Missoula Public Library does outreach too!

Did you know that staff at Missoula Public Library are only too happy to bring the library and its services right to you? If you have an event or program that might tie into the library or what we do here in terms of education and love of books, contact Lisa at lisamj@missoula.lib.mt.us and we'll see what we can do about getting library staff or information to you for your event. Just last week, we were delighted to have a table at Chief Charlo Elementary's Family Reading event. Held for two hours on Thursday evening, there were celebrity readers, snacks, cocoa, a book exchange, a bookmark craft and more--all to promote the importance of reading to kids. And we were there. We gave out 30 library cards to folks that signed up for them, as well as had some fun giveaways including Missoula Public Library tattoos that that kids loved. It was a great night and Missoula Public Library was proud to be a part of it!

Word Woman

Welcome to another mind-bending installment of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! It's still January for a few more days yet, so there's still time to make a New Year's resolution if you haven't already. And if your resolution should happen to be to expand your vocabulary, then here's the Word of the Week to get you started:

Plethora: excess, superfluity; also profusion, abundance

"plethora", http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/plethora , 1/20/2011.

Example: Due to the plethora of snow deposited in his driveway by a passing snowplow, Dan was unable to back his car out and ended up having to take the bus to work.

Mad Libs

Thank you to our friends Barbie, Jillian, and Mewatis for providing nouns, verbs, and adjectives to fill in the blanks of our Mad Lib story! Watch our Facebook page www.facebook.com/missoulapubliclibrary for future invitations to suggest groovy words for more Mad Lib action.

Once upon a time, there was a preposterous boy and a fruity girl. They were zooming to Madagascar when they noticed something sitting by the side of the road.

“Cuttlefish, and lions, and hot dogs! Oh my!” the girl exclaimed. “What is that?”

“I don’t know,” replied the boy adding, “We can find out at the library!”

They masticated as fast as they could, masticating the whole way to the Library. Fortunately, the bipolar library door was open and the hysterical Librarian was sitting at her milking stool, ready to help. The preposterous boy and the fruity girl described the thing and asked what it was.

“Why, that’s easy!” said the Librarian. “It’s a sterilized toilet bowl! I’d know one anywhere! I’ll find an ebook or two about it for you. You can make yourselves comfortable on the ottoman and I’ll be right back.”

While at the Library, the children looked at books about ballet, James Joyce, and Little Bo Peep. The two children agreed: there is so much to see, so much to do @ your Library!

As they left, they told the Librarian, “We’ll be back again tomorrow!”

The End.

Facebook class today @ MPL

New to Facebook or have been wondering what it's all about? Make some time on Wednesday at 12:30 to join us for our Facebook and Beyond class that will cover the basics of this social networking phenomenon. We wil cover the basic how to's and take a look at why the privacy settings are important to, well, your privacy. Give us a call at 721-BOOK (2665) and we'll save a seat for you.

Tag Line Tuesday

Here is the reveal for the latest Tag Line survey posted via the Library's Facebook page. These titles are new arrivals to our Young Adult collection and contain plenty of zombie, vampire hunter, space mission action and more to keep you entertained.

Wired by Robin Wasserman
Call #: Y WASSERM
Tag Line: Humanity is the past. She is the future.

(Skinned trilogy, book 3) Lia is back at home, pretending to be the perfect daughter, but she has become the public face of the mech, devoting her life to convincing the world that she and other like her deserve to exist, until shocking truths are revealed, forcing her to make a life-changing decision.


Blood Feud by Ayxandra Harvey
Call #: Y HARVEY
Tag Line: Love is the best revenge.

(The Drake Chronicles series) As the clans gather for the coronation of the next vampire queen, new alliances are beginning to form and the power of the clan leaders is threatened by a would-be usurper.


Z by Michael Thomas Ford
Call #: Y FORD
Tag Line: In the game of zombie hunting there can only be one winner.

