Maureen Babb 🍁
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librarian-m.bsky.social
Maureen Babb 🍁
@librarian-m.bsky.social
270 followers 250 following 400 posts
Science Librarian. Fond of Classics, Archaeology, Paleontology, Comics, and of course Library Stuff. Queer.
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librarian-m.bsky.social
I found a fiction story with a reference to it from 1909 referring to Brontornis.
babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=os...
November 26, 2025 at 3:34 PM
librarian-m.bsky.social
Maaan when I say UW is more queer-friendly than UM people sometimes take that real personally and get annoyed at me about it, but like. There's a reason I feel that way.
From: www150.statcan.gc.ca/t1/tbl1/en/c...
A table showing that in 2024/2025, University of Manitoba had 3 out of 873 teaching faculty that were nonbinary or of unknown gender, or less than 1%, and University of Winnipeg had 30 out of 357 teaching faculty that were nonbinary or of unknown gender, or over 8%.
November 25, 2025 at 4:48 PM
librarian-m.bsky.social
Something real depressing about trying to access the links on an older list to examples of diversity plans at American uni libraries in this day and age.
An image of 6 tabs for sites that used to be equity and diversity statements for university libraries - only one still exists. The others read either "404" or "Page not found."
November 12, 2025 at 8:57 PM
librarian-m.bsky.social
So the CDC is literally just spewing Trump propaganda now, huh?
A screenshot of the CDC website on rhinoviruses with an alert about the "Democrat-led shutdown" and how hard precious widdle Trump and his cohort are working to reopen things, while certainly not mentioning they just fired a bunch of people.
October 13, 2025 at 4:44 PM
librarian-m.bsky.social
There used to be this lovely low stone wall with flower boxes you could sit on, or put a package down on, at this bus stop at Corydon and Harrow.
No longer.
Or, well, it's still there. It's just blocked streetside by this thing.
The ugliest metal barrier you've ever seen
September 29, 2025 at 10:55 PM
librarian-m.bsky.social
(Interesting to compare the version of the same with no smoothing)
Another google ngram chart for death of the library, this time with no smoothing. This time the highest peak is in 1850-ish, followed by smaller peaks throughout (the next largest at around 1999 and 2019). This time the y-axis does not go higher than 0.000000080%
September 12, 2025 at 9:59 PM
librarian-m.bsky.social
They've been predicting the death of the library for a while, huh?
Google ngram viewer mapping the use of the phrase "death of the library. There are peaks in the 1850s, the 1890s, the 1930s, 1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s, and then a slow climb through the 80s and 90s until it reaches a massive peak at 2000, dropping rapidly after (though still higher than it had been before the the peak), and another peak around 2019 before dropping off to around 1990s levels at around 2020-2021. The y-axis never goes higher than 0.0000000400%
September 12, 2025 at 9:54 PM
librarian-m.bsky.social
New step in my research process: hand binding OA books instead of reading them on the screen.
In case you thought I was kidding.
A hand bound on a worktable. The book is hardcover, black with copper plant patterning on it.
September 2, 2025 at 3:39 AM
librarian-m.bsky.social
Ooh hoo hoo look what I got in the mail today!
A picture of my hand holding the book "Librarians as Researchers: developing our scholarly identities" edited by Paul C. Campbell and Sarah Nagle
August 26, 2025 at 12:19 AM
librarian-m.bsky.social
Oh wow, go UStB!

