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Libraries Hacked

@librarieshacked.bsky.social

238 followers 413 following 200 posts

Libraries Hacked is a project to promote open data, to help libraries publish their data, and to showcase projects using library data. And dogs in libraries. Tweets by Dave.

Posts Replies Media

Libraries Hacked @librarieshacked.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

data.gov.uk with librarians (no guarantee of actual employment of librarians)

Our current focus is on setting up the National Data Library foundations on data.gov.uk by:

making it easier to identify and use trusted, useful data across national themes (new data collections pages)
creating a data manual - a single space to find clear guidance and best practices on how to use and manage public data
fixing significant issues with the original directory
setting up channels for feedback and working in the open through this roadmap and user feedback forms

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Libraries Hacked @librarieshacked.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

Interesting! And don't worry, it's just cos there is no data.

Additionally, a significant lack of quantitative data, especially in comparison to the prominence of qualitative data, has been emphasised during this review. This is perhaps unsurprising given the scope of the study, which was not restricted by publication type and, as such, aimed to collate personal accounts and local reports not published in peer-review journals

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Libraries Hacked @librarieshacked.bsky.social · 01/10/2025

The library activity dashboard is a new project visualising library activity data, as reported by library services across England. It includes Loans, Users, Visits, Events, Computer usage, and WiFi sessions. Currently in development so feedback particularly welcome!

An illustrative set of dashboard cards showing high level library usage figures such as 126 million loans, with insights like 3 loans per resident per year.

A line graph of physical books loans per month, separated by lines for each age group content type. The line is generally consistent with spikes in the summer for childrens books.

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Libraries Hacked @librarieshacked.bsky.social · 30/09/2025

Have had some amazing ones recently. Including at internal review. This one was just to library visit counts which they absolutely held, but refused to send over until they'd put some high level summaries in their annual report.

A quote saying "I have clarified the position with Library Services. In fact, at the date
of your request the data was still being compiled and needed to be checked
and validated before it is finalised. Until the validation process is
complete, the data is not final and therefore not suitable for sharing.
Therefore, we did not hold the data you requested at the time of your
request.

Therefore, my decision is that the Council’s reliance on the future
publication exemption may have been misplaced because at the time of your
request the Council did not hold the requested information, and did not
intend to publish the information at some future date in the format you
had requested."

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Libraries Hacked @librarieshacked.bsky.social · 28/09/2025

Never quite seen such an article full of straw men. The one on the 'two camps' is possibly the most ludicrous. Why bother writing such a thing? Grown ups, eat your greens, big choices. Is it a speech or a deep dive blog?

In the face of 15 years of serious problems, we are polarising between two camps.

One says: There is an answer. Eat your greens, brush your teeth, get your ten thousand steps in. Hard work and patience will fix this.

The other says: That’s boring. Too slow. Too much effort. Let’s try something ‘radical’. Drink bleach, why not?

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Libraries Hacked @librarieshacked.bsky.social · 13/08/2025

Collect a set of core data. Loans, reservations, members, visits. Everyone will be able to send their data in, and it's a reasonable proof of concept in getting it all together. Wigan libraries:

Wigan Borough Libraries no longer offer a reservation service. Result per library branch ‘0’. Recorded on attached spreadsheet.

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Libraries Hacked @librarieshacked.bsky.social · 03/07/2025

I suppose it could be possible that he is a big insider on the labour left, and isn't just reporting briefings he's getting from elsewhere

A picture of Gabriel Pogrund from his twitter account

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Libraries Hacked @librarieshacked.bsky.social · 15/05/2025

He seems to be a person who very much goes by the things he reckons may be true.

A quote by Pete Wishart: "The Minister keeps saying that we have existing copyright laws that are there to protect the creative industries and our artists, but practically our whole creative heritage is being scraped. There are probably songs in the top 40 that have been totally designed by AI, and there will be books in the top 30 or 40 bestsellers that will be based on AI—probably fully AI. This is happening right now. Surely artists and creators should know when their works are being used. That is why Lords amendment 49B is so important for transparency."

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Libraries Hacked @librarieshacked.bsky.social · 25/03/2025

9 current visitors, what's going on?! Ah, newslet for libraries has come out. Full of great content. libraries.newslet.org

A screenshot from web analytics showing 9 current visitors to the library storytelling site.

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Libraries Hacked @librarieshacked.bsky.social · 20/03/2025

Released today on Library Storytelling - The membership of Lancashire Libraries. www.librarystorytelling.net/the-membersh... Lancashire were brilliant and open to exploring types of library usage, the deprivation levels alongside % population of membership, as well as the urban/rural divide.

A map of a part of Lancashire with areas shaded to show darker colours representing greater deprivation

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Libraries Hacked @librarieshacked.bsky.social · 14/01/2025

That AI report in meme form

An image showing a person labelled 'Public sector' skipping stairs labelled 'Open data', 'Interoperability', 'Standards', 'Security' to get to the step labelled 'AI'.

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Libraries Hacked @librarieshacked.bsky.social · 18/11/2024

Age yourself with your first computer. It was a Compaq Presario Pentium 90. It came with a Windows 95 upgrade disk but still ran Windows 3.1 cos it advised upgrading the memory first. Eventually we tackled the 8MB memory upgrade and then enjoyed lots of Weezer - Buddy Holly.

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Libraries Hacked @librarieshacked.bsky.social · 07/11/2024

Wow, they must have all got like that. This is a zoomed in picture of ours that I read regularly as a child. Very battered, it's still back at home though.

A zoomed in photo of a copy of lord of the rings, bound up with tape

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Libraries Hacked @librarieshacked.bsky.social · 05/11/2024

For Day 4 of #30DayMapChallenge: a refreshed Library Fines Hex Map. This time shading the map by the cost (per day) of an overdue book. Library fines are not necessarily about being fine-free or not. They are also about how much, and the expense varies considerably.

A map of the UK in hexagons, where each hexagon is a library service. Each hexagon is shaded by a red gradient that gets darker as the library fines get more expensive. Overwhelmingly the South East sees more expensive fines.

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