Carolyn Squires Supports Montana Libraries!

Senator Carolyn Squires from Senate District 48 in Missoula is yet another legislator in Montana who supports Montana Libraries. Thanks Carolyn!

Teresa K. Henry Supports Montana Libraries!

Representative Teresa K. Henry from Missoula's House District 96 supports Montana Libraries. Thanks Teresa!

And the GRAND PRIZE WINNERS are...

CONGRATULATIONS to the Winter Reading Program Grand Prize Winners!

Amy Kalil won the drawing at the Missoula Public Library.

Samantha Hulett won the drawing at the Seeley Lake Branch.

Chantel Thornsberry was the winner at the Swan Valley Branch.

Thank you to all of the many Winter Reading participants. We hope you had fun and we look forward to reading with you again next winter.

Happy Reading!

Adult Winter Reading Program: Staff Grand Prize Winner!

Is Anita!

Being librarians, the competition was pretty fierce, and I have word that Anita's winning ballot barely made it in before the deadline. She won a copy of "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die" along with some tea, coffee and other goodies. As someone who has seen her massive book collection, she might already have all the books on the list! Cogratulations Anita!

Stay tuned. Next week we'll announce the winner for the overall grand prize.

Word Woman

Welcome to another wonderful episode of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! A mind is a terrible thing to waste, so keep yours in tip-top shape by reading a good book or learning new words. Here's the Word of the Week to get you started:

Stenotopic: [sten-uh-top-ik] an adjective meaning 'able to tolerate only a restricted range of ecological conditions or habitats'. So your relative who must have the window open exactly five inches and who cannot eat anything but plain chicken breast and steamed broccoli? Stenotopic. -- "More Weird and Wonderful Words", Erin McKean, Ed., Oxford University Press, 2003.

Example: Ken liked to travel, but his wife was so stenotopic that they could only vacation within a day's drive of their house.

Colorful Windows

The YA room's windows got a spring makeover today as we started the new tradition of adding art to the windows of the room. They look great!

My personal favorite is this next one. It declares, "YA Lives!"

Are you (or do you know) a teen who would like to contribute? We'll be switching the art around on a monthly basis, so just stop by the YA desk and express your interest.

Montana Book Award Winner

The 2008 winner of the Montana Book Award is Full-Court Quest by Linda Peavey and Ursula Smith. The book tells the story of the girls from Fort Shaw Indian School basketball team who became the world champions at the 1904 St Louis World’s Fair.

The Montana Book Award recognizes literary and/or artistic excellence in a book written or illustrated by someone who lives in Montana, set in Montana, or dealing with Montana themes or issues. It was founded by the Friends of the Missoula Public Library in 2002.

This year's honor books are: Freeman Walker by David Cates, Montana: Stories of the Land edited by Krys Holmes, Requiem for Locusts by Wendy Parciak, and Saving Homewaters by Gordon Sullivan.

Congratulations to the authors! They will be honored at a special reception at the Montana Library Association Conference in April. We love to see Montana's writers and stories get the recognition they deserve!

Linda McCulloch Supports Montana Libraries

Montana's very own Secretary of State Linda McCulloch is another supporter of Montana Libraries.

Carol Williams Supports Montana Libraries

Yet another supporter of Montana Libraries in Helena! Today we look at Senator Carol Williams, hailing from Missoula's Senate District 46.

Looking for a job?

The Morningstar Investment Research Center Job Search

The Training Corner | by Lars Wasvick, Associate Product Manager

The unemployment rate rose to 7.6% in January 2009. Did you know Morningstar's Stock Screener can assist in your job search?

Access the Morningstar Investment Research Center by going to our website, www.missoulapubliclibrary.org. Click on "E-databases" and then click on the "Morningstar" link. You will need to enter your library card number if you are accessing the database from home.

When looking for a job, it's important to identify your criteria. Where would you like to work geographically? Would you like to work for a small, medium, or large company? What industry would you like to work in? And maybe most importantly, is that a financially healthy company? When you take this sort of reverse approach, you can really dig down and find companies that you may like and want to work for.

So let's get started with a company search using my preferences: I want to find a company in Illinois that has around 2,000 employees and is in the publishing industry. (One caveat: The companies we cover are only on the major exchanges, so that limits searches to public companies, but that still leaves more than 10,000 companies to screen from.)

To set up my screen I go into the Stock Screener. Under General information I choose Location of Company, Illinois. The next point is Number of Employees. Don't worry about the distinction between big and small. We have that broken down in quartiles, for some context on size. For my final screen setting, I find Stock Industry and set that equal to Publishing.

Voila! I've found two companies that fit my criteria. Now I can look at company profiles, access their Web sites, and find job openings.

Obviously, this is a far stretch from searching job sites and the classifieds, but for the persnickety job seeker, it's something to consider. For anyone else, brushing up on company information before an interview is always a good idea.

