Dr Beth

@drbeth

The librarian formerly known (on twitter) as @Phdgeek. Into nerdy stuff, open research, EDI campaigning, powerlifting and climbing. 🏳️‍🌈

1,738 Following4,620 Followers2,847 Posts

Bluesky

Is this your profile?Claim it and drbeth.dirty.social is yours.Claim profile

Dr Beth@drbeth· 19d

This is another favourite. What is the toxic looking orange liquid, and why has someone been allowed to prop their bike up by the books? (I think it might be 1.5 bikes...) Also, by the clothes I'd peg those people as from the USA, not the UK.

A bunch of people standing around holding large glasses of orange liquid. There are book shelves behind them so they're obviously in the main part of the library, but there are also bicycles.

Dr Beth@drbeth· 19d

All sorts of dreadful decisions, but one of my favourites is this because it's not even an AI problem. It's just a really bad design decision. Why is his suit more important than his face??

An Image of a black man in a suit, only the bottom half of his head is included in the photo. He is standing in front of very blurry book stacks.

Dr Beth@drbeth· 20d

I have added a Gin and Tonic to the mix!

A kindle and a wine glass with a clear, slightly blue liquid in it on a black table. Spiky plants are behind ut with a brick wall behind them

Dr Beth@drbeth· 20d

In my attempts to touch grass a bit more, I've bought a very fancy pizza/everything else oven and and reading outside whilst it cooks the baked potatoes for tea tonight.

A Ninja woodfire oven outside on a black table stand, behind it are french doors and there is greenery to the side.

Dr Beth@drbeth· 24d

Just went to a garden party in Nottingham with my postdoc supervisor, other PIs I knew and a couple of folks I used to share the postdoc office. Genuinely one of the best afternoons I've had in years. Hanging out with properly clever people who are just interested in stuff makes me so happy.

Dr Beth@drbeth· Jun 26

Rain! So much rain!

Dr Beth@drbeth· Jun 9

Bottom 5: The Courtier, the Jansenist, the Military Entrepreneur, the Common Mercenary, the Carmelite Mystic

Dr Beth@drbeth· Jun 9

Top 5: The Virtuoso, the Empiricist, the New Astronomer, the Projector, the Cambridge Platonist.

Dr Beth@drbeth· Jun 9

The Virtuoso - Yeah, that's pretty me.

Dr Beth@drbeth· May 8

What do we need to do? 1. Better & more metadata 2. Support linking and versioning 3. Adopt APIs 4. Machine friendly formats 5. Sustainable funding 6. Remain open! #RLUKRepositories

A screen with a slide. The content in the slide is in the post.

Dr Beth@drbeth· Apr 14

Hong Kong was really great, but Australia feels like home. #Holibobs

Dr Beth@drbeth· Apr 4

Ah, Saturday on a double bank holiday weekend. West Street in Sheffield always reminds me a bit of Gin Lane 😬

Gin Lane, a drawing by Hogarth. Lots of debauchery.

Dr Beth@drbeth· Mar 31

Happy Trans Day of Visibility. Wish I'd brought my Non-Binary "It's Dr Actually" badge with me.

A suit jacket lapel with two pin badges. One has the University of Sussex crest, the other says "Its Dr, actually" and has the non binary flag colours behind it.

Dr Beth@drbeth· Mar 30

Really interesting discussion about how most research doesn't have enough metadata to tell you if its what you're looking for - on the other hand AO3 has a really helpful metadata schema. #UKSG2026

Dr Beth@drbeth· Feb 25

We have these at work - they don't even properly have lids. Lovely easily recyclable idea that is very difficult to use in practice!

The good cup, a cardboard cup that folds over to create a lid.

Dr Beth@drbeth· Feb 10

I asked it to make it more interesting, and I guess it's a little more interesting. Maybe 365 Copilot is just really bad at powerpoint. I hope the version inside powerpoint (which I don't have yet) might actually be able to do something!

A powerpoint slide with a banner heading that says Research Data Management for Scientists and then has details of the event.

Dr Beth@drbeth· Feb 10

On my continual quest to get 365 copilot to be useful, I asked it to create a poster for my RDM training event. Initial version was way too much (also, not my face), so I asked it to tone it down and also to make it an editable powerpoint version. Apparently it isn't good at middle ground.