In the year 2032, after a virus that turned people into zombies has been eradicated, Josh is invited to join an underground gaming society, where the gamers hunt zombies and the action is more dangerous than it seems.


Crusade by Nancy Holder & Debbie Viguie
Call #: Y HOLDER
Tag Line: The Cursed Ones are here. Prepare for battle.

An international team of six teenaged vampire hunters, trained in Salamanca, Spain, goes to New Orleans seeking to rescue team-member Jenn's younger sister as the vampires escalate their efforts to take over the Earth.


Black Hole Sun by David MacInnis Gill
Call #: Y GILL
Tag Line: He's lost his family. He's lost his crew. He's got the scars to prove it. You don't want to mess with Durango.

On the planet Mars, sixteen-year-old Durango and his crew of mercenaries are hired by the settlers of a mining community to protect their most valuable resource from a feral band of marauders.

Give the gift of life at Missoula Public Library

Did you know that one pint of donated blood can save three lives? Missoula Public Library will be hosting a blood drive on behalf of the Missoula Red Cross from 3 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 1 in the large meeting room at the library. We need to fill at least 24 donation slots. Can you help by donating? Or perhaps by asking family, friends, etc. to donate as well? Donors will be the lucky recipients of a Friends’ book buck!

To make a donation appointment, you can go online to: https://www.givelife.org/index.cfm?group=registration&hlc=missoulalibrary(first-time users need to create a short profile) or call Lisa at 258-3851.

Your support of the library as it supports the work of the Red Cross is greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.

Word Woman

Welcome to another amazing installment of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! Tired of looking out your window at snow and ice? Why not bury your nose in a good book instead? You could go on a virtual African safari with one of our travel books, lose yourself in a good mystery paperback or try out a new recipe from one of our cookbooks. These are just a few of the many choices we have available here at the library, though Word Woman's preference would obviously be for a dictionary. Speaking of dictionaries, here is a splendid word nominated for Word of the Week by a co-worker of mine, who happens to be a film aficionado:

Gratuitous:

1. a: given unearned or without recompense
b : not involving a return benefit, compensation, or consideration
c : costing nothing : free

2. not called for by the circumstances : unwarranted

"gratuitous", http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/gratuitous , 1/14/2011.


Example: Gary's detailed and gratuitous descriptions of his skin condition made him very unpopular as a party guest.

It's legislative time in the city, Helena, that is.

Greetings from Helena, the lovely capitol of our lovely state. I am here with several other library supporters to meet and greet with our legislators and to encourage them to support funding for your libraries.
Did you know that in 2009, 4,429,464 people visited public libraries in Montana and 6,244,116 items were checked out? These numbers increased during the 2010 and continue to grow.
Did you know that if you checked out 1 book a month, borrowed 1 magazine, checked out 1 video and 1 audio book in the month, attended 1 adult program and 1 childrens' program, used the public computers 1 hour a day during that month and had 1 reference question answered you received $464 in services. That's a return of $215.81 on your investment of every $1 spent in taxes (see Montana State Library Investment Calculator). What a deal!

Missoula Public Library, think... more!

Dick King-Smith

Sad to hear of the passing of that great author, Dick King-Smith http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-12121506. He was an excellent writer of children's tales, probably the most well known being Babe: the gallant pig, which was made into the very popular movie. My personal favorite is Pigs Might Fly.

Let's hear which is your favorite and make a point sometime in the next month to read one of his tales. You'll find many of his books in the children's fiction section.

Word Woman

Welcome to another astonishing episode of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! Long, cold winter evenings are great for curling up with a good book. Word Woman's choice, naturally, would be a dictionary and here's an entry designed to enliven your conversation:

Succinct: marked by compact, precise expression without wasted words (a succinct description)

"succinct", http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/succinct?show=0&t=1294287228 , 1/6/11

Example: When his teacher confronted him with the fact that his essay was three pages short of the required minimum length for the assignment, Ryan asserted that he should not be penalized for being succinct.