I think we should all be pushing back against Unis being run like companies.
Image taken from the Winnipeg Free Press reading: " Université de Saint-Boniface’s faculty association has three main demands as it enters non-binding mediation with senior administration this week: wages that match those at Winnipeg’s other two public universities and the francophone school division that employs kindergarten-to-Grade 12 teachers; reduced teaching loads, from 18 to 15 credits per year; and a renewed commitment to collegial operations. “The way the university is being run right now is very much like a company,” said Phi-Vân Nguyen, a spokeswoman for l’Association des professeurs et professionnels de l’USB. “We are calling on the advice of consultants and firms, etc., but in fact, the people who should be the most involved in decision-making should be those involved in the university’s mission, which is teaching and research excellence.”"
August 20, 2025 at 4:22 PM
librarian-m.bsky.social
The single *safety* related concern I have with the new transit system is crossing at Jessie when leaving Osborne station because literally none of the drivers there are looking for pedestrians despite there now being MANY of them all rushing to make a connection. I've almost been hit twice already.
A satellite image of Jessie at Osborne
July 20, 2025 at 4:47 PM
librarian-m.bsky.social
While I'd love to just be able to write this off as absurd, this part makes me think this is not about complaining to Canada, but about trying to change American perspectives about Canada; to present us as a poor little incompetent in need of stewardship and unable to harshly handle criminals.
Part of the letter that reads: one of the worst, and this year seems to be a continuation of these previous years. While we know a key driver of this issue has been a lack of active forest management, we’ve also seen things like arson as another way multiple large wildfires have ignited in Canada. With all the technology that we have at our disposal, both in preventing and fighting wildfires, this worrisome trend can be reversed if proper action is taken."
July 11, 2025 at 2:48 AM
librarian-m.bsky.social
Campus critters!
Three little marmots hanging out by step of a building
July 2, 2025 at 2:56 PM
librarian-m.bsky.social
First day of @cacscec.bsky.social conference over, sitting by the bus stop to head on home. Do it all again tomorrow.
A view of the Winnipeg skyline downtown. The clouds in the sunset are pretty.
May 15, 2025 at 2:05 AM
librarian-m.bsky.social
And what I take from THIS is that it's no longer going to be possible to take a bus home after an evening out.
The new system will require more transfers on many routes, though these should be more reliable, while riders may have to adjust to community routes ending earlier in the evening, he said.
May 2, 2025 at 12:12 PM
librarian-m.bsky.social
Gotta love Lukes joking here in today's @winnipegfreepress.com like the only reason people would be complaining about this is because we're ~mystified by change~ and not because, oh, for example, our commutes are suddenly going to become half an hour longer in each direction, with a route change
“It’s a big change for passengers and we know how people like change,” joked Coun. Janice Lukes, chairwoman of public works. “So, I think all the information we’re launching today, all the training that we’re offering, will help demystify this transformation.”
May 2, 2025 at 11:52 AM
librarian-m.bsky.social
Post a warning
March 23, 2025 at 9:36 PM
librarian-m.bsky.social
Good for Joly, but Jesus fucking Christ the fact that people still aren't taking this shit seriously, that they can still treat anything Trump says as a joke, is bile-inducing.

www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
Joly said her counterparts in the G7 arrived in Canada for the summit with the impression that Trump's talk of Canada becoming the 51st state was something to be "taken in a humorous way," but she quickly set them straight.
March 14, 2025 at 4:30 PM
librarian-m.bsky.social
This line from this article really sums it up. This is a dismantling of higher education in the United States:
"Half of this stuff you can’t just do and the other half is insane,” said Joseph Howley, a professor of classics at Columbia. “If the federal government can show up and demand a university department be shut down or restructured, then we don’t have universities in this country.”
March 14, 2025 at 4:22 PM
librarian-m.bsky.social
Yeah I think I'm gonna pick up an actual physical Atlas before they start trying to label my entire country as the 51st state in the world's biggest dumpster fire.
Google maps image lying about the name of the Gulf of Mexico by putting Gulf of America next to it in brackets because we live a dystopian hellscape
February 11, 2025 at 3:15 PM
librarian-m.bsky.social
Most passive aggressive automatic message I've ever seen in response to saying "I'm not interested in this."
Text reading "Thank you for letting us know that you're not currently ready to discuss your needs" from Scopus AI
January 29, 2025 at 4:42 PM
librarian-m.bsky.social
was no librarian or information retrieval specialist on the team, I was curious if librarians were mentioned at all. They were, once, on page 38, where the authors seem to imply without directly stating that librarians were only involved in the information-gathering role of the SAG (Scientific
A text that reads: "1. Process Biases • Due to short timelines and specific questions about COVID-19, the SAG often relied on librarians to gather a wide range of documents from various sources. However, the rapid turnaround times often prevented a full critical appraisal of the evidence, raising concerns about the quality of the reviews." "Librarian" in the word librarians is highlighted.
January 28, 2025 at 4:02 PM
librarian-m.bsky.social
Please join us on November 21st at 2:00 PM Central Time for the CAPAL Research and Scholarship Committee's annual talk: Investigating Disagreement in the Scientific Literature with Vincent Larivière.  Register here: us02web.zoom.us/meeting/regi...

#librarianship
Graphic saying: CAPAL Research and Scholarship Committee preesents Investigating Disagreement in the Scientific Literature with Vincent Larivière November 21st, 2023 2:00 PM Central Time. CAPAL logo in the bottom left-hand corner.
October 27, 2023 at 7:38 PM