Lorcan Dempsey
Librarian, writer, adviser. Father, emigrant, Irish.
More about me: https://www.lorcandempsey.net
- " [...] UT’s proposal, currently under consideration by the UT System Board of Regents, to connect the iSchool with the departments of computer science and data science in a new “center of excellence” housed in the College of Natural Sciences." buff.ly/Z1iFru0
- 'European publishing and legal software companies have suffered sharp declines in their share prices after the US artificial intelligence firm Anthropic revealed a tool for use by companies’ legal departments.' buff.ly/YseaqJ5
- Anthropic's Claude is now the, yes, ‘Official Thinking Partner’ of Formula 1 team, Williams. buff.ly/qsvHE1S
- English professors double down on requiring printed copies of readings | Yale Daily News share.google/lfEW5Jpk1FVE...
- The video from my Charleston presentation about libraries, education and career preparation > Opening Keynote: Lorcan Dempsey buff.ly/GKbIiS9
- 'Volvo Centum is a bespoke typeface "designed to make reading faster, attention sharper, and the driving experience calmer."' buff.ly/PGcFfiz
- 'There is an emergent "arms race" between those designing badly-behaved bots and those attempting to defend against them.' buff.ly/iiISc3I via CNI
- "In that same century, we see the first appearance of the heart-shaped, or cordiform book (from Latin cor “heart” + form “shape”), the most famous example, dated to the 1470s, being The Chansonnier Cordiform, a beautifully decorated manuscript songbook."
- In a little discussed aspect of Google's role, it dominates font distribution on the web. A small number of Google fonts are the most heavily used > Fonts | 2025 | The Web Almanac by HTTP Archive buff.ly/RK8RuJq
- Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon are paying up for ‘enterprise’ access to Wikipedia buff.ly/ap2Kj4A “It is in every AI company’s best interest to support the long-term sustainability of Wikipedia, because Wikipedia and all the other projects that we support are so core to their business,”
- Microsoft is closing its employee library and cutting back on subscriptions - "part of Microsoft’s shift to a more modern, AI-powered learning experience through the Skilling Hub.” buff.ly/37ItgcT
- "A new library at the University of Galway is to be named in honour of a student who was murdered soon after she completed her studies there in 2006." buff.ly/gTKq3Y5
- Reposted by Lorcan DempseyTo mark Jane Austen’s 250th birthday, we hosted Wild About Jane Austen: The Woman Behind the Novels, an event exploring Austen as an ambitious, politically aware writer. Watch the full event on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4_V... #BritishLibrary #Libraries #JaneAusten250
- I wonder is it possible to gatecrash some sessions of this, coming to Columbus this year > 2026 Polar Libraries Colloquy | Byrd Polar and Climate Research Center
- "This is what the traditional university becomes when it stops pretending to be for everyone: an elite finishing school for the wealthy and exceptionally talented poor who win full scholarships." buff.ly/dDjb36H
- Overview of ongoing issues at the British Library by The Standard > The worst of times: Trouble at the British Library Cyber chaos, striking staff and a crisis of leadership. Claudia Cockerell investigates a national treasure’s year of reckoning
- Some local news > A supermajority of Columbus Metropolitan Library workers on Friday submitted signed union cards to the State Employment Relations Board to begin the union election process. buff.ly/ZLHSBR7
- Fonts are in the news! I am surprised that libraries have not taken more of an interest given the design, values, identity, cultural expressiveness and business issues they raise (albeit in small ways). An exploration of ecosystem and choices from a while ago buff.ly/sfBJVu8
- Interested to come across this community based diamond access publication. I wonder how many regional library publications of this type there are? > Vol. 13 No. 2 (2025): Pennyslvania Libraries: Research & Practice buff.ly/tBVSJhb
- Nice placard - "things are bad when a conservator loses their patience' > British Library staff 'feel huge disconnect' from leadership - Arts Professional buff.ly/dT9tRI8
- 'The winning content? Hyperlocal news, breaking news (as it happens), scoops, notable first-person narratives, and investigative journalism. AI can’t or won’t summarize this information because it’s too recent or too unique.' buff.ly/Q2CXrYg
- 'The acquisition would also complete the conquest of Hollywood by tech insurgents.' Netflix to buy Warner Bros. buff.ly/32trr8V
- Zig quits GitHub, gripes about Microsoft's AI obsession buff.ly/MI6SKYP
- Reposted by Lorcan DempseyA voice out of the dark of time; the once and future LIS discipline. New blog post by myself and @lynrobinson.bsky.social. theoccasionalinformationist.com/2025/11/25/a...
- Extraordinary numbers about tax revenues and impact on irish national economy of one drug > How weight-loss drug Mounjaro is making Ireland the world’s fastest-growing economy www.irishtimes.com/podcasts/in-...
- Nice overview. Thank you for generous comments.
