iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

My cat Sal getting the chance to show off at what he does best (relax in strange positions) while still doing a great impression of baseball player Sal.

Photo of a long haired black and white cat lying on his back on a bed. He's just barely sitting up, like the beginning of a situp, looking at the camera. His legs are spread open and his tail is between them.

Screenshot from an Instagram post by @sophiaminnaert of a photo of Sal Frelick sprawled out in a chair.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

It's been a while, but here's another round of Sal Frelick the baseball player and Sal Furlick the cat.

Photo of Milwaukee Brewers player Sal Frelick during a baseball game. He's holding a bat (I think??) in both hands over his head. Only the end of the bat is visible. His mouth is open like maybe he's shouting, and he is in a wide-legged stance.

Photo of Sal Furlick, a black and white cat, in a blue nylon tunnel. He's got one front leg in the air, trying to grab a toy being waved in front of him. His mouth is open because he was also trying to catch the toy in his mouth, and he looks pretty frantic about the situation.

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Joseph Rezek @rezekjoe.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

You know what gets a library perpetual access to a book??? Purchasing the physical book. I guarantee the publisher won’t come steal it back!!!

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

Can an orange cat figure out how to get his toy into his tunnel? Maybe??

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jessamyn @librarian.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

I work at a public library. People who want to use AI seem to have no trouble doing so. People who don't want to use AI have a harder time. I crowdsourced and then finalized this document "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI" and then gave it a short URL: notoai.org Please pass along if it's useful

An aircraft passenger oxygen mask: a drop down passenger mask with air bag and yellow plastic mouth and nose cover, oxygen tube has been cut; Demonstration model used by flight attendant crew for passenger instruction. Has text on the side indicating that it's non-functional.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

Closed off half of the apartment today to limit the amount of space my air purifiers had to clean and forced the cats to hang out with me. They got all riled up about it, desperate to get into the other rooms and fill their lungs with smoky air.

Photo of a black and white cat on top of a cat tree and an orange and white cat beneath him. The cats are blurry, because they're both actively slapping each other.

Photo of the same cats, this time on the floor. The black and white cat is on his back with his front paws out in front of him, and the orange and white cat is getting ready to jump on top of him and wrestle.

Screenshot from airnow.gov showing the air quality index at 635 this morning at 11 am.

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Council of Geeks @councilofgeeks.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Just a reminder that Playstation is the same company that, less than a week ago, removed 551 movie titles from people's accounts even if they were "purchased" and gave no refunds. They've already signaled they are not to be trusted with digital only products. blog.playstation.com/2026/07/01/p...

blog.playstation.com

Physical disc production ending in January 2028 for new games releasing on PlayStation consoles

In response to shifting trends in consumer preference, new games will be released on PlayStation Store and at retailers in digital formats only.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 28/06/2026

Sal heard maybe two drops of rain, one of his worst fears, so this is where he'll be for the rest of the day. Better safe than sorry.

Photo of a black and white cat peeking up from the bottom shelf of a small metal shelf/cart in a bathroom. The shelf is in a corner behind the door next to the bathtub, so it's very cozy.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Got an email from my vet about emergency clinics open over the 4th of July and it mentioned only the clinics owned by the same private equity firm it's owned by, even though there are two that are closer.

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Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 21/06/2026

This isn’t neutrality. It’s picking a side.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

I've lost track of how many books the cats and I have read this year, but Archie and I are reading Tipping the Velvet by Sarah Waters this week. Almost done, and it is so good.

Photo of a long haired orange and white cat lying on his back on my lap and looking directly at the camera. He's got a very fluffy tummy. There is a Kobo ereader on his stomach and he has his paws curled around it.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

This is a cat check point. Relinquish your most recent cat picture on your phone (Staring at me from where he was watching me walk back and forth through the house trying to find him)

Photo of a long haired orange and white cat lying in a loaf position in a woven black storage box on top of a wooden built-in cabinet. His fluffy mane is spread out in front of the box. A Danial Ryan print with two cats painted amongst wooded hills is propped up next to him.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

It hasn't rained in days and this is in the sky somehow?? Happy Pride from Milwaukee 🌈

Photo taken of a rainbow in the sky over a park with empty baseball fields.

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Lady Froldmagen (she/her) @zinelib.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Faculty: libraries and librarians need your advocacy BEFORE our collections are shuttered and our workers are fired. Whether you think your library is in trouble, and it almost definitely is, write to your provost and tell them how essential the library and library staff are to your work. Right now.

