Martin O Connor

L A calm coastal scene with rippling blue water at low tide. In the foreground, wet sand curves along the shoreline, and a small cluster of rocks rises from the shallow water. Seagulls float and skim across the surface. In the background, a long stone bridge with arches stretches across the water, with trees lining the far shore under a pale blue sky.

A calm river scene with several birds flying low over rippling water. Dark patches—possibly rocks or vegetation—break the surface. In the distance, a tree-lined riverbank is visible along with a large industrial structure, such as a bridge or crane. Soft, warm light.

Sunlight reflects brightly off a rippling body of water, creating a shimmering trail. On the left, a dark, tree‑lined shoreline appears in silhouette beneath a

Glounthaune train station earlier this evening.

A recruitment graphic announcing a job opening for a Scholarly Communications Librarian. The background shows a person reading an academic book outdoors beside a laptop and smartphone. Text on the image states the position title and the closing date of 24 March 2026.

Recruitment graphic. The text on graphic reads as UCC Library is looking for an exceptional Scholarly Communications Librarian to join our ambitious Research Services team. The Scholarly Communications Librarian will play a vital role in making UCC’s high-quality research publications openly accessible to the benefit of all. In addition, the post holder will develop, assess and lead efforts in improving scholarly publishing across UCC, which will entail further service and policy development in line with the Library’s Vision & Plan 2024–2028

UCC Library is hiring a Scholarly Communications Librarian! Lead Open Research initiatives, manage CORA & UCC Journals, and shape scholarly publishing. Permanent, whole-time. Closing 24 March. More info

www.ucc.ie/en/hr/vacanc...

Our #oerofthemonth is our new pressbook Your Essay Builder: Clear steps to plan and structure by Roisin Kelly
The book provides a starting point to reduce stress, prevent overwhelm & support learning preferences. Scan the QR code in the image below to view. #essaybuilder #tuslibrary #tusopenpress

It is a lovely thing to get to do this every Monday morning 🙂

Thanks for coming on @stephenroddy.bsky.social great show. Really enjoyed the hour

Shush 313 - Stephen Roddy Takeover Show This week my guest is Stephen Roddy Stephen is a Composer and Media Engineer working in Sound and Music Computing (SMC) at the Radical Humanities Lab and the Department of Digital Humanities at Unive

Had a great chat with @martinoconnor.bsky.social on @shushradio.bsky.social. We played some good music too!
You can listen back here:
soundcloud.com/shush-radio-...

That is a wonderful programme @cullenmarieg.bsky.social Cork looked amazing in it, the Franks came across really well and are amazing ambassadors for the city

Thanks @bloodravenlib.bsky.social I hope you enjoy.
It is a pity that the library blog seems to have fallen away. They were an amazing resource.
@libfocus.bsky.social is still flying the flag here in Ireland and we get good traffic still.

Just published in Health Sciences Library Journal: “We all have a story to tell…” a piece I wrote on why librarians should write and share what they do what colleagues across the profession

journals.ucc.ie/index.php/hs...

AI creating a jobs drought for young people, and it will only get worse, recruiter warns James Reed warned vacancies ‘haven’t even hit rock bottom yet’, but impact is being felt

AI creating a jobs drought for young people, and it will only get worse, recruiter warns

www.irishtimes.com/business/wor...

I think your lack of confidence is well founded… 🙂

great article @rmadden.bsky.social @stephaniechen.bsky.social @bherlihy.bsky.social @paulbreenlibrarian.bsky.social

Love this article by our Learning and Teaching team setting out how they have worked together to strengthen their combined evidence synthesis skills to support research across @ucc.ie

'Leading the Way', written with John Ger O'Riordan and Anne Twomey and published by Cork City Libraries is being launched by the Lord Mayor on 11 November 🚀. It is the 11th book with my name on the cover and I am proud of all of them! @ucc.ie @jfcryan.bsky.social @joh2024.bsky.social

Excited by my takeover of shushradio.bsky.social from 11.00-12.00 on Monday. We'll be playing lots of music (heavy metal all the way!), talking about libraries, books, local government and fantasy football. Tune in if you can! 📻 @ucc.ie @ucclibrary.bsky.social @uccstafffpl.bsky.social

Looking forward to the show @aodhquinlivan.bsky.social

British Library reissues Oscar Wilde’s pass 130 years after it was revoked over gay conviction Wilde was convicted in England of “gross indecency” under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1885, which criminalised same-sex relationships.

British Library reissues Oscar Wilde’s pass 130 years after it was revoked over gay conviction jrnl.ie/6846388

I very much enjoyed being invited on the @shushradio.bsky.social radio show (link to recording below) and being able to pick my own songs (great fun, but difficult choices had to be made!) and also having a great chat about libraries (they give us power you know), food science and much more.

Thanks Alan. Really enjoyed doing the show with you. Thanks again for coming on.

I'm looking forward to my next Takeover show on Shush. Alan promises to be a great guest and his music selection, let's just say, is right up my indie street... (with one or two left field choices )

A smiling woman with short dark hair and glasses sits outdoors holding a glass of wine. She is wearing a black outfit, with a stone wall and iron railings behind her. Text on a purple border reads: “Takeover Show – Liz Jolly – Monday 11–12.