(C) Copyright 2009. Morningstar, Inc.

Dick Barrett Supports Montana Libraries

Next up on our Montana Legislators who support Libraries in Montana, Representative Dick Barrett from Missoula's House District 93.

Word Woman

Welcome to another exciting episode of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! Keep those synapses in shape and extend the warranty on your brain by learning new words. Let's get started with the Word of the Week:

Educe: (idoos) [verb] to bring out, develop. -- "The New York Times Everyday Reader's Dictionary of Misunderstood, Misused, Mispronounced Words", Laurence Urdang, Ed., The New York Times Book Company, 1972.

Example: Through patient and careful cultivation, Doris was able to educe the most delicate of perfumes from her garden of rare orchids.

The More You Know

To help our patrons use our new Self Checkout machines, I made a quick tutorial video. So, if you want to learn something while watching me make a fool of myself, this video is for you.

Winter Reading Celebration!

Join local author Deirdre McNamer for a Winter Reading Celebration and Grand Prize Drawing on Wednesday, March 25 at 7:00 p.m. McNamer will read from her novel Red Rover and share her list of 2009 winter reads.

You can still earn your free coffee drink and enter the drawing if you turn in your Winter Reading forms on or before March 25!

This week we're featuring Sara Vilhuber's review of Dark Symphony by Christine Feehan:

"A convoluted mystery full of sizzling romance and passion. Compliments others in the series nicely. I loved the jaguar twist!"

Diane Sands Supports Montana Libraries

Our next installment in our legislative READ poster journey is Representative Diane Sands, from Missoula's House District 95.

Support From Our Government

Recently, our Montana legislators sat down to make READ posters to show their support of Montana Libraries. In turn, we'll be posting the posters from our Missoula legislators along with statewide legislators. I can't think of a better way to start than with our State Librarian Darlene Staffeldt.

Stay tuned for more!

Word Woman

Welcome to another astounding installment of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! Clear out the winter cobwebs from your brain by diving into a good book -- or, if you prefer, stretch your synapses by learning a new word. Let's get started with the Word of the Week:

Laconic: "If we enter Laconia, we will raze it to the ground," an Athenian herald (or Philip of Macedon) is said to have announced to the Laconians. "If," was the reply he received from the sententious Spartan magistrates. The Lacadaemonians were all supposed to be so parsimonious with words, and were noted in the ancient world not only for their stoic Spartan lifestyle but also for their short, brusque and pithy way of speaking and writing, which was appropriate for their outward lack of emotion. Not only in Sparta, the capital, but throughout the country youths were taught modesty and conciseness of speech, taught so well that the word laconic comes to us by way of Latin from the Greek Lakonikos, meaning "like a Laconian." A laconic person is generally one who expresses much without wasting words, who is terse, to the point and usually undemonstrative. -- "The Facts on File Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins", Robert Hendrickson, Checkmark Books, New York, 1997.

Example: Though he was both intelligent and athletic, Bill was so laconic that Rita found the prospect of a long-term relationship with him rather unappealing.

More Community Reviews!

Warm with a good book, earn a free coffee drink, and win great prizes! Join the Winter Reading Program. Ends March 25!

It's long past time to recognize February's Winter Reading Program drawing winners. Jerry Hanowell of Missoula and Margaret Sandor of Seeley Lake both won $25 gift certificates to Fact & Fiction. Congratulations!!

Today we feature an anonymous review of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski.

"I read this in 24 hours - didn't even go to bed! A wonderful Wisconsin version of Hamlet. The novel carries you along and absorbs you completely."

You Can Has Remix: Creative Commons

So, you want to make the next viral video but you don't really have a camera besides the one on your cell phone. Or maybe you want music, but you're sick of using public old public domain stuff. Never fear, Creative Commons is here!

(Image by Flickr user Jayel Aheram. Some Rights Reserved)

The concept is simple. Authors, musicians, film makers, really anyone who creates content of any kind retain their "copyright" on their work, but they allow it to be used by other people to create remixes, mash-ups, or just use it. (like I did with the picture in this post!) They get to decide.

What can you allow or disallow on works you create?

1. Attribution - Anyone using your work has to give YOU credit.
2. Share-Alike - Keep the circle of life spinning. Anyone who creates a work based on your has to share it under the same rules you did.
3. Non-Commercial - Anyone using your work can't use it to profit.
4. No Derivatives - Anyone can make copies and share your work, but they cannot modify it in any way.

Content becomes free! How does this help you in making your video? Well, you could go to one of the many places offering stock video under a Creative Commons license and use those as your video source. Then check out the creative commons page for audio sources. If you need a single image? Go to Flickr and look at their HUGE Creative Commons pool. Now you've got lots and lots of places to get footage.

