Meredith Kahn
@mkahn.bsky.social
ope we wrote a book: https://alastore.ala.org/oryrlib
Pinned
Meredith Kahn
@mkahn.bsky.social
· Mar 27
an ass that won't quit and also cannot be easily fired due to an ironclad collectively-bargained contract, won by the ass and her union comrades
it me
We wrote a book for library workers. Relevant for workers in museums and archives, too. alastore.ala.org/oryrlib
November 27, 2025 at 2:03 PM
We wrote a book for library workers. Relevant for workers in museums and archives, too. alastore.ala.org/oryrlib
We have a long-running tradition of “no boomers allowed” turkey days. Attendees include a bunch of gen x and millennial siblings and cousins and whatnot. The meal is superb and the conversation sparkling!
Actually in the spirit of this conversation, what’s a decision you made about a past Thanksgiving holiday that really paid off? I think people often feel trapped by their lives. Sharing our experiences can liberate us from that sense of claustrophobia.
On the most recent episode of VIBE CHECK, we answer listener questions about Thanksgiving, most importantly “do you go celebrate with the family members you don’t even like?”
November 23, 2025 at 11:05 PM
We have a long-running tradition of “no boomers allowed” turkey days. Attendees include a bunch of gen x and millennial siblings and cousins and whatnot. The meal is superb and the conversation sparkling!
Reposted by Meredith Kahn
We’re watching a shift where AI simulates the cohesion and reinforcement that used to require an entire online community. A single person can now build a complete parallel reality with nothing more than a prompt window. Which seems bad.
November 19, 2025 at 2:25 PM
We’re watching a shift where AI simulates the cohesion and reinforcement that used to require an entire online community. A single person can now build a complete parallel reality with nothing more than a prompt window. Which seems bad.
Reposted by Meredith Kahn
LLMs give people with delusional belief systems a way to organise those beliefs. The model fills in gaps, supplies connective tissue, and wraps the madness in formal language.
It doesn't make the claims more credible to us, it just tidies them up.
It doesn't make the claims more credible to us, it just tidies them up.
November 19, 2025 at 2:22 PM
LLMs give people with delusional belief systems a way to organise those beliefs. The model fills in gaps, supplies connective tissue, and wraps the madness in formal language.
It doesn't make the claims more credible to us, it just tidies them up.
It doesn't make the claims more credible to us, it just tidies them up.
Sometimes shenanigans aren't confined to the hotel. In 2009 I interviewed for a librarian job at a SLAC in Ohio. Meeting prospective colleagues in a room with portraits of the college's past presidents, someone sidled up to me and said in a stage whisper "we had a Jewish president once!"
In 2012, I had an interview with two interviewers at an R1 when, halfway through the interview in the hotel room, the toilet flushed and a third person emerged from the bathroom. And then, the three proceeded to debate the semantics of my dissertation... without me.
And that story was nothing.
And that story was nothing.
If you are not in academia, you might not know this, but job interviews used to be held at conferences IN HOTEL ROOMS. Women candidates in a hotel room alone with often all-male committees. People sitting on beds! The horror stories I've heard.
November 17, 2025 at 1:19 AM
Sometimes shenanigans aren't confined to the hotel. In 2009 I interviewed for a librarian job at a SLAC in Ohio. Meeting prospective colleagues in a room with portraits of the college's past presidents, someone sidled up to me and said in a stage whisper "we had a Jewish president once!"
I’m tapping the sign again… lareviewofbooks.org/short-takes/...
November 17, 2025 at 12:31 AM
I’m tapping the sign again… lareviewofbooks.org/short-takes/...
Reposted by Meredith Kahn
Kids these days are so fantastically ignorant that they can't recognize the Grand Nagus himself even when granted a personal audience. The average teenager can barely name 5 or 10 of the Rules of Acquisition.
November 2, 2025 at 11:35 PM
Kids these days are so fantastically ignorant that they can't recognize the Grand Nagus himself even when granted a personal audience. The average teenager can barely name 5 or 10 of the Rules of Acquisition.
Reposted by Meredith Kahn
October 30, 2025 at 8:31 PM
This is like listening to my boomer dad who has uncontrolled type 2 diabetes talk about his blood glucose levels.
Reporter: Did you get an MRI?
Trump: I did. I got an MRI. It was perfect. Yeah… nobody has given you reports like I have given you. The doctors said some of the best reports they have ever seen.
Trump: I did. I got an MRI. It was perfect. Yeah… nobody has given you reports like I have given you. The doctors said some of the best reports they have ever seen.
October 27, 2025 at 9:27 PM
This is like listening to my boomer dad who has uncontrolled type 2 diabetes talk about his blood glucose levels.
Reposted by Meredith Kahn
when I visited korea last year I went to haeinsa temple to see the tripitaka koreana, a set of 80k+ wooden printing blocks for buddhist scriptures, made in the 13th century en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripita...
Tripitaka Koreana - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
October 25, 2025 at 4:46 PM
when I visited korea last year I went to haeinsa temple to see the tripitaka koreana, a set of 80k+ wooden printing blocks for buddhist scriptures, made in the 13th century en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripita...
Trump take cottage cheese?
October 23, 2025 at 12:55 AM
Trump take cottage cheese?
Reposted by Meredith Kahn
i don't know who needs to hear this but phlox is easily a top 5 star trek character
October 22, 2025 at 4:11 AM
i don't know who needs to hear this but phlox is easily a top 5 star trek character
Like 20 years ago my spouse accidentally bought banilla yogurt, and to this day we still say “oh no not banilla” every time one of us puts the (correct) yogurt in the fridge when unpacking the groceries.
October 18, 2025 at 1:07 AM
Like 20 years ago my spouse accidentally bought banilla yogurt, and to this day we still say “oh no not banilla” every time one of us puts the (correct) yogurt in the fridge when unpacking the groceries.
