iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

This charmingly antiquated forum is officially the number one conjuring magician forum in the world. It won first place last year at the The International Federation of Magic Societies awards. It hasn't changed much since 2001 because it doesn't need to.

A screenshot of the homepage of The Magic Cafe internet forum. Multiple colured fluroescent titles over a flat black background. The text only covers 50 percent of the screen. The style is reminiscent of Internet 1.0 style dating back to the year 2001.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Yeah ok, official government agency for intellectal property in Australia, I guess that example of what copyright protects is valid. I'm judging you, though.

A screenshot from a government website, showing black text on a white background. It contains a headline titled 'Copyright' and three short paragraphs describing what copyright is.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

UK politics will never not be deeply hilarious. [Article from The Guardian AU 08/07/2026. Image composite Shutterstock/AFP/Getty.]

A composite photograph showing two portraits side by side. On the left is a colour photograph of Count Binface, a Darth Vader-esque fully costumed person with a metal bin mask and headpiece. On the right is a colour photo of Nigel Farage, a middle aged man reminiscent of a thumb in a blue suit.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Most PhD scholorships in Australia are related to AI and/or engineering right now, but there is one open through UniSyd which is just HAY DO YOU WANNA STUDY LIGHTNING?!

screenshot of a website section showing text which states "Lightning and prebiotic organic synthesis, University of Syndey > school of chemistry." Flat grey and white boxes behind the text, over a flat, light grey background.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 23/10/2025

Today I learned there are AT LEAST 29 active antique bottle clubs across Australia. At a previous online auction this sealed bottle of Tasmanian Fanta sold for AU$45.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 20/08/2025

A colleague shared their favourite artwork in our little library with me today and I just adore it: Onions [art original] by Caroline Peebles, [ca. 1870-ca. 1910], H2010.77/18. We don't know much about Peebles' life but she passed away in 1911, making all her watercolours out of copyright.

image of a watercolour painting on a warm beige paper. The painting is of two onions, one larger on the left with green skin and one smaller on the right with reddish-brown skin.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 29/07/2025

Thank you, Netflix. Yes, I am wonderful; I'm a librarian.

A screenshot of a small section of an email. Black text on a white background which reads "Subject: Re: Urgently seeking copyright clearance Netflix TV series. Aren't you wonderful! Art Dept Coordinator." Some words have been whited out for privacy.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 23/07/2025

My librarian career is over, folks: I've finally been recruited by the Illuminati. #dreamsdocometrue #spam

A screenshot of a section of an email inbox. The inbox is displayed as white and grey boxes in a classic Microsoft Outlook display style. The section shows two junk mail emails from "The Illuminati".

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 16/07/2025

I am Lady Parsley because of course I am.

Photograph of a handmade doll against a white background. The doll has green hair which looks like parsley herb. It is wearing a purple floral dress and has a grumpy look on its face.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 10/07/2025

Further proof of the tyranny of stamp addictions. Yarralumlah, 1952, Argus Ltd H2002.199/749. #librarian

a black and white photo of two men standing on a very large porch. Both men are dressed formally in black attire. The photo print has been stamped with a very large red stamp which reads "The Argus and Australasian Ltd, Elizabeth Street Melbourne."

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

Ooh I've got something for that:

Black and white photograph of a sea leopard in a recording studio, 'singing' into a microphone.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 27/06/2025

I assisted a reference librarian on a VERY important deep dive this morning, finding pictures of giant animals in our collection. This is Goliath, H2004.100/1087, Argus via Acme Newspictures, 1936. #librarian #gooddog

a black-and-white photo from 1936, photographed for a newspaper. The photo shows a very large sea lion on the left. It is lifting itself up to approximately 7 feet in height and is facing a human man on its right-hand side. the man is in a uniform and is holding his arm up outstretched towards the sea lion. The man appears calm and friendly towards the giant animal.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 06/06/2025

Updated list of nazis in the Melbourne area (June). Please share with your community.

A community alert of Nazis in the area. Shows black and red banners on the top of a page. Below the banners are thumbnail portraits of 15 cis men, with their names captioned under their portraits.

A community alert page in white on a black background. There is also a large red banner with white text at the top of the page. This page explains what actions to take against nazis in the Melbourne community.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 27/05/2025

From the late 1850s until the mid 1990s, this gong was struck to signal the closing of the library for the day. I was allowed to give it a little practice bash today and it's LOUD. H98.208/1, LTRE262. #librarian

Brass gong laid flat in a box with white padding inside it. A wooden striker is displayed inside it.

