jessamyn

@librarian.bsky.social

10809 Followers 491 Following

Vermont librarian. Technology hobbyist. I love the post office. Fix your hearts. Live in hope if you can.

Screenshot of the front page of Prairie Fire showing the YouTube video on a still page which says "Libraries remain trusted civic spaces and local institutions can help communities understand themselves" Underneath it says "In the government but for the community" and then "Librarian Jessamyn West on why libraries are targeted by authoritarians and how they will survive anyway"
two men look at boxes containing files in the stacks of an archive)
A Black non-binary person with a filtering face mask walks down a neighborhood street with one hand in their pocket and the other hand on their cane. They have a short mohawk and are wearing a jacket, shorts, tennis shoes, and glasses.
Slide from the talk, headed "Other NLS Resources" with three bullet points - NLS partners wtih the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing to distribute the iBill currency reader - NLS provides items for educators like braille alphabet cards and our "Fun with Braille" activity sheet - NLS has the largest collection of accessible music scores and music appreciation materials in the world
A box for a top-loading Hitachi VHS player with an order date of November 18th, 1981.
A librarian doing her best to smile sits in a chair in her office. She is a white lady with green glasses wearing a pink striped shirt. Her hair is in a long braid.
Screenshot of cover of Why I burned my Book and Other Essays on Disability by Paul K. Longmore showing a page of text which has been burne4d away at the edges, revealing a red cover underneath.
screenshot from one page of the training which shows various barriers to accessing the library which some people may experience. The four main headings are Intimidation, Transportation, Time and Financial with small cartoon illustrations of each topic.
A charcoal grey flag bisected diagonally from the top left corner to the lower right corner by five parallel stripes in red, pale gold, pale grey, light blue, and green.
The back of a white stock car for racing, in a garage. It says BURN RUBBER NOT BOOKS in yellow lettering with a purple outline.
A heavyset person with short purple hair and sunglasses wearing a rainbow shirt which says QUEER AS FUCK on it. The shoulder of this shirt has the colors of the trans flag and says "Trans rights are human rights" There are other people with rainbow clothing behind them.
The cover of Greyling written by Jane Yolen and illustrated by William Stobbs showing a swirling green sea with a spotted seal swimming next to a young boy with wavy blond hair and an orange shirt. Both are looking at the viewer directly.
Cover of the book Ed Emberley's Little Drawing Book of Weirdos showing a Dracula, a Frankenstein and a Werewolf all drawn with simple shapes and colors.
Handwritten sign in a grocery store saying "The peanuts will explode in your stomach if you eat them before you pay for them then cannibals will eat your body after they pay for it. Just a friendly reminder. Kate"
A slightly beat up red stock car with a woman in a purple superhero suit with a cape holding some books. Caption is as stated in the post.
crop of a Gary Larson cartoon showing a dog hiding behind a washing machine saying "Oh please, oh please"
The "prove me wrong" meme which is a guy with a coffee mug sitting outdoors at a table and the sign in front of him has been altered by a meme generator to say "There is no university without the library. Change my mind"
The name of the band Hüsker Dü in Waffle House font. The umlauts over the Us run off the top of the boxes that the letters are in.
Cover of the album Get the Knack by the band The Knack, three really handsome guys and the lead singer who looks like the sort of guy who is wondering why smashing his face with a hammer isn't getting him anywhere.
A green bag of trash by a stop sign near a parking lot.
Me in green glasses and a blue button up shirt in an office with a paper sorting cabinet on the right and two wooden doors behind me
A man drives a motorcyle which has a full-grown lion riding on top of the sidecar. They are on a wooden track which is called the WALL OF DEATH because the side goes straight up.
A picture postcard of the "Whales Tails" art sculpture which is two metal whales tails emerging from out of the ground as if the ground were water. The Green Mountains and a blue sky with clouds are in the background. The word "Vermont" is in the upper left corner in a vaguely handwritey script.
A woman is sitting at a table in a library. She is wearing dark glasses and is looking up and smiling while doing something with her hands on the table which is plugged in. Beneath the table there is a tan guide dog, wearing their harness, chilling.
A frog in a rowboat reading a book while a fish in the water is also reading a book. The caption at the top reads "It's a Whole Great Big Fun Thing"
Photograph of a mixtape with song listings written in an interesting sloping handwriting. The cassette is called "Toast & Jam" and the songs range from DJ Krush to Zap Mama.
a poster from a Hampshire graduation which says DIVISION FREE in a typewriter font with a bouncy ball type illustration above it. It is green with yellow.
Seven hundred and fifty dollars fanned out on a wooden table top.
Bill Spaceman Lee wearing an Expos toque and holding up fingers in the Victory sign smiling in front of a shelf of books at a library.
screenshot of Boston Globe, still being asinine, where the headline is "Immigration enforcement is up in Massachusetts courthouses. Should it be allowed to continue?"
A young woman with long brown hair smiles as she stands next to her racecar next to a slew of trophies. The back panel, if you zoom in, says "I've got a need... to read. USE YOUR LIBRARY"
