Word Woman

Welcome to another astonishing episode of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! Here's hoping that your holiday was full of joy and wonder, and maybe even a new book or two to keep your mind active during the dark winter months. Now, let's light up those brain cells with the Word of the Week:

Mondayish: tired, despondent, fed up with life, lacking interest in things; mondayish means feeling, as one so often does on Monday, chilled by the prospect of another week of work -- as though work, or at least congenial work, did not afford life's most enduring satisfaction. -- "Name Into Word: A Discursive Dictionary", Eric Partridge, The Macmillan Company, New York, 1950.

Example: The anti-climactic nature of the day after a holiday sometimes leaves people feeling a bit mondayish.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Hopefully Santa got you everything you asked for this year. We'll be taking the day off today to celebrate the holiday, but we'll be open again tomorrow at 10 am as usual.

Happy holidays!

(Original photo by flickr user krisdecurtis. Some Rights Reserved)

Colorful Circulation

We've endured a week of smelling paint fumes up in the circulation department and now we can see the results. Here's a peek at what will be above and behind the new accounts desk. For now, our old checkout desk is still standing.

Soon the carpet will go in the new account desk area, then it will be time to build a desk.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Here in Missoula we're finally starting to get some snow accumulation. We started the first full day of winter off right as we woke up with a couple of inches of snow and a gentle snowfall. And just three days before Christmas, we sure needed it!

The Dog Days of Winter

Winter really just started, but it's been so cold it seems like it will never end. We have just the thing for you tomorrow (December 20th) in the large meeting room. Celebrity pup Moritz will be here to give pawtographs and read from his new book with a little help from some guy named Barry (who will also be available for autographs).

In conjunction with the reading we'll be decorating cookies to get you in the Christmas spirit. The event will kick off at 2 pm.

Word Woman

Welcome to another amazing installment of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! It's cold outside, with more snow and below zero temperatures yet to come, by all reports -- a great time to curl up with a good book. In Word Woman's case, the book of choice would be a dictionary, of course. Here's a selection from one of my favorite dictionaries at the library:

Live dictionary: What some cowboys called a schoolmarm or any other woman with lots of words. In Elmer Kelton's splendid novel The Good Old Boys, the protagonist, Hewey, a good old cowboy, meets a live dictionary, falls for her and in the end has to decide whether to settle down with her or keep on rolling. -- "Dictionary of the American West", Winfred Blevins, Facts on File Books, New York, 1993.

Example: Word Woman's family finds it useful to have a live dictionary on hand to settle disputes while playing Scrabble on family game night.

Welcome School Librarians!

Anyone visiting the library this afternoon may notice an extra librarian or two (or 40) wandering the stacks. We're excited to host Missoula's school librarians for an in-service tour & online resource demo. Plus, we get to muscle in on their seasonal social hour afterwards. We always knew the library was the spot to find knowledgable people ready to help with a smile! And be prepared, students, because your school librarians will be energized and armed with new tips & tricks to get you on the road to that "A" you've always wanted.

Evaluate Your Invesments for the New Year

Track your investments and plan for the future with Morningstar Investment Research Center. You'll find Morningstar in the "E-Databases" section of our website. Read on to learn how Morningstar's Portfolio X-Ray can help you evaluate your investments for 2009.

Morningstar Training Corner | by Lars Wasvick, Associate Product Manager Holidays Mean X-Rays for Your Portfolio It's that time of year again when we are all gearing up for the holidays--busy making plans, buying gifts, and monitoring our spending. It may also be the time of year when you re-evaluate your 401(k) or explore investment opportunities for the New Year. You can use the Morningstar Portfolio X-Ray to your portfolio by sector, stock type, geographical asset allocation, and much more. The first step to performing an X-Ray is to input your holdings. Keep in mind you can enter funds, stocks, ETFs, and even cash into your portfolio. You can also enter the actual dollar amounts, or base it on percentages. When you view the portfolio you will see an overall breakdown of the holdings. Think of this as the snapshot view of a mutual fund page. Here you will find asset allocation and the percent exposure of your overall portfolio by sector and stock type. You will also find expense ratio information, stock stats, and any international exposure. Although the X-Ray Overview is impressive, just imagine if there was a financial professional there to explain those results to you. Well, if you go to the drop-down box and select Interpreter you get just that--an explanation of the data. This is an extremely helpful feature because it will point out any sectors or stock types that may be exceeding or falling short of the benchmark. Not only that, but X-Ray will also tell you what sort of asset mix you have and the investment horizon that will most likely suit the portfolio. I recommend reading the Portfolio Strategies article on the Help and Education page of Morningstar Investment Research Center. The article is by our personal finance specialist and goes through five steps to give your portfolio a year-end checkup. (C) Copyright 2008. Morningstar, Inc. 225 West Wacker Drive Chicago, Illinois All rights reserved.

