Michael Day

A detail from the Chronicle of Battle Abbey, showing a historiated initial enclosing a portrait of William the Conqueror, sitting enthroned, wearing a crown and holding a sceptre, with a dog at his feet. The initial is formed from a winged creature.

We have an incredible new PhD placement opportunity to help support the development and curation of our major exhibition on the Norman Conquest, opening in October 2027.

Learn more and apply through the link below!

www.bl.uk/services/res...

Good news that the digitised Beowulf manuscript has survived the digital equivalent of the Cottonian Library fire, the British Library cyberattack of 2023

75 Years of the BNB (and bewitching Narnia books) Marking 75 years of the British National Bibliography (BNB).

This may not answer your question, but there was a blogpost last year noting slight changes to the Z39.50 service on migration of the BL catalogue to Alma: www.bl.uk/stories/blog...

Bought a new plastic mac.

Author Phil Harris on his retirement with a view of the Round Reading Room of 1857. Photo: BL Corporate Archive, PH 034/342

We’re delighted to share that A History of the British Museum Library, 1753–1973 by P. R.

Harris is now digitised and freely available to all interested in the history of the Museum and librarianship.

Find out more here: link.bl.uk/vvx

Stone, parchment or laser-written glass? Scientists find new way to preserve data Hard disks and magnetic tape have a limited lifespan, but glass storage developed by Microsoft could last millennia

Features me, commenting: no one "is choosing to build infrastructure that will support the information needs of future generations... we should pour our scant resources into fixing the aftermath of the cyber-attacks on the British Library" instead of this... www.theguardian.com/technology/2...

Celebrating 100 Million Newspaper Pages on The Archive In this special blog, we celebrate reaching the landmark of 100 million pages on The Archive, with insights from our users and tips for searching our papers.

Today the British Newspaer Archive reached 100 million pages! What an epic achievement! So many interesting pages to explore. And we’re not stopping there the BL & FMP will continue to digitise, so here’s to the next 100 million!
blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2026/02/16/c...

The UK Web Archive: continuing our work behind the scenes We are hoping to restore the UK Web Archive towards the middle of 2026.

Despite recent challenges, our UK Web Archive team remains dedicated to safeguarding the nation’s online heritage.

Find out more about UK Web Archive recovery in this latest blog post here: link.bl.uk/aaq

I hadn't realised that Bindon Abbey in Dorset was the first English house to be returned to the Cistercian Order - in the 1790s when the Welds gave it to the refugee monks of La Trappe. Sounds like it was a fun place to be

Curling stones on an ice rink. Image by Felix from Canada, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

The 2026 Winter Olympics are underway in Italy where 2,900 athletes from 92 National Olympic Committees will take part in Alpine skiing, curling, ice hockey and more. Find out how you can help preserve web content for this historic event here: link.bl.uk/7yj

#Olympics @netpreserve.bsky.social

The front page of the Daily Graphic newspaper published Saturday 25 August, 1917, featuring portraits of 'Women in the Order of the British Empire', including Lady Byron, the honourable Mrs Alfred Lyttelton, Her Majesty the Queen.

Apply for our PhD placement scheme to get involved in extraordinary research at the Library. There are eight available placements exploring a variety of themes including war poetry, 21st-century digital tools, illustrated newspapers and decarbonisation.

Find out more: link.bl.uk/PhDPlacements

Want to learn more about how libraries can promote positive climate action?

Join us on 26 February to explore how libraries can contribute to a circular economy.

Book your free place: link.bl.uk/9sy

Pas de Calais - Les ruines de Neuve-Chapelle après les combats de mars 1915 -

Pas de Calais - Les ruines de Neuve-Chapelle après les combats de mars 1915 - site

Would the UK need to rejoin the EU before trying this "proper Brexit"? 🤔

A dragon has landed at the British Library 🐉

Created exclusively for Fairy Tales, this new illustration from the legendary Chris Riddell will guard the doors to our magical family exhibition opening in March.

Tickets are now on sale at link.bl.uk/FairyTales

British Library placement profiles include illustrated & illuminated incunabula, Elgar's letters, law & legal studies, UK newsletter publishing, war poetry, digital sustainability, decarbonisation and more. Deadline 27 February. #Skystorians

Fantastic Futures 2025: highlights and resources Hundreds of information professionals gathered in the British Library’s Knowledge Centre to share the state of the art in AI research for cultural heritage.

