@knconsultants.org
K|N is a nonprofit that provides consultation services to academic libraries, learned societies, university presses, and other mission-driven organizations constantly adapting to rapid changes in higher education.
Suspect this might yield disastrous results in many humanities contexts, where referencing doesn't follow the precise pattern as the sciences on which it has undoubtedly been trained.
www.thebookseller.com/news/springe...
We've aggregated relevant @modernlanguage.bsky.social resources, including tips for NEH awardees, links to webinar recordings on threats to higher ed, MLA statements, & links to other resources. Share resources w/ us through the google form, and sign up for the first Strategy Session (April 22).
It's hard to really wrap your head around the scale of it, but Trump has now cancelled almost all NEH funding programs. Such terrible times. Thinking of the many dedicated staff members at the NEH who are losing their jobs and seeing programs they've worked so hard to build and maintain being cut.
We're suing Trump to save library funding. Show up for our libraries, American Library Association.
NEW: ALA is going to court to stop the President’s attempts to illegally dismantle the Institute of Museum & Library Services.
The President does not have the authority to destroy a federal agency. That's why we're taking action with our co-plaintiff @afscme.bsky.social. #ForOurLibraries (1/3)
Image of Caroline Edwards of Open Library of the Humanities launching the Open Journals Collective at UKSG
@theblochian.bsky.social launching the @ojcollective.bsky.social at #UKSG2025, building on a decade of @openlibhums.bsky.social experience supporting AHSS journals via a diamond model 👏
The recent executive order, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History “egregiously misrepresents the work of the Smithsonian Institution” and “completely misconstrues the nature of historical work.”
PEN America signs on to @historians.org statement
www.historians.org/news/histori...
In better LIS news:
To: ALL IMLS Employees From: Director of Human Resources Re: Administrative Leave for IMLS Employees This is to inform you that you are being placed on administrative leave (i.e., non-duty paid status) starting Monday, March 31, 2025, up to a period of 90-days. You will be on administrative leave with full pay and benefits. This administrative leave is not being done for any disciplinary purpose. While you are on administrative leave, you are not permitted on IMLS premises. I regret that such directions are necessary, but we must safeguard legitimate IMILS interests and systems. If you wish to enter IMLS premises for official IMLS business, you must first contact me to arrange your visit. While you are on administrative leave, OHR will handle your time and attendance. Your email will be suspended. You can reach me at my desk number, 202-653-4728, or via email: adotson@imls.gov Please understand that this action is not punitive but rather is taken to facilitate the work and operations of the agency. Your pay and benefits will not be affected and will continue during this period. Please contact me if you have any questions about this letter. Sincerely, Antoine L. Dotson Antoine L. Dotson Director of Human Resources
This is the email just received by IMLS staffers placing them on paid administrative leave for up to 90 days.
“Please understand that this action is not punitive but rather is taken to facilitate the work and operations of the agency.”
JUST IN: The staff of the Institute of Museum and Library Services was placed on administrative leave this morning, following a meeting between IMLS leadership and DOGE staff.
From @lseimpactblog.bsky.social the UK uni funding crisis (and the effect on #AcademicLibraries) and the Open Journals Collective as an alternative model for scaling open access to journal publications - I would argue for this type of initiative in Australia also 💡
blogs.lse.ac.uk/impactofsoci...
IMLS staff were placed on administrative leave following an Executive Order that eliminated federal funding for libraries. More details and ways to take action here: www.everylibrary.org/statement_im... via @everylibrary.bsky.social
FYI, I collected links to what the IMLS funds in most of each of the US states and they're in here so you can know on a state and sometimes even local level what is going to be severely impacted very very soon.
Update on the situation at IMLS -> “Entire staff at federal agency that funds libraries and museums put on leave”
Can we please keep reminding everyone that impoundment is unconstitutional? At some point we just stopped remarking on this when listing all the agencies being shut down and defunded
ALA President Cindy Hohl: “Congress created I.M.L.S. by law, with bipartisan support, and Republican and Democratic Presidents signed those laws, including President Trump in 2018...
www.nytimes.com/2025/03/31/a...
If the rumored gutting of the NEH is indeed happening (and I wouldn’t be surprised- it felt inevitable in the last few weeks) it will mean that an already deeply inadequate funding situation for the humanities will become reduced to almost nothing
If Eur. universities, charitable funders &/or governments get around to including humanities & social science researchers in their programmes to 'save' US 'science', they should devise schemes to supplement lost NEH funding w/ collaborative awards that unite UK/Eur & 'global' researchers. 1/2
A number of things wouldn’t exist without the NEH. Other people can list the important ones, but selfishly, I know that “digital humanities” and my career
are among them. Urging my representatives to resist this illegal and arbitrary thuggery.
Two posts this week on the *technical* issues for OA scholarly publishers having their websites absolutely HAMMERED by AI harvesting bots for training:
Eric Hellman (@gluejar.com): go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/2025/03/ai-b...
Ian Mulvany (@ianmulvany.bsky.social): world.hey.com/ian.mulvany/...
Very excited—even grateful—that this panel on the interconnections between OER & AI actually promises to be shaping up to be critical / hesitant / conscious of basic epistemological concerns with LLM tools.
oeweek.oeglobal.org/activity/def...
I say this all the time. I want less work and I want more time to reflect. AI cannot ameliorate the structural deficits of our profession.
You know what I miss?
Science. Doing it. Thinking about it. Talking about it. Writing about it. Getting excited about it.
Maybe I’ll get to be a scientist again one day. Maybe it will matter.
Love this new initiative by @webrecorder.net: GovArchive.us, mirroring dynamic sites as a static web archive, while preserving the previous URL structure. Could be a really compelling options for digital humanities projects, too.
Declining trad sales of books + upwardly spiralling costs elsewhere draining library budgets (eg: $1.06bn in APCs to only 5 publishers) mean we *have* to try something different. Not to do so is that definition of madness thing: carrying on as before but expecting a different result 🙃
My colleague @alicemeadows.bsky.social is giving the keynote: 'Author identity in an age of misinformation', at the @easeeditors.bsky.social annual conference.
I will have the honour of introducing her and moderating the session.
I'm looking forward to a great discussion and seeing everybody there.
The copyright line says that the copyright still belongs to the author. Can't she then just share what she wrote as she chooses? Doesn't matter what Brooklyn College says. They have no rights at all.
MSU's leader has strong words: "Michigan State will never abandon our core values. As a proudly public institution, that means extending opportunity to people of all backgrounds and opening our understanding to their lived experiences." Hope he lives up to defending those values.
I just published a blog post arguing that the reform movements for research assessment and scientific publishing need to better align their agendas. This is crucial for the success of both movements.
www.leidenmadtrics.nl/articles/ass...
@leidenmadtrics.bsky.social
Agree with this -- and I think the way to align the agendas of assessment/publishing reforms is in response to the current political situtation. This means highlighting how cuts, labour conditions and marketisation impact these two reform movements and collectively striving for something better.