- Drawing particularly on the writings of @floridi.bsky.social, @lorcand.bsky.social, @dixondom.bsky.social, and Niels Winfield Lund
- I enjoyed speaking at Charleston recently. Here are my slides > Libraries, librarianship and cross-lamination: notes on education and career preparation for libraries buff.ly/NHtpkIq
- 'Arizona State University is creating ASU London, expanding its presence in the United Kingdom with a U.K.-accredited higher educational institution.' buff.ly/3hPgAr9
- Facilitating our work is a great army of library staff, who are also cultural workers. Without them, the library does not function, the books do not get read, the culture does not come to pass. buff.ly/riUOc4I
- A key component, the AI Fluency initiative, was announced in June and ensures that every student, beginning with the Class of 2029, graduates fluent in applying AI within their field of study.
- AI with everything > "The Ohio State University has announced a major [AI] Faculty Hiring Initiative that will add 100 new tenure-track faculty with expertise in AI over the next five years. The initiative will expand AI research and education across disciplines ... "
- The Columbus Metropolitan Library has pressed pause on plans to build the city's 24th library branch > uncertainty in library funding due to recent state funding policy changes and the move to reform Ohio’s property tax laws buff.ly/6qeucjQ
- Very nicely done. Intriguing font choice. Two freely available fonts, one open source. Each font is created by an interesting designer who publishes a small range of distinctive fonts. Great to see this thoughtfulness.
- We’re thrilled to unveil OAPEN’s refreshed visual identity – including a new logo – that better reflects who we’ve become, what we stand for, and where we’re headed. Read more about it in the announcement: oapen.org/article/intr...
- Chegg's CEO once said he's the 'poster child' for AI shock. Now, the company is slashing 45% of staff | Fortune fortune.com/2025/10/28/c...
- British Library workers to strike > “The employer’s well-paid executives need to take the blinkers off and understand that our hard-working members are what makes the British Library the vital cultural institution that it is."
- Cal State > As part of the effort, the university is paying OpenAI $16.9 million to provide ChatGPT Edu, the company’s tool for schools, to more than half a million students and staff — which OpenAI heralded as the world’s largest rollout of ChatGPT to date.
- Really? ... > Cal State’s partners, like Amazon, said they were eager to help students use a range of A.I. tools in different ways — not just use chatbots to look up answers. buff.ly/nFLiKPH
- Anil Dash > But Atlas is a browser that actively fights against the web, and in doing so, it's fighting against the very idea that you should have control over what you see, where you go, and what watches you while you're there. ilo.im/167ut1
- "The special initiative aligns with the foundation’s overarching goal of reducing political polarization." > Hundreds of Carnegie Libraries to Receive $10,000 Gifts in Celebration of United States’ 250th Anniversary | Carnegie Corporation of New York
- Reposted by Lorcan DempseyNew From @lorcand.bsky.social: The Informational Disciplines www.lorcandempsey.net/the-informat... #infoscience #librarianship #libraries
- UK Gov. AWS exposure > "until significant diversification or sovereign cloud adoption occurs, the UK government’s own stance shows an uncomfortable contradiction with the very resilience principles regulators have advocated.”
- Discuss > "Technologies like LLMs have utility, but the absurd way they've been over-hyped, the fact they're being forced on everyone, and the insistence on ignoring the many valid critiques about them make it very difficult to focus on legitimate uses where they might add value."
- 'Data centres accounted for 22% of the electricity consumed in Ireland last year — up from 21% in 2023, and significantly higher than the 5% share they held in 2015.' buff.ly/U7K3drd
- [Stephen Hawking's] disks are now part of a project at Cambridge University Library to rescue hidden knowledge trapped on floppy disks. The Future Nostalgia project reflects a larger trend in the information flooding into archives and libraries around the world. buff.ly/5FfQU3H
- 'Graphic designers love Helvetica. Type designers hate it.' buff.ly/doWlmZQ
- Lovely to see this nod from somebody whose work is central here.
- 'More and more families are measuring a school’s worth by what it delivers rather than what it represents.' buff.ly/GfbMVaQ
- I like the 'boots of concrete' phrase :-) > 'Large companies have built vast consolidated infrastructure - we are used to thinking of information as immaterial, however, AI has also emphasized how the cloud has boots of concrete.' buff.ly/MAzHirK
- 'University of California faculty and alumni won five Nobel Prizes this week, highlighting the ongoing contributions of America’s #1 public research university and the central role of federal funding in advancing world-changing scientific inquiry.'
- Harsh words for FIFA > 'Dynamic pricing, crypto detritus and corporate doublespeak have made the task of buying 2026 World Cup tickets a grim case study in the monetization of emotion' buff.ly/n5B4v3K
- The pope has condemned clickbait as a “degrading” part of journalism, at a private audience with global newswires.
- 'The median student is willing to pay up to $2,617 (12.5%) more to attend a college where the share of students with opposing political views is 10 percentage points lower, suggesting that political identity plays a meaningful role in the college choice process.' buff.ly/d4cSoNZ
- Feeling a slight touch of imposter syndrome as I prepare for my keynote at Charleston ... Libraries, librarianship and cross-LAMination. I discuss education and career preparation. www.charleston-hub.com/the-charlest...
