Go Navy! Beat Army! (What can I say? My dad and brothers were Marines and my dad wanted one of us to end up at USNA...none did.)

Very excited to (finally) share the news that Richmond hq'd firm Baskervill and Boston hq'd firm Shepley Bullfinch will work with the Library of Virginia to redesign our public spaces! www.lva.virginia.gov/about/news/p...

It appears that Richmond has gotten its entire snowfall for the year already, and more than the more northern I-94 cities. Not sure what that foretells!

Listen:

I'm greatly pleased to join the standing committee for government libraries of @ifla.org ! Looking forward to continuing to learn from international colleagues at this amazing global organization after two years away. And really looking forward to #WLIC2026 in Busan, Korea this August!

That said, knowing what we do about the success of machine transcription, I wonder what new and interesting ways we can have folks connect with our collections. I don't imagine these transcription events will disappear, but this offers the opportunity to imagine new mutually beneficial entry points.

In my brief time at the Library of Virginia, it seems some of the most active and consistent engagement with our collections by non-academics is in collective transcription events. People get really excited, learn a lot, and feel connected to the past! Impossible to overstate the importance of that.

Y'all. TikTok's favorite episcopal nun <nunsenseforthepeople> continues her path to the priesthood today!

No one: Me: Even in JROTC in the late 80s, we were taught that military members were not allowed follow illegal orders, only legal ones. It was never a question, 20 years after My Lai, that illegal orders were to be ignored.

@dieworkwear.bsky.social is out here teaching CS Lewis on a Sunday and I'm here for it.

Public librarians, what is one thing you wish you had learned getting your MLIS? #publibs

Well, guess I better run a marathon on Saturday!

My #hottake (that no one asked for) since hearing the reactions to the fed shenanigans (LC, IMLS, etc) is that only a subset of librarians 1) knows that the IMLS does 2) knows what LOC is or does and 3) understands much about federal funding for GLAMs or higher ed. Library schools must do better.

You may THINK you know Virginia's lieut-gov elect @senatorhashmi.bsky.social, but for the library folks out there, did you know she's published about information literacy? wacclearinghouse.org/books/perspe...

Quicktime is still a thing? I was today years' old when I realized I had it on my mac!

That thing when you search for an email address for the chief executive of the @britishlibrary.bsky.social and then you realize she resigned just a few hours ago...

Meta, your algorithm is off

Even Windsor Farms (v fancy neighborhood in Richmond where I often run) is getting into the #nokings act! The resistance hits differently when it's the millionaires resisting.

"Wherever the people are well informed they can be trusted with their own government; that whenever things get so far wrong as to attract their notice, they may be relied on to set them to rights." T. Jefferson, to Richard Price. Jefferson just low key advocating for libraries and archives.

Stop trying to fire librarians because you don't like the books in libraries. Just stop it. Don't read those books, read other books. See how easy that is? And far cheaper for taxpayers when you loose or settle. apnews.com/article/wyom...

Richmond novelist David Baldacci's joint $13-million donation with VCU and Library of Virginia will help foster civil discourse initiative promoting nonpartisan political dialogue.

Did anyone consider that, just maybe, Francine saw that truck she jumped in as her way out of the fame and attention she had garnered as the famous Richmond Lowe's Cat, and had been planning her escape for a long time, only to be foiled after a week on the lamb?

I am grateful to David & Michelle Baldacci for their support for the Library of Virginia and thrilled for their continued investment in Virginia institutions as we continue our role as a statewide 'public square.' Their passion for a "well-informed citizenry" stands at the heart of librarianship.

Author David Baldacci and his wife, Michelle, have pledged $13 million to Virginia Commonwealth University and the Library of Virginia to improve respectful dialogue. richmond.com/news/local/e...

Universities pay at least three times for scholarly publishing: (1) Salary for the researcher/author (2) Salary for the peer reviewers (3) Cost to provide access to paywalled content to campus community OR cost to publish articles open-access to the world

It's just possible that trying to run 17 miles - my longest run ever - a week after being down with COVID wasn't the best idea.