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Andboo Haunton 😷🎃 @andrewhinton.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

“The Al is not just telling you what you want to hear. It is training you, one conversation at a time, to need less friction, expect more agreement, and become slightly less capable of handling a situation where someone pushes back on you”

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

I'm sure they're all great, but my favorite one is Lake Michigan.

Photo of a sunrise over Lake Michigan. There is a sailboat in the distance and a lot of birds on the water. The lake is calm and there are scattered clouds.

Photo of a winter storm clouds east of Milwaukee over Lake Michigan. Small waves are rolling in.

Photo of Lake Michigan on a cloudless day. The photo was taken on a hill overlooking the lake. The water is calm and there is nothing on it.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 27/04/2026

Reading old issues of Library Journal again

Image of an article header. Above the headline is the text "Is the computer catalog a manifestation of the Age of Aquarius or Big Brother?" and the headline is "The Computer Catalog: A Democratic of Authoritarian Technology?"

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Melanie Walsh @mellymeldubs.bsky.social · 25/04/2026

Also every time (exploitative) ebook and audiobook licensing comes up, I implore everyone to read this fantastic @nyuengelberg.org white paper: www.nyuengelberg.org/outputs/the-...

nyuengelberg.org

The Anti-Ownership Ebook Economy

Pulling back the curtain on the evolution of ebooks offers some clarity to how the shift to digital left ownership behind in the analog world.

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Aaron Tay @aarontay.bsky.social · 22/04/2026

An advice i can give to librarians starting out is to focus on learning from first principles. Actually understand how things work as deeply as you can. It can be difficult & gains will not be obvious at first but in the long run are more adaptable & capable of seeing implications of changes(1)

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cait (and adonis) @cait.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

yeah i bet a car would have won too

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 19/04/2026

Last week in between the storms and floods, the cats and I read book 17, Matrix by Lauren Groff. This is the first book I've read by Groff, and I'm looking forward to reading more of her work.

Photo of Sal, a black and white long-haired cat, lying on my lap while I sit on a futon mattress holding a hardcover copy of Matrix by Lauren Groff. Archie, an orange and white long-haired cat, is lying on the floor next to us.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

This week Archie and I somehow read book 16, Stag Dance by Torrey Peters, despite everything going on outside. I loved this book. One of my favorites so far this year.

Photo of Archie, a long-haired orange and white cat, sitting on a couch in front of a paperback copy of Stag Dance by Torrey Peters. Archie is leaning forward, distracted by something behind the camera. He looks worried.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 04/04/2026

This weekend, Sal, Archie, and I are reading about spirits and space whales in books 14 and 15 of 2026, My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen and Hell's Heart by Alexis Hall.

Photo of Archie, a long-haired orange and white cat, stretched out and asleep on my lap. An ereader is lying next to him showing the cover of My Darling Dreadful Thing by Johanna van Veen.

Photo of Sal, a long-haired black and white cat, lying on top of my legs, which are under a pink blanket. There's a half-full coffee mug next to me, and I'm holding a hardcover copy of Hell's Heart by Alexis Hall.

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Cameron Blevins @cblevins.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

This is so, so well-articulated.

People call this friction "grunt work." Schwartz uses exactly that phrase, and he's right that LLMs can remove it. What he doesn't say, because he already has decades of hard-won intuition and doesn't need the grunt work anymore, is that for someone who doesn't yet have that intuition, the grunt work is the work. The boring parts and the important parts are tangled together in a way that you can't separate in advance. You don't know which afternoon of debugging was the one that taught you something fundamental about your data until three years later, when you're working on a completely different problem and the insight surfaces. Serendipity doesn't come from efficiency. It comes from spending time in the space where the problem lives, getting your hands dirty, making mistakes that nobody asked you to make and learning things nobody assigned you to learn.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 31/03/2026

Baseball is back, which means my friend is once again sending me photos of Brewers player Sal Frelick that look like my cat, Sal Furlick

Photo of Milwaukee Brewers player Sal Frelick diving to catch a ball. He's reaching his left arm out to catch the ball and his right arm is out a bit lower, I assume to catch his fall.

Photo of Sal, black and white long-haired cat, reaching his front right paw out to catch an orange catnip toy.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Sunday morning with the cats and book 13 of 2026, Knockout by Sarah MacLean.

Photo of my lap taken from above, showing two cats, a black and white one lying on top of my legs and an orange and white one next to me with his paws curled up on my lap. I'm holding an ereader showing the cover of Knockout by Sarah MacLean, which features a woman in a red dress sitting in a confident, provocative way.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

He's not a fan of these new doppelgangers

Photo of an orange and white cat sniffing two plastic IKEA containers shaped like cats, one black and white and one orange and white.