Library staff members striking the brass gong with the wooden striker. Staff member is wearing blue nitrile gloves and holding the gong above a white pillow. Another staff member in the background of the shot is watching and leaning against the wall.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 22/05/2025

I spent the morning ferrying around little clumps of matted hair. My job is so glamorous. They're apparently from the camels that carried Burke and Wills on their great ill-fated expedition. H31978. #burkeandwills #librarian

Photograph looking down into a grey cardboard box. Inside the box is white tissue paper and brown clumps of hair.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 09/05/2025

This week in the library: John Ruskin's chess set. RARESEF794.1R897J #chess #librarian #rarebooks

A photograph of chess pieces. The top two rows are a creamy white colour and the bottom two rows are red. The pieces are individually boxed in grey boxes with white padded undersides. They are positioned in four rows. Some pieces are larger than others and are positioned lying flat, whilst some pieces are positioned standing.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 02/05/2025

After listening to the @ologies.bsky.social episode on Weird Mediaeval Art, I rushed to my teammate and friend, our principal rare books curator, and asked about marginalia snails in our collection. She was so happy to show me this sweet snail wearing a hat ☺️ in a Book of Hours, RARES 096 R66HF.

Details of the right hand side marginalia from a 15th century manuscript. It shows a narrow panel of illustrations of pink flowers and green leaves. In the centre of the composition is an illustration of a blue snail wearing a red shell and a matching red bucket hat.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 16/04/2025

This fascinating cultural heritage was discovered by our Digital Preservationist on a USB stick. It dates back to 2008 when the internet was all sharp corners and serif fonts, but is still functioning Trojan malware which put our forensic acquisition workstation into lockdown for a day. #FRED

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 11/04/2025

Thanks for the musk sticks, Tim Ross 🥰 (If I were allowed to eat at my desk, the bowl would be empty by now. Only shame and mild inconvenience is stopping me.)

Looking down into a medium sized cardboard box. I side the box are various colourful packets of sweets, including a large amount of pink sticks.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 10/04/2025

A new digital exhibition has just been released on Ned Kelly, titled Mouthful of Dust: www.slv.vic.gov.au/mouthful-of-... presenting 3D photography of armour, boot, rifle, death mask and the Letter, and new writing from Grace Chan, Cameron Hurst, Wesley Enoch, Sarah Krasnostein, and Nam Le.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 21/03/2025

To help us all through our Friday-itis, I present this tidy lil guy and his... well, whatever it is, he's looking at it so adoringly that I can't even bare to insult it. It's his baby; his treasure; his pride and joy. Look at our little guy swoon over it!

A digital photo of a paper card. There is a simple colour illustration of a man in a brown suit and a red tie. He is holding a large green fuzzy object in his hand. There is a plain light brown background and a black border. The caption text below the illustration reads "387. Le vase vegetal."

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 18/03/2025

Attending ALIA's Information Online conference today, learning about the NLA's ICIP Protocol implementation. Really liked this quote by James Baldwin, shared in the presentation. #InfoOnline25

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 08/03/2025

Here it is; the talk of the town. The Whole Pantry by Belle Gibson. Held in my library as Legal Deposit and this week transferred to our Rare collection to prevent it being stolen.

Inside text of a cook book in a light grey background.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

As seen on Instagram by Sam Wallman @ourmembersbeunited and featured by Overland Magazine #librarian www.instagram.com/ourmembersbe...

Panel 8 of a colour comic about Ned Kelly. Illustration shows a light skinned man in foreground, brown skinned man in centre of composition, and Ned Kelly's armour in background. Ground is a vibrant red. Man in centre is speaking via two white speech bubbles.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 06/03/2025

My colleague @terrihonk.bsky.social gave a presentation for Women's History Month today and I'd like to highlight a project she discussed. Our special collections cataloguers are identifying and updating our records to make women's names easier to find, rightfully highlighting their contributions.

screenshot of black text on a white background. This is a small section of a digital library catalogue entry titled "Moses Thomas and his wife." In brown handwriting to the right of the title is written "My name is Ann".

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 28/02/2025

"If anyone take away this book, let him die the death; let him be fried in a pan; let the falling sickness and fever seize him; let him be broken on the wheel, and hanged. Amen." - Arnstein Bible, W. Germany (Arnstein), c. 1172 Harley MS 2798, f. 235v, British Library.

page of a medieval codex on which a curse is written in Latin.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 21/02/2025

Congrats to (suprise DILF of the year) Tim Ross on his new show, The Australian Dream, supported heavily by my team for access to our archives at the library.

Digital photo of a tablet's screen. The tablet shows a tv news show. On the large left side is a black and white photo of terrace houses. On the small right side is a photo of a caucasian man with a grey beard. Various panels on the screen show that this is a news show.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 14/02/2025

It's an old building, so I guess ghost stairs were inevitable.

A very real and legitimate poster on a door declaring the very real safety warning about 6th floor not existing even though there are stairs going up. Also ghosts.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

The paper contained reporting about the scandalous private activities of members of the Melbourne establishment.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

On Saturday February 14th 1880, the first and only edition of FIREBRAND was published in Melbourne. Almost all of the paper were swiftly rounded up and by the 21st of February, the editor George Sawkins was in court, charged and convicted with publishing obscenities. 937 copies were burned.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 30/01/2025

An unidentified tiny diary from 1940. The diary page reads "War declared on Germany Sept 2/9/39. Had a beautiful frock bought for me."

An unidentified mini diary. The diary page reads "War declared on Germany Sept 2/9/39. Had a beautiful frock bought for me."

