Word Woman

Welcome to another mind-bending episode of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! A mind is a terrible thing to waste, so keep yours active by learning new words. Here's the Word of the Week to get you started:

Bafflegab: [noun] confusing or unintelligible speech; doublespeak. -- "Hatchet Jobs and Hardball: The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang", Grant Barrett, Ed., Oxford University Press, New York, 2004.

Example: Brian tried to cover his lack of expertise on the subject of biology by reciting a bunch of bafflegab he had read on the internet.

Planning for the Future!

If you hadn't noticed, we just wrapped up a 2 year remodel. Of course, we are still looking at doing more to serve YOU, our patrons, better. To that end, we have prepared a survey on our webpage soliciting ideas for the future from you. Take our survey and let us know what you'd like to see from us in the future. We'll take the results and start writing a brand new long range plan. Get involved, let us know what you want us to provide!

MPL Writing Contest

(Original photo by Flickr user: the trial. Some Rights Reserved)

The deadline for our first annual writing contest is fast approaching! Entries will be due on March 15th. Official rules and entry form are located here.

And if you're really motivated, you can also submit your entry to the Coeur d'Alene Public Library, who served as our mentor in setting up our rules and contest.

Good Luck!

Review of the Week!

Warm up with a good book, earn a free coffee drink, and win great prizes! Join the Winter Reading Program.


This week we're featuring Connie Acker's review of Interpreter of Maladies: Stories by Jhumpa Lahiri:

"Lahiri's writing is wonderful. It is effortless reading as you are pulled into the lives of her characters. Excellent!"

Don't miss Febraury's Winter Reading Event! Local author Debra Earling will thrill you with a tale at the Adult Story Time on Wednesday, Feb. 25 at 7:00 p.m. Monthy prize drawing!!

Word Woman

Welcome to another weird and wonderful installment of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! Keep your brain in tip-top shape by doing sudoku, crossword puzzles and (my personal favorite) expanding your vocabulary. Let's get a jump on things with the Word of the Week:

Dime novel: A short piece of adventure fiction published in the latter half of the 19th century, usually set in the West or on the frontier and written with stereotypical characters and formulaic plots.
Erastus Beadle brought out the first series of dime novels starting in 1860, and some were hugely successful with the mass audience. Typical dime-novel characters were Deadwood Dick and Hurricane Nell. Buffalo Bill and Calamity Jane were actual Westerners used as characters in these adventure stories. Perhaps the best-known dime novelist was Edward Z. C. Judson, who wrote under the pen name Ned Buntline.
The term came to be used as descriptive of an improbable heroic fantasy -- dime-novel hero, dime-novel rescue. It also yielded the forms dime novelist, dime-novelism, dime-novelish and even dime-novelly. There were also half-dime novels, which sold for a nickel. Not a Westernism, but an Eastern term for a pseudo-Western product. -- "Dictionary of the American West", Winfred Blevins, Facts on File, Inc., New York, 1993.

Example: Edgar played the role of the hero to dime-novelish excess, much to the dismay of the rest of the cast.

A Real Gem From the Past

Earlier this week, a book was returned to the Missoula Public Library that had been checked out in 1905. It made it's way from California to the Midwest actually I learned it traveled from Missoula to New York City, then somewhere in California, then Seattle and finally back to Missoula. stopping at all points in between. Now, in 2009 it finally made it back to it's home (even though the library has moved since then). The book is called Gems for the Fireside or, Casket of Diamonds.

The book is beautifully illustrated and was originally published in 1883. You can take a look at the book in it's entirety thanks to the lovely folks from Google. From the looks of it, the copy they scanned comes from a later version, since the library date stamp is from 1939. Our copy was the tenth book EVER to be included in our collection.

The book is going to be re-cataloged and added to our historical collection in the Audra Browman room, where we keep our genealogical books and other historical finds.

We'd love to hear more about the travels of this book, as we didn't get the full story when it was returned, so if you happen to know who it was that returned it, we would love to have a chat with them so we could fully document this fantastic story.

Free music download

This week's free download from Classical Music Library is Dukas' The Sorcerer's Apprentice, performed by the the Orchestre Symphonique de Radio-Tele-Luxembourg; Louis de Froment, conductor.

To take advantage of this free download visit our website and follow our link for E-databases and open up the Classical Music Library of Alexander Street Press.

Winter Reading Winners!

Warm up with a good book, earn a free coffee drink, and win great prizes! Join the Winter Reading Program!

MPL is excited to announce the Winter Reading prize winners for January. Lynn Weger of Missoula and Teresa Green of Seeley Lake both won $25 gift certificates to Fact & Fiction bookstore. Congratulations!

It isn't too late to join the Winter Reading Program and enter February's prize drawing. Sign up at the Reference Desk.

For this week's review, we feature Jason Cooper on Last Orders by Graham Swift. You can find this book in the Fiction section under SWIFT.

"It's been five years since a novel reduced me to tears quite like that. Perfectly constructed and almost unbearably moving - a book I expect to read again and again throughout my life."

Word Woman

Welcome to another astounding episode of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! Don't let your mind waste away during those long, cold winter nights -- stay sharp by expanding your vocabulary! Here's a winter warm-up Word of the Week to get you started:

Mediscare: [noun] a tactic (often targeting seniors) which claims that Medicare will be cut or canceled. -- "Hatchet Jobs and Hardball: The Oxford Dictionary of American Political Slang", Grant Barrett, Ed., Oxford University Press, 2004.

Example: The representative from Florida used Mediscare as leverage in his bid for re-election, knowing that it would resonate with many of the retired residents in his district.

Thanks Missoula!

Thanks to everyone who took the time to come check out our big reveal grand opening last night. We gave away tons of prizes, took you on tours of the library, did downloadable audiobook demonstrations and really, just had a great time. If you were there, watch KPAX news this Sunday and you just might catch a glimpse of yourself. Or so we were told.

I told you I would be making READ posters for all comers, and I was busy for the whole two hours. Here's a taste of the posters we made.

All in all it was a fantastic event to kick off all the new changes we've made in the past two years. Now we'll be working on our new long range plan, so be sure to let us know what YOU want to see happen at the Missoula Public Library. And if you didn't make it in, be sure to stop by sometime and see all the changes.

One More Reason to Come to Our Open House Tomorrow

I'll be giving away free READ posters near the reference desk! This could be you. (Except you won't be climbing a mountain.)

We'll have a selection of books for you to hold, or you can bring your own. If all goes according to plan, you'll be able to take it home with you! So stop by and say hi, and I'll make you a poster. By the way, this is one night only, so you'll have to come tomorrow (February 5th) between 5 and 7 pm to get your poster.

Big Reveal Open House

We're only two days away from our Big Reveal Open House celebrating the completion of our redesign project! Our staff has been busy putting the finishing touches around the library from signs to book displays, and we're looking forward to proudly showing off all that the library has to offer.

Come to our Open House Thursday, Feb. 5, 5-7 p.m. and enjoy guided tours and demonstrations of our readers corner, audio download, and new checkout stations. Plus, get into a raffle for some very cool door prizes -- including an MP3 player -- and snack on some tasty treats from eddie's coffeeshop @ Missoula Public Library.

The library's new look is aimed at making our materials and services easier for you to use. We can't wait to show you!