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Reposted by Judith Barr

James Truitt @linguistory.bsky.social · 10h

I have read through the new OCLC blog post about AI in archives (hangingtogether.org/exploring-ai...) and liveblogged my response over on Mastodon.

Overall, it really doesn't feel like they consulted with archivists or took our expertise seriously.

Some highlights:

Exploring AI uses in archives and special collections: Integration, entities, and addressing need - Hanging Together

Learn how archives and special collections are exploring using AI responsibly to meet accessibility requirements and improve access to unique resources.

hangingtogether.org

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Reposted by Judith Barr

Alexander Lees @alexanderlees.bsky.social · 13h

Our analysis indicates that several specimens of dubious origin collected by Charles Craven are likely to have originated in Amazonia, not in the northeastern Brazilian state of Pernambuco as stated on their original labels with implications for our understanding of historical extinctions 9/10

Our findings justify doubts on the geographical origin of many other Craven specimens allegedly collected in Pernambuco raised by other ornithologists (Salvadori 1891, Naumburg 1939). These biogeographically unlikely specimens are mostly species otherwise only known from Amazonia, but also including some species otherwise only known from northern (e.g. Baudo Guan Penelope ortoni, USNM 107214) or southern (e.g. White-throated Hummingbird Leucochloris albicollis, USNM 107185) South America. These specimens may have been collected in other regions and mislabelled as originating from Pernambuco, perhaps after being shipped from Recife to foreign collections. Additionally, Craven may have been the dealer rather than the collector of these specimens, which may have been obtained by third parties in multiple different locations across South America and subsequently sent to Craven in Pernambuco. Our results suggest that all these specimens should be assigned uncertain provenance, and the species must be removed from lists of historically occurring species in northeastern Brazil. Stable isotope analysis offers a promising tool for verifying the origins of specimens with uncertain locality data, enhancing their scientific value, and resolving biogeographical and evolutionary questions.

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Judith Barr @jebarr.bsky.social · 22h

The urge to open an Old Bay-themed food truck in these barren lands is rising

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Judith Barr @jebarr.bsky.social · 2d

Huge issue for provenance research, where access to print sources is a necessity In addition to the challenges of navigating specialized database policies

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Reposted by Judith Barr

transcript Verlag @transcript-verlag.bsky.social · 3d

How to challenge colonial legacies: Namibian and South African artists use archives to develop alternative memory practices.

https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-7760-7/

@snf-fns.ch
#MemoryCulture #Colonialism #Namibia #SouthAfrica

Das Buch-Cover von »Troubling Archives« auf lachsfarbenem Hintergrund.

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Reposted by Judith Barr

provenance-updates.bsky.social @provenance-updates.bsky.social · 3d

kulturgutverluste.de/termine/werk...

Werkstattberichte Digitale Provenienzforschung „Wo finde ich was? Ressourcen, Services und Tools für die Provenienzforschung“

Im Rahmen der Online-Vortragsreihe „Werkstattberichte Digitale Provenienzforschung“ sprechen Angela Berthold und Gabriele Zöllner am 15. Oktober, 13-14 Uhr, zum Thema „Wo finde ich was? Ressourcen, Se...

kulturgutverluste.de

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Reposted by Judith Barr

Jed Brown @jedbrown.org · Aug 18

It is not "attribution and sourcing" to generate post-hoc citations that have not been read and did not inform the student's writing. Those should be regarded as fraudulent: artifacts testifying to human actions and thought that did not occur.
www.theverge.com/news/760508/...

For help with attribution and sourcing, Grammarly is releasing a citation finder agent that automatically generates correctly formatted citations backing up claims in a piece of writing, and an expert review agent that provides personalized, topic-specific feedback.

Screenshot from Grammarly's demo of inserting a post-hoc citation.
https://www.grammarly.com/ai-agents/citation-finder

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Judith Barr @jebarr.bsky.social · 5d

Bauxite is perfectly fine all by itself!! Let it shine!!

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Judith Barr @jebarr.bsky.social · 5d

Daniel Smith, no 😭😭😭

(Daniel Smith was established in 1976, there’s literally no reason for this)

Tube of Daniel smith watercolor in mummy, bauxite

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Judith Barr @jebarr.bsky.social · 5d

This is still my favorite ancient art/thrift shop provenance, but that class sounds fantastic and I hope they make the exhibition accessible online: www.cnn.com/2022/05/07/u...

A $34.99 Goodwill purchase turned out to be an ancient Roman bust that’s nearly 2,000 years old | CNN

A $34.99 purchase got one Texas woman an unexpected piece of art from ancient Roman times.

www.cnn.com

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Judith Barr @jebarr.bsky.social · 6d

Duck duck boo: bad Halloween anatomy, adorable actual duckling behavior ✨

Mommy duck fake skeleton with BONE WEBBING, and a little duckling skeleton nestled on her back

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Reposted by Judith Barr

Science Magazine @science.org · 7d

DNA and historical sleuthing have traced the extinct bird’s remains to a museum in Ohio. https://scim.ag/4791YqA

Fate of the last female great auk is finally solved

DNA and historical sleuthing have traced the extinct bird’s remains to a museum in Ohio

scim.ag

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Reposted by Judith Barr

Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County @nhm.org · 7d

A new paper by an international team of researchers, including #NHMLA's Curator of Marine Mammals, Dr. Jorge Velez-Juarbe, uncovers more secrets of aquasloths with one of the most complete skeletons ever discovered: go.nhm.org/aquatic-sloths

An illustration featuring aquatic sloths on a sunset beach amid sea lions, seagulls, and penguins. Artwork by Alex Boersma.

