NLCSUM

That somewhat homely acronym in all caps above stands for National Library Card Sign-Up Month, which begins in earnest on the 4th.

In addition to the groovy fine amnesty explained below, we'll be having two bands kick off the month: Riddilin Que and The Sherlocks will bring their own brands of Western Montana punk/diy to the Large Meeting Room (downstairs) on Friday the 7th, at 7pm. Admission is, of course, free.

For the kids, signing up for a library card this month will mean getting their picture taken walking the plank as a pirate, and a bag of library goodies. The most important thing though, is the library card. It's never too early to get kids into reading and what better place to start than at the library? With their own card, kids can gain a sense of responsibility and a more personal connection to the books they check out.

Next week we will also be asking you if your address is current, so please bear with us if you come in twice a day every day and get asked for your address each time. We like you, we really do.

Amnesty Comes to Missoula Public Library

Have you been avoiding us? Are you afraid to visit because you know the Madam Pince of MPL will scold you for your overdue fines?

Well, now is the time to set aside your fears, buck up your courage, and come back to us! In honor of National Library Card Sign-up Month, September 4-11, 2007 is School Supplies for Fines! If you bring in new, unopened school supplies (loose leaf paper, notebooks, pack of pencils, etc.), we will be happy to waive any and all of your overdue fines. (Now mind you, if you have more than one library card with fines, please bring us more than one school supply item.) All school supplies you bring in will be donated to Missoula Youth Homes.

Please take advantage of this opportunity to clear up your fines and donate to a great organization; we miss you and want you to come back!

What Do You Do With Old Books?

If you don't want to donate them to us, maybe you could use them in your next art project. Check out these creative pieces of book art.

Saying goodbye

well, as many of you know from a previous blog, I am leaving Missoula Public Library. Today is my last day, and in fact, I am now into my last half hour here.

I just wanted to take this opportunity to tell everyone how much I have enjoyed working at this library. Our public is wonderful, and I have gotten to know so many of you through Tiny Tales and the fifth grade art program. I might not always remember names, but I do remember helping each and everyone. Saying goodbye to the young people is the most difficult thing, I have watched many of the little ones take their first steps. Then there are the teenagers that hang out here. What can I say about you? Except that I will miss you, and I loved the questions you came up with for me. I will miss hosting the Murder Mystery program every year, that has always been so much fun.

Today, as part of my last day, we had a Sidewalk Art program, where anyone that wanted to could draw on the sidewalk and enjoy some watermelon (and boy, was that watermelon sweet and juicy - YUM).

I will close with all the pictures I took today, and you can see how much fun we had. Thank you to everyone that participated, and a special thank you to my volunteers Ruth and Heidi. (Speaking of volunteers, I did not get a chance to thank each of my volunteers, nor to tell them how much they have meant to me. So Stephan, Heidi, J.J. and anyone else I may have missed, it has been a great pleasure getting to know you and having you help out. The work you do for us is so important, and such a huge help!)

ok, now on to the pictures:

Got Bacn?

A new internet term has been born! Long live bacn! What is bacn? Well, if anything bacn is better than spam, right? Right.

Bacn is the email you get that isn't spam, but also isn't a message from a real person. Although, it could be from a real person, just not personalized to you. Let me explain. Bacn is a message you get from sites like facebook or myspace informing you you have a message waiting for you there. If you use Google Alerts, you get bacn. I sent out some Bacn earlier today when I emailed the library newsletter out to those of you who signed up for newsletters via email.

Basically, bacn is something you'll get around to checking, but not until you have time. Enjoy!

I have good news, and I have bad news...

which would you like first?

I don't really believe that the best way to remove a bandaid is quickly, but in this case, I just want to get the pain over with, so here goes.

Missoula Public Library, as well as Missoula, are losing a very dear friend. Rita, who many of you know from Tiny Tales and Storytime, is leaving Montana. We are very sad to see her go, and know that she can never be replaced. During her fifteen years of service at MPL, Rita has acquired many fans, young and old. She has brought us many wonderful programs, such as our annual Pop-up Valentine program and our April teaparty. She also does a storytime with toddlers three times a week and is the highlight of many three-year-olds' mornings.

So what the heck is the good news?!?!

Well, we want to send Rita off on her new adventure in style. Her last day at MPL is Friday, August 24th and she's hosting one last spectacular program for us. Please join Rita at 2pm on the Front Street sidewalk outside the library. She'll be waiting with sidewalk chalk, watermelon, and lemonade. You can draw a picture representing your favorite book, your favorite summer activity, or a farewell card to Rita.

Please help us send Rita off with a bang, and let her know how much she'll be missed.

Notaries At MPL

About two weeks ago I sold my car. I loved that thing, my friends and I nicknamed it "Lil' Teal." But after the manifold went bad and I needed a bit more money to fund my impending marriage, I decided the time had come to part ways. I found an old roommate and good friend to take the car, so I could still see him now and again. We settled on a fair price and then realized we needed a notary to make it official.

