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Orkney Library & Archive

@orkneylibrary.bsky.social
23K followers 44 following 1.2K posts

Books and Archives since 1683. Website: orkneylibrary.org.uk Linktree: linktr.ee/orkneylibrary

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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 14h
There's only a week to go until the #WeeRead - a campaign to get 50,000 people across Scotland ALL READING TOGETHER on Wednesday 7th October! Reading for just 6 minutes a day has been shown to reduce stress and improve mental health so pledge to read now at: www.weeread.scot/
Books and marketing materials for the Wee Read campaign
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Happy 479th Birthday to Miguel Cervantes who was born #onthisday in 1547 🎂 In his most famous work Don Quixote, the title character charges at windmills, mistaking them for monstrous giants with swords, so in tribute we're all going up Burgar Hill in #Orkney to tilt at the wind turbines. 🎉
An illustration of Miguel Cervantes
The cover of the Penguin edition of Don Quixote
A painting of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza at a windmill
A wind turbine on Burgar Hill in Orkney
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Scottish followers - Don't forget that 7th October is the #WeeRead - a campaign to get 50,000 people across Scotland pledging to READ! 📚 So far more than 31,000 have pledged so why not join them? Find out more AND pledge to read at: weeread.scot
Books and marketing materials for the Wee Read campaign
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
September 2026 marks 360 years since the Great Fire of London which took place in September 1666. It also reminds us of that time we found a letter in the Archive dated 1661, sent from #Orkney to an address in Pudding Lane, London - the very place the fire began. 🔥
A scan of the letter addressed to Pudding Lane in London
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Looks like Tom Petty has been messing about with our displays again
Three different books with the title Falling. Three Falling.
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Happy 130th Birthday to F. Scott Fitzgerald who was born #onthisday in 1896. This is also your reminder that if editor Maxwell Perkins had not convinced Fitzgerald to change the title, The Great Gatsby was going to be called 'Trimalchio in West Egg.' Which really isn't as good.
The original cover of The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald 
A black and white photograph of F. Scott Fitzgerald
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Back in the old days in #Orkney, the thing that crows were *most* terrified of was being called a cad or a bounder by a dapper gentleman in a top hat. 🎩 #PhotographicArchives
A black and white archive photograph of a scarecrow wearing a coat and a top hat.
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Today is #HobbitDay because Bilbo and Frodo Baggins were both born on September 22nd. Normally we'd shire a hobbit pun or two but it might just feel like a tolkien gesture and we don't want to embarrass our elves. Anyway it's a good day to come and boromir #Tolkien books. 📚
A shelf of books by JRR Tolkien
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
Tomorrow (19th September) is #TalkLikeAPirateDay and your annual reminder that when we talk the way we talk when we're talking like a pirate, it's because of a film that was based on a book, inspired by an earlier book, inspired by a real life pirate from #Orkney! ARRR! 🏴‍☠️👇
An illustration of a pirate with a tricorn hat and a bushy moustache
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
There were no cats in the car park this morning but there's a wholly unanticipated collared dove.
The car park at Orkney Library. There is a wall with a lamp post beside it. A dove is walking along the ground.
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
This month our #LEGO display cases were full of fun and fabulous farming fare for our #OrkneyLibraryLego AROUND THE FARM theme! 👨‍🌾🚜🐖🐄 All made by library users using our #Lego collection. Thank you to everyone who made us a model! ❤️ Our next theme is COSY SPACES! 🔥🪴📚☕️
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
You all know #BookyMcBookface but SOON we'll also have the #BookyMcNooks - 3 brand new portable library kits that will bring even more books and reading resources to communities across Orkney. Coming in Spring 2027. Find out more at: beta.orkney.gov.uk/latest-news/...
An Orkney Library card in front of library bookshelves
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Happy Birthday to @AgathaChristie - born #otd (15th September) in 1890. 🎉 She said that she came up with her ingenious detective plots by sitting in an old-fashioned bathtub eating apples. It was a core part of her technique. She got the seed of an idea, then fleshed it out.
A black and white photograph of an old rolltop bath. Agatha Christie's head is poking out at one end and there are 3 half-eaten apples sitting on the rim of the bath
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
It's eight years tomorrow since we posted on Twitter that Sting had been in to return his books.
A shelf on the book return trolley. The titles of the five books are Every Breath You Take, Every Move You Make, The Bonds That Break, Every Step You Take and I Am Watching You.