Neither Rain Nor Snow...

Missoula has turned out in surprising numbers on the coldest, snowiest day we've seen so far this winter. It's not like we're flooded with people, but people have been trickling in since we opened.

I, for one, will be glad to get home, shovel my steps and sit down with a nice hot cup of hot chocolate and a movie.

Well Worn Countertop

Our current checkout desk is slated to be demolished in the very near future. This desk was fairly new when I started working here, but as you can see quite a few books have passed over the counter since then.

We don't have a set date for when this desk is going to give up the ghost, but rest assured it is not long for this world. Once it disappears we'll have to scramble to get you checked out until we get our new accounts desk up. We're looking at some contingency plans now, which we'll tell you about in greater detail once they're all worked out.

Word Woman

Welcome to another exciting episode of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! Keeping your brain in shape is the name of the game -- I've done my mental push-ups for the day with the daily crossword puzzle. How about you? Now, let's get going with the Word of the Week, a familiar term to most, but with an interesting origin:

Donate: The verb donate is a back formation from the noun donation. An Americanism recorded as early as 1795, it is firmly established today, but at first met with vociferous opposition, having been placed on William Cullen Bryant's Index Expurgatorius and denounced as "a pretentious and magniloquent vulgarism" by a British writer as late as 1935. -- "The Facts On File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins", Robert Hendrickson, Checkmark Books, 1997.

Example: 'Tis the season to open your heart and your pocketbook to those less fortunate than yourself and donate a modest sum to charity.

Construction Update

One of the plastic walls in our back circulation office has come down this morning, exposing the nice curved wall that will serve as the backdrop for our accounts desk. The opening in the center will be a window, although staff commented today that maybe an aquarium would be a better idea. We'll have to look at the budget.

Now that they've pretty much gotten a handle on the drywall, things should start moving along at a quick and hopefully quieter pace than before.

Graphic Lit Has a Home!

We now have a brand new collection here at the library. It's right past our self pick-up holds towards the Reference Desk. Here you'll find an assortment of Fiction and Non-Fiction that use pictures alongside words to tell the story or convey information. Graphic Literature. Here you'll find biographies, short stories, historical fiction, alternate histories and on and on.

I just picked up my very first graphic novel on Monday. It only took me about an hour to finish it, which was a refreshing change of pace. Be sure to take a look at this new collection and pick up a title or two. It's never too late to try something new!

O Tannenbaum

Many thanks to the Lolo Brownies who stormed the library Monday evening with homemade ornaments, and decorated the tree in our downstairs lobby. It seemed like one minute the tree was bare and the next it was full of color. They did a fantastic job, and their ornaments are so creative I might just have to steal a few ideas for my own tree!

Bookdrop Beer!

Last week, someone dropped two pristine, unopened cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon in our bookdrop. Somehow, I left the library with them in my bag, and my wife and I enjoyed them while watching The Librarian III: Curse of the Judas Chalice. Thanks Missoula!

300 Posts

Already? They go by so fast, but we now have posted 300 times!

(Original Photo by Flickr user Johntrainer. Some Rights Reserved)

Librarians on Parade

This weekend was a busy one. Not only did we have a party, we also represented the library at the annual Parade of Lights parade. None of us really know what we were doing, but we got lots of cheers and heard, "I love the library!" more times than I could count.

We gave away two full bags of magnets, candy canes and temporary tattoos. I had no idea marching in a parade was such fun, I guess that's why Missoula has parades all the time. I know we'll participate in parades in the future after this one.