Photo of the same cat with his back to the cat containers and staring up at the camera. He has a worried expression on his face.

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Violet Fox 🦊 @violetbfox.bsky.social · 18/03/2026

Terrific new article about how the idea of "neutrality" has been used for decades to deny the approval of #LCSH relating to marginalized people. Great description of how subject headings are created and how inordinate scrutiny is given to certain proposals in order to appear "unbiased." #critcat 📚

inthelibrarywiththeleadpipe.org

Seeking Approval, Confronting Objectivity: Neutrality in the Library of Congress Subject Headings Approval Process – In the Library with the Lead Pipe

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valerie @vfo.northsky.social · 18/03/2026

i love how so much of digital accessibility is just reaffirming what librarians have been trying to tell you for 1000 years: METADATA IS IMPORTANT, ACTUALLY

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Molly Knight @mollyknight.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

Give PTA another Oscar for inspiring Fiona Apple to write When the Pawn.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 14/03/2026

The cats and I are now on book 12 (I think) of 2026, A/S/L by Jeanne Thornton. I'm about halfway through, and it's excellent so far. Looking forward to discussing it with my book club later this month.

Photo of two cats and me on a sofa. Sal, a long haired black and white cat, is lying on my lap, which is covered by a pink blanket. Archie, a long haired orange and white cat, is lying on the back of the sofa with his front legs straight out in front of him. I'm holding up a hardcover copy of A/S/L.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Spending a vacation day reading old issues of Library Journal and feeling attacked

headline of an article in an early twentieth century Library Journal issue that reads "Should a librarian cultivate hobbies of his own? by Frank B. Gay, Watkinson Library, Hartford, Ct."

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Miriam Posner @miriamposner.com · 10/03/2026

No one wants to read your thesis! That’s not why you write one!

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

Finished Moby Dick last week but still thinking about it, so today Archie and I are reading Why Read Moby Dick? by Nathaniel Philbrick while he hides from the rain, which he doesn't fully understand but knows that sometimes it causes loud booming noises that he doesn't like.

Photo of my hand holding up a paperback copy of Why Read Moby Dick? by Nathaniel Philbrick in front of Archie, a long haired orange and white cat, who is hiding in his storm shelter - a piano bench with a blanket over it. It's in the hallway, as far away from the windows as possible. He'll stay here well after the rain has passed.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

Starting book #10 of 2026, Vigil by George Saunders, while Archie tries to convince me it's time for second dinner.

Photo of my hand holding a hardcover copy of Vigil by George Saunders, while Archie, a long-haired orange and white cat, sits on the floor in front of the couch and stares at me. He wants me to get up and give him more food. He often tries to do mind control in this way and is almost never successful, but because it does work every couple of months or so, he persists.

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Kevin M. Kruse @kevinmkruse.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Writing is thinking. It's not some marginal boring task you can skip. It's the heart of it.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 16/02/2026

Still working on Moby Dick but also reading book #9, Woodworking by Emily St. James. The cats don't care about it because it's 60 degrees (in February in Milwaukee!) and the window is open.

Photo of my hand holding a hardcover copy of Woodworking by Emily St. James against a couch cushion. The couch is in front of a big window that looks out at a park across the street. Sal, a black and white cat, is sitting on the back of the couch, looking out the window. Archie, an orange and white cat, is crouched in front of the window on top of the radiator cover, looking down at the yard.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 12/02/2026

Book 8 of 2026 is Moby Dick. I've never read it before, and I'm only about a quarter of the way through, but I *love* it so far. Upset with myself for not reading it sooner.

Photo of my hand holding an ereader showing the cover of Moby Dick. Sal, a long-haired black and white cat, is on my lap behind the ereader, looking directly at the camera. He looks like he wants attention (he does).

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 01/02/2026

Reading with the cats in 2026, books 6 and 7: The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy and The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo

Photo of a hand (mine) holding a Kobo e-reader out to two cats, who are standing next to me. The e-reader is displaying the cover of The Wilderness by Angela Flournoy. Archie, a long-haired orange and white cat, is rubbing his face on the e-reader, and Sal, a long-haired black and white cat, is sniffing it.

Photo of me lying on my couch. The photo shows only the lower part of my body, and Archie, a long-haired orange white cat, and Sal, a long-haired black and white cat, are lying on top of me. Archie is staring at the camera, and Sal's face is not visible. A hardcover copy of The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo is lying open on the back of the couch.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 28/01/2026

One of the volunteer artists for the @wischumane.bsky.social annual Poorly Drawn Pets fundraiser drew this amazing portrait of Sal and Archie, which I obviously will be printing and framing.