First version of my poster. Busy background. Doesn't feel like an academic event. Also, that isn't my face.

A white powerpoint slide with the details written on it. The writing doesn't quite fit the slide.

Dr Beth@drbeth· Feb 10

First vendor trying to get time with me at #UKSG2026 - I'm sorry but if you can find my name, but not bother to research me enough to get the title right, you go on the naughty list.

An image of my jacket lapel with a badge in the non-binary flag colours saying "It's Dr, Actually" and another with the crest of the University of Sussex - my PhD is from the Brighton & Sussex Medical School.

Dr Beth@drbeth· Feb 6

Off to my great aunt's funeral today - she was 104, it's not a sad day, nice opportumity to celbrate a life instead. Spent the morning on a pilgrimage to find the road they named after my great uncle for being a brilliant GP ❤️

A picture of me in a grey suit, black suit, tartan tie, black coat leaning against a street sign that says "Burrowes Close".

Dr Beth@drbeth· Feb 3

And we're back to this. #pubmed #NIHFundingLapse

Pubmed website with a notice on it saying that due to a lapse in government funding it might not be up to date.

Dr Beth@drbeth· Jan 23

This on the side of a new Sheffield Hallam cafe gave me a good giggle on the way to the station this morning. Drop bears aren't Indigenous to this country though- I wonder if they're an international student?

An image on a window of a cartoon Koala wearing a hat, drinking a coffee with a tshirt that says Drop Bear est. 2026

Dr Beth@drbeth· Jan 9

Finally Sheffield has seen some decent snow this winter 😀

A photograph of a snowy scene. There is a tree in the foreground and fields in the background.

A photograph of a snowy scene. The are some snow covered houses and a large expanse of snow and sky.

Dr Beth@drbeth· Jan 1

Not many surprises in my Steam replay - although I would have expected Starfield to come higher than Captain of Industry. Crusader Kings III barely made an appearance this year 😮 #Gaymer #GrownUpsGameToo

Steam replay graphic. 21 games played, 28 achievements, 230 sessions, 7 new games. It then has cover images of 5 games with the percentage of time I spent in them: Factorio 42%, Rimworld 26%, Stardew Valley 16%, Oxygen Not Included 6%, Captain of Industry 2%

Dr Beth@drbeth· Dec 3

Glad to see that my #spotifywrapped still pretty much defies categorisation. A nice mix of classical/choral, country music and musicals.

Spotify wrapped top artists : Mandela, Piranha Lambert, Sutton Foster, Jessie Mueller, Academy of st Martin in the fields.

Dr Beth@drbeth· Dec 3

There is in fact this one! #UKSGForum2025

The front and back of a green Christmas jumper which says "ohh...this calls for a spreadsheet".

Dr Beth@drbeth· Dec 3

Starting off the schedule by talking about "Discovering the hidden insight between data points". Starting off by stating that AI and technological changes aren't going to replace people - we still need humans for stories, context, unheard voices. #UKSGForum2025

A Christmas jumper that says "that wasn't very data driven of you"

Dr Beth@drbeth· Nov 5

It's the Crick Annual Science Meeting today - a great internal conference including everybody. The library team have a poster highlighting our Open Science services (shown). We're also on the general ITO poster which has a really cool monopoly based design!

A poster with a big yellow title box saying "Open Science with the Library & Information Services Team" there are then 9 boxes below it showcasing the library open access services.

Dr Beth@drbeth· Oct 20

Sharing our love of society publishing today at the @crick.ac.uk - goodies from @royalsociety.org @microbiologysociety.org and @biologists.bsky.social and showcasing @chronoshub.bsky.social Although lots of the really good items had already gone by the time I got down there! #openaccessweek

A table with pens and booklets on, and librarian sits behind it looking towards a big digital screen. Behind her are some posters, one of which says international open access week 2025.

A table with pens, stickers and booklets on it.

Dr Beth@drbeth· Oct 15

Well this is grim. Thanks LinkedIn. #AcademicPublishing #Librarian #OpenResearch #SocietyPublishers #UniversityPublishers

Dr Beth@drbeth· Oct 7

Did you miss the LIS Research seminar on "Obstacles to Open Access publishing for researchers with weak institutional ties"? If so, never fear, the recording is now out! I'd really recommend giving it a listen. doi.org/10.52843/cas... #Library #openaccess #LISResearch #Librarian