Tune in to Shush! Sounds from UCC Library on UCC 98.3FM, Monday at 11am.
I’m kicking off our first takeover show of the 2025/26 academic year with a very special guest — @lizjolly.bsky.social , UCC’s new Librarian.
Expect an hour of great music and library chat.

www.ucc.ie/en/news/2025...

A professional recording setup featuring a large microphone with a pop filter mounted on a boom arm. In the background, a screen displays the bold red text “ON AIR,” indicating a live broadcast. A caption below reads: “A WELCOME BACK SHOW MONDAY AT 11,”

Shush! Sounds from UCC Library is back on air tomorrow, 11–12 on UCC 98.3 FM.

This first show of the year features music chosen by colleagues from UCC Library.

Tune in at 11 to hear their selections.

Listen live at www.ucc.ie/en/983fm/

Looking forward to seeing you at our Symposium next week.
bit.ly/CUPSymposium
📘 Session 1:
Paul McSweeney on Urban Milk Supply.
Síle Ní Mhurchú on Dánta Gráda.
Iarla Ó Lionáird on Irish Music.
Cormac Ó Gráda on Cork’s Economic History
Other session details to follow

I had the pleasure of being in discussion in Sydney last week with the legendary David Marr on ABC’s Late Night Live concerning libraries, book banning and the fight for knowledge.

Photo of a book page from Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents, page 177. The passage reads 11 From EARTHSEED: THE BOOKS OF THE LIVING Choose your leaders  with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward  is to be controlled  by all that the coward fears. To be led by a fool  is to be led  by the opportunists  who control the fool. To be led by a thief  is to offer up  your most precious treasures  to be stolen. To be led by a liar  is to ask  to be told lies. To be led by a tyrant  is to sell yourself  and those you love  into slavery.

Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Talents (1998) feels eerily prescient today.
I doubt she could have imagined just how close America would come to her vision.

Front cover of INTO THE GROOVE: THE 1980S: The Ultimate Decade in Music History by Justin Lewis (me)

Inside front cover: The eighties was one of the most innovative periods in the history of pop music - and even forty years on remains one of the best loved, championed by radio, television, advertisements, theatre and films, with many of the key acts still performing and recording. Into the Groove is a tale of pop and circumstance. It charts the global state of pop music month by month from January 1980 to December 1989, highlighting a wide variety of events and tracing the career paths of hundreds of noteworthy acts around the world, from Salt-N-Pepa to the Sugarcubes, Kate Bush to Kraftwerk, Run-DMC to INXS, and Neneh Cherry to Youssou N'Dour. It celebrates genres of all kinds - the enduring and the faddish, the mainstream and the underground, post-punk and acid house, heavy rock and electronic, hip hop and teen pop. And it showcases many of the decade's landmark recordings, figures and events, while also revealing plenty of intriguing lesser-known stories to create a wry and diverse musical tapestry. The perfect gift for any music lover or eighties aficionado, Into the Groove is an endlessly entertaining homage to the 1980s. £16.99

Jacket author bio for Into the Groove: JUSTIN LEWIS is a writer, researcher and editor, who grew up during the 1980s and even started writing and presenting for local radio before the decade ended. He has an encyclopaedic knowledge of popular music and a deep understanding of what makes it such a passion for so many people. He was been an editor, writer and contributor to various print and online music publications for more than thirty years, including The Guinness Book of Hit Singles and The Rough Guide to Rock. His most recent book is Don't Stop the Music: A year of Pop History, One Day at a Time. He lives in Swansea, in Wales. ELLIOTT & THOMPSON (publishers)

Back cover reviews: TRAVEL BACK TO THE 1980S... and discover an epic collection of remarkable facts, notable events and fascinating anecdotes from the decade's diverse and inventive music scene. 'Justin Lewis tells pop's never-ending story brilliantly. Every day he writes the book, and the book is amazing.' DAVID QUANTICK, Emmy Award-winning writer and novelist 'Forensic, forthright and downright unputdownable, the perfect pop book for anyone who came of age (or indeed anybody else) during pop's giddiest and most experimental decade.' IAN WADE, author of 1984: THE YEAR POP WENT QUEER 'Like a treasure chest of pop riches... I loved this book!' SAMIRA AHMED, journalist and broadcaster Additional reviews: 'A brilliantly detailed topography of probably the greatest of all pop decades, the 1980s, whose music even those unborn back then still live with and love on a daily basis. Invaluable both for pop fans and pop historians.' DAVID STUBBS, music journalist 'A delightful, curious compendium, full of flipsides to pop’s glossiest decade' JUDE ROGERS, music journalist and broadcaster

The first copy of #IntoTheGroove is here! I am so delighted with it. Thanks to my supportive, generous first readers: @quantick.bsky.social, @davidstubbs.bsky.social, @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social, @wadeywade.bsky.social and @juderogers.bsky.social.
Out in the UK on Thur 2 Oct. @eandtbooks.bsky.social

This is one of the most beautiful things I have witnessed, the craft here is impeccable.