This all happened at about 7 pm on a weekday, so we couldn't go to a bank or car dealership. Then, I remembered that we had a notary at the library, where I work. I rarely have the chance to be a regular patron here at MPL, but on this occasion was very glad there are 3 certified notaries working here. After a quick and painless couple of minutes my friend and I were headed home, her in Lil' Teal and me with freshly lined pockets. Thanks Gail!

So if you're in need of a notary at an odd time, check the library. We have three, and there's a good chance one will be here. Maybe give a call beforehand, just in case.

See ya later Lil' Teal!

Our 100th Post!!!

A modest accomplishment, yes, but we somehow managed to make it to a landmark 100 posts on our blog. It only took 10 or so of us, be we made it. How are we doing so far? Let us know in the comments.

With all of this blogging you wouldn't think we would have time for anything else, but rest assured we have a lot more going on. With the extra business of summer, we've been knee deep in books and the family reading program has kept our aisles packed with bodies. Personally, I spent the last weekend immersed in music. The whole gambit from Heavy Metal at Total Fest to seeing the Missoula Symphony Orchestra in Caras Park. And I know I wasn't the only public library employee at the Symphony concert...see if you can spot the other one in this picture (shamelessly stolen from Rebecca Ellen's Flickr stream)

Couple O' Tidbits From Around The Web

A few links to some interesting tidbits scattered throughout the vast reaches of the world wide web.

Venezuela's four-legged mobile libraries

New York Public Library has "espresso book machine"

Free mystery e-books!

Vote for the Cheap Date Night movie you want to see in October @ MPL

Cormac McCarthy book turned into feature film

More news than you can shake a stick at

Book TV Part 2

I'm fresh off of the bus. C-Span's Book TV bus that is. The thing is huge! Not that I was expecting a school bus or anything, but this was gigantic. I guess it has to be to serve as a roving TV studio. And even with all of that space, they still had a super compact, simple (for those that know what they're doing) control set up.

Everyone I saw was a little bummed they weren't doing a interview with a local author or professor, but they were only here for a few hours. Plus the number of professors in town right now is pretty slim. The lights in the hot seat were pretty bright.

Rodee and Vanessa did a great job promoting the bus and answering all the questions patrons and staff had for them. We're glad they stopped by our library, and hopefully they can come by again and do an interview or two. Who knows, maybe one of our own staff members will have a book out by then. I know a former staff member we could call if need be...

Check our flikr site for more pictures!

Book TV at MPL!

Book TV on C-SPAN2 features 48 hours of programming about nonfiction books each weekend, running continuously from 8:00 AM Saturday to 8:00 AM Monday.

Today, Tuesday, August 7, the Book TV Bus will be visiting Missoula Public library. Between the hours of 12:30 PM and 2 PM, YOU can visit the Book TV Bus and check out Book TV's mobile production studio.

Can't wait? You can also visit the Bus across the street at the Missoula Children's Theater from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM or click on the bus to visit the Book TV Bus MySpace page right now.

Choking On Smoke

This is the scene here in Missoula this morning. Over the weekend there was a brief reprieve in smoke, while I was out of town of course. I came back to a smoky, low-visibility Missoula. I think the smoke is almost the only topic of conversation here at the library. When checking out to patrons our conversations rarely stray from small talk, and the weather is always an easy subject, so we focus on the heat and smoke.

Why is the smoke back? The Jocko lake fire exploded over the weekend and was declared the top-priority wildfire in the country. Yesterday crews estimated the fire had burned close to 18,000 acres, but called it a rough estimate since they couldn't see well enough through the intense amount of smoke. Read about it here.

So maybe it would be a good day to come grab a movie or book and stay inside, instead of choking on the smoke outside.

Blog Block

Seems Missoula Public Library employees are suffering from a relatively unknown disease called Blog Block. This serious illness attacks bloggers who suffer the pressure of writing something interesting, insightful, or witty on a regular basis. The pressures to produce can become overwhelming, resulting in poor or null performances.

July saw only 12 blog posts from MPL employees, as opposed to our 20 in June and 25 in May. The cause of this poor performance is difficult to pinpoint. It's certainly not that the library has been uneventful this summer--definitely not! Summer is, believe it or not, even busier than the school year. Maybe the heat has fried our brains, or maybe the smoke is preventing our synapses from firing properly.

Whatever the case, never fear, we are working on finding a cure. Rest assured that we are diligently working on overcoming our poor performance and hope to bring you interesting, insightful, and witty blog posts in the very near future. Please don't' give up on us, yet!

And the winner is...

Here we are, huddled in a corner office for the day, trying to answer....

"Who will be the NEXT NEW LIBRARY ASSISTANT?" (a la American Idol - minus the fame, the singing, Ryan Seacrest, etc.)

10 interviews. 120 questions. 1 day. 1 no-show. 3 very tired judges.

We were impressed by the contestants. While America does not get to vote, you can trust that we'll choose the best. Stop by in the month or so to meet the winners!