Millennium: The Story

The Millenium Trilogy by author Stieg Larsson has been a major blockbuster in book as well as movie format. This portrait of Larsson reveals the story of a phenomenon who at the age of 50 died from a suddent heart attack before his first novel was even published. We will be having a free screening of the bio documentary by Laurence Lowenthal on Wednesday, January 19th at 7:00 in the large meeting room of the library.

Tag Line Tuesday

Another crop of YA books has arrived at MPL. Some titles have interesting tag lines, but are the stories any good? Guess you'll have to read and find out.

The Replacement by Brenna Yovanoff
Call #: Y YOVANOF
Tag Line: Something's rotten beneath the town of Gentry.

Sixteen-year-old Mackie Doyle knows that he replaced a human child when he was just an infant, and when a friend's sister disappears he goes against his family's and town's deliberate denial of the problem to confront the beings that dwell under the town, tampering with human lives.


Solitary: Escape from Furnace by Alexander Gordon Smith
Call #: Y SMITH
Tag Line: In Furnace Penitentiary, secret horrors are breaking free.

(Escape from Furnace series, book 2) Imprisoned for a murder he did not commit, fourteen-year-old Alex Sawyer thinks that he has escaped the hellish Furnace Penitentiary, but instead he winds up in solitary confinement, where new horrors await him.


King of Ithaka by Tracy Barrett
Call #: Y BARRETT
Tag Line: How far would you go to find the father you've never known?

When sixteen-year-old Telemachos and his two best friends, one a centaur, leave their life of privilege to undertake a quest to find Telemachos's father Odysseus, they learn much along the way about what it means to be a man and a king.


Grace by Elizabeth Scott
Call #: Y SCOTT
Tag Line: An unwilling terrorist. A chilling near future. One chance left.

Sixteen-year-old Grace travels on a decrepit train toward a border that may not exist, recalling events that brought her to choose life over being a suicide bomber, and dreaming of freedom from the extremist religion-based government of Keran Berj.


Trash by Andy Mulligan
Call #: Y MULLIGA
Tag Line: Pick it up and keep it hidden.

"My name is Rapheal Fernandez, and I am a dumpsite boy. People say to me, 'I guess you just never know what you'll find sifting through rubbish. Maybe one day you'll find something nice.' then one day I did." Fourteen-year-olds Raphael and Gardo team up with a younger boy, Rat, to figure out the mysteries surrounding a bag Raphael finds during their daily life of sorting through trash in a third-world country's dump.

MPL staff picks favorite reads for 2010

As we say goodbye to 2010 and usher in 2011, this seems like a good time to share with you some of Missoula Public Library staff’s favorite reads of 2010. Not all the selections were necessarily written in 2010 but may have been read by staff this year. How many have you read?

A Visit from the Goon Squad, Jennifer Egan

The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake, Aimee Bender

Mr. Peanut, Adam Ross

Jillian (IT)

The Dreamer, Pam Munoz Ryan

Art and Max, David Wiesner

Island Beneath the Sea, Isabel Allende

Ape House, Sara Gruen

Into the Beautiful North, Luis Urrea

Karen (Children’s)

The Infinities, John Banville

The Gathering, Anne Enright

Descartes Loneliness, Allen Grossman

(Heather, Frenchtown Branch)

Under This Unbroken Sky, Shandi Mitchell

Tiger Moon, Penelope Lively

God Never Blinks: 50 Lessons for Life’s Little Detours, Regina Brett

(Christine, Reference)

Holy Water, James Othmer

(Elizabeth, Assistant Director)

Here’s Looking at Euclid, Alex Bellos

One Dog at a Time, Pen Farthing

Bookweird, Paul Glennon

(Marge, Reference)

The Idle Parent: Why Laid-Back Parents Raise Happier and Healthier Kids, Tom Hodgkinson

