iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 20h

It's #HeritageCareersWeek which aims to showcase the wide variety of careers available in the heritage sector. ❤️ We've made a video showing some of the many, varied jobs carried out by Library and Archive Assistants in a day at Orkney Library & Archive. #HeritageCareersWeek

318521

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Orkney Library staff doing their bit for the #WeeRead today. ❤️ Join us by reading something (anything!) today and enjoy the incredible benefits that reading gives you. 📚 Find out more and pledge to read now at: weeread.scot

Orkney Library staff reading for the Wee Read campaign

212910

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

Today it's the #WeeRead - a campaign to get people all across Scotland READING TOGETHER on 7th October! Join us by reading something today - reading for just 6 minutes can reduce stress and improve mental health! Find out more and pledge to read at: weeread.scot

27112

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

It's Monday, it's October, and the nights are drawing in so it's time for the new season of YAP & YARN - our library knitting and crochet group that meets every 2nd Monday across the darker months! 🧶 Everyone is welcome to come along! Find out more at: orkneylibrary.org.uk/yap-yarn/

A poster for the Yap & Yarn knitting group at Orkney Library & Archive

1865

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 05/10/2026

On a dark dark hill there was a dark dark town. In the dark dark town there was a dark dark library. And in the dark dark library... there was a big skeleton, a little skeleton and a dog skeleton! Stromness Library is ready for #Halloween with Steph's fabulous #Funnybones art!

A window decorated with characters from Funnybones

422820

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

'So that's the book finished. All you need now is a title.' 'I was thinking about calling it "DIE." 'Just DIE? Nothing else?' 'No. Why?' 'Hey don't get me wrong, it's a good title. I'm just not sure that it's clear enough that it means a MURDER story.' 'So what do you suggest...?'

A large print paperback titled Die - As in Murder

718024

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

a short poem name like when we meet a bovine and we say 'hi coo' #NationalPoetryDay #Haiku

A black and white archive photograph of a cow standing beside a track leading down to a mill. The cow is looking at the camera.

1644194

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

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

38616

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. 🎉

The cover of the Penguin edition of Don Quixote

A painting of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza at a windmill

417829

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

210918

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

A few years ago our Palaeography Group transcribed the letter - you can find out more about it and read the transcription on our Archive Blog at: orkneyarchive.blogspot.com/2021/10/grea...

A contemporary painting of the Great Fire of London

0721

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Though the letter was sent five years before the Great Fire of London, it was sent very close to where the fire later started. Peter Winchester captained several ships at the time and the letter was sent to him from Thomas Buchanan who lived on the island of Shapinsay, #Orkney.

1622

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

It was addressed to Peter Winchester who was staying at the King's Head, Pudding Lane in Fish Street London. On 2nd September 1666 Samuel Pepys wrote '300 houses have been burned down tonight by the fire we saw, and that it was now burning down all Fishstreet by London Bridge.'

1451

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

215431

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.

716719

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

113223

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.

216216

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. 📚

652298632

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

And THAT is the reason why we all go ARRR! (etc) on #TalkLikeAPirateDay. Because of film, that was based on a book, inspired by an earlier book, inspired by the real life #Orkney pirate John Gow. 🏴‍☠️ ARRR! 🦜

41034

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

THEN, in 1950 Disney released a movie version of TREASURE ISLAND starring Robert Newton as Long John Silver. Newton famously portrayed Silver with a West Country accent which has gone on to influence how people think ALL pirates talked every since. 🦜

Robert Newton as Long John Silver in Disney's Treasure Island

2854

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Sir Walter Scott heard the story of John Gow when he visited #Orkney in 1814, and later used Gow as the basis of the character Captain Cleveland in his 1822 novel THE PIRATE. In turn this novel influenced Robert Louis Stevenson when he wrote TREASURE ISLAND in the 1880s. 🏴‍☠️

Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson

1484

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Gow was executed for piracy at Execution Dock in 1725 and an account of his piratical career was written by famous author and journalist Daniel Defoe. It has since been reprinted but in the #Orkney Archives we have one of only five known surviving copies of the 1725 edition. 🏴‍☠️

The title page of Daniel Defoe's account of the pirate John Gow

A page from Daniel Defoe's account of the pirate John Gow

1543

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

This salty looking seadog is an 18th century pirate called John Gow, who came from Stromness in #Orkney. In 1725 after a short career in piracy off the Iberian Peninsula, Gow and his ship returned to Orkney but was captured and taken to London for trial.

The same illustration as before with John Gow and his execution at Execution Dock in London

1437

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

823369

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.

31765

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! 🔥🪴📚☕️

213614

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

This new project has been made possible because Orkney Library and Archive has been awarded funding from the Public Library Improvement Fund (PLIF), administered by the Scottish Library and Information Council (SLIC) on behalf of the Scottish Government.

0621

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

215519

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

718431

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.

131205220

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Anyone in Scotland can pledge so sign up wherever you are, but we'd be delighted to get as many Orkney folk signing up as possible. So if you're an individual, family, group or class who enjoys reading then pledge to read now at weeread.scot ❤️

weeread.scot

Wee Read

1282

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

Just six minutes of reading has been shown to reduce stress, so imagine the difference when thousands of people across Scotland take a moment to read together. Whether it’s a whole book or a few pages, a comic, magazine, newspaper, audiobook, poem or recipe. Every bit of reading counts!

1513

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

27016

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

If Pixar want to use this in a new Toy Story movie we are open to offers

0780

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.

421014

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.

1417033

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

That Monday morning feeling of getting all those messy, busy weekend bookshelves back in order ❤️

71547

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

Fun fact - the name Orkney is derived from the Pictish name which was recorded in Ancient Greek as Órkádes and Latinised as Orcades. It is believed to derive from the early Celtic word Orkos meaning young pig. So we are the island of young pigs. 🐷

51339

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

419148

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

310319

Orkney Library & Archive @orkneylibrary.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Every couple of months we nominate a new book for everyone to listen to, then you just send us a ⭐ rating and a short review via email. Find out more on our website at: orkneylibrary.org.uk/audio-waves-... where you can also find all the previous titles and read the reviews. 👇

orkneylibrary.org.uk

Audio Waves Book Club

The Audio Waves Book Club at Orkney Library is a book club where the members listens to Audiobooks and eAudiobooks instead of reading printed books

0282