Once I thought I had discovered a previously unknown subspecies of occlupanid (I hadn’t, I had just missed where they were taxonomified) and i had the most delightfully serious / unserious email thread with the guys behind that site. I felt like a real pretend biologist. A++++++ would internet again
I worked at Egghead in Ann Arbor in the 90s, where Qdoba is now at Busch’s plaza on old main. Jeff Daniels came in once looking for Mac games. We didn’t have any. But it is where I discovered Logical Journey of the Zoombinis!
Can confirm it was the michigan hockey band! recently graduated tuba son says a euph arranged it.
Event poster for "VISIONS 2026" focused on technology and services for the blind, low vision, and physically disabled. It takes place on Wednesday, June 3, 11 AM to 4 PM. Includes logos for the Bureau of Services for Blind Persons and Ann Arbor District Library. Website: aadl.org/visions.
VISIONS is June 3, 11 AM–4 PM at the Downtown Library!
Join a variety of exhibitors for demos of the latest products & services for the blind, low vision, & physically disabled. Presentations will also be offered on topics related to vision health & assistive technology.
→ aadl.org/visions
Illustration from the 2025 issue of the Ann Arbor District Library Transgender Day of Visibility zine.
THE 2026 AADL TDOV Zine
The long-winded acronym in the subject line actually means the Ann Arbor District Library Transgender Day of Visibility Zine, 2026.
It is an annual community effort to help celebrate the TDOV on March 31.
Here's how to acquire a copy:
www.reddit.com/r/MI_transge...
A letterpress print that says “Clankers and toasters and bots, oh my!” with silver and red ampersands in a variety of typefaces scattered over the background.
A galley that shows the typefaces used to print the previous image, with the same text backwards braced with colorful magnets
Fun at the library letterpress lab today.
As the director of a property-tax funded entity I would certainly prefer that someone else buy it, but you can't argue with that location for Greater Detroit access! Although I do hold out hope that getting another rink near downtown could bring back weekday noon skates at Yost. One can dream!
Since there's reportedly not enough availability at LCA to add another pro team, clearly we need a Women's hockey arena in Ann Arbor that the long-overdue Umich Womens Team and a Michigan PWHL team could share! I propose the Ann Arbor Armada for an instant fun rivalry with the Boston Fleet.
Blue background featuring logos for AADL and play.aadl.org in the bottom corners and a silhouette of a figure centered around a colorful circle border.
Yellow background featuring logos for AADL and play.aadl.org in the bottom corners and a silhouette of a figure centered around a colorful circle border.
Green background featuring logos for AADL and play.aadl.org in the bottom corners and a silhouette of a figure centered around a colorful circle border.
Red background featuring logos for AADL and play.aadl.org in the bottom corners and a silhouette of a figure centered around a colorful circle border.
Chilly in Ann Arbor today? Bummer. Over here, our mindset's SUMMER!
Mind if we just drop these here? 👀
A promotional graphic for Sign Lab, Friday March 27th at 5 PM at the Downtown Library. It's a white paper sign on a wooden stick with a handwritten-looking SIGN LAB! text against a beautiful blue sky.
Planning to attend a protest? Drop by Sign Lab tonight at the Downtown Library from 5-7 PM to make a sign and express yourself!
aadl.org/node/666301
Just a few more hours until Resonant Soundscapes performs a live-improvised, electroacoustic score to the classic Chinese silent film "The Goddess" (1934) at @aadl.org (6p, lower level program room)!
follow the link below to stream the show if you aren't local/available
aadl.org/node/664389
Aw, thanks for being there! And thanks for using your library!
A graphic celebrating the birthday of the Pittsfield Branch. It features an illustrated building with water in the foreground and the text "Happy Birthday, Pittsfield Branch! Est. March 20, 2006" on a dark blue background with festive party iconography.
I hope you'll join me this Saturday, March 21st, from 11-1 for a low-key, drop in celebration of 20 years of Pittsfield Branch!
aadl.org/node/665832
A winter photo of a wooden birdhouse on the site of Pittsfield branch, with the steel and masonry building in the background. The birdhouses were an Eagle Scout project by Bill Gallagher.
A dramatic photo of Pittsfield Branch at night taken by Jim Howe on January 3, 2007. Tail lights of cars leave trails across the image and the building's windows glow warmly as the moon shines through clouds above.
The Homer Chance reading room at Pittsfield Branch. The arch of windows high on the wall let light stream through the exposed steel structure. Bright yellow suspended lighting fixtures point towards a vanishing point. Opening day flowers still stand in a vase on top of the fireplace. The treeline is visible through the windows.
A tribute from the Congressional Record by Representative Debbie Dingell on March 21st, 2026 (edited) The Ann Arbor District Library (AADL) system was established in 1957 at the Downtown Library and has expanded to include four branch libraries over the past six decades. Holding over 480,000 materials - including books, DVDs, CDs, audiobooks, tools, art materials, and more - the library was named "National Library of the Year" by Library Journal in 1997. Opened in March of 2006, the Pittsfield Branch serves as a community-based learning center for the residents of Ann Arbor's southwest quadrant while also capitalizing on environmental principles. The goal of the construction was to create a building that would operate in more harmony with the ecosystem and the community in which it serves; the library has done just that for 20 years. The building houses an updated physical collection of books, DVDs, magazines, and more, as well as over two dozen public computer terminals and numerous collaboration spaces for the people who rely on it. Pittsfield Branch also incorporates solar heating, natural daylighting, convection cooling, and renewable resources for the ecosystem it exists in. More than 150,000 people visited Pittsfield Branch in 2025, checking out items from the collection, gathering in meeting rooms, and attending more than 300 in-person events throughout the year. Mister Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me today in celebrating the remarkable 20" anniversary of AAPL's Pittsfield Branch. This milestone is a testament to the library's commitment to providing resources, expanding knowledge, and enriching the Ann Arbor community in a sustainable manner. We commend the generations of members, workers, and visitors who have sustained and raised the library over its 20 years of service, We wish Pittsfield Branch Library continued success and many more years of bringing the community together.