Special thanks to Joyce's husband who took some great pictures of us marching. See more of his work at edoylephotography.com.

More free music from MPL

Our classical music database offers weekly free music downloads and this week is...Mozart's Serenade No. 11 in E flat, K. 375 performed by the Ensemble á Vent Français Bordeaux Aquitaine, Michel Arrignon, conductor.
To get this free download go to the E-databases link on our homepage and go into the Classical Music Library from the Alexander Street link.

Ain't No Party Like a Library Party

This weekend a large portion of our staff got together to send our Interlibrary Loan Librarian Myra into her retirement (which is still forthcoming).

In order to protect our collective reputation, this picture is the only proof you'll get that lots of us were in the same place at the same time.

With the Kids, We're All Right

We participated in the Missoula Downtown Association's annual display window contest and took first place in the Children's Choice category! They dropped off a delicious plate of Bernice's Bakery cookies, which are already all but gone. Special thanks go to Molly and Laura (aka Word Woman) for coming up with the idea and making that idea a reality.

Here's an admittedly bad picture of the display. It almost looks like the sun is shining brightly on the snowmen, but don't worry, they'll be around for a while yet. And maybe this weekend we'll get some real snow so these won't be the only snowmen downtown.

Word Woman

Welcome to another astounding installment of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! Don't let the cold, dark days of winter get you down --- keep your brain from going into hibernation by improving your vocabulary! Here's a double word score Word of the Week illuminating two words which are often confused:

Ensure: (verb) to guarantee; to make safe; to protect; to make sure
as opposed to
Insure: (verb) to provide insurance; to take out insurance -- "Word Traps", Jordan L. Linfield & Joseph Krevisky, Innovation Press, 1993.

Example: If you wish to ensure your family's financial security, be certain that you are well insured.

Holiday Library Pets

Hopefully you guys all had a great Thanksgiving and have enough leftovers to make a nice sandwich for lunch today. My personal favorite? A Turkey sandwich with warm mashed potatoes, lettuce and cranberry sauce. And lots of salt and pepper.

And since Thanksgiving is over, the Christmas season can now begin. Here's the first in a series of librarian pets dressed up for the holidays. The inaugural selection comes from Paulette in Tech Services and her two cats Kenna and Jax respectively visiting "Santa Paws."


Happy Holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving! The library is closed today and tomorrow for the Thanksgiving holiday.

(Photo by Flickr user Hey Paul. Some Rights Reserved)

Anyone getting to sleep early to check out all the black Friday sales? If you are, check out blackfriday.info to see all the deals and come up with a plan of attack.

Word Woman

Welcome to another fun-filled installment of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! While you're busy stretching your stomach with all of that great Thanksgiving food tomorrow, why not stretch your mind by learning a new word or two? Here's the Word of the Week to start things off for you:

Atrabilarian: a sad or gloomy individual; an irritable and bad-tempered person (adj. - atrabilious) -- "-Ologies and -Isms", Howard G. Zettler, Ph. D., Ed., Gale Research Company, 1978.

Example: May your Thanksgiving feast be bountiful and blessedly free of atrabilarians. Happy Holidays!

Twilight Fever

A couple dozen teens took over the Young Adult room last Friday for our Twilight Release Party. We started with a Twilight Trivia game, Jeopardy-style. Then we had a book discussion -- and boy were there a lot of opinions! -- and finished with a live readers theater presentation of a teen-authored Twilight/Harry Potter hybrid story that was great fun. One person even brought her copy of the movie soundtrack.

Between munching on snacks (including apples in homage to the cover art) the teens shared their opinions on the book and what they hoped the movie would include. The party broke up before closing, only to meet together again at the movies that night. (For those of you who haven't seen it yet, the movie sticks to the book pretty well. Don't worry, I won't spoil it.)

If you had a great time at our Twilight party (or if you missed it and don't want to miss out on any other fun times), you might want to join our new Teen Book Club. Our first meeting is Saturday, Dec. 13, at 3 p.m. It's an informational meeting, which means there's no book to read this time -- and you can help pick what books you want to read for future meetings. (New Moon, anyone?) We'll have more details on our YA page as they're available.

