Booky McBookface!

Today was (yet another) pinnacle of my time at Orkney Library & Archive... I got to go out and join the mobile library on its rounds for a whole morning. I've been fascinated by mobile libraries ever since I moved here to Scotland and started hearing so much about them, and it was just fantastic to get to go along and see it all in action – checking books in and out, chatting with the folks who came in to switch out one massive, heavy bag of library books for another. It's a really amazing service that makes sure people all over the islands get access to the library, not just those in the main towns. 

And a very fangirl moment for me, because I adore this snazzy blue bookmobile. 

(Got to hear some *very* Orcadian Scots spoken, too!)

Tea.

The true spirit of Britishness is...a bag of 1,100 teabags.

(With a normal-sized mug next to it for scale.)

Orkney! (It Makes an Impression)

My first week at the library was unbelievably fun. Everybody's been so generous about taking time to sit down with me and chat about what they do and answer all my questions. (Well, I guess the boss scheduled them in for that, so it was literally their job to talk to me...but still, they've all been so friendly and fun and welcoming.)

I've learned about both the library's physical sites, the mobile library, the Home Library Service (for homebound people), the Family Boxes (sent out to people on the really far islands that the mobile library can't get to), all the fantastic book groups/author visits/writing groups/other events they do here, and I learned how to use the stocktaking software, so that I can actually do something helpful instead of just following around being excited about what other people do.

I also got an unofficial crash-course in using the catalogue to check books in and out, because I was doing my inventory work at the front desk, and felt bad when people came up wanting to check books out and I had to point them to someone else because I didn't know how to do it. So I learned – at least the basics – and it was very satisfying to be able to help people myself.

There's so much still to come; I've yet to meet the children's librarian, or the guy who does the amazing social media, or really get to know the Archives upstairs, and I'm going to help out with (more than one) author event, and pay a visit to the mobile library in action...

Yes, I'm a little obsessed with Booky McBookface, Orkney's gorgeous mobile library. It's a really amazing service they provide from this one unassuming vehicle. Here's my dear Booky McBookface:

And on a personal bookworm level, okay, yes, I do realize I'm just being silly at this point...in my first two days at the library, I checked out probably more books than I can read in my whole month here. Plus a bunch of audiobooks (not pictured). It's the danger of reshelving and doing inventory, you see all these things you want...

(The top two are Orkney authors, the next is the book I need to read ahead of a book club I'll be helping out with, then an Icelandic author I spotted on the shelves and someone said was good, then another Orkney author, then just a few books generally on my recommended/want-to-read list.)

I seized the weekend, knowing how little time I have here and how very many parts of Orkney I want to see... I went to Maeshowe (5,000-year-old Neolithic tomb...amazing) then wandered around the Stenness Stones and Ring of Brodgar and the whole area between two lochs that's a major archeological site still in the process of being excavated. It was a stunningly beautiful day, sandwiched fortuitously between lots of days of rain (and occasional snow). In one of the lochs, just as I was leaving to catch the bus back, I saw seals. How is this place even real.

The Barnhouse Settlement, remains of a Neolithic village: 

 

One small bit of the Ring of Brodgar:

 

Oh, you know, just some more standing stones. (Stones of Stenness.)

 

Famous in Orkney

I've mentioned here before, at some point, how Orkney Library is known for their excellent, quirky, funny Twitter feed – it's followed by nearly 40,000 people around the world. (Yes, that means Orkney Library's followers are equivalent to about twice the population of Orkney as a whole.)

Today, I'm Orkney Twitter famous! https://twitter.com/OrkneyLibrary/status/981477860841050112
 

Orkney

I've only been working at Orkney Library for one day, but – bet you didn't see this one coming – I've already checked out a small stack of books, with plans for tracking down a few more tomorrow.

(I like to read books set in the place I'm in, and also as a writer I have an interest in local folk tales...)

Also, how gorgeous is this place?

The Great Northern Scotland Adventure Begins

I'm on a train! (Well, I will be shortly – I'm waiting in the station.)

Today I travel all the way up to the very northern tip Scotland, then continue tomorrow by sea: to reach the Orkney Islands, where I'll be doing my professional fieldwork placement the whole month of April. A fascinating, beautiful place and an excellent public library. I am very, very lucky.

I'm already pondering plans to visit Shetland as well (another group of islands even further north from mainland Scotland), thinking that maybe I could go up there for a couple days after my placement finishes (that is, if I manage to free up a bit of time by also completing all my coursework ahead of schedule, ha ha right) and then complete the loop by returning by ferry, allll the way back down from Shetland to Aberdeen, a 12-hour trip by sea. Up by train and back down by ship. That certainly appeals to my romantic wanderlust...

Watch this space. Orkney ahoy!