Reposted by Meredith Kahn
Honestly, yes, one of the most personally embarrassing things is how a field so committed to parsing imaginary status distinctions suddenly cannot see that they’re pitching themselves as The University of Phoenix.
This feels like it should be so deeply obvious, and I don’t understand how an entire class of institutions obsessed with signaling prestige have not caught onto the fact that, e.g., one major way people now signal wealth is by their ability to consume and collect physical media.
In about three years the entire university pivot to AI curricula and schools and programs is going to be so deeply embarrassing. We will all pretend it never happened and I will be standing there, looking at people with a mirror in my eyes. This is all so embarrassing.
October 17, 2025 at 12:55 PM
Honestly, yes, one of the most personally embarrassing things is how a field so committed to parsing imaginary status distinctions suddenly cannot see that they’re pitching themselves as The University of Phoenix.
Reposted by Meredith Kahn
"What no one prepared us for, though, was that the logic that we followed—we want the business to succeed; we need our jobs to make money—didn’t apply to ownership." thebaffler.com/latest/a-fai...
A Fair Slice | Becca Young
Unionizing at Brooklyn’s Barboncino was the easy part—then came the negotiations
thebaffler.com
October 12, 2025 at 2:03 PM
"What no one prepared us for, though, was that the logic that we followed—we want the business to succeed; we need our jobs to make money—didn’t apply to ownership." thebaffler.com/latest/a-fai...
Good union job here for an archivist! careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
Archivist for Community Collections | U-M Careers
careers.umich.edu
October 9, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Good union job here for an archivist! careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2...
Reposted by Meredith Kahn
Truly a long shot, but since your audience is basically queer librarians (and this book was written by a few of 'em), any chance @notalawyer.bsky.social & @michaelhobbes.bsky.social wanna tell people to buy our book about how to start a labor union at your library? 🥺https://alastore.ala.org/oryrlib
Organize Your Library! Developing the Collective Power of Library Workers (Critical Cultural Information Studies series)
alastore.ala.org
October 6, 2025 at 4:43 PM
Truly a long shot, but since your audience is basically queer librarians (and this book was written by a few of 'em), any chance @notalawyer.bsky.social & @michaelhobbes.bsky.social wanna tell people to buy our book about how to start a labor union at your library? 🥺https://alastore.ala.org/oryrlib
Reposted by Meredith Kahn
2025 is on pace to be Ann Arbor's worst year for pedestrian crashes. We talk with @crashesinannarbor.bsky.social's Peter Houk who complied these data.
#a2Council
www.damnarbor.com/2025/10/2025...
#a2Council
www.damnarbor.com/2025/10/2025...
2025 on pace to be Ann Arbor's worst for pedestrian crashes: an interview with Crashes in Ann Arbor's Peter Houk
Serious and fatal pedestrian crashes by year from Crashes in Ann Arbor . 2025 data is year to date. Ann Arbor has an ambitious Vision Zero ...
www.damnarbor.com
October 2, 2025 at 4:56 PM
2025 is on pace to be Ann Arbor's worst year for pedestrian crashes. We talk with @crashesinannarbor.bsky.social's Peter Houk who complied these data.
#a2Council
www.damnarbor.com/2025/10/2025...
#a2Council
www.damnarbor.com/2025/10/2025...
I mean if you're gonna call this symposium anything, you might as well lean in and name it after the best Trek, right?
The Lower Decks returns. We've launched our CFP for The Lower Decks 2.0. Check it out here: www.openlibhums.org/news/859/
@openlibhums.org @janewayolh.bsky.social
@openlibhums.org @janewayolh.bsky.social
The Lower Decks 2.0: A Symposium on Janeway and Open Access Publishing
Theme: Users and Community Location: Dublin City University Library, Glasnevin Campus, Dublin, & hybrid streaming online Dates: 21st – 22nd May 2026 Cost: Free Sign-up to attend Janeway is an …
www.openlibhums.org
September 30, 2025 at 11:23 AM
I mean if you're gonna call this symposium anything, you might as well lean in and name it after the best Trek, right?
In my late 30s/early 40s I was in a monthly wine club where we meticulously tasted a bunch of wines and got hammered (usually by accident). Today at 45, if I drink a single glass with dinner I will die.
My terrible advice to people in their 20s is: drink a lot. A LOT. Not to a problem level, but oh my god once you hit the back half of your thirties and beyond you will NOT be able to drink (or to recover from drinking) nearly so easily.
September 30, 2025 at 1:13 AM
In my late 30s/early 40s I was in a monthly wine club where we meticulously tasted a bunch of wines and got hammered (usually by accident). Today at 45, if I drink a single glass with dinner I will die.
Reposted by Meredith Kahn
We are thrilled to announce that @aadl.org plans to acquire the Ann Arbor Observer!
Public ownership of local news media is more important than ever, and this acquisition builds on years of partnership and archival work to ensure the future of this priceless community asset.
aadl.org/node/647334
Public ownership of local news media is more important than ever, and this acquisition builds on years of partnership and archival work to ensure the future of this priceless community asset.
aadl.org/node/647334
The Ann Arbor District Library Plans to Acquire the Ann Arbor Observer | Ann Arbor District Library
aadl.org
September 30, 2025 at 12:14 AM
We are thrilled to announce that @aadl.org plans to acquire the Ann Arbor Observer!
Public ownership of local news media is more important than ever, and this acquisition builds on years of partnership and archival work to ensure the future of this priceless community asset.
aadl.org/node/647334
Public ownership of local news media is more important than ever, and this acquisition builds on years of partnership and archival work to ensure the future of this priceless community asset.
aadl.org/node/647334