OR, join YAAC, our Young Adult Advisory Council, and figure out what fun event we should offer next! See the YA page for details. See you at the library!

Word Woman

Welcome to another mind-bending episode of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! Regular exercise and a healthy diet are two excellent means of protecting your brain from memory loss associated with aging. Another one is to expand your vocabulary by learning new words. So let's go ahead and give the gray matter a good stretch with the Word of the Week:

Nexus: [nek-sus] (noun) something that joins or connects; link; tie. -- "The New York Times Everyday Reader's Dictionary of Misunderstood, Misused, Mispronounced Words", Laurence Urdang, Ed., The New York Times Book Company, 1972.

Example: The library serves as a nexus for many different types of people, helping them to find common ground in their mutual interests and perhaps develop a better appreciation of one another.

Tons O' Updates

(Original Photo by Flickr user Xurble. Some Rights Reserved)

If you've been to the library, or you follow this blog, you no doubt know that we've been going through some pretty big changes. I thought I'd take a moment to update you on the progress, or changes to what I've already told you.

In downloadable audio news, the folks at Overdrive have just rolled out a mac version of their media console. Now you mac users can download and listen to audio books on your computer and transfer them to mp3 players. I'm not a mac user, so let me know what problems you encounter and I'll try to find a solution or workaround. Just head over to MontanaLibrary2Go and pick up the player.

In self hold pick-up news, we've changed the way holds will be ordered because of privacy concerns. Now, you can find your holds ordered by the last 5 digits of your library card number. This way, your name isn't associated at all with the items you are checking out, and isn't visible to anyone else. The holds are located past the current check-out desk on the way to the reference desk.

In "Giant Plastic Blob" news, construction is hammering away, sometimes quite literally. They've made a ton of progress as shown here

In behind the counter news, which I haven't yet posted about, here's a look at our new, stainless steel check-in counters. Our Frenchtown branch librarian Heather is seen here testing the new setup and looking for ways to make to make our work more efficient.

And finally, starting today we're trying out a new system of letting you, the patron, help us out a bit by putting kids and young adult books in the right hand slot, and adult books in the left hand slot. You'll see this when we finish our remodel, so we thought we'd just go ahead and start now to get everyone used to it.

Even More Current Events

In addition to the new self hold pick-up area I told you about yesterday, you'll notice a giant plastic blob where our old sit down check-out desk used to be.

Today our construction workers are starting to demo (as in demolish) one of the walls that used to house the circulation department. This is yet another phase in our ongoing remodel. The plastic blob will be replaced by the new "accounts" desk. This will be where you will pay fines, deal with missing holds, ask for help, etc.

The plus side is that the big plastic blob will be a great landmark in giving directions to our self hold pick-up. "Just walk past this big plastic blob and you'll see the holds."

There will be a bit of noise in the coming days, but trust me, it will be worth it. We're finally nearing the final stages of our *huge* remodel project.

Happening RIGHT NOW!

We're in the midst of a huge change in the way things work here at the library. It used to be that when you had a hold on something, you just went to the checkout desk and we grabbed it from the back. Now, you can pick up holds yourselves.

This comes in anticipation of the new self-check out machines that should be coming very soon. In the future, you'll be able to grab your hold and check out without waiting for one of us to help you. This should keep your privacy at a maximum and your time spent in lines to a minimum.

The holds are shelved alphabetically by last name, and we've moved out the holds up to last names starting with "R," but more and more should be going out throughout the day. Each hold slip covers the title and cover of your item so no one but you should know what you have waiting for pick up. We hope to be fully operational with our self hold pick-up system by the end of the weekend. Wish us luck!