Today is the 20th anniversary of the opening of Pittsfield Branch Library! Suspended over a protected wetland that is home to birds, turtles, and muskrats, Pittsfield Branch had over 150,000 visits in FY25.
Huge thanks to @debbiedingell.house.gov for her congressional tribute to the occasion!
The image is a celebratory graphic for the Pittsfield Branch's 20th anniversary. It features an illustrated poster of the library with trees and a water reflection. Text on the right reads, "Celebrating 20 Years of Pittsfield Branch" with event details: "Sat | March 21 | 11AM, Pittsfield Branch." Decorative icons like presents, balloons, and confetti surround the text.
Our Pittsfield Branch first opened on March 20, 2006 and we want to celebrate the 20th anniversary with cookies, buttons, and commemorative bookmarks! Join us for this low-key celebration of phenomenal Pittsfield!
This Saturday, March 21 at 11 AM at Pittsfield.
🎉 https://aadl.org/node/665832
(not complaining much, but it's definitely a move for a corporation to use an image from our archives to wrap itself in public service without permission or attribution!)
Yep, on the phone. Not per item, but to tell them that you don’t want content that the publisher has tagged as slop to be presented to your patrons so you can pay for it when they mistakenly click on it. The whole deal across all the big pubs is a nightmare… but we as an industry signed up for it.
The real fun with Hoopla is that libraries have to call them to ask to opt out of slop-ass genAI titles in the database that libraries still have to pay full price per click for, even though patrons immediately know it’s slop and click away. And it’s on the slop publishers to voluntarily label slop!
Hoopla is almost always pay per circ for the library, with few exceptions. Libby rarely bills the library per click, though many Libby titles expire after a set number of checkouts and have to be re-bought. Generally Libby circs cost the library less but there are a million confounding variables.
Promo graphic for an upcoming AADL event titled, "Matthew Dear: Creativity, Process, and Performance," followed by the event details and an AADL byte. Features a side profile photo of DJ Matthew Dear.
Join world-renowned electronic music producer and DJ Matthew Dear for an inside look at his creative process, culminating in a captivating live performance!
Friday, March 20 at 6 PM at the Downtown Library.
→ https://aadl.org/node/663984
I don't have much to share about Presidents Day, but two years ago @aadl.org commissioned me to create an electronics piece based on/using audio from LBJ's 'Great Society' speech (delivered as a UM commencement address)
So, I made "Condemned to a Soulless Wealth" - enjoy!
aadl.org/condemnedtoa...
If i had a nickel for every time we helped @archive.org rescue several pallets of VHS recordings, etc etc
View through the lift of a forklift holding a shrink wrapped pallet of mcdonalds boxes filled with vhs tapes of tv broadcasts from the naughts while a half-built high school robotics field lingers in the background and a humongous fan(tm) spins lazily above. The donation operations of the Friends of the library recede into the distance.
Forklifting a pallet of McDonalds hashbrowns boxes full of VHS tapes of broadcast TV bound for @archive.org to make room for FIRST in Michigan’s swerve drive robotics training event in our warehouse this weekend while the local teams build their practice field. Just normal library director stuff.
A terrific relic from this era is Rodney Alan Greenblat's (artist who created Parappa the Rapper) CDROM Dazzleoids: archive.org/details/dazz... With the best villain name ever: THE MEDIOGRE
A family poses with Akako, who wears glasses and a yellow hat. The backdrop is bright yellow. A man photographs the scene, with everyone smiling for the camera.
Two children engage in activities at AADL's Groundhog Party in a library. A bright stage and colorful banner on the lobby screen creates a playful, lively atmosphere.
Children color Akako coloring sheets at a table. Colorful crayons and markers are in a blue container. The scene is creative and cheerful.
Children gather around a table for a button-making activity, guided by an adult.
AADL hosted a Groundhog Party today, featuring our own mascot and friend, Akako G. Shins! Buttons, stickers, coloring sheets, and plenty of photo ops!
Learn more about Akako at AADL.org/akakogshins
Thank you so much for the Library shout-out, this video was outstanding and inspiring! We'd love to book you for a talk at the Ann Arbor Library sometime. You can email me at eli@aadl.org, or let us know if you have a booking contact or representation we could talk to. You're the best.
Thanks so much for tuning in!
TONIGHT! A conversation with NFL punter, activist, gamer, and candidate @chriswarcraft.bsky.social and award-winning author, musician, and burritovator @scalzi.com at the @aadl.org Downtown Library! From 6-7 PM EST followed by a signing. Join us, or watch it live: www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBxG...
(note to townies, I cannot believe that I misspelled Blimpy Burger. I will do 10 Drake's Limeades and 5 Mr. Flood's Parties as penance)
Vault of Midnight: www.vaultofmidnight.com
Lunch at Blimpie Burger, Bop Shop, or Zingerman's
Coffee: Roos Roast, Comet, Hyperion
Don't miss Bon Bon Bon in Nickels Arcade for amazing small chocolates to take home: bonbonbon.com
See you tonight!
- your friendly neighborhood library director