Katie Birkwood
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girlinthe.bsky.social
Katie Birkwood
@girlinthe.bsky.social
4K followers 550 following 6.6K posts
#RareBooks librarian working in #histmed, knitter, cellist, bi, feminist, woolly-liberal, terrified about the climate. She/her.
Posts Replies Media Videos
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
mtbotany.bsky.social
To expand and explain. Tables on Wikipedia can be made sortable. I love this feature. Possibly too much. But if you put a photo into a cell in a table, how does it sort it? By the alt text. So I gave every photo a standard start to its alt text so they would sort into six groups.
mtbotany.bsky.social 🍂M.T.Botany @mtbotany.bsky.social · 5d
It has not been a spectacularly productive day in the knowledge mines, but I did change the list of penstemon species so they can be sorted by color.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...
List of Penstemon species - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
October 3, 2026 at 3:19 AM
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
adamchapman.bsky.social
A resource I hadn't come across (but based on the excellent Defence of Britain data - which recorded civil defence and anti-invasion structures from both World Wars), an interactive map of the data maintained by Steve Thompson. (to whom many thanks!):
eDoB Online
Online viewer for the Extended Defence of Britain Database as maintained by Steve Thompson. View the interactive map, or search through the database for a particular record.
edob.mattaldred.com
October 7, 2026 at 7:08 AM
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
bibliojenni.bsky.social
What do you do with the chains when reading a chained book?, I hear you ask. As of today, we'll put them into these little calico bags made by the broderers! Inspired by a conservator who told us she put it in a sock while working on one of our books.
Chain in a bag. Chain in a bag; loop in staple visible. Pile of 6 calico bags. Chained book with bag containing Chained lying next to it.
October 7, 2026 at 5:39 PM
girlinthe.bsky.social
Top line break work here.
Email event promotion, reading Men opause and brain health.
October 7, 2026 at 7:19 AM
girlinthe.bsky.social
Ha. People can read them on the buses and trains they keep reinventing, too.
mattbinder.bsky.social Matt Binder @mattbinder.bsky.social · 1d
the tech industry is about to invent books
Andrew Yeung @andruyeung X.com We created gyms because modern day work no longer required physical activity. Without exercise, our muscles atrophy. I predict we'll need gyms for our brains too, once Al starts doing our knowledge work. 10:53 PM • 10/4/26 • 1.3M Views
October 7, 2026 at 5:38 AM
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
dorothyjberry.bsky.social
I'll never understand how "a lot of mostly/potentially/probably incorrect metadata is better for digital discovery than accurate but sparse metadata" became a popular idea than "we will put things online more slowly, but we will do it with accuracy"
sonjadrimmer.bsky.social Sonja Drimmer @sonjadrimmer.bsky.social · 5d
An interesting report of a project at the Hertziana includes this note. I would argue that access to historical archives is actually hindered when you throw chat at something to transcribe handwritten metadata, which produces errors. But let's say you're willing to make this compromise. +
The second axiom of Nygren / Drimmer 2023 has been considered carefully, and although the folder transcriptions are sometimes erroneous, they still support the access to images better than the previously available, unreadable OCR data. The known issues in those transcription are then taken care of continuously.
October 3, 2026 at 2:20 PM
girlinthe.bsky.social
You know the new CILIP website populated with slop AI images (eg this header image: www.cilip.org.uk/about/govern...)? Has there been any official comment about it? Did anyone get a reply to any email about it? I wrote, and didn't get a reply, and it's been two months now.
Byelaws and General Regulations
www.cilip.org.uk
October 2, 2026 at 7:11 PM
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
rcpmuseum.bsky.social
Visit the 'Patient voices' exhibition at the RCP Museum until 23 July 2027. Check out our website for opening details & exhibition themed events.

Next Thurs 8 October you can join our Museum Late to explore after hours with free talks!

history.rcp.ac.uk/exhibitions/...

@rcphysicians.bsky.social
Exhibition graphic showing a black and white photo of a female patient sitting up and smiling in a hospital bed. The text reads: Patient voices: power, truth, understanding Exploring the lived experience of healthcare 14 September 2026 – 23 July 2027 Exhibition| Free entry
October 2, 2026 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
rcpmuseum.bsky.social
😍Exhibition 'Patient voices' is open to visit!