The Imperfectionists, Tom Rachman

The Glamour of Grammar, Roy Peter Clark

(Molly, Reference)

A Yellow Raft in Blue Water, Michael Dorris

What I Thought I Knew, Alive Eve Cohen

Garlic and Sapphires, Ruth Reichl

(Cara, Reference)

The Good, Good Pig: The Extraordinary Life of Christopher Hogwood, Sy Montgomery

(Lisa, Public Relations)

The Devil’s Rooming House, M. William Phelps

Fall of Giants, Ken Follett

The Confessions of Catherine de Medici: A Novel, C.W. Gortner

Daughters of Witching Hill: A Novel, Mary Sharratt

The Queen’s Lover: A Novel, Vanora Bennett

(Annie, Circulation, favorite Historical Fiction)

the 2010s are here!

LearningExpress Library has added new courses for WORD 2010, EXCEL 2010 and OUTLOOK 2010. If you are interested in learning these new programs log into our website and go to the E-databses link www.missoulapubliclibrary.org/resources/online.htm select Learning Express Library and go to the computer skills center for these self-paced computer classes. Don't have access to the internet? Come on down to the library and ask to use a computer. Our staff will be happy to help you get ahead. Think... more!

Word Woman

Welcome to another outrageous installment of Word Woman's Weekly Work-Out! It's a new year, and time for a look at a new word to slip into your vocabulary. And the first Word of the Week of 2011 is:

Illicit -- (adjective) not permitted; unlawful

“illicit”, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/illicit , 12/30/10

Example: Tom's illicit use of the computer at his desk to play on-line games during work hours was noted by the administrator and resulted in his transfer to the maintenance department.

Tag Line Tuesday

Tag lines. Those little catch-phrases, slogans, and one-liners designed to pique curiosity and entice you to buy-in are everywhere -- even on books. Yesterday I posted this informal poll on Facebook:

Without knowing author or title, which tag line interests you the most?
a) Family. It's not always a perfect fit.
b) In the trance, there is a vision... in the vision, only danger.
c) A piece of furniture stands between you and adulthood.
d) What fragment of truth will be mine?

It was interesting to see what people selected based solely on tag line offerings. I wonder how different the answers might have been with the addition of title and summary information. Ready for the title reveal? Well, here it is!

Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler
Call #: Y OCKLER
Tag Line: Family. It's not always a perfect fit.

When Delilah, her mother, and her aunt spend the summer in Vermont settling Delilah's estranged grandmother's estate, long-held family secrets are painfully brought to light and Delilah finally learns some difficult truths about her family's past.


Trance by Linda Gerber
Call #: Y GERBER
Tag Line: In the trance, there is a vision... in the vision, only danger.

Ashlyn was unable to use her visions of the future to save her mother's life, but as she begins to understand and control them somewhat, she realizes that love interest Jake is the subject of her most recent trances.


The Kid Table by Andrea Seigel
Call #: Y SEIGEL
Tag Line: A piece of furniture stands between you and adulthood.

Explores the quirky dynamics in an extended family full of close-knit cousins who both help and hinder each other as they celebrate holidays and momentous occasions together.


The Beginner's Guide to Living by Lia Hills
Call #: Y HILLS
Tag Line: What fragment of truth will be mine?

Struggling to cope with his mother's sudden death and growing feelings of isolation from his father and brother, seventeen-year-old Will turns to philosophy for answers to life's biggest questions, while finding some solace in a new love.

The browser for you

We will be hosting a class on web browsers this Wednesday at 12:30 in the computer classroom. A comparison of IE, Firefox and Google Chrome, this class will look at the pros and cons of these three major browsers and help you choose the one that is best for you. Sign up for this class by calling the library at 721-2665 (BOOK). You can see what our other offerings are by going to http://www.missoulapubliclibrary.org/events/Computoclass.htm. Our classes are free to all so sign up for a class and learn something new this week. Think... more!