iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

I love it when oceanography breaks containment and starts circulating in the public discourse. Does anyone want to talk about Coriolis? 🤓🌊

095

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

After 13+ years in librarianship, I'm still amazed when someone publishes a paper in a subscription journal & we don't subscribe to it & they ask me for help getting a PDF of their own paper. That they wrote! And gave to the publisher! Excellent scholarly communication system, 10/10, no notes.

080

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

We are stuck on the runway in Monterey. Most of the people on my flight to LAX this morning are going to miss their connection (including me). It’s going to be a total mess when we finally get there. Ugh.

110

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Can I credit the knitting machine distribution system if these machines came to me because of an automated Craigslist search for ["knitting machine" within 250 miles]? 🤔🧶

0110

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

They say there’s a cat distribution system, but in my life, it’s a knitting machine distribution system. This latest incident involved Craigslist and a 400-mile round-trip drive.

The back of a car is fully loaded with knitting machines and a bin and garbage bags full of yarn.

Two knitting machines sit in their cases on a folding table in a garage. They are very dirty.

The two knitting machines are open and you can see all the parts.

Maybe 50+ cones of yarn in a rainbow of colors sit on the floor of a garage.

0101

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 20/08/2026

This is Mordecai and he reminds me of Cordyceps 🍄‍🟫

A peanut colored guinea pig with several cowlicks is seen from the side. He is eating a carrot. He has a long tuft of hair coming out of his rear end.

080

Reposted by Amanda Whitmire

Courtney Milan @courtneymilan.com · 13/08/2026

I'm a big fan of Upright Health (many of his mobility exercises have been EXCELLENT for me), but I feel like this video (with the accurate yet clickbait-y title) is something a lot of people might benefit from seeing.

youtube.com

How to Stop a Fall from Killing You

YouTube video by Upright Health

19576171

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

My daughter’s high school has a dog like this. ❤️ #GoDores

A black lab rests in the office area of a high school. It wears a harness with the school emblem, a capital “M” for Monterey High School, on top.

A black lab lies on its side, sleeping, in the office area of a high school. The walls are green.

050

Reposted by Amanda Whitmire

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

The way I would drive this %#?! directly back to the dealership the second an AD came on the dash?!!

22732108

Reposted by Amanda Whitmire

Quinn Daedal @quinnanya.me · 01/08/2026

It is not only real, you can eat button bread and marvel at its majesty. I have never encountered such a yarn craft paradise as Banul Story in all my days. #DHmakes

Button bread on a plate overlooking cone yarn

1172

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

Contender for best ever out of context text from a friend is this photo, from @quinnanya.me. I had to ask, “Is that … real?” And it is!! As if I needed another reason to visit Seoul for the first time. 🧶

A huge wall with white square shelving holds a single cone of yarn in each cubby. There must be hundreds of cones on display.

0121

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

Look at this chonky boi who came back to me in the courier bin from main campus today. This absolute unit comes in at 6 pounds and over 4,100 cubic centimeters. 📚

A very thick (10.5 cm spine width) book sits on a circulation desk with a ruler next to it. In the background you can see a card catalog and library shelving.

4504

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Don't forget that in many cases the publisher is charging authors APCs and libraries for a subscription. An author might elect to pay $12k to publish open access in Nature *and* the university library pays for access to the non-OA articles. The academic publishing system is completely absurd. 📚

0122

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

I'm so amused by situations when someone asks what I do and I tell them I'm a librarian and then there is silence. It's clear that they have no idea what to say next. What's surprising to me is that it happens way more now than when I was an oceanographer, arguably a less well understood job. 🤷‍♀️

4131

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

Ed. in Chief of Science writes a commentary piece about the perils of AI in scientific publishing saying, "because more papers contain more AI-generated errors, greater human oversight is required to check the findings" and then unabashedly admits to using an LLM as a search engine. 🤔

13410

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

As a former school board member: hard pass. The company "rebranded after acquiring the hyperrealistic sex doll company ..." 🚩 "... more than a third of its students are Indigenous. Around 79 percent of the district's students are economically disadvantaged." 🚩🚩🚩 Everything about this is revolting.

030

Reposted by Amanda Whitmire

Debbie T Knits 🧶 @debbietknits.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

That must have taken some working out! 🧶 #knit

4393

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 14/07/2026

Booking a flight to Japan immediately.