We celebrated with a private view featuring speeches from the patient advocacy group who helped develop the exhibition, senior curator Liz Douglas & musical performances of baroque pieces evoking the experience of a patient. 🎼

Photos Saul Perryman
Visitors on the gallery explore the exhibition A violinist, harpist and narrator perform on a stage in the Dorchester Library. A visitor listens to oral history interviews in the exhibition Diary of Augusts d’Este the earliest documented account of multiple sclerosis in the exhibition.
October 2, 2026 at 3:12 PM
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
sarahpyke.bsky.social
Extremely excited to share the CFP for the ✨fifth✨ annual #QueerBibliography conference!

bit.ly/QB2027CfP

When? 2-4 September 2027
Where? Manchester, UK & online
Theme: TAKING STOCK
Deadline for abstracts: 29 January 2027
Decisions: by 12 March 2027

Submit here: forms.gle/WGjXKA1d6gWm...
Queer Bibliography Taking Stock Manchester, UK and online 2-4 September 2027 Call for Proposals Since the inaugural 2023 conference, queer bibliography has grown from an interesting concept to a burgeoning field. Our 2027 theme, Taking Stock, marks the fifth annual conference and is a chance to pause and reflect on genealogies of the field, the present state of queer bibliographical enquiry, and our senses of the future. How might we trace queer histories of queer bibliography? How can we imagine critical futures for bibliographical enquiry within and beyond its traditional academic locations? Where do we find ourselves and our work? Stock also has meaning in bibliography. While “stock” originally referred to a tree trunk or plant stem, and figuratively to the source of a line of descent or even a human torso, it later began to connote an aggregate of goods—in the context of bookmaking, one might own a stock of paper or pasteboard. Towards the mid-nineteenth century, “paper stock” began to connote the raw material of paper itself. “Stock” might refer to the inventories of booksellers, the process of beginning and curating an institutional or personal collection, and the supply and material characteristics of paper. From the raw materials of books to the origins and shapes of personal, commercial, and institutional collections, how does "stock" participate in the production, articulation, and study of queer textuality and textual communities? What is queer about materiality, the ecology of books, and the processes of making and engaging with (collections of) physical textual objects? We invite participants to engage in stock-taking or reflect on bibliographical stock, broadly defined. We welcome meta, theoretical, and historiographical work that takes stock of queer bibliography, and we welcome proposals that relate to “stock” in bibliography, book history, and reception studies. This three-day hybrid conference will be hosted at the John Rylands Library, part of the University of Manchester, and online on 2–4 September 2027. The conference will feature two days of panels, conversation, and discussion on 2 and 3 September and will be followed by an optional workshop on 4 September. Conference programming may also include evening receptions, tours of Manchester libraries (including Chetham’s Library, the oldest public library in England), and collection viewings at the Rylands. The conference welcomes participants from a diverse range of fields and career stages, including: book arts practitioners, activists, postgraduates, early career researchers, independent scholars, librarians, archivists, and booksellers, both in person and via video conference. As in past years, the goal of the broadly articulated theme of “taking stock” is to bring people in and to shape conversation, not to exclude or limit. All submissions that engage with the intertwined relationship between queerness and bibliography are encouraged. Participants will be invited to submit a 2000-word pre-circulated paper, before presenting in panels of 10-minute papers. We also welcome alternative contributions, such as workshops, roundtables, or self-organised seminars and creative presentations, with a pre-circulated submission that provides a grounding for the conference contribution. Contributors should submit an abstract of 200–300 words, along with a short bio, by 29 January 2027: https:/ /forms.gle/WGjXKA1d6gWmtfjZ8 Prospective speakers will be informed of the outcome by 12th March. Pre-circulated papers will be collected and shared in mid-July. Any questions should be directed to: queerbibliography@gmail.com http://queerbibliography.org
October 2, 2026 at 11:55 AM
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
kjhealy.co
I keep seeing this Semafor graph that seems to show the Trump administration’s effect on international visits is comparable to the pandemic. My first thought was “that can’t be true” and indeed it is not. This is monthly data. We only have to Jun/Aug 2026. The lines are over-fitted to the months.
Semafor graph with catastrophic drops.
October 1, 2026 at 8:39 PM
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
oddthisday.bsky.social
Well, happy Charles Darwin is “very poorly today & very stupid & hate[s] everybody & everything” to all who celebrate, because he wrote those words in a letter to his friend (and author of Principles of Geology) Charles Lyell 161 years ago today
October 1, 2026 at 7:23 AM
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
michaelspicer.bsky.social
Most TV is just this now.
September 30, 2026 at 9:06 AM
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
lookitup.baby
BREAKING NEWS: “Do geese see God” is a palindrome
September 30, 2026 at 3:52 AM
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
physiciansgallery.bsky.social
We've just launched a new digital resource! Almost 15,000 entries, covering every Fellow, Honorary Fellow, Member and Licentiate of our College from our foundation to 1926.