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 03/01/2025

Back at the library and the gloves are on. I'm going through some Sidney Nolan material, sorting out the copy prints from the works in progress. It's mostly the former, but there are also some interesting original colour tests in this collection too.

Digital photo of a blue gloved left hand holding a black-and-white art print of a Sunday Nolan painting.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

This week in the library: neatly boxed and hidden at the bottom of a series of albumen silver photographic prints on Photographic Views of Victoria from 1860, is this fish fin. It's not catalogued as part of the series, but there it is.

A digital photograph of a dried fish fin, boxed and encased behind plastic.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 22/11/2024

It's so nice to see a Library project I was involved in administrating come to fruition: bigbuild.vic.gov.au/projects/met...

Concept mock-up image construction of the State library Victoria train station mural by Danie Mellor, showing four very large murals of historic Indigenous photographs collaged into new contemporary artworks and displayed on the La Trobe Street facing side of the station. These murals are approximately 4 stories tall.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 25/10/2024

This week in the library: A Hyakumantō darani. 百万塔陀羅尼. The wooden pagoda holds a scroll inside. Made between 764 and 770 in Nara, Japan, they are the oldest recorded examples of printed text in the world. Read more on the catalogue. RARESEF ; 294.30242 H991. find.slv.vic.gov.au/permalink/61...

Each pagoda contained one of four dhāranī from the Vimalasuddhaprabhasa mahadharani sutra, known in Japanese as the Muku jōkō dai daranikyō

The Hyakumantō Darani are miniature wooden pagodas commissioned by the Japanese Empress Shōtoku in the Nara period, between 764 and 770. Each pagoda contained a cylindrical hole in which a printed scroll of a Buddhist dhāranī (sutra) was housed.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 16/08/2024

Marie Stopes' Contraception: Theory, History and Practice, 1923, was censored at SLV shortly after its placement on our shelves. Its catalogue cards were also removed so that it could not be discovered. It was then placed behind a metal grill in the chief librarian's private office.

An open book showing three cards with text written on them.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 01/08/2024

This week in the library: well, not everything is a winner. These toilet catalogues will not be accepted into the library collection but they will still be used as as educational programming supplies.

Picture of a toilet catalogues titled Caroma: toilet suites and Basins: A world of choice. Image on the cover of the catalogue shows a beige toilet and basin in front of a dark blue background.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 03/07/2024

This week in the library: the La Trobe statue in the front forecourt of my library is overdue.

Screenshot of a library online catalogue page. The catalogue entry shows the record for C.J. La Trobe statue, created by Peter Corlett. at the top left of the screenshot is a thumbnail picture of the statue, as it stands erected in front of the library. The thumbnail picture shows a full-body bronze statue of a man in military regalia.

A digital photograph of the La Trobe statue in the forecourt of State Library Victoria, as it stands on display. The photograph shows a bronze statue of a man, standing with one arm by his side and one arm holding up a book. The statue is plain bronze with some red and gold detailing. The statue is wearing a very silly hat made of dropping feathers, also in bronze.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 06/06/2024

This week in the library: me resisting the gentlemanly urge to kiss Ned Kelly's death mask on the top his lil head. (State Library Victoria LTS 53, H2001.241)

The death mask of Ned Kelly, seen from the top of the head, looking down. The mask has been tightly boxed in grey cardboard with white styrofoam at either end of the mask, touching the tip of the nose and the back of the head.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 31/05/2024

This week in the library: Vali Myers' copy of Moby Dick. Purchased second-hand by Myers and re-read every year until her death. The novel came with a strand of her hair used as a bookmark, which our conservators have kept. SLV MS 16336.

Novel Moby Dick front cover shown from above, in a grey box.

Inside the front cover of the novel Moby Dick, showing the library call number and a portrait of the author. A strand of red hair on the right is in its own plastic sleeve with white backing board.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 03/02/2024

One of the many interesting rare books I handled this week. SLV has a wonderful zine collection, many of them collected from Polyester Books when it closed down. RARESF; ZINES BOX 81.

Cover of a zine titled Clown Smut 2: Silly Mit for Silly People. The cover shows a hand illustrated cartoon drawing of a female clown with her breasts exposed, sitting sideways in the lap of a drooling priest. They are surrounded by squiggles and stars.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 01/02/2024

A little light selection work on the floor of the curators' office. I was able to pick four and gave the rest to be submitted to the library's Riley Collection.

Photo of a number of cardboard placards arranged on the floor, each with different political climate change messages drawn or painted on.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 17/01/2024

A nice introduction to a letter from a Japanese publisher in 1968. MS 13363 State Library Victoria.

A photograph of a handwritten letter from 1968 on warm yellow paper against a green background. It reads " Saturday 16th March. Dear Robin, as you see it is Saturday, but unlike your office we are at work."

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 20/10/2023

Riding the coattails, sharing the love.

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Phizz @phizz.bsky.social · 07/10/2023

Totes can. And unsurprisingly, it would only take me 3 minutes longer than taking current public transport. There are three routes, two on paths and one by road, and there's even a small bike rack at the airport.

A screenshot of google results on a black background of the map route from Sunshine to Melbourne airport via bicycle.

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