Drawing done in marker of an orange and white cat licking the side of the face of a black and white cat. The black and white cat is staring straight ahead.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 24/01/2026

In good news today, a few hours ago my downstairs neighbor adopted this shy girl, who has been passed over at the shelter for the last two months because she has been so scared there. She is so sweet, and she's warming up much faster than we thought she would.

Photo of a long-haired tortie cat looking up as a hand from someone off camera reaches out to her. She is wary and suspicious. She is sitting on a blue rug next to a cat tree, and there is a small plate on the bottom part of the tree. It once had churu on it, which she loved.

Photo of the same long-haired tortie cat head butting that same hand, which has finished approaching her, showing that she is warming up quickly and likes the attention from the person.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

Playing Horizon Zero Dawn, a favorite of mine that I haven't played in a while, and just now noticing Elisabet Sobek founded an AI company to sell "green robots" and it won both a Nobel Peace Prize and the "2056 Rachel Carson Award for Environmental Progress." Brilliant.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 18/01/2026

I've learned recently that if you get a cat to sleep on top of your legs and refuse to move, you can turn down your heat and save a bit of money. We've spent the whole weekend like this, reading books 4 and 5 for 2026: Mirage City by Lev AC Rosen and To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis.

Photo of me lying on my couch while Archie, a long-haired orange and white cat, lies on top of me. All you can see of me is my torso and arm. I'm wearing a blue sweater and there's a pink fleece blanket on my lap. I'm holding an ereader in front of Archie, and it is displaying the cover of Mirage City by Lev AC Rosen. Archie is looking down at the ereader, apparently interested in it. He likes to lick and bite ereaders, so he's probably considering doing that.

Photo of me sitting on the couch. All that's visible of me are my legs, which are covered by a pink blanket, and my left hand, which is holding a hardcover copy of To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis. Sal, a long-haired black and white cat, is stretched out on top of my legs. His front and back legs are stretched in front of and behind him, and he is taking up as much space as possible. He supposedly weighs 9 pounds, but at the time this photo was taken, it felt like 20 pounds.

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Boze Herrington, Library Owl @sketchesbyboze.bsky.social · 15/01/2026

I find Gmail’s new “write this for me” feature deeply sinister. They’re trying to convince you that you are dumb and helpless. Don’t let them steal your ability to formulate thoughts and communicate. You were capable of writing an email in 2022 and you’re capable now.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Sal, a small cat who has to be as warm as possible at all times, has started sleeping underneath the blankets I leave on the couch.

A photo of a pink blanket folded on the seat at the end of a grey couch. There is a lump visible under the middle of the blanket. There is a cat tree behind the couch against a fireplace mantel.

A photo of someone lifting up the same pink blanket from the previous photo, revealing a black and white cat underneath the blanket where the lump was.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 05/01/2026

Reading with the cats again. Our first book of 2026 is "The Salvage" by Anbara Salam. Queers, ghosts, and a fantastic cover.

Closeup photo of a long haired orange and white cat licking a Kobo e-reader, which is displaying the cover of the book "The Salvage" by Anbara Salam. The cover features a drawing of a skull with tentacles all around it and coming out of its eye sockets. The e-reader has bite marks in the corner from a previous time when the cat bit it.

Photo of a long haired black and white cat sitting on the lap of the person taking the photo. The person is wearing a purple sweatshirt that says 'Northern Iowa" in yellow block letters, and there is a pink blanket over her lap. Off to the side is an empty coffee mug and a Kobo e-reader, which is showing the cover of the book "The Salvage" by Anbara Salam. The cover features a drawing of a skull with tentacles all around it and coming out of its eye sockets.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 02/12/2025

Three years today with these guys. They were so scared in the shelter that they refused to meet me, but they turned out to be the nicest, most gentle cats I've ever known. (Still very scared of lots of things, but hey, the world is a pretty scary place.)

Photo of a long-haired black and white kitten. He is in a crouched position and is looking warily at the camera. The caption says "Focus | Wisconsin Humane Society."

Photo of a long-haired orange and white kitten. He is lying nervously on a baby scale facing the camera. The caption says "Tortilla | Wisconsin Humane Society."

Photo of the same long-haired orange and white cat, now three years older. He is lying upside down on a tan shag rug with his front paws curled up against his chest. He is looking at the camera. He's in a playful mood.

Photo of the same black and white cat, now three years older. He is lying in a banana-shaped cat bed on a blue and pink shag carpet. He is looking up at the camera. Also in a playful mood.

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lizbrarian @lizbrarian.bsky.social · 25/11/2025

It's not even Thanksgiving yet and Archie is over here trying to start shit with his brother

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