Word Woman

Welcome to another astounding episode of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! A mind is a terrible thing to waste, so keep yours active with exercises like crossword puzzles, sudoku and (of course) learning new words. Now let's warm up those mental muscles with the Word of the Week:

Gourmand: One overfond of eating, a glutton. In 1491 when Caxton speaks of "gourmands and gluttons which eat more than is to them necessary," he is using the word in its pejorative sense. By 1890, the word also meant a delicate or choosy eater. Now, in our diet-conscious age, we again use it as a synonym for "glutton," although in French it retains positive connotations. The similar terms gourmet (1820) and gastronome (1823) both imply exquisite discrimination in eating, but they are sometimes ironically used to imply an obsession with food. -- "Kind Words: A Thesaurus of Euphemisms", Judith S. Neaman & Carole G. Silver, McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1983.

Example: While the chef at the restaurant received much acclaim from the diners for his fine gourmet creations, he was also known among the employees as a bit of a gourmand, so the pantry was always keep well-stocked just as a precaution.

Veteran's Day

The library is closed today in honor of Veteran's Day. Take a moment to think about those who have fought for our freedom.

(Photo by Flickr user christyfrink. Some Right Reserved.)

We will open again tomorrow at 10 am.

Word Woman

Welcome to another mind-bending episode of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! I hope that everyone got out on Tuesday and exercised their voting privilege. The elections were definitely worth following, both at the national and local level, with many races being too close to call until the very end. In honor of our great democratic process, here is one last political term for 2008:

Faithless elector: (noun) a member of the electoral college who votes for a candidate other than that pledged. -- "Hatchet Jobs and Hardball: The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang", Grant Barrett, Ed., Oxford University Press, 2004.

Example: In a close-run election such as this, there is always the concern that faithless electors may exert undue influence and swing the vote for one candidate or the other.

R.I.P. Michael Crichton

Author Michael Crichton died yesterday after a private battle with cancer.

His books helped catapult my reading career from kids books to novels. I've read Sphere more than a few times. Even though he won't be canonized for his work, he wrote some great stories. I mean Jurassic Park? Awesome.

RIP

Get Out and Vote!

The Missoula Public Library is closed for the election today. Remember to get out and vote! That is if you haven't already.

We'll be open again tomorrow at 10 o'clock.

Lib"Scare"ians

This year the library is filled with Halloween spirit. I'm pretty sure that in the close to 4 years I've worked here this is the most dressed up we've been. I took the easy road by just bringing in my Ronald Reagan mask. But that still counts, right?

Then I ran into Heather, who dressed up like Eddy from Eddy's coffee shop in our lower lobby!

And our staff room is filled with treats, my favorites? These awesome witch fingers that Kathy from tech services brought in. They're almost too creepy looking to eat, but they taste delicious.

Word Woman

Welcome to another wild and woolly Halloween episode of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! In keeping with the spirit of the holiday, the Word of the Week is of the spooky variety. Don't make the grave mistake of letting your brain cells rot; extend the lifetime warranty on your mind by expanding your vocabulary:

Uliginous: [yoo-lidj-uh-nus] an adjective meaning 'swampy, slimy, oozy'. From a Latin word meaning 'full of moisture'. -- "More Weird and Wonderful Words", Erin McKean, Ed., Oxford University Press, 2003.

Example: Loathsome and uliginous creatures prowl the streets in search of treats on Halloween night.

Happy Halloween to all, and to all a frightful night!

Sad News

Our longtime friend and inspiration Mona Frangos died this week. You may not have known Mona, but if you've ever stepped foot inside our building you no doubt know her handiwork:

The gnome house has inspired wonder and imagination in children for 20+ years. Odds are most of our patrons remember the gnome house much longer than anything else about the library. While working upstairs at the desk, I see kids crowded around the gnome house almost all day long. The intricacies and details of the house are a testament to Mona's artistic prowess and her sense of wonder. Whenever we look at the gnome house or the entrance to the children's area, which was inspired by the gnome house, we'll think of you Mona. RIP.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the details in the gnome house.

Celebrity Poetry Reading

Missoula Public Library provided space for several events of this year's Montana Festival of the Book. The large meeting room was home to a poetry reading which featured some well-known names.

First up was Montana's Poet Laureate, Greg Pape.

Then Senator Jon Tester read a favorite of his about the farming life.

Missoula's Mayor John Engen then explained how hard it was to find an appropriate poem to read, eventually offering one about politics.

A good time was had by the full room's attendees, judging by the laughter and applause that echoed around downstairs.