iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

Still time to apply for the Library Futures Research Network! Funding up to $4000 for your independent research and the support of a cohort of fellow researchers working toward an equitable digital future. 📚

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

"There have always been—and there will perhaps always be—people who prefer slop over the primary source." Ain't that the truth, Mabel. www.newyorker.com/culture/the-...

newyorker.com

Destroying Books to Build a Mind

Anthropic is trying to “destructively scan all the books in the world.” How worried should we be?

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

In theory the latter. In practice tenure.

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

This is what 50 looks like. Rest in peace and power, Ms. Steinem.

Middle aged white woman with glasses looking defiantly at the camera

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Thanks to LIBRARIANS (and archivists!) you can now read my essay from @theiowareview.bsky.social for FREE. pubs.lib.uiowa.edu/iowareview/a...

pubs.lib.uiowa.edu

A Librarian's Guide to Mourning

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Naomi Saphra @nsaphra.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Tech Company: At long last, we have created the Vast and Trunkless Leg of Stone, Standing in the Desert from classic poem Ozymandias.

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 11/08/2026

Last week I spent some time learning to use Github Pages. And then I thought, Git, why you make FTP so complicated?

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

I'm just going to start sending this as a reply to every politician who texts asking if there's ANYTHING he can do to get me to give $5 to his campaign. youtu.be/7LXpnNKNxJI?...

youtu.be

Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show ~ "Sylvia's Mother"

YouTube video by Ronja´s Dr Hook Channel

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Please keep us posted (she said, interested in both an IP way and a poetry way).

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Lady Froldmagen (she/her) @zinelib.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Same but your Canva flyer. I will die on this haterade hill

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

I’m here for all your Unpaid Labor lecturing needs.

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

The only correct take on the Odyssey is that it’s better in Greek. I’ll show myself to the door.

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

All these dudes trying to write the Key to All Mythologies.

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

New intern time is the best time at work, and I’m so impressed with these students and honored to get to work with them.

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Library Futures @libraryfutures.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

What do Library Futures interns do when not making the world safe for libraries in the digital age? Get to know our 2026 cohort! From city transit to cat-walking to carnivorous plants, they're a multi-talented group. We're thrilled to have them! www.libraryfutures.net/post/meet-th...

libraryfutures.net

Meet the 2026 Interns!

Research and advocacy for the future of libraries.

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Quite the accomplishment—although I might describe them as more unhinged than extreme.

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

That does not surprise me, but I was a little surprised they were still around. (They aren't actually funny, but my mother has always described my father as "making the John Birch Society look a little pink around the edges," so, family joke.)

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

TIL that the John Birch Society still exists. And has some wild taxonomy. shopjbs.org/product/crim...

Crimes of the Educators book cover / Half of American adults today are functionally illiterate — and it’s no accident. Samuel Blumenfeld and Alex Newman reveal how Progressive “reformers” quietly dismantled phonics, hollowed out scholarship, and replaced education with social engineering. Through research and firsthand testimony, they show how classroom methods produce dyslexia, moral confusion, and dependence. From Common Core and whole-language to ADHD drugging and invasive data tracking, the evidence is laid bare. This book equips parents and teachers to defend children’s minds, restore real reading, and reclaim self-government.
SKU: BKCEPB Categories: Conspiracy, Education, Politics, Save Our Children Tags: Samuel Blumenfeld, Education, Alex Newman, home school, Common Core, Homeschooling

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

Where do bad folks go when they die? The don’t go to heaven where the angels fly They go to a lake of fire and fry Won’t see ‘em again till the Fourth of July. youtu.be/d4LdUQzCPPM?...

youtu.be

Nirvana - Lake Of Fire (Live On MTV Unplugged, 1993 / Unedited)

YouTube video by NirvanaVEVO

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

I should note that his next sentence sounds remarkably like people scolding leftists for being too left now. But still.

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

“Time, and Hitler have taught the middle classes a great deal, and perhaps they will not again side with their oppressors against their natural allies.” —George Orwell, 1940 Well. Isn’t it pretty to think so?

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Mita Williams @copystar.bsky.social · 22/06/2026

Hey 📚 friends, the slides, text, and bonus content from my @capal-acbes.bsky.social Conference Keynote talk are now available: copystar.itch.io/now-is-the-t...

copystar.itch.io

Now is the Time of Facing Monsters by Mita Williams

CAPAL 2026 Keynote

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

"After a few years of slaughter and starvation 'Greatest happiness for the greatest number' is a good slogan, but at this moment 'Better an end with horror than a horror without end' is a winner. Now that we are fighting against the man who coined it, we ought not to underrate its emotional appeal."

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Yesterday was Orwell's birthday, so I read his review of Mein Kampf from March 1940, which is--well, I'll let you read below:

ORWELL My Country Right or Left 1940-1943 edited by Sonia Orwell and Ian Angus / Volume 2 Essays, Journalism, and Letters

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Just shilling for work here, but I can vouch for the merch from @libraryfutures.bsky.social. 📚(Sadly I will not be there to shill it to you.)

