Tanya Kirk

Vacancies - St John's College, Cambridge St John’s is a large community of more than 150 Fellows and 250 staff who all help us to be an inspiring place to live, learn, teach, research and work.

Currently advertising two fixed term parental leave posts: Special Collections Librarian (13 months; £43,622-£49,097 - closes 9 March) and Special Collections Assistant (6 months; £30,508-£33,096 - closes 7 April). It's a great chance to work with a brilliant collection jobs.joh.cam.ac.uk

A very fine choice

Something nasty on the bookshelf: my review of @tanyakirk.bsky.social's collection of stories about books and libraries for @blpublishing.bsky.social, ‘The Haunted Library’ drfrancisyoung.com/2026/03/04/s... 📚👻

What a lovely thoughtful review - thanks so much, Francis

Sofa in front of entrance door?

Just to give a sense of how badly the salaries at the BL have degraded - this post paid £39k in 2010, which the Bank of England inflation calculator says is the equivalent of £61k today

Graduate Trainee Librarian (One-year fixed term contract, full-time) Trinity College Library wishes to appoint an enthusiastic Graduate Trainee for one year from September 2026. The post offers an ideal opportunity to gain a…

Job Opportunity! We're looking for a Graduate Trainee Librarian

#libraryjob

www.trin.cam.ac.uk/vacancies/gr...

Graduate Trainee Archivist One-year fixed term contract, full-time Trinity College Library wishes to appoint an enthusiastic Graduate Trainee Archivist for one year from September 2026. The post offers an ideal opportunity to g...

Job Opportunity! We're looking for a Graduate Trainee Archivist.

#archives

www.trin.cam.ac.uk/vacancies/gr...

Oh! Sigh. I was excited for a minute!

Wait how are you watching it?! It’s not on anywhere yet is it?

The worst of times: Trouble at the British Library Cyber chaos, striking staff and a crisis of leadership. Claudia Cockerell investigates a national treasure’s year of reckoning

Very good reporting on the situation at the British Library by Claudia Cockerell in The Evening Standard. Appreciate the time and care taken to investigate and explain it all. I believe Library workers on the ground are prompting much-needed culture change there.

www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...

@dimitrafimi.bsky.social will know I’m sure!

Yay! Excited for this episode @unamccormack.bsky.social @iammilliam.bsky.social

I loved it too, so good

It's wild that there appears to be more current concern for the Lost Library of Alexandria than for the British Library. The BL's crisis exemplifies the accelerating destruction--through apathy as much as by design--of human knowledge & learning. I'm not even being dramatic.

Leave Hamilton out of this! (I know which one you really mean)

Omg. This is wild

Lost medieval carol to be ‘brought to life’ on Advent Sunday Macaronic carol, including both English and Latin, comes from a manuscript, S. 54, in the old library of St John’s College, Cambridge

Nolo Mortem Peccatoris (& @tanyakirk.bsky.social!)

www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/202...

Paging @unamccormack.bsky.social !

The British library is in crisis: why does nobody care? The widespread indifference to the British Library's crippling cyberattack demonstrates a perilous failure to value the knowledge infrastructure vital for national prosperity

I’ve written a piece on the curious lack of media and political interest in the issues faced by our national @britishlibrary.bsky.social. This is strange given we live in a world where ideas, knowledge and research are a long-term source of innovation and insight
www.cityam.com/the-british-...

A headline that reads “Demonic wind in the willows jumper banned from westminster abbey

This headline ticks all the boxes for me.

The Haunted Library: Tales of Cursed Books and Forbidden Shelves, against a green background.

Cursed shelves and ghoulish libraries... 👻
Dive into fourteen tales featuring bewitched books in The Haunted Library, for lovers of the weird and the written word.

Available now: shop.bl.uk/products/the-haunted-library-tales-of-cursed-books-and-forbidden-shelves

The haunted library book plus art cards, bookmark and info card

Book mail: November Tales of the Weird from @blpublishing.bsky.social

The Haunted Library edited by @tanyakirk.bsky.social

This is not a new version of the original Haunted Library book they published (see post 2), but there are some crossover stories

#weird #horror #library #books

🩸📚💙

I too have watched this a… certain number of times

am reminded of the old joke: what did James Watson discover?

Rosalind Franklin’s notes.

Harvard Gazette: Gazette: “You are the mother of two In ten years you have produced three novels and two short-story collections. Can you talk about your process and how you manage work and family?” Groff: “I understand that this is a question of vital importance to a lot of people, particularly to other mothers who are artists trying to get their work done, and know that I feel for everyone in the struggle. But until I see a male writer asked that question, I am going to respectfully decline to answer it.”

If any of it is valuable (in monetary terms! I don't mean research value) I'd go for audit reasons and reference the BM debacle. The other one is reputation - relevant if you have high-profile users/researchers, or if donors have given material to the library but also funding to the institution?

I flipping hate Wuthering Heights (load of horrible people being horrible to each other) but nevertheless very much looking forward to listening to this

Calling English a 'rip-off degree' is one of the most blatant exhibitions of personal barbarism I've ever seen. You've demonstrated nothing but the poverty of your own mind.