University of York Library

@uoylibrary.bsky.social

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Welcome to the library. We're here to connect with the academic community at York, and beyond. Tips, updates, dialogue and scholarly comms. https://linktr.ee/uoylibrary Uni of York people! Starter Pack here: https://go.bsky.app/24quNDW

Keep hydrated! There are water fountains / cold water drinking taps for you to refill your bottles on: Morrell Floor 0 (behind the café, just before you enter the Fairhurst) Morrell Floor 2 (near the stairs) Fairhurst Floor 1 (in the Student Kitchen) Burton Floor 1 (just as you enter the Reading Room)
[VD: POV showing the usual library entrance. The camera then turns left and follows the building around, up to the Fairhurst and then along to the far end of that building where the new temporary entrance doors open. The camera then goes down the Fairhurst corridor back to the Morrell Floor 0 lobby area.]
Map showing arrow from Morrell entrance, along the Fairhurst to the far end where the new temporary entrance is. Text says The Library is still open! 8am - midnight, 7 days a week. But we do have a temporary new front door. Entrance and exit will be via the Fairhurst Library for the next few months. If you have any questions, please just get in touch with us: york.ac.uk/library/contact
Mock-up of the Morrell ground floor, showing earthy tones and plants and students
Shots of the Morrell, Fairhurst and Burton at night, synced with the music. Words on screen say [24/7 library opening is back. Until June 7. Good luck with ur exams]
24/7 returns from 11 May
Collage of photos of the space, showing bookshelves, comfortable chairs, coffee table, desks, and signage explaining the space
A shelf from the collection, including titles by bel hooks, Marjane Satrapi, and James Baldwin
Poster. It's called Rapid for a Reason. If you need an article we don't have access to, request it via Rapid Interlending. Most often we'll get a PDF to you within an hour.
A hand holding a bottle of 'UoYLibrary - for them; perfume. The tagline is Three Buildings, One Library, One Scent.
Screenshot: Throughout this guide I’ve quoted various York academics, and it seems appropriate to start with this advice from Dr Richard Carter (School of ACT): Don’t be afraid of starting out again. If you have a sizeable following on Twitter-X, the prospect of shifting to a significantly smaller audience on BlueSky might appear very discouraging. Nevertheless… rebuilding on a fresher, far less toxic platform offers us a chance to reconnect with the core audience of professionals that we always intended to reach and be in dialogue with. Here, then, are ten top tips for those ready to rebuild.
Close up of the Heslington section of the map, below St Nicholas and Heworthe
Detail from a map showing York. Surrounding areas include Howorthe, Clyfton and other recongisable sections of the City.
The main library is open 8am - midnight over the vacation, with following exceptions: On Tuesday 24 December we close at 4pm. We reopen at 8am on Friday 27 December. On Tuesday 31 December we close at 4pm. We reopen at 8am on Thursday 2 January. From Monday 5 January until Sunday 1 February, we will be open 24/7 for the exam period. Have a great break everyone!
Fish-eye lens pic of the Burton library interior, showing long desks with chairs, and bookshelves
A small folly-like stone tower, surrounded by snow-blanketed topiary / hedges
The Morrell and Burton and car parks in front of them, all blanketed in snow
A gothic hall with a blanket of snow on its rooves and lawn
The Quiet Place topiary covered in snow, with Hes Hall visible in the background
Welcome to the Morehell Use these top tips* to search YorSearch, Google Scholar, and academic databases: Trick OR Treat will find articles that mention either the word trick, or the word treat, or both. Use ‘Or’ to expand your search. Trick AND Treat will only find articles that have both words in. Use ‘And’ to focus your search. “Trick or treat” in quotation marks will only find articles with the specific phrase ‘trick or treat’ in. Use phrase searching for far fewer results, but far greater relevancy. Trick NOT treat will only find articles that contain the word ‘trick’, but not the word ‘treat’ – great when e.g. you’re doing research on magic and don’t want any results about Halloween… *Librarians call this BOOOOOOlean logic
A colour shot of the 60s brutalist Morrell Library
A student climbs the library bridge with the Morrell in the background
Empty shelves in the Morrell
Show looking up at the Morrell - the building is largely finished by the bridge is still being constructed
Pen drawing of the 'book / reading area' - includes notes on where smoking will be possible...
