Iain Moore

Worth noting library stock budgets have to cover a lot more channels now too - ebooks and e-audio - both significantly more costly than their physical counterpart - and e-magazines / papers too. So that reduction is even more than it appears.

As a journalist you’re always looking for ways to sum up the now, but the story is really often more incremental. This is from a Derbyshire county council paper. I was, inevitably, looking for “library to close” or “doge identified £Xm”, but the starting point is at least as important

Foundation - season 1 good but then gets better and better - by season 3 becomes an extraordinary epic.
Bad sisters - just brilliant.

there's a translated version here - but not sure of the provenance or accuracy!
thisrecording.squarespace.com/today/tag/cl...

Appius and Virginia Check out Appius and Virginia - <p><b>A rediscovered work by one of the most exciting novelists of the 1930s</b></p><p><b>‘One of the most inventive novelists of her generation; this is a long-overdue...

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Oddly the best thing I’ve read on this is a brilliant and brutal 1930s novel about a woman bringing an orangutan up as a child.

Perfectly captures the disconnection between their interactions and the underlying motivation / understanding.

Without spoilers, it doesn’t end well for either of them

Obviously it’s not *about* AI and the author intended no such allegory, but it reads across so well (especially in the context of LLMs)
At the core of it though, it says much about how we can’t really know our own children, and interrogates what (if anything) makes us different from the other apes.

Cover image of Appius and Virginia by G E Trevelyan. Shows the title text over an out of focus picture of an orang u tan swinging through the trees.

This is great - only 2/3 thru but this lost 93 yr old novel has more to say about AI than recent fiction.

A tale of an ape raised as human shows we just can’t translate meaning and motive across such different beings - even (especially) when outward expectations appear to align
@neglectedbooks.com

Jack's fundraiser for Freedom Youth at OTR Bristol Help Jack Shoulder raise money to support OTR Bristol

Big run done for the week! I'm running the Athens Marathon this year to raise money to support LGBTQIA+ youth.

If you can help, every pound can make a world of difference: www.justgiving.com/page/jack-sh...

I also reckon the time thing lines up with short stories - I always feel a well crafted short story can be so much more impactful and complete than a 'whole book' and would love to see more people reading them.
Especially Angela Carter's which are just perfection.

Home - The Reader The Reader brings people together and books to life. Shared Reading is a unique experience that helps people connect, feel good and live well – find out more.

Have you come across these guys? a great approach there, plus obviously libraries libraries libraries! www.thereader.org.uk

Conference room - slide shows: WHAT PROBLEM WERE WE TRYING TO SOLVE? BRINGING HEALTHCARE TO THE COMMUNITY

WHO WAS INVITED? - DIFFERENT COHORTS OF PATIENTS • Homeloss people • Asylum Soakers and those with NRPF •Hypertension • Children's Health Including asthma & obesity • Older People • From Afro Caribbean and Romanian communities • General modical neods London

And Barking and Dagenham Libraries with a pioneering service of GP access within libraries - on a drop in basis to reach those who are less likely to feel able to go to a GP surgery.

Has opened out to much broader pop up services including massage / barbers etc

800 young people at one event

Now hearing about Wandsworth library’s dementia well-being service.

Really interesting that it developed from a staff member’s family experience of lack of support.

And this is why libraries can so powerfully reflect communities needs - they are run by people who are part of the community.

Conference room

At London libraries conference - hearing from @lewisham.gov.uk libraries about the impact of one of @librariesconnected.bsky.social and @artscouncilengland.bsky.social microgrants.
Great initiative to develop reading for pleasure through screen free audio readers - really child first approach.

this is just fab - the power of archives!

This from @cwarzel.bsky.social is one of the best articles I’ve read on AI since the bullshit machine one link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Please enjoy how hilariously this is not Lionel Shriver: bsky.app/profile/lion...

I usually just block these things but this one is so Not Lionel Shriver that it’s actively comedy.

Ha! “Surrounded by pages, powered by peace” is not quite how I think of Lionel Shriver these days!

I’m very jealous - it was our local library for a few years and it’s the one I miss the most!

And don't forget the museum upstairs with dinosaurs and a replica Egyptian tomb (complete with mummies). The best set up library for a day out with kids.

Album sleeve saying: FOUR COMPOSITIONS BY THE CONTEMPORARY GREEK INNOVATOR IANNIS XENAKIS ATRÉES (HOMMAGE À PASCAL) - MORSIMA-AMORSIMA (PARIS INSTRUMENTAL ENSEMBLE FOR CONTEMPORARY MUSIC, KONSTANTIN SIMONOVITCH COND.) ST/4 (BERNEDE STRING QUARTET) NOMOS ALPHA (PIERRE PENASSOU, CELLO) The text is small and set on a white background above a large bold black circle within which is a grey and teal rectangular pattern.

This morning’s working music is Xenakis - music generated with the help of an 1960s IBM computer.

But the capacity to intrigue and surprise by generating new forms, patterns and sounds sets it miles apart from anything today’s AIs create.

A Podyssey-themed politics discussion! Do join us. It's online, Thursday 17th July at 6:00 PM, and it's free. But you do need to register. So, do it. x

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(very excited)

A woman smiles as she knits in a library.

We are seeking support in developing our skills around tendering and bid writing.

This is part of our mission to create sustainable funding for public #Library services so they can provide for communities long into the future.

Apply before 9 July.

www.librariesconnected.org.uk/opportunitie...

This whole thread on misinformation from @eliothiggins.bsky.social is brilliant - we all need the skills, structures and situations in which we can evaluate claims together.

This has to start *offline* and to me public libraries are the prime places with the breadth of reach to do this effectively.

But do have a look at @bradfordlitfest.bsky.social - there is so much going on - and it’s not mills and brontes but a massive array of local, national and international artists over 500 events.
I’m looking at going back on Sunday with the little one - some great family programming too.

Brilliant night at the @bradfordlitfest.bsky.social launch last night.

While I haven’t been able to join any events today I did run over to Howarth

I like to think the Brontes would approve of me running up to Top Withins belting out Femininomenon into the wind.

But he’s hopeful too:

The world is turned inside out because the new future is calling.

The new future is calling and it will be the result of the things we have chosen.

It’s a time for those who have a vision and a voice.

Keynote speaker for @bradfordlitfest.bsky.social is only Ben bloomin’ Okri

And he’s incredibly and beautifully inspiring - talking about the current nature of the world:

The wolves have only got worse because the cures have been curses and not acts of love or wisdom

People dressed up to the nines with a lovely ceiling from an old cinema.

Fantastic to be here at @bradfordlitfest.bsky.social opening - it’s in the stunning Bradford Live.