090

Reposted by Amanda Whitmire

Quinn Daedal @quinnanya.me · 23/06/2026

Ran a little craft night at YarnLab last night, getting to know my new punch card bulky knitting machine with help from @thalassalib.bsky.social. Not too shabby! #DHmakes

A knitting machine with a punch card and a sample of the card on it, and other people doing other textile things in the background

1311

Reposted by Amanda Whitmire

mia ridge @miaout.bsky.social · 06/06/2026

'The most interesting question [is] whether the article itself is still the right unit of scientific communication, and whether the infrastructure we’ve built around it is actually serving science or just serving a publishing system .' scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2026/03/31/w...

scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org

What AI Asks of Open Access - The Scholarly Kitchen

As AI systems increasingly reason from the scientific literature, the integrity signals that make research trustworthy - open data, structured metadata, robust retraction processes - matter more than…

0156

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Couple of recent projects on my Brother KH965i knitting machine. 🧶

A woman stands near a window. She is wearing a dark purple knitted t-shirt.

A knitted shirt sits on a foam blocking board.

A cream colored knitted triangle shawl sits on a leather sofa.

A closeup of the shawl shows decreases on the front side and a half Milano edge on the back side.

0160

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

I have been stocking my library restroom w/ period supplies for years. No other bathroom at the marine station offered supplies, despite this being a common amenity on main campus. I kept asking. Proud to say that 5 (!) restrooms are now fully stocked & have adopted my "official" signage. 💯🦑🌊

The original Crustacean Menstruation Station in the Miller Library bathroom is a wicker basket with pads and tampons in it. There is a sign with an old crustacean biodiversity plate as background with the words "Crustacean Menstruation Station" on it.

A new Crustacean Menstruation Station features a white plastic basket fully stocked with tampons and pads and includes the same sign as in the original.

Another Crustacean Menstruation Station sitting on top of a paper towel dispenser in a single-stall restroom.

0190

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 25/05/2026

The anticipation of blocking! I’ll sew up the side seams of this boxy little thing tomorrow. ✨🧶

A boxy short-sleeve sweater-in-progress is laid out on blocking squares. It’s very dark purple with a boat neck opening.

080

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 20/05/2026

This bums me out so much. The Channel Islands have species & subspecies that aren't found anywhere else. Santa Rosa is where the oldest dated human remains in North America were found and has huge cultural significance to the local Chumash. Looks like over a third of the island has already burned. 😔

the Watch Duty App shows the boundaries of Santa Rosa Island and where the fire has burned so far. The entire east side of the island has burned, almost 17,000 acres.

084

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Here's Hadden (2nd from the back) with her staff on a trip to the coast in June, 1920. Were all early California librarians this hardcore? Was it part of the gig? Source: ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/c... 📚

In 1920, four women ride horses along a trail with coastal shrubs in the foreground.

0167

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Look at this absolute legend, Monterey County's first librarian, Anne Hadden (ca. 1916). She delivered books via donkey all over the area in the early 1900s. What a badass.

A woman sits on a donkey, with another donkey tethered behind them with packages tied on its back. She is wearing a wide-brimmed hat and wearing simple clothing.

0295

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

What are the youths up to with page margins? Are 1-inch margins old-fashioned now? Asking for a friend.

000

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 21/04/2026

In between rain showers, I got out for some tide pooling with @brookeweigel.bsky.social & her class. Left foot soaked, totally worth it. 🦑

View from the rocky intertidal out to Monterey Bay. It’s low tide and you can see exposed sea grass.

A beautifully striped lined chiton, probably Tonicella lokii, is attached to an overhang in the intertidal. A small purple urchin is right next to it.

A Pacific Rock Crab walks under some eelgrass. It’s light purple with black tips on its claws.

Three people survey a transect line in the intertidal. Two are crouched and looking at the rocks while one person stands and tells them the coordinates of their location.

3509

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Very pleased to share my first specimen, Megapanis gregjubyi. It was used on the bag of alfalfa for our guinea pigs. Standard pencil for scale - this is a large occlupanid!

A large bread clip is sitting next to a pencil (for scale) and a specimen label that indicates the Family, genus and species of this occlupanid.

041

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 15/04/2026

I just discovered HORG today - it's the absolute best thing I've seen in a long time. Moving forward, I'm not sure how I'll resist keying out all the Occlupanids I come across ... www.horg.com/horg/

horg.com

Holotypic Occlupanid Research Group

This site contains ongoing research in the classification of occlupanids.

041

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

When it is this gorgeous outside, you will absolutely catch me eating lunch outside the library and soaking up a little sun.

A woman sits with her legs up on a bench and her back leaning on a post right outside the front doors of a library.