Be sure to follow the rules they lay down, they are giving it to you for free, and share your own content for everyone else.

Think Creative Commons is just for kids or the small time? Check out this awesome animation released under a Creative Commons Attribution license from the Blender Foundation.



Big Buck Bunny from Blender Foundation on Vimeo.

Teen Tech Jewelry

As part of our ongoing Teen Tech Week madness, the teens are upstairs today watching online videos and making "techno" jewelry. They're using old CDs, amongst other things, to make some bling. Linette, our head teen librarian, decided it would be a good idea to put some CDs in the microwave to create some neat designs. I decided it would be a good idea to record her doing it. Don't try this if it is not your microwave or you don't have permission. BE SAFE!



Instructions for making your own jewelry from CDs can be found all over the Internet:

Crafting Green World

Crafty Crafty

Thrifty Fun

Retro-Tech: Steampunk

Steampunk. It's all about technology, but technology from the past. Think bowler caps and monocles, now you're in the right mindset.

Here's a steampunk mechanical tiger.



And a steampunk computer mouse made by Jake of all Trades:



Here's how he made it.

If this is the kind of stuff you're into, be sure to check out the Steampunk Archives on Boingboing.net.

Wii Would Like to Do Something Different

The Nintendo Wii can be a fun way to play some games, but some people are taking it to a whole new level.

These guys from Germany are using the Wii balance board to "surf" through Google Earth.



In Japan, a guy figured out how to control his Roomba with the Balance board.



And then the king of Wii hacking - Johnny Lee.

Books reviewed by YOU!

It's COLD outside! Warm with a good book, earn a free coffee drink, and win great prizes! Join the Winter Reading Program.


Today we feature Eddie Ledermann's review of The Battle for the Soul of Capitalism by John Bogle:

"An important book by the founder of the Vanguard Group. This book is for all who are upset by the lack of integrity in the financial system and who want to change the focus of capitalism back to the wealth of nations, not the wealth of greedy individuals."

Teen Tech Review: Little Brother

In his novel Little Brother, Cory Doctorow envisions a time in the not-so-distant future where the power of the police and military branches of the government are usurped by the Department of Homeland Security after a devastating terrorist attack on San Francisco. The protagonist, a teenage boy, is taken into custody without arrest, interrogated and released days later with an explicit warning to not tell anyone about his ordeal unless he wants to "disappear." Throughout the course of the book, the protagonist creates a network of like-minded teens, using currently available technology, to act as a "Little Brother" to the Department of Homeland Security's "Big Brother."

The book deals with themes of free speech and censorship as it relates to technology. What do you have the right to chat about with your friends while online? What kinds of programs or operating systems are you allowed to install on your computer, or for that matter, what kinds of programs or operating systems are you allowed to author? It deals with the theme of a marginalized teenager whose father is quick to discount, instead taking the word handed down from the Department of Homeland Security as the ultimate truth, until it is almost too late. The book also deals with the paranoia of a town under siege from imaginary foes and the penchant of angry mobs of people looking for a scapegoat, in this case unruly teens they don't fully understand.

Little Brother is essentially a primer on the cutting edge technology available today and how to use that technology to preserve your right to free speech, freedom of association and freedom from unlawful imprisonment, and was by far the most important book published in 2008 for teens and adults alike.

Download Little Brother for free (from the author!) right here.

See Cory read a section from the novel.

The Truth Behind Facebook

The hottest social network out there is definitely Facebook. In honor of teen tech week, here are some Facebook parodies. Enjoy!

Teen Tech Week

It's that time again...today marks the beginning of Teen Tech Week! A week in which we provide teen programs for teens focusing on technology.

This week we'll be starting a teen media club, share some online videos, and learn how to make tech jewelry. Should be awesome. Check back here throughout this week for videos, book reviews and more - all related to Teens and Technology.

Review(s) of the week!

More winter weather is on the way, so now's the time to warm with a good book, earn a free coffee drink, and win great prizes! Join the Winter Reading Program.

The Winter Reader Review forms are pouring in, so we'll be featuring a few reviews over the coming week.

Today we feature Debra Unruh's reviews of two of her most recent winter reads:

In the Woods by Tana French
"A detective novel with a twist. A bit slow in the middle, but like every good mystery, it is driven to the end."

Never Tell a Lie by Hallie Ephron
"It has all the right ingredients for a suspense novel, but it is far too predictable. A light read."

We're all A-Twitter

Lots of people are saying 2009 will be the year of Twitter, so the Missoula Public Library has decided to hop on board with our very own Twitter feed.

We'll be using Twitter to update you on what's going on in the Library, send out morsels of knowledge, and drop links to web pages. We've been getting geared up to go this past week, and now we're ready.

How many of you use Twitter? Let us know so we can follow you. Also, let us know if you have any tips or tricks for us!