realize that Kandi is the only choice. This then led to me imploring my class to realize she wrote “No Scrubs” we do not deserve that kind of greatness!!!

When all the public schools in the community are canceled due to excessive heat, maybe the university should follow suit, just me?

We're hiring! The Department of Geography & GIS at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is looking for an assistant professor with expertise in climate justice and/or environmental justice: illinois.csod.com/ux/ats/caree... (1/2)