University of Liverpool Library

📢 Open Research Week 2026, Mon 2 - Fri 6 March 2026.
Registration is now open! A free series of events exploring new, developing & current practices in #OpenResearch.

👉 Register here: www.liverpool.ac.uk/open-researc...

UoL is proud to help lead this national event @liverpooluni.bsky.social 📚📬

If you’re curious about the past, you’ll love exploring the collection! They’re also a prime source for researchers studying the history, art, music, literature and culture of the pre-modern period.

📜✨ You can now explore medieval manuscript fragments online! Digitised by our Special Collections & Archives team, they date from the 11th–15th centuries and preserve lost texts and artwork.

Explore via the Digital Heritage Lab: https://orlo.uk/WY5YY

#livunilibrary #specialcollections

@dpc-chat.digipres.club.ap.brid.gy

This wonderful clip from a 1981 University of Liverpool promotional film is surely answer enough to Why Preserve? Preserving the film, originally 16mm, doesn’t stop at digitisation. We must monitor digital content to establish authenticity & prevent loss or damage. #WDPD2025

@dpc-chat.digipres.club.ap.brid.gy

For Black History Month we've dug into the Olaf Stapledon archive to find a little-known story of the visit of the African American singer and activist Paul Robeson to Liverpool in 1949. 

🔗 Read more via our blog: https://orlo.uk/4t9EF

Check out our recent blog post all about 'The Embedding' by Ian Watson and a fascinating look at how the author explores linguistics alongside science fiction.

Read student Jonathan Thornton's blog: https://orlo.uk/UqgDO

#livunilibrary #livuni #specialcollections #voyager #sciencefiction

As we celebrate the launch of Collecting Stories by Katy Hooper, why not try a walking tour inspired by the book itself?

Step into the stories and explore the items and objects from the book first hand!

#CollectingStories #WalkingTour #LivUniPress #LivUniLibrary

Science fiction author Ian Watson’s archives are held in our Special Collections & Archives, including a draft manuscript of 'The Embedding'. How does Watson’s novel revolutionise how we think about alien communication?

View the exhibition to find out! 👇
https://orlo.uk/yycjw

So many invented languages! It certainly takes dedication to create them all!

Did you know that for her underrated feminist masterpiece, Native Tongue, author Suzette Haden Elgin invented the language Láadan? 🤔

Visit our digital exhibition to see what the novel can teach us about language acquisition and alien communication! 👀

➡️ https://orlo.uk/MGwoQ

Did you know we have been imagining communicating with alien beings since before science fiction? Explore how the Houyhnhms in Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift provide a blueprint for alien communication

Discover more in our Voyager digital exhibition: https://orlo.uk/RU1wI

📚 Collecting Stories by Katy Hooper showcases 150 years of incredible items collected by @liverpooluni.bsky.social, including rare books, science-fiction, sculpture and more!
#SpecialCollections #Archives #UniversityOfLiverpool #CollectingStories

Could the animals we know on Earth provide us with a model to understand what aliens might look and behave like? Texts like Naomi Mitchison’s feminist SF classic Memoirs of a Spacewoman use sea creatures as a way of imagining the alien.

View our digital exhibition👇
https://orlo.uk/vgZ8X

Could the techniques we use to acquire languages on Earth to help us understand alien languages? US anthropologist Chad Oliver imagines such a situation in 1957’s science fiction classic The Winds of Time. See the exhibition for more!

Digital Heritage Lab: https://orlo.uk/6gVE0

What would it feel like to decode an alien language? Creators of Voyager’s Golden Record had to imagine this, but how would aliens make sense of the information we send them with limited context? It might feel a bit like trying to read the Codex Seraphinianus!

See more: https://orlo.uk/dXg26

Welcome to the new exhibit about the Voyager probe and alien communication at the University of Liverpool Digital Heritage Lab! Humans have always been fascinated by the idea of aliens, but how would we go about speaking to one?

View more here 👇
https://orlo.uk/bfj8C

#DigitalHeritageLab

📢 Voyager digital exhibition launches tomorrow! Did you know the Voyager probes launched by NASA in 1977 contained a message in case they are found by future alien civilizations, put together by Carl Sagan? He also wrote the script for the film Contact. Stay tuned for more!

What do you think about this concept? Nnedi Okorafor explores this idea in Binti. Look out for the forthcoming exhibition on the Voyager project for more!

#VoyagerDigitalExhibition #SpecialCollectionsAndArchives #LivUni

📢 An exciting new online exhibition is coming to the University of Liverpool Digital Heritage Lab! It will explore the legacy of the Voyager probes and ideas about alien communication.

Stay tuned for more!

#SpecialCollections #Archives #LivUni #DigitalHeritageLab

🌍 Our new digital exhibition is live! Around the World in 20 Folk Tales explores a global tapestry of illustrated folktales - from the Caribbean to Japan - and everywhere in between.

🔗 View now: https://orlo.uk/1emYV

#SpecialCollectionsAndArchives #FolkTales #DigitalExhibition

5 days to go! A fascinating glimpse into how science fiction and nature come together in Aldiss’s work.
#ScienceFiction #AldissCentenary #BrianAldiss

The Harold Cohen is now back open and we're sorry for the inconvenience.

Users can access the building through the automatic doors at the main entrance, next to the Sphinx. University ID cards must be carried at all times for security purpose and users are asked to use the check-in facility on the SafeZone app.

There is overnight study space is available in the 502 Teaching Hub building. The space is open from 6pm to 8am, seven days a week.

The Harold Cohen library is still closed due to unforeseen circumstances. We’re extremely sorry for the inconvenience. We will update you when it re-opens. The Sydney Jones library is still open daily from 9am to 6pm as an alternative.

A fantastic achievement! 👏

Celebrate 100 years of Brian W. Aldiss! Join Special Collections & Archives for a one-day in-person event to launch a new online exhibition.

📅 23 August 2025
📍Victoria Gallery and Museum
🎟️ Sign up: https://orlo.uk/5fA5d
💻Online - late August 2025

#ScienceFiction #BrianAldiss

From 12 July to 14 September, there’s a new overnight study space open in the 502 Teaching Hub 🕛 This new addition will provide even more flexible study environments throughout the summer months for @liverpooluni.bsky.social students!

🔗 Get the full details here: https://orlo.uk/4vPmy