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.