It has been delightful having Flat Stanley as a guest in our home for the past few weeks. During the last week of his stay I was able to take him to work with me to meet some of the people I work with and to learn a bit about the Library of Virginia.
The Library of Virginia is located in downtown Richmond. My day begins at 6:00 a.m. when I get up. Terry makes breakfast and I am out the door by 6:50 a.m. to catch the bus to work. I usually arrive at work at 7:15 a.m. As the library does not open to the public until 9:00 a.m., the lobby is usually empty when I arrive.
My office is on the top or 5th floor. I work at the Library Development and Networking Department of the Library of Virginia as the Children's and Youth Services Consultant. This means I work with about 400 public libraries in Virginia to support and improve library service to their communities - specifically in the area of promoting reading and using the library for children and young people. Sometimes I spend the whole day at my desk, answering email, planning training workshops or working on projects. Two big projects are the summer reading program and the winter reading program. Other days I attend meetings or visit libraries. Whatever I do I try to remember why I do what I do. One thing that keeps me focused on mu work is to remember my friends both in Hibbing and my new friends in Virginia.
Of course, I am not the only person who works with public libraries. You have already meet Sandy Treadway - director and Libby, head of the department. Carol is my supervisor; she oversees all the grants projects. This includes two huge projects on upgrading computer access at libraries and use of state and federal funds that public libraries receive.
Cindy is a co-worker who helps libraries with continuing education programs. She sets up training sessions for library staff on cataloging, computer training and other areas of library service. Cindy likes cats.
Rose is also a co-worker who helps libraries with their websitea. One her huge projects is redesigning library websites using Plinkit. Seen with Rose is Paranita, who does many behind the scene things that make my life and the others in the department easier. She makes sure bills are paid and all the state rules are followed. She takes care of much of the details involved in setting up training sessions.
I work with people who are smart and friendly, but the department is small compared with other departments within the library. One of the big tasks of the Library of Virginia is to house and preserve the 400 years of history of the state. This includes cataloging all government documents. With 400 years of history this becomes an interesting task. Some of the books, maps and letters are quite valuable and are held in very secure areas of the library; for example, the Declaration of Independence.
During my lunch break Flat Stanley and I visited with the director of special collections... but I will let Flat Stanley tell that story.
Around 5:00p.m. I catch the bus home. It is a 20-25 minute ride depending on traffic. Often Terry has dinner ready, but sometime wes do go out to eat.
One of the resturtants not far from our house is Five Guys, which is a fun place to eat. The hamburgers are huge and they serve double portions of hot greasy salty fries. They go through a lot of potatoes each day and advertise where the spuds are from.
After you order your hamburger, you can stop by the peanut box and grab up some peanuts to eat while waiting for your order.
If you don't like hamburger... well, you can always have a hot dog.
Mr. Tom, director of the special collections department, and I are seen here with the first written history of the world. Liber Chronicarum or The Nuremburg Chronicle was published in 1493. It is in Latin, which Flat Stanley cannot read. The paper is about three times thicker than me and with all the pages stacked one on top of the other the book is about as thick as I am tall. The book according to Mr. Tom was created Incunable or before the Gutenberg printing press. Mr. Tom also said the book is based on the book of Genesis in the Bible, but a lot more was added. The Liber Chronicarum was later written in German and printed. Some of the books, there were about 2500 printed, were colored in with watercolors. The book owned by the Library of Virginia does not have watercolor illustrations. 