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 23/06/2026

Or they just genuinely hate AI, with or without much understanding of its nuances? (I mean, presumably they use spellcheck....) I count myself as an AI resister, unless of course someone can use it to change a bunch of data from one format to another one for me.

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 19/06/2026

Today I got to explain objective and subjective genitives to someone and now my work here is done.

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

Seriously how many James Patterson books does your library own. When I last did collection development, I bought FIVE new hardback copies of everyone one of his books--plus I don't know how many ebooks.

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Someone please make fabric in this pattern. I need it.

classic Mac cat desktop pattern with AfterDark folder open

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Per Meredith Broussard, "AI companies [are] the catalyst for the latest skirmish in a very old battle." Laura Edit: Yes, the battle that happens when libraries can't do their jobs. www.niemanlab.org/2026/05/more...

niemanlab.org

More than 340 local news outlets are limiting the Internet Archive’s access to their journalism

McClatchy, Advance Local, Tribune Publishing and other major newspaper chains are restricting the nonprofit's archiving bots.

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Yes, well, add "random yellow popups appearing every 30 seconds or so" to your list!

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Nicole Pagowsky, Ph.D. @nope4evr.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Yes, @amlibraryassoc.bsky.social, pls explain including an AI vendor exhibitor with the marketing: “intelligent enough to not need a trained librarian”? This association's entire purpose is to support + advocate for librarians, & this is not that. See aischoollibrarian.substack.com/p/why-is-ala...

aischoollibrarian.substack.com

Why Is ALA Giving a Platform to a Company Promoting “AI Librarians”?

Libraries are fighting cuts, deprofessionalization, and attacks on expertise. This feels like the wrong message at the wrong time.

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

My theory on conference presentations is that you should assume nothing will work and plan accordingly. (Signed, once presented from a conference computer with a virus....)

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UAW Archivist @uawarchivist.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

1971 press release from the @uaw.org advocating, on behalf of the public good, for a certain number of channels being reserved for public broadcasting and public-access on the newest development in entertainment…cable TV. 📺 From the archives at the @reutherlibrary.bsky.social.

FOR RELEASE:
immediate--Wednesday,
May 5, 1971
UAW OFFICIAL URGES COMMUNITY
INTL. UNION, UNITED AUTOMOBILE, AEROSPACE AND AGRICULTURAL IMPLEMENT WORKERS OF AMERICA NEWS FROM UAW.
Public Relations and Publications Dept.
Thaddeus Ogar, Director
8000 E. Jefferson Ave., Detroit, Mich. 48214
Telephone: (313) 926-5291
RECEIVED
MAY 5 1971
PROGRAMMING FORMAT FOR CABLE TV
OLGA M. MADAR
Asserting that Cable TV would open up a great number of channels for a variety of community programming, UAW Vice President Olga M. Madar today urged that the franchises be awarded to non-profit corporations.
Miss Madar made the suggestion to the Citizen's Committee on Cable TV which is
drafting recommendations and guidelines to the Detroit Common Council for awarding the
franchises to non-profit and/or commercial applicants. Hearings are being held in the
Council chambers.
"If the community is to be involved in Cable TV, we must immediately tackle the problem of control," said Miss Madar. "Otherwise, commercial interests will shape the programming just as they have on over-the-air television."
Miss Madar, who heads the UAW Consumer Affairs and Recreation and Leisure Time Activities departments, pointed out that hitherto television channels have been a very scarce resource and highly expensive.
"Competition for this scarce resource has often gone to the highest bidder. The
ordinary citizen or local group could command little attention in this situation of
scarcity.
"Cable IV changes all that," she declared. "It becomes a resource that could be used not just by the few high bidders, but by large sections of the population.
"When only a few expensive stations are operating, programming must be aimed at
the widest possible audience. Now this can be dramatically changed. With a large number of channels, programs can be directed at limited audiences such as community
groups."
Miss Madar pointed out that most workers have little time or energy for
-more-

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

I mean I did not like the LOTR movies. I just barely made it through the first one and then decided that was enough.

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 11/05/2026

There is so much in that statement that I do not follow (I feel like there's a sportsball metaphor?) and I have decided that I am okay with that.

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 02/04/2026

Please enjoy this post about my ridiculous project in which I forgot to tag myself.

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

I mean, I still won’t be into k-pop, but I appreciate the effort.

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Matthew Noe @noethematt.bsky.social · 26/03/2026

This is awful and was probably predictable

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

I don't know, but Google Docs capitalizes EVERYTHING when you choose sentence case because apparently its level of machine learning has not advanced to an understanding of words you capitalize and ones you don't.

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Kim Kelly @kimkelly.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

fucking genocidal

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 26/02/2026

I won an argument with someone on the internet this morning.

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Laura Crossett @newrambler.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

This was the original LSW Shovers and Makers--looks like someone snagged the domain name for whatever nefarious SEO/LLM purposes: web.archive.org/web/20111014...

web.archive.org

Shovers and Makers — An award for the rest of us from the Library Society of the World

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