Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from all of us here at the library. Especially from Tove, Paulette, Caroline and Karen who all came to work today with true Halloween spirit. (Paula also dressed up as a member of the FBI or Federal Book Inspectors, but she was AWOL when the picture was taken.) We'll have some candy tonight at our circulation desk and in our computer lab for any little ones who might stop by. Be safe tonight and have a Happy Halloween!


EDIT - Paula was located doing "official" Federal Book Inspector business and was out tracking an overdue book at the time of the initial picture.

Construction Update Part 2

I gave you all a tiny peek last time at the construction going on near the reference desk, but today we'll dig a little bit deeper. Over the past two days, painters have been working non-stop to get the walls done. Here is a quick peak through the window of what will soon be our directors office.

A bit further down we can see the two future quiet rooms. These rooms will be available to groups who want to study together and not disturb the other patrons, a service long overdue for our library.

With all the work they're putting in, it's a good thing the painters had some Rockstar Energy drink to keep them motivated.

We're still a long way off from being done, but progress is being made every day. Or at least most days.

Special Delivery to MPL!

Monday night's Family Storytime had some very special visitors! The theme for this week's storytime is puppies! Four black lab puppies--two boys and two girls--came as a special storytime treat!

My dog, Lily, had a litter of puppies over Labor Day Weekend, and everyone here at the library has been wanting to see them. So I decided to do a special puppy storytime and bring my puppies for a visit!

The puppies even left storytime with new names: Bitey, Sniffy, Tail-Wagger, and Sleepy.

If you're feeling sad that you missed out on all the excitement, never fear! The puppies will visit MPL for an encore visit at our Friday morning (10/26) Storytime at 10:30am.

Halloween is almost here!

Can you believe that Halloween is less than a week away?! I'm not even close to ready yet - I still have decorations to put up for the party, cupcakes to bake, costumes to make... Well, maybe you've got it all together already at your house, but if the thought of the impending holiday fills you with low-level panic like it does for me, let me throw you a lifeline:



We have some great Halloween books here at the Missoula Public Library!



Of course, many of them have already crossed the counter and gone home with intrepid folks who aren't as bad about procrastinating as I am, but don't despair. As of the time of this post, here are just a few of many that still grace the shelves awaiting last-minute planners like myself:



So don't be shy about coming down and grabbing one at the last minute. And if the person who checks it out to you has a sympathetic smile, it's probably me. In fact, I think I'll take one home with me tonight. Or maybe I'll wait until tomorrow...

While you're here, don't miss out on our ever-popular "Not-So-Scary Stories Told in the Light", a Halloween tradition here at the library. These will take place on Saturday, October 27th at 11:00am and Monday, October 29th at 7:00pm. Karen, our children's librarian, will be presenting a Day of the Dead-themed storytime called "Dem Bones" on Friday, November 2nd at 10:30am and Saturday, November 3rd at 11:00am.

Construction Update

You may be wondering what the heck is going on in the old magazine reading area, and with good reason. We're in the process of moving our Directors and Administrative Assistant offices to the other side of the library in order to make room for more room in the Young Adult and Kids departments. We'll also be adding an office for our brand new public relation position. We're still a ways off from having these offices done, but here's a sneak peek through the plastic into the construction zone, looking a little bit pink, but trust me, it really isn't.

The Future of Libraries and Librarians

During my two and a half years of working towards my Master's degree in library science, I can't count the number of times I've been asked why the heck I want to become a librarian. These same people say that no one reads anymore; everyone finds all their information on the internet. Now while I find this to be a grossly inaccurate statement (based on the number of books that pass from my hands to yours on a daily basis), the idea of the future of libraries intrigues me. Some view libraries as a dying and soon-to-be irrelevant organization. But maybe its just libraries as we know them that are ending; instead of dying, however, they are evolving and adapting to meet the needs of our technology-minded culture.

Don't think libraries are forward-thinking places? Visit the Seattle Public Library (above) or check out this design I found for the Czech National Library in Prague (left).


Check out this article to see what some up-and-coming librarians have to say about the future of libraries. They describe how librarians are changing, too. "The Hipster Librarians" are a new group of young, vibrant librarians who are excited about the marriage between books and technology that is librarianship. They don't think libraries are going anywhere anytime soon.

But this is an ongoing debate in the library world. How much longer will libraries be relevant? What do you think? Are we a dying breed, or are we hear to stay?

A New Friend

Circ has a new friend in a bright green iguana. He (or she) appeared in circ a few days ago, and his (or her) popularity varies widely amongst staff. Some don't care much at all for our new friend, while yours truly has taken quite a liking to the little guy (or gal). Now if I could only think of something to name him (or her)...my initial thought was iggy the iguana, but that is just to obvious. Any ideas?

Ridin' The WALE

I spent last weekend with two of my co-workers at the WALE conference. WALE does not, as you may have thought, refer to the large mammal of the ocean, but rather the Washington Association of Library Employees.

The conference was held in Spokane and was quite beneficial. There was some great food, and we learned a few things too. I actually took quite a few things home from my workshops, which ranged from tackling procrastination to useful web based applications. And I won a MP3 player, as you can see above.

The keynote speaker was pretty great. I actually thought about dining and dashing, but stayed and Jess Walter was very enjoyable. I've never read any of his stuff, but I will now. He had a correspondence with Kurt Vonnegut and showed us a very cool leather bound, autographed copy of Sirens of Titan. I was, no doubt, impressed.

Now its back to the daily grind. In fact, I should get to bed, since I am working tomorrow.

We Exist On Facebook!

Well, I finally broke down. I'm teaching some classes next week for parents of teens about social networking, so I thought I would learn about facebook by starting my own profile there and in the process started a Missoula Public Library group. So if you are on facebook take a look and join the group.

I am surprisingly pleased with facebook in general. I didn't think I would be, but it is a lot more personal than the myspace hype machine. It's also much more organized than myspace, which means I still get a little lost. We'll see how it goes.

And if you want to check it out, here is our myspace page. And be sure to look for us on facebook.