In December, hundreds of library, museum, archive and research staff gathered at the British Library to share the state of the art in AI research for cultural heritage. Find out more: https://www.bl.uk/stories/blogs/posts/fantastic-futures-2025-highlights-and-resources #AI4LAM

Fantastic Futures 2025: highlights and resources Hundreds of information professionals gathered in the British Library’s Knowledge Centre to share the state of the art in AI research for cultural heritage.

Excellent post from @britishlibrary.bsky.social on the Fantastic Futures 2025 conf they hosted, on museums & libs use of AI www.bl.uk/stories/blog...

You could hold out for the quails' eggs, but be prepared for a catering-style insulated steel jug containing tepid water, with a collection of teabags; perhaps even nicely-branded teabags, with fruit and Earl Grey varieties! It will all taste the same, alas, with the tepid water!

A woman in an orange sweater looks at a pull-out panel of stamps in the British Library's collection.

Looking to grow your library career? Don’t miss the chance to join us this summer for our International Library Leaders Programme. Applications close on 5 February.

Learn more: link.bl.uk/ILLP2026

Image of writer and essayist Ronald Blythe, best known for book Akenfield, which explores changing rural life in Suffolk during the 20th century.

We're delighted to have acquired the archive of writer and essayist Ronald Blythe, best known for book Akenfield, which explores changing rural life in Suffolk during the 20th century.

Discover more in this blog post by curator Helen Melody: link.bl.uk/86s

An illustration of Battersea power station with a view of a boat from the river.

Have you completed a PhD in the last 10 years? Applications are open for our Postdoctoral Visiting Fellowship in Sustainability and Environment. Funding covers an £8000 bursary for part-time (0.5) research over 8 months, plus travel expenses. Apply by Monday 9 February. link.bl.uk/VisitingFellowship

Thank you! I've visited the site a few times, because a possible distant relative was in a "B" Battalion tank on 31 July 1917, possibly B.41 of No. 6 Coy; he died of wounds, and has a grave marker in Birr Cross Roads Cemetery

The archaeology of world war I tanks in the Ypres Salient (Belgium): A non‐invasive approach In the past decade, the research of archaeological remains from World War I has become mainstream. This article uses non-destructive techniques to investigate the possible material remains of tank wa...

Was the dig related to this 2018 paper by Birger Stichelbout et al., or a different one?
doi.org/10.1002/arp....

Web archive research in an age of Smart Data | British Library The web represents the largest unstructured data collection, with a huge variety of data types, creators and sources, distributed across the world. The arc

The British Library is hosting a free event on 9 Feb, 18:30: Web Archive Research in an Age of Smart Data. Hear from Emmanouil Tranos, Thom Vaughan, Dr Andrea Kocsis, and Cameron Huggett. Chair: Jane Winters.
📍Location: BL Knowledge Centre, London.
events.bl.uk/events/web-a...

From the British Library:

Want to level up your library career this year?

We’re looking for international mid-career library and archive professionals to join us this summer at our International Library Leaders Programme. [1/2]

Holst's War With composer Gustav Holst in Salonica and Constantinople as he served with the YMCA

Discover the wartime service of composer Gustav Holst in my new Substack article:
open.substack.com/pub/kathryns...

Thomas Cranmer’s Register Discover Thomas Cranmer’s Register (1533–1553), a pivotal Reformation document revealing England’s break from Rome and the rise of Protestantism. This open access book offers unprecedented access with...

The death of Dr Paul Ayris is huge loss to UCL, to @uclpress.bsky.social and to the open access/scholarly communications community more broadly.

His open access Thomas Cranmer’s Register
A record of archiepiscopal administration in diocese and province is published by the Press in January. 1/2

I am also very sorry to learn of this news; I used to meet Paul from time-to-time in Jisc and RLUK contexts, and our conversations would occasionally touch on Thomas Cranmer

British Library catalogue search page displaying the new main catalogue, designed to make finding and requesting published items easier.

We’re excited to share our new main catalogue, making it easier for you to find and request the majority of our published collection. We’ve also launched an interim version of our Archives and Manuscripts Catalogue. Find out how to start searching and requesting on our website bit.ly/BLNewCatalogues