Check it out 👉 www.rcpe.ac.uk/heritage/phy...
Promotional image. A composite image of nine doctors, text on image reads 'physicians database'
September 30, 2026 at 7:11 AM
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
drkarrschmidt.bsky.social
ImPRESSed Yet?

I am thrilled to announce that Impressive Textiles: Premodern Printing on Fabric
will be published October 27 in print and Open Access with @acmrs.bsky.social,
thanks to 30 textile and print scholars, and 1 groundbreaking exhibition
@newberrylibrary.bsky.social!
#CoverReveal
1/5
Cover art for Impressive Textiles: Premodern Printing on Fabric!
September 29, 2026 at 12:25 PM
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
lisafdavis.bsky.social
Every page is available online, freely downloadable, shareable, & reusable, per Yale's #OA policies! If you're going to post about the manuscript, please use real images, not AI. It's not helpful for fakes to be circulating. Here are some actual images: collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2002...
September 28, 2026 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
lisafdavis.bsky.social
It's not necessary to use generative AI to create images of the #Voynich Manuscript, so why do people continue to do it? There is so much wrong in this online image. Neither of the pages shown here is actually from the manuscript. The verso is labeled "r" ("recto") & the language is not Voynichese.
September 28, 2026 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
rcpmuseum.bsky.social
This recipe book compiled 1644-1691 includes 3 cures 'Against Biting of a Mad dog'. Could this be rabies in the archive? #worldrabiesday
🧵
1. 'A poultice for ye biting of a mad dog' made with the bitten person's urine, boiled bread, turpentine and rose or chamomile oil applied to the bite.
Handwritten recipe: A poultice for ye biting of a mad dog.
September 28, 2026 at 9:36 AM
girlinthe.bsky.social
Curry Mallett shout out!
rcpmuseum.bsky.social RCP museum @rcpmuseum.bsky.social · 10d
3. 'For Ye Biting of a mad dog'. This recipe from Dr Richardson, via Madan Pym from Curry Malet in Somerset, uses herbs and plants gathered in the summer such as garlic, primrose and vervain. It also uses the claw of a male crab, ground up. In winter, beer is added.
Handwritten recipe including For Ye Biting of a mad dog.
September 28, 2026 at 11:26 AM
girlinthe.bsky.social
More digital systems doom. National data provided through a third-party that goes bust and boom! Of course, national data provided through unmaintained internal systems can also go boom! The solution? People to maintain the stuff!
September 28, 2026 at 10:20 AM
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
hpsvanessa.bsky.social
Huh, it's almost like the death of the highstreet is not being caused by individual lifestyle choices but by a grabby class of landlords who'd prefer to squat on property than let it out at lower profit margins or, you know, sell it to someone who actually wants to use it. How unpredictable!
raynewman.bsky.social Ray Newman @raynewman.bsky.social · 10d
“Out of more than 1,000 empty units he helped audit nationally, on average more than half didn't have a letting agent actively marketing the property. He says some councils don't even know who the landlords are.”

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
My hometown shows that high streets have to change or die
Aberdeen is launching an ambitious bid to revive its struggling centre. Could it offer lessons for other high streets?
www.bbc.co.uk
September 28, 2026 at 6:29 AM
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
ryanwright.bsky.social
This is how I remember the order of Henry VIII’s wives.
downwithdan.bsky.social Dan of the Year @downwithdan.bsky.social · 10d
Ah yes the circle of life
• Dispatched Sep 25 23:03 pm In Transit Sep 26 09:52 am Delayed Sep 26 10:57 am Held By Carrier Sep 26 15:07 pm Destroyed Sep 26 15:08 pm
September 28, 2026 at 3:32 AM
Reposted by Katie Birkwood
andylewis.bsky.social
Every time someone links to this film, I have to repost it. It's one of the most significant bits of British 20th century art. Everything about it is incredible. Groundbreaking music production by Daphne Oram. Amazing camera work by Wolfgang Suschitzky (who later filmed Get Carter).-
oldbritishtelly.co.uk Old British Telly @oldbritishtelly.co.uk · 11d
[1963] Snow – Hypnotic British Transport Film showing the efforts of railway workmen to keep trains running in hazardous snowy conditions.
September 27, 2026 at 6:58 AM
girlinthe.bsky.social
Duck Egg Designs was at Ely market today, and has some really lovely stuff including spooky Pride badges. I think they may appeal to some of you... www.duckeggdesignss.co.uk/collections/...
Pride
All my pride designs in one place, available all year round - not just for pride month. Colourful coaster, fans and pin badges.
www.duckeggdesignss.co.uk
September 26, 2026 at 12:12 PM