Black & white image showing the lake (very still), Central Hall looking alien, Vanbrugh College and behind that a very white and clean Morrell Library
The Fairhurst and Morrell buildings behind a sunlit lawn beneath a very bright sun
Shots of the flooded River Ouse, near the Lowther pub, from bridge level and river level. It is around 2m higher than it should be. On screen text refers to the worst floods of recent times - 2000 - when the river rose 5.5m above its usual level.
Welcome to those stepping into an academic library for the first time: it is massive and it can be intimidating but this is YOUR space. Welcome returning students – we hope you’re feeling refreshed! Welcome people of Yorkshire. Welcome visitors to the Borthwick, ready to get hands-on with 1,000 years worth of history in our archives. Welcome 3rd years who haven’t really been to the library much before but need to turn your 2:2 into a 2:1 sharpish; no judgement here. Welcome taught postgrads whose dissertations will be NICHE; we’ll support you any way we can. Welcome children of students, here to use the Family Study Room. Welcome watcher of the Entourage Season 1 boxset we inexplicably have in our audiovisual collection. Welcome people who love the Burton because it is Silent. Welcome people who love the Fairhurst because it isn’t. Welcome new academic, having a little look to see if we already stock your books. Welcome to the explorers of augmented and virtual realities in our Creativity Lab. Welcome first member of your family to go to University, you’ll be brilliant. Welcome to York everyone, and welcome to the Library.
A perfect flat white
A teal coffee cup on a wooden table, behind which can be seen a cafe with stylish copper light fittings and various chairs
Bluesky out-of-office: We* are off on a little break, and will be back on September 2nd. During this time we won’t be able to reply to posts or messages on here, but we’ll get back to you when we can! Have a lovely two weeks, bluesky legends. *It’s just one person who does this, but social media custom dictates we have to always refer to ourselves as ‘we’ – as if our Bluesky posts were actually written by the disembodied entity that is THE LIBRARY rather than a specific man who works in the library…
Due language road sign in Swansea, Wales. The English says 'No entry for heavy goods vehicles.' The Welsh says 'Nid wyf yn y swyddfa ar hyn o bryd' - which is Welsh for 'I am out of the office at the moment'
Visibility and Resistance: a curation honouring the lives of working class women in England, 20th Century to present
Library catalogue screenshot, showing the book: The complete English farmer: or, Husbandry made perfectly easy in all its useful branches. Containing what every farmer ought to know and practice. Among the various articles treated of in this work, are the following, viz. The management and qualities of the different kinds of grass, and making hay. Description of the different soils and of manuring and ploughing land. The cultivation and management of wheat and barley. The culture of oats and Rye. Of the farmer's stock, &c. The best methods of breeding and rearing colts, managing horses and mares, and of curing their numerous diseases. The art of rearing calves and lambs, together with the best methods of managing bulls, oxen, cows and sheep, to make them turn out to the greatest advantage. Also several excellent receipts to cure the different disorders they are subject to. The best and most approved method of rearing pigs, fatening swine, and chusing the best sort for breeding, and for curing all their disorders. Of breeding rabbits to the best advantage. The whole art of rearing and managing fowls, ducks, geese, turkies and pigeons, to make them turn out profitable to the farmer, with choice receipts to cure their several distempers. The management of bees, both for profit and pleasure. The cultivation of turnips, beans, peas, tares, flax, and hemp, &c. &c. &c. And other useful articles, too numerous to mention in a title page. By George Cooke, farmer, at West-End, in Hertfordshire. Cooke, George.
An old-timey strip of four square photos, showing the Morrell exterior (a 60s brutalist library) and various interior shots of the library buildings showing bookshelves, study spaces
The King's Manor cow sculpture, shown with a slightly shiny nose
A small 3D printed orange duck
While LLMs offer immediate convenience, our findings highlight potential cognitive costs. Over four months, LLM users consistently underperformed at neural, linguistic, and behavioral levels. These results raise concerns about the long-term educational implications of LLM reliance and underscore the need for deeper inquiry into AI's role in learning.
