Betsy Roberts Miller ⁂

@ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org When I had the opportunity to attend the American Library Association annual conference at the DC Convention Center years ago, I always made a point of adding personal days on to do genealogy research at the National Archives. Coming up out of the Metro to go inside Archives 1 was usually like walking into a hot sticky wall.

@danielgibert@mastodon.online @steltenpower@social.edu.nl An issue clearly seen in the black and white version, where the frame is outlined at the nose bridge.

@stevewfolds@mastodon.world @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org @CliffsEsport@mastodon.social @jbaggs@infosec.exchange Ooh! SLC has a mecca of genealogy - the Family Search Library! Never been myself, but have been able to have *specific items* hunted down and copies sent to me. "Ask A Librarian" is open to all via their website (and also from many state libraries rhat service the genealogical / local history community). That library hosts a lot of good recorded lectures on doing family history and using their library and website, too.

@ATLeagle@mastodon.online @DecaturNature@theatl.social Central Georgia (Macon / Warner Robins) has either rumbles approaching or someone in my neighborhood is flexing large sheets of metal violently. No precipitation (yet).

@Pepijn@mastodon.online @Malm@mathstodon.xyz @vfrmedia@social.tchncs.de When my father retired to his family's ancestral farm (with pension) where we had never lived while growing up (pursuing his pension) he took over his uncle's dairy herd. When my son was about 8 or 9 years old and we were visiting for Christmas, the proud Grandpa hitched the trailer to the farm tractor, put hay around the edges and us in the middle, and drove out into the meadow to let His Grandson get up close to the calves and their mamas. I think any attempt to ride any of those cows would have ended up in a tanned hide.

@bethroots@mindly.social @czarbucks@vmst.io I'm partial to Wiseman's View, in Linville Gorge. (I spent 4 years at AppState in Boone and student-taught in Buncombe County.) Last time I went to Wiseman's View you had to get off the Parkway and drive a dirt road to the overlook.

Register to enjoy a free webinar replay from the NC Genealogical Society the weekend of 6-8 February 2026 on “Legal Lingo in the Tarheel State: Using Black’s Law Dictionary” with Judy G. Russell, JD, CG®, CGL® (The live webinar was originally presented on 6 Sept 2023.) NCGS will email the direct link to the recording to you for viewing any time between midnight Thursday night through midnight Sunday night (ET). The handout for this presentation will only be available to the public during the viewing period, and may not be downloaded. It will open in a separate tab, however, so it can be referred to during the webinar. #Geneadons #Genealogy#NorthCarolina #Research#FamilyHistory@geneadons@a.gup.pe @histodons@fedigroups.socialhttps://www.ncgenealogy.org/event/recorded-webinar-with-judy-russell-feb-2026/

@jaydax@mastodonapp.uk The US version has in the past been, "Someone's going through the cemetery with a clipboard, listing the dead people they can use to steal the election!" As I told my extended family, "I have been that person with a clipboard in the cemetery."

@CliffsEsport@mastodon.social @stevewfolds@mastodon.world @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org @jbaggs@infosec.exchange But everything is on the internet available to everyone for free! And a lot of the local-level government types have no idea how important weekly storytime for preschoolers and summer reading programs for school-age kids are to build and maintain literacy and learning levels. Or those politicians don't see that developmental and educational support as important (or even desirable) ... When there's a natural disaster FEMA counts on local libraries to support people filing their paperwork to get support. If the local library has been a disaster casualty, FEMA brings in trailers full of computers for the survivors to use to file those documents. When Helene roared through the Carolinas, I was posting updates on what libraries were open for use - and which ones at least had their wifi up and running for access from the library's parking lot. (And of course an open building meant an opportunity to charge personal devices.)

@Captain_Jack_Sparrow@mastodon.world @jmax@mastodon.social @angusm@mastodon.social Smeagol wasn't flaming until he landed IN the volcano.

@stevewfolds@mastodon.world @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org @CliffsEsport@mastodon.social @jbaggs@infosec.exchange In many cases inter-library loan is free, but it's up to the owning library. I do genealogy and family history, and many public libraries that have those collections do not do ILL of those items - many are small run private press books, or century-plus old, both of which are pretty much irreplaceable if the Post Awful mutilates them during transit. And USPS is planning to cancel the library media post rate, again ... UPS and FedEx would cost more, and library budgets can't take the hit of not passing those fees on to the person requesting the loan of the item. Then again, many states have state-wide online catalogs - Georgia's is PINES - and regularly-scheduled courier service to move requested books between libraries. (Still not those "library use only" items though.)

@stevewfolds@mastodon.world @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org @CliffsEsport@mastodon.social @jbaggs@infosec.exchange Reality sucks, sometimes. Several years ago a "local" public library system had their government entity decide to zero out their budget line. Not having local money to contribute to the state's library services meant they lost access to state-funded (and federally-funded) assets like the big databases that you can access from home thru your public library. What the local government didn't know was that the LARGE genealogy/local history collection was driving tourism. People would make multi-day trips to do research, and spend on hotels and meals. The library director had a staff member pull the *locations* of people who'd signed the collection's visitor book (which lives on their front desk) and sent to the local government. Bad PR got the funding "decision" reversed. But persons in the govt. had still decided that issue without consulting the library - or their users - at all.

@stevewfolds@mastodon.world @ai6yr@m.ai6yr.org @CliffsEsport@mastodon.social @jbaggs@infosec.exchange ERIC. Good stuff. And libraries available for traveling persons who need access!

@Meanwhile_on_earth_One@sfba.social @acarsdrama@live.acarsdrama.com Next on the "not allowed in carry-on luggage" list ...

@openculture@toot.community Does it include Dr. Ballard's initial verbal response? 😉

@JoshuaACNewman@xeno.glyphpress.com @angusm@mastodon.social Denethor had the palantir of the Kings of Gondor; when the line of kings supposedly ended, it and rule of the kingdom passed to the Stewards.