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!

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.

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.

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.

Big Rock

We've been dealing with road construction on the Front Street side of the library for about 3 weeks now. I'm not sure exactly what they're doing, but it requires them to dig up portions of the street . About 2 days ago, they unearthed this monster rock which apparently can't be moved as easily as the others. So even thought they've moved down the street a bit, this rock sits on the side of the road with a orange cone warning motorists.

If you couldn't tell, I'm a little short on news today, but I've walked past this rock about 6 times on my way to and from work, and today decided it was blog worthy.

Downloadable audio has arrived!

After months and months of planning, we're proud to announce we now offer downloadable audiobooks!

To get started go to our website and click on the downloadable audiobooks link or head to http://montanalibrary2go.org. You will be instructed to download and install a media console, which will allow you to download audiobooks to your computer. You can download complete books, or select individual chapters if you have a slow connection. Head to the help section if you're having trouble getting started. To see if your mp3 player/iPod will work take a look at the supported device page, but remember, everyone with a computer computer running windows can listen on the computer itself. (edit: reader jon brought up the fact that the media console currently only works in a windows environment. A mac friendly console should be out around the end of the year, but there is no firm release date set. And Linux will be later down the line.)

(photo by flickr user aditza121. Some rights reserved)

We have titles for adults, teens and children. Right now our selection for iPods is pretty small, but growing everyday, so be sure to check back often! The library has mp3 players for available for check out and will soon have a download station in our building for those of you who don't have internet access at home. We're getting that set up right now, and will update the blog when it is ready to go.

Be sure to let us know how the service is working, we're excited to provide this service and want it to work well for everyone!

Osprey Invasion!

Today the library was filled with baseball players, baseball fans, beauty queens and large diurnal, fish-eating, birds of prey. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game,"we invited members of the Missoula Osprey to come down to the library for a meet and greet. Ollie Osprey and Miss Teen Montana joined in the fun.

We handed out hot dogs, peanuts and cracker jacks to 50 plus people and sang the song we were there to honor. We also created some librarian trading cards to hand out - which you can see right here. After some autograph signing and photo ops, the players helped Linette, our teen librarian, read some Spanish language stories about baseball to the children in attendance.

Then, Ollie headed upstairs to meet with our staff, and get his very own library card!



Success! I wonder what he checked out? Maybe Winged Migration?

A Very Busy Saturday

While the rest of Missoula was out enjoying a beautiful summer day, the lucky few here at the library had our hands full. As I type this, the culmination of roughly two years worth of planning, construction, shifting, moving and preparation is open to the public for the very first time. I'm speaking, of course, of the hour and fifteen minute old Young Adult room. About 10 teens anxiously waited near the doors for the big reveal at 4:00 this afternoon. This tropical YA paradise is what greeted them:

Pretzels, Veggie Trays, Punch and cake awaited the survivors of the YA redesign. If you hurry and get here in the next 15 minutes there just may be a slice of cake still here.

In other parts of the library, Entertainment Central finally received proper labeling on Friday. Now when we tell patrons their audiobook is in "Entertainment Central" we (hopefully) will be treated to fewer blank stares.

Finally, flanking the sides of the above entryway to Entertainment Central is our brand new section - "Grab 'n Go." These books will be 10-day checkouts, non-holdable and non-renewable. Patrons will also be limited to 5 total items from the Grab 'n Go section. We hope for high turnover and better availability for our most popular titles. See that new Janet Evanovich down there? Right now there are 163 holds on that title, but you could stroll in and grab it today without waiting. This is our way of saying, "Thanks for actually stopping by the library!"

Well, I think all of us here at the library have had just about enough excitement for one day. In about half an hour we'll lock up and enjoy the rest of this wonderful summer day with the rest of you.