Obviously we're @openhistoricalmap.org @osmus.bsky.social fans -- this will help us build out a map of RVA's past, as well as present. How? Left is from the '40s labeled as "E Main", but where? Using this tool we can see two buildings have been razed since. georeference.maprva.org/1065/

Another case study on this point. While people and the media largely stopped talking about IMLS, assuming it had been dismantled, it had just funded Native American tribal libraries and reinstated past grants. www.imls.gov/news/imls-an...

Love a happy ending! Woodmere museum got its IMLS grant restored after suing the Trump administration: news.artnet.com/art-world/wo...

NEWS: A House of Representatives Subcommittee just voted to continue library funding in next year's federal budget. This is thanks to YOUR hard work as library advocates. The fight to #FundLibraries isn't over yet. Stay tuned for more ways to take action for libraries. #ForOurLibraries

This is good news indeed, and I'm thrilled that cooler heads have prevailed. Keep paying attention to @heykellyjensen.bsky.social on this. #IMLS #LSTA #GrantsToStates

The House subcommittee marking up the budget containing the IMLS meets *tonight* at 5 pm eastern. appropriations.house.gov/schedule/mar...

So many cultural/library/art institutions lost grants after contracting with vendors, raising matching funds, hiring staff, and had to reverse those actions when the grants were cancelled. NEH, NEA, IMLS, etc should pay attention to where this suit goes, especially current decisions in RI v Trump.

Philadelphia’s Woodmere Museum is suing the Trump administration after losing most of a $750,000 federal grant. The museum says funds were unfairly revoked by executive order. buff.ly/M63agIb

Is @leasusan.bsky.social happy or sad or both?

A good synopsis of "where we are this week" - the RI v Trump lawsuit, IMLS moves in Congress, and what's next - by @heykellyjensen.bsky.social over at @bookriot. bookriot.com/more-details...

What he said!

I'm pleased to announce the search for our next Deputy State Librarian / Chief of Collections and Archives at The Library of Virginia! Academic Search is assisting us with recruitment. Review the profile and reach out, or suggest great candidates! www.academicsearch.org/open-searche...)

I've eaten at countless Cracker Barrel's all overThe South. I remember the few times we ended up there after church growing up. Special. But, y'all out here caring WAY too much about their remodel and rebranding. Seriously? Just ask for apple butter for your biscuits and care less or go elsewhere.

Curious what the False Image of History Project is all about? Here's an overview with project leader Donovan Schaefer on the origins of the project (and the meaning of the name!) as part of a Virginia Humanities Public Humanities Fellowship at the Library of Virginia. @pricelab.bsky.social

When did we start saying "colo[u]rways" rather than colo{u}r?

🎙 New on Reveal Digital, it's radio audio archives! The WRVA Radio Collection, held by the Library of Virginia, spans 75 years of broadcasting history. Now, 100+ civil rights–related recordings from the station are part of Behind the Scenes of Civil Rights Movements. 📻 Listen free: bit.ly/3HBzUCe

so lemme take this time to start an on-going 🧵 of resources for those w/roots in VA found this from library of VA looking for something i used b4 so i don't have much exp w/ it. w/the search function i just downloaded 2 ledgers that i'll go thru soon lva.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/discovery/se...

60+ years later, Britten's Jubilate Deo, which I first heard (and wrote an undergrad paper about) is still a banger. (Sorry for the niche English choral music post; we contain multitudes) open.spotify.com/track/4MYuJC...

409 years later on - the anniversary of the first meeting of the Virginia House of Burgesses - the elected Assembly and the Governor of Virginia remain in full "on no you didn't!" mode, in the best traditions of the Commonwealth!

AP:Virginia judge bars Youngkin's university board appointments rejected by Senate Democrats apnews.com/article/judg... Opinion: drive.google.com/file/d/1s06V...

Happy birthday to the oldest continuously serving legislative body in the Western Hemisphere!  The Virginia General Assembly first met on this date in 1619 as the House of Burgesses in Jamestown.