The Morrell from below, shot from across the road. It looks notably lighter in colour from this angle.
square black & white photo of the Morrell library, a 60s brutalist building, shot from the car park opposite and below the building
Screenshot of the previous post (about #GAAD) in draft mode. At the top there's a warning 'One or more images is missing alt text' and the 'Post' button is somewhat greyed out. At the bottom there's the message 'Alt text describes images for blind and low-version users, and helps give context for everyone.'
Screenshot of this quote: "The accessibility is better too: I’d recommend accessing Settings, find the Accessibility section, and toggle the switch marked ‘Require alt-text before posting’ and you can create accessible content every time. You can also add alt-text (and indeed captions) to videos – finally a social network which offers this… Here’s a great resource on how to write alt-text descriptions, if you want to brush up." [URL for this in the next Bluesky post, which will be a reply to this one]
The library will be open 24 hours a day from 8am 12 May to midnight 7 June.
screenshot of a blog comment awaiting approval: "This article is genuinely a good one it assists new the web visitors, who are wishing for blogging."
Two panels of a comic strip. Title is ACT TWO, caption says Welcome to York, above a picture of the Morrell rendered in comic book style. Batman appears to be in the Living Room space, chatting to an academic.
The video shows a large room in the library with children’s toys such as a cooker, low tables and cushions, and children’s books. There are also PCs and desks for the students to work at while their children play. Effects on the video match it to the music - when there is very heavy bass the picture vibrates for example. The whole thing is frankly ridiculous.
Street View showing the edge of M&S on the left, Greggs on the right, and a small church-building where the larger church used to be
screenshot from the video. Hands type at a laptop on a library desk. Caption on screen says 'you may think you're nocturnal, but try going to sleep early and working in the morning. You'd be surprised how well it works!"
YouTube comments section @tomweston3239 4 years ago I'm unashamedly sat in a library, using the sounds of a library to block out the sounds of a library @UoYLibrary That's beautiful @matthewsparkes1707 literally it makes no sense, but I love it @ryanderangedmanclason8247 Kinda slaps
Response to the Library Home From Home initiative "You guys surprise me every time with your innovation - the library is the best dept on campus by far. The room and study space booking, book scanning, I weirdly love the two hour YouTube “Sounds of Morrell”, and the Zoom backgrounds are a really nice touch - not to mention recreating the feedback wall - you really do an excellent job. Keep nailing it - you’re the best thing about being at York" From our online feedback wall "I used the library sounds video made by @UoYLibrary and it actually was really helpful in helping me concentrate." Academic "I completely love this - @UoYLibrary has made some audio and video immersive backgrounds for those of us who miss working in the library..." Research Fellow "Really bizarrely, this has worked really well for me. I put it on and focused solidly for hours for the first time in ages. Thanks for keeping trying new ideas!" Student "Ever since I started at York I've been amazed by the team behind the library....but today they have outdone themselves! One really does feel appreciated!" Student
The Fairhurst - a 3 story modern building - as seen from the Morrell, below a blue sky
Anakin Padme 4 Panel meme. He says "i'm evaluating the accuracy of what i read today!", she replies smiling "but you don't only do that on april 1st, right?" he smiles silently, her smile fades as she asks, "right?"
Distracted boyfriend meme. The boyfriend is labelled 'April 1st', the woman he's looking at is labelled 'Critically evaluating sources' and the rightly aggrieved partner is labelled 'every other day of the year'
Catalogue record for "Strictures upon naval departments, &c. &c. &c. : with a recommendation to abolish the coppering of ships' bottoms in the state of ordinary : and to discontinue the caulking of the King's ships with rotten, water-soaken oakum, &c. &c. &c. : also a proposition to appropriate the Royal Academy in Portsmouth Dock-Yard, instead of building the intended expensive magnificent dwelling house, for the residence of the resident commissioner"
title page, with 'An account of the alarming and destructive fire in York Minster' and the rest of the title, arranged a few words per line down the page
Yellowed paper, with the title 'View of York Minster on fire, feb 2 1829' and a line drawing of he Minster, with smoke billowing out of it
a Google search for 'the effect of UX on libraries' showing an AI overview before the search results
A large box-like struture, 8 feet high, with SAFEPOD written next to the door
All five finalists with Head Judge Kirsty and Keynote Vikki, holding their certificates