Blue postcard with strong white lettering saying saying "Losers Attack our Libraries. Flight for Librarians" with two symbol-like people reading books.
A highway receding into the distance on a clear cloudless day with mountains visible far away.
A black and white image of a man on a ladder who is standing next to a banner saying "Hate Does Not Grow Well in the Rocky Soil of Vermont" which appears to be strung over a street
screenshot of an olive green tshirt with a cartoon drawing of a frog with a very neutral expression on its face. Above the frog the text reads: DON'T WANT TO BE HUMAN, I WANT TO BE FROG" below the frog the text reads "eat bugs - swim whenever, sing "Hello my baby"" and then in smaller text below that "We live in a factory that produces death & destruction at an industrial scale"
John Waters in a room full of books. Caption reads: We need to make books cool again. If you go home with somebody, and they don't have books, don't fuck 'em!
Promotional poster for Annika showing the actress Nicola Walker in her Marine Homicide Unit outfit standing in front of a cold looking ocean with a blue-purple sky in the background
A ballot showing two options for monkey and robot and a write-in line. The write in line has a crayon drawing of a gecko and the word "gecko" written in on the write-in line.
My canvas backpack with a town report for my town peeking out of the zipper compartment. On the wall a "How to report ICE" zine is hanging.
Black and white photograph of Clara Stanton Jones, a Back woman wearing large round glasses, short curly hair, a white beaded necklace and a white dress with a scoop neck. She is at a podium looking down and smiling widely.
Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms poster showing a man in a flannel shirt and tan jacket standing and talking at town meeting in front of a group of people sitting and looking up at him.
newspaper photograph of a Black woman with short grey hair standing on front of a bookshelf. She is wearing glasses and a patterned sweater.
A sheet of paper with two separate ballots on it. The bottom one is seahorse versus starfish and the top one is monkey versus robot robot. There are cartoon pictures next to the names of the "candidates"
screenshot from the book Broadside authors and artists; an illustrated biographical directory showing Leaonead's entry. She is a middle-aged Black woman wearing a floral dress and white earrings. He biographical information is listed next to her.
A young black woman with short wavy hair is wearing a print dress. She stands before an old bookmobile which is black and had "Greenville County Library" written on it in white lettering. The bookmobile is parked in front of a brick building.
A black quilt that has a close up of a rooster or chicken face. The chicken (or rooster) is white and tan colored with a bright red comb and wattle
Black and white photo of Porter seated at a desk in front of a row of bookshelves and a card catalog. She is a Black woman with shoulder length wavy hair. She is wearing a dark dress with white accents, and is reading a book which is open on her desk.
Black and white photograph of Effie Lee Morris with Coretta Scott King at an ALA event. She is an older Black woman with short hair looking over her shoulder as if talking to someone. She is wearing a white dress.
A newspaper ad which has a garland in the center with the words "Vermont Mutual Aid Society" written in it, in green. Below it, in purple are the words "If you only read the books that everyone else is reasong, you can only think what everyone else is thinking"
US postage stamp from 2020 showing a stylized image of Arthur Schomburg a man with dark hair and eyes and a thick black mustache. He is wearing a red tie and is in front of a patterned background reminiscent of kente cloth
a bag of Jax puffed curls, a sort of off-brand cheeto. It is a very bright orange yellow bag.
Photo of an older Green, a light skinned woman in a pinstriped blazer, sitting at a very ornate desk looking down at a stack of papers.
Screenshot from a video featuring Jason Reynolds, a Black man with dreads wearing a backwards ball cap and holding a microphone.. Caption reads: "but in libraries, I actually think it still maintains a certain level of integrity."
Augusta Baker running a storytime for children. She is a young Black woman with wavy hair standing in front of a room with 8-9 young Black children
Photograph of five Black women and five Black men in front of a building that may be the library. They are all wearing suit/ties for the men and dresses with gloves for the women. In the upper left is a very young Jesse Jackson.
Black and white photograph of a black woman sitting behind a desk in a library. Her hair is pulled back and she is wearing glasses and reading. Behind her is a poster on the wall saying "Books break the tedious hospital hours and minimize illness"
Shirley Chisolm standing next to Major Owens, both smiling broadly.
Photograph of Lorene Byron Brown sitting on a concrete pedestal near a body of water. She is a young Black woman with a short natural hairstyle wearing shorts and a short sleeved shirt and sandals. The date on the photo reads Aug 1971. The caption reads "Lorene Byron Brown at the Wisconsin Union"
Page from a book showing a headshot of Samuel Starks in an oval frame. Caption reads" Hon. Samuel W Starks, State Librarian of West Virginia. Re-Appointed by Governor Dawson.
Screenshot of a video in which Lea Davison wishes Vermont Olympians good luck. She is outdoors, there is snow on the ground, she is wearing a white hat with pink hearts on it and a blue parka. The caption reads" "...coming out of Vermont competing in this Olympics"