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Reposted by Judith Barr

Centre for the Study of Manuscript Cultures (CSMC) @csmc-hamburg.bsky.social · 9d

New open-access publication: Discover how a multidisciplinary approach helped identify and contextualise three Qurʾānic parchment fragments from the University of Münster collection, revealing their shared origins in an Umayyad Qur’an:
www.nature.com/articles/s40...

From fragments to text and ink: a scientific and historical study of an Umayyad Qur’ān - npj Heritage Science

npj Heritage Science - From fragments to text and ink: a scientific and historical study of an Umayyad Qur’ān

www.nature.com

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Judith Barr @jebarr.bsky.social · 8d

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

New Orleans couple discovers ancient Roman grave marker in their yard

Discovery of 1,900-year-old headstone dedicated to Roman sailor sets off effort to repatriate item to Italy

www.theguardian.com

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Reposted by Judith Barr

Alex Brown 🇵🇸 (they/them) @bookjockeyalex.bsky.social · 8d

What the shit, Clarivate! Anyone using Ebook Central MARC records, be warned. They're jamming those records with AI generated metadata. Auto-enabled but you can disable it.

Dear Alex,
We are writing to share an important update coming to Ebook Central that will help improve ebook discoverability. At the end of October 2025, Ebook Central Express MARC records will include AI-generated metadata when publisher metadata fields are not available.

Why are we introducing AI-generated metadata to Ebook Central records?

Most publishers include subject information in their metadata, but there are times when this information is not included, leading to limited search availability in discovery systems. For this reason, we are providing AI-generated Library of Congress subject headings only when not available from the publisher to improve the completeness of our metadata and discoverability of Ebook Central titles.

Which AI-generated fields are included in Express MARC? 

The AI-generated fields will include Library of Congress Subject Heading (LCSH) (6XX); Library of Congress Classification (050); Dewey Decimal (082); Description (520); and Source of Description (588). To learn more, please visit our FAQ page.

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Reposted by Judith Barr

Mémoires du livre / Studies in Book Culture @memoiresdulivre.bsky.social · 9d

Emma Hagström Molin examines the rise of provenance in nineteenth-century Europe through a case study of manuscript research, analyzing the ways in which the Benedictine scholar Beda Dudík worked with classification: id.erudit.org/iderud...

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Judith Barr @jebarr.bsky.social · 9d

What I say: microfilm is a great way of accessing publications that are otherwise dust! wow it’s the whole hearst inventories! ALL OF SOTHEBY’S WITH BUYER ANNOTATIONS!!!

what they hear:

three skeletons are dancing in a cemetery

Alt: three skeletons are dancing in a cemetery

media.tenor.com

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Judith Barr @jebarr.bsky.social · 9d

I make the interns learn about microfilm because I enjoy my role as departmental spooky skeleton

Tressie McMillan Cottom @tressiemcphd.bsky.social · 9d

I have been trying to explain a microfiche machine to one of my dear, brilliant, talented, but clearly too young to be alive collaborators. And it is taking the last of my soul.

“Micro…fish?? I have never heard that word in my life.” I recorded the timestamp so it can be put on my tombstone.

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Reposted by Judith Barr

Gabriel Bodard @palaeofuturist.bsky.social · 9d

If you work in a classics library, as the classics librarian in a general academic library, in any research library or heritage institution that contains some classics content, or are in any capacity involved in cataloguing or taxonomising ancient world data, you may be interested in…
#digiclasswiki

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Reposted by Judith Barr

Naomi Clark (@metasynthie) 暗悪直美 @halfrobot.com · 10d

The elimination of exact text search from a growing number of services is a form of enshittification that I keep getting surprised by. It's search: computationally expensive (?) and a foundationally useful tool. Blunting it into uselessness is a shocking capitulation to the internet as garbage pile

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Reposted by Judith Barr

Dr Alex Bond @thelabandfield.bsky.social · 12d

This is why museum documentation matters! Without, it's very easy to misplaced an entire buffalo for decades

Denver Museum of Nature & Science @denvermuseumns.bsky.social · 14d

🕵️‍♀️🦬 Mystery solved! Our missing 650-pound Museum bison has returned after 50 years. Learn about its journey back to the Museum in #Catalyst. https://dmns.mobi/47bCc43

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Reposted by Judith Barr

Dr Ross Barnett @deepfrieddna.bsky.social · 14d

www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Extinct megafauna dominated human subsistence in southern South America before 11,600 years ago

The high position of megafauna among the hunting prey of humans in South America reinforces their central role in extinctions.

www.science.org

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Reposted by Judith Barr

Martin Porr @martinporr.bsky.social · 14d

I was invited to provide some comments on the fascinating story below, which discusses the earliest known examples of the use of blue pigment during the European Palaeolithic. Interesting results with some intriguing implications.

www.science.org/content/arti...

Paleolithic painters had the blues

Two recent studies shine light on the earliest known artistic usages of blue pigment

www.science.org

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Reposted by Judith Barr

Harald Klinke @hxxxkxxx.det.social.ap.brid.gy · 16d

CFP: The Art Museum in the Digital Age – 2026
How do museums navigate truth, fakes, and knowledge sovereignty in the digital age?

The 8th edition of this international conference (19–23 Jan 2026, Vienna/online) invites contributions on AI in museums, digital provenance, disinformation […]

Original post on det.social

det.social

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