150

Reposted by Amanda Whitmire

Sarah Oelker (buxuyaojieguo) @buxuyaojieguo.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Listening to Data Rescue Project give the keynote at #RDAP26 and really enjoying it. Plus, this meme: Learn more about their work at www.datarescueproject.org

The Mean Girls meme with Regina George and friends in a convertible, captioned GET IN LOSER WE'RE SAVING GOVERNMENT DATA

1186

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 29/03/2026

I was out test-driving cars yesterday and took this photo of my car sandwiched between these massive trucks. Absurd.

A row of parked vehicles on a dealer lot. All of them are massive trucks except for one Kia Niro EV. The roof of the Kia is at the same height as the hood of the trucks.

140

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

A mile down the coast from Hopkins Marine Station is a very popular beach, both for locals and tourists. Sometimes I wonder if anyone notices the building across the water and is curious about what it is. 👀 Hi, it’s me, I’m over here peddling books and data! 👋 📚

A sandy beach with only tiny waves at the shore. It’s a beautiful day and people are enjoying the beach and the water. Across the water in the distance is a building with a clay tile roof. There is a red arrow pointing at the building.

350

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

I was feeling gratitude this morning, and now it’s turned into the most glorious day we’ve had this year. Here’s a moment of Zen at the tide pools w/ a guest appearance from one of our black oystercatcher pairs. This also never gets old.

2110

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Being the first one in the library, turning on all the lights and getting ready for the day … it never gets old. ❤️📚

A library with high open ceilings and wood beams is empty in the early morning.

1973530

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

We 3D print very serious work things in my library. Happy St. Patrick’s Day! ☘️ 🇮🇪

060

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 16/03/2026

It took me ~5 minutes to find an obscure taxonomic description from 1902 at BHL & then use an LLM to obtain a very serviceable translation from German into English. The resources available to me as an academic librarian are surreal - what will it look like in 10 years? 5 years? 📚

282

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Tourists, all I am asking for is the barest amount of hustle as you cross the street in front of me.

020

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Seeing this post about felt nudibranchs reminded me of my daughter's assignment for freshman-level art class: a watercolor painting of an animal you'd find in Monterey Bay. She picked my favorite nudi, the Hopkins Rose. 🦑

A 10"x10" watercolor painting of a bright pink nudibranch, which is facing the viewer.

A detail view of the rhinophore of the Hopkins Rose nudibranch.

A detail view of the rhinophore and cerata of the Hopkins Rose nudibranch.

A detail view of the cerata of the Hopkins Rose nudibranch and the substrate it is sitting on.

86613

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 27/02/2026

Excited to launch this resource for students & researchers who use historical observational data from around @stanfordhopkins.bsky.social - a curated set of materials, including transcribed datasets. This will continue to grow as we extract more data! exhibits.stanford.edu/hms-sentinel 🌊🦑📚

Screenshot of a website titled: Hopkins Marine Station: Sentinel of Monterey Bay. There is a search bar at the top of the page, along with a menu that includes "Research Topics," "Browse," and "About" links. The text on the page says: For decades, researchers at Hopkins Marine Station (HMS) have monitored changes in the natural world. This vital work often relies on repeat studies to track processes like shifts in biodiversity, but such studies are difficult to conduct when historical materials are scattered and hard to find or stuck in pre-digital formats. In collaboration with HMS researchers, this exhibit unearths these valuable materials and datasets. We present them as "Research Topics" (see menu at top right) organized by specific taxa, habitats, locations, and ongoing time-series. In most cases, we also present datasets in actionable digital formats, ready for current and future researchers to build upon. Peruse collections of our materials related to common flora and fauna of the Station at the "Explore our collections" page. Visit the "Browse" page to see curated collections of content, including all of the available datasets, and the "About" page for more information about this project.

020

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

The ever-present cognitive dissonance of flying internationally for a conference that largely revolves around studying the impacts of climate change on our Earth system.

020

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

"Q: What did you learn about how people came to librarianship as a profession? A: I think the common thread is service. We all want to help people so much." Whew, that really resonates with me. 🥹 I see it in myself, in my colleagues @stanfordulibraries.bsky.social, and beyond. 🫶📚

192

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

The expert who surfaced these recordings? My fabulous colleague @ajester.bsky.social, Director of Research Data and Library Services at WHOI! Libraries and archives are more important than ever, y'all. 🌊📚

2328

Amanda Whitmire @thalassalib.bsky.social · 23/02/2026

When a reporter reaches out to me, you can bet I'll be talking about the importance of curating historical observational data (except she quoted me for something else here lol). "[Hopkins Marine Station] library’s archive includes a rich data set of student research papers going back to the 1940s."

020