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Orkney Library & Archive is supporting WEE READ - a national reading moment where people across Orkney are invited to join with people all across Scotland in celebrating the joy of reading this October. Make your pledge to read now at weeread.scot
A poster for Wee Read on October 7th
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
We've just found this chap living in our craft box how's your day going?
Pens, pegs and googly eyes in the bottom of a clear craft tub. The way they are lying looks a bit like a face.
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
Today is #NationalTeddyBearDay which reminded us of that time we found this old book full of terribly terrifying teddies to traumatise and terrorise. Sweet dreams everyone. Don't have nightmares.
A terrifying old teddy bear
A terrifying old teddy bear
A terrifying old teddy bear
A terrifying old teddy bear
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
That Monday morning feeling of getting all those messy, busy weekend bookshelves back in order ❤️
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Picture the scene. It's 1769. You're William Aberdeen and you're drawing a map of Sebay in Tankerness, #Orkney. It's going well but then you realise there are some blank bits so you decide to add some decoration. You think about what to draw for a moment. It's an obvious choice.
A section of an old hand drawn map of Sebay in Tankerness, Orkney
A section of an old hand drawn map of Sebay in Tankerness, Orkney
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Until the 9th of September we've got a wonderful exhibition of photographs from the Orkney Japan Association about some fascinating connections between the two places, stretching back to the 1870s. Come along to see it whenever the Library is open, and you can find out more in
A collage of photographs from the Orkney and Japan exhibition at Orkney Library
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
If you've been joining in with our Audio Waves Book Club then our sixth Audio Waves title is: INTERMEZZO by Sally Rooney. Available FREE on #BorrowBox with your Orkney Library card (OR find it wherever you get your Audiobooks) 🎧 Why not have a listen (or a read) and join in!
The cover of Intermezzo by Sally Rooney
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Having the #BayeuxTapestry in the UK just now is exciting but DID YOU KNOW that in the #Orkney Archive we have our very own tapestry which tells the story of St Magnus? It's not as old/long/historically significant as the Bayeux Tapestry but it's still well worth a visit. 🪡
Shelves of books in the Orkney Room of Orkney Archives. The framed St Magnus Tapestry hangs on the wall above the books.
A section of the St Magnus TapestryA section of the St Magnus Tapestry
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
It's a year since we posted on Bluesky about it being seven years since we posted on Twitter, THIS. 👇 (So it's now eight years.)
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Our friends at BorrowBox are hosting an exclusive online event with Matt Haig on the 7th September - and you are ALL invited! The award-winning author will be discussing his latest novel The Midnight Train, followed by a live Q&A with the online audience. 👇
A poster advertising an online book event with author Matt Haig, operated by BorrowBox
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
Every time we think this has gone out for the last time it comes back again
A book featuring the detective Columbo
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
and the cat's in the cradle and the
3 books on the library returns trolley. Their titles are Silver Spoon, Little Boy Blue, and A Man on the Moon
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Happy birthday for tomorrow to Mary Shelley who was born on the 30th August 1797. 🎂 Did you know that in her most famous novel, she wrote that Dr Frankenstein travelled to #Orkney to create a mate for his monster? So that was nice. She must have thought it was lovely here.
A painting of Mary Shelley
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 29/08/2026
Library balls from Finland ❤️
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
Somehow it is 8 years today since we posted this Twitter thread, about a very, VERY old document from our Archive. Now it's another year older and we're still keeping it safe. It was written 624 years ago. No really. Archives are amazing. 👇
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
One minute you're scanning books the next it's 1995 and you're walking about in a Virgin Megastore
A barcode on a book with a Virgin label and price sticker
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
It's a pleasant, calm, August morning in #Orkney and #BookyMcBookface is away across the Churchill Barriers to Burray and South Ronaldsay, before coming back across to Holm this afternoon. ❤️ If you're there today then go see Booky and grab yourself some books! 📚
The Mobile Library parked beside one of the Churchill Barriers in Orkney. A sunken blockship can be seen in the background.
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
We were very sad to hear that Dolly Parton has died. Thank you Dolly for all the music, films and books. ❤️ We'll always have Dolly on a Trolley.
A display of Dolly Parton books
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Wednesday lunchtime cloudy sunny dreamy hyperlapse
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Remembering that time we found this very lazy attempt to colour in Mr Lazy at the colouring in table, which is probably the laziest way there is to colour in Mr Lazy and therefore exactly what Mr Lazy would do.
A colouring in sheet of Mr Lazy from the Mr Men. His hat is slightly coloured in. There are two other small dots of colour. The rest is blank.
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Over the last month our #LEGO display cases have been overflowing with amazingly ancient ARCHAEOLOGICAL models! 🪨🗿 All made by library visitors using our Lego collection. Thanks to everyone who made us a model! ❤️ Our next #OrkneyLibraryLego theme is AROUND THE FARM! 🚜👨‍🌾🌾
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Back in the olden days it was only the very wealthiest of cows that could afford to have a portrait photographer visit them at home.
A black and white archive photograph of a cow posing in front of a mill
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
If you've been joining in with our Audio Waves Book Club then you've still got time to send us your review of Unruly by David Mitchell. Audio Waves is our newest Book Club where we listen to Audiobooks instead of reading printed books. 🎧
The cover of the audiobook of Unruly by David Mitchell
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
If you're joining in with the #ReadChristie2026 challenge then the theme for August is 'Beloved Duo.' 🔍 The chosen title is By The Pricking of my Thumbs, featuring Tommy and Tuppence, but there are lots of alternatives. 📚 Who is your favourite Agatha Christie duo? 🕵‍♂️🕵‍♀️
Several Agatha Christie novels featuring duos. The main one featured is By the pricking of my thumbs.
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
Remembering that time we catalogued a book about birds and found all the new insults we could ever need.
Entries from Collins Nature Guide to Birds. The entries are:
Gadwall, Great Crested Grebe, Little Bittern, Rough-legged Buzzard, Great Reed Warbler, Ferruginous Duck, Little Bustard, Red-necked Phalarope, Shoveler, Bearded Tit and Short-toed Treecreeper.
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 18/08/2026
Today it is #BadPoetryDay, but all our poetry is good. It's on our shelves at 821, that's just where poetry written in English goes under the Dewey Decimal System, so we shelve it where we should.
Library shelves full of poetry books
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
It's Monday and #BookyMcBookface is away across the sea to the beautiful #Orkney island of Stronsay. 📚 Rescheduled from last week. If you're lucky enough to be in Stronsay today then go and say hello 👋
BookyMcBookface the Mobile Library parked on the pier with a ferry in the background
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
How do books help tell the stories of our lives? Come along to this event at Orkney Library & Archive NEXT SATURDAY morning (22nd August) - and bring along a book that is special to you! 📚 There is also a book craft event for children and families in the afternoon. 🌱
A poster about the Books of Our Lives event at Orkney Library & Archive
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
Happy 255th Birthday to Sir Walter Scott who was born #otd in 1771. Sir Walter visited #Orkney in 1814 aboard the Northern Lighthouse Yacht Pharos. He described Stromness as a 'little dirty straggling town, which cannot be traversed by a cart, or even by a horse,' So that's a bit unfair.
A painted portrait of Sir Walter Scott
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Let's *smudge* all *smudge* go *smudge* home 🖊️ Happy #LeftHandersDay #InternationalLeftHandersDay
A form that asks whether left handed people should get the day off on left handers day. The yes is ticked with a backwards tick
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Not as good though is it
Sunlight shining through thick clouds. There's a tree branch in the foreground
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 12/08/2026
Hoping for clear skies later so we can add a new #SolarEclipse photo to our collection. Like this one that Tom Kent took 114 years ago of a solar eclipse over Kirkwall #Orkney in April 1912. Taken 2 days after the sinking of the Titanic. Archives are amazing. ❤️
A black and white archive photograph showing the silhouette of the spire of St Magnus Cathedral and a partial eclipse of the sun in the sky above it.
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
'Excuse me, but do you have any books about TELEPHONES? Specifically STANDARD telephones, AND their CABLES? I don't want anything before 1883...or after 1983.' #NicheBookMonday
A book called Power of Speech - A history of standard telephones and their cables 1883 - 1983
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
Dough Ray Mears Fat Solar Tito. Our book trolleys are alive with the sound of music.
A book trolley with books on it called Dough Craft, Ray Mears, Fat, Solar, Tito.
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
We have an announcement. Tomorrow is Dounby Show Day which is a local public holiday in #Orkney. Orkney Library & Archive will be CLOSED ALL DAY so the staff can dress in their finest outfits and stroll around the park looking at all sorts of bullocks. 🐂 See you on Friday.
A black and white archive photograph of cows looking over a wall
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Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
This year's Edinburgh International Book Festival kicks off shortly and for the first time ever Orkney Library & Archive is delighted to be holding several FREE events where you can come along to the library and watch LIVE STREAMS of the events as they happen! 🎉
A poster for a series of live streamed events from Edinburgh International Book Festival, streamed at Orkney Library & Archive
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