Only the Very Best

The internet is huuuuuuge--everyone knows that. But did you know how huge? According to this infographic, as of December 2010, there are 255 million websites, and 21.4 million from 2010 alone. So, how do you sift through millions of sites to find only the very best of what the web has to offer? You turn to a librarian, of course. Fact: librarians know pretty much everything. As proof, check out what the intrepid staff at the New York Public Library put together for your browsing pleasure. Just plan to spend hours, days maybe, clicking through everything. And remember: we have our own information gurus on standby at the reference desk, if you don't have hours (or days) to find what you're looking for.

http://www.nypl.org/collections/nypl-recommendations/best-of-web

Die-brarians join the Day of the Dead parade

Children were shocked, those with overdue fines trembled in their boots as the die-brarians from the library shushed everyone on the parade route during the parade for El Dia de Los Muertos. The crowd roared as they went through their carefully rehearsed book cart drills for all to enjoy. You may not have recognized your favorite librarians in the group but they were there in spirit........

Day in the Life via a reference librarian

So, we are doing the Day in a Life series visiting different librarians around the library. Well rather than catching me at the reference desk where many of you normally see me, you caught me on a day that I wasn't actually at the reference desk at all. Every three weeks those of us involved in outreach make visits to residential facilities around town to deliver books to those that have a hard time making it into the library. Friday morning I spent some time doing some behind the scenes tasks before heading out for deliveries.
What would those tasks be? Well, since I coordinate the Wednesday Movie Matinee series I was putting together, printing and posting our flyers for the October movies. You haven't come to join us for those yet? My oh my you are missing out on some great classic films. In October, in keeping with our Big Read theme of noir books and films, we will be showing two of the most famous early noir films (think Bogart). This series plays on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays at 2.
I followed up with a brief time in Web Alley giving the attendant there a break then pulled together some Big Read information and books for our senior book discussion groups coming up. These will be led by volunteers from the university (see we're getting everyone involved) who are associated with the UM MOLLI program. If you are over 55 and haven't heard about this program, give the U a call. They offer educational seminars for lifelong learners in the community and will be offering a class on the noir genre in conjunction with the Big Read.
The rest of my day was spent visiting Hillside Health Care, the Beehive Homes and Village Senior Residence. We bring between 100-200 books, including requests that people give me, to residents there every three weeks. We visit 15 facilities over the course of 4 days to provide for those that might otherwise not get to use library materials. We take books (large and regular print, fiction and non-fiction), audio books, music, magazines and DVDs. Pretty much a selection of materials that would meet the needs of anyone in Missoula. We serve people with vision, physical and developmental difficulties that make it hard to come in and choose their own materials. We bring materials for caregivers in the facilities to use for programming and activities. The best thing for me is that everyone is always so happy to see me! It's a great boost to my day.
After getting back to MPL I spent my last hour at the YA and kid's desks helping out there before closing at 6. And there you have it. Most days you will find me at the reference desk answering questions at the desk and over the phone about everything from when Missoula was started or how to find wiring diagrams to fix a car or how to find old articles in the Missoulian or what would be a good book to read on (fill in the blank) and on goes the list. Every day has something new and interesting in it. Thanks for joining me.

Patron Saint of Librarians

Librarians...defenders of intellectual freedom & privacy since A.D. 258!
I recently discovered that libraries and librarians have a patron saint. Here's a little history lesson for ya. "Lawrence the Librarian was a church archives official in Rome. In the year A.D. 258, as part of Roman persecution of Christians, imperial guards searching for membership lists demanded the surrender of the church's archives. Lawrence previously had hidden the archives and refused to divulge their location. The guards tied him to a grid iron over a charcoal fire, but Lawrence still refused to relinquish the archives, telling his tormentors, 'I am roasted enough on this side, turn me over and eat.' In subsequent years, a cult grew up around Lawrence. Numerous churches were dedicated to him and he was the subject of artwork by Rubens, Titian, Ribera, and Fra Angelico. Even today, pilgrims still visit the basilica over the tomb of this librarian who died to defend the archives in his custody." [Hunter, Gregory S. Developing and Maintaining Practical Archives. New York: Neal-Schuman, 2003.]

Do ya love your librarian?

Sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the New York Times the I Love My Librarian Award encourages library users to recognize the accomplishments of exceptional public, school, college, community college, or university librarians. The awards program will demonstrate how librarians are improving the lives of the people in their communities.
Up to ten winners will be selected annually and will receive a $5,000 cash award, a plaque and $500 travel stipend to attend an awards reception in New York hosted by The New York Times at TheTimesCenter in December 2009. In addition, a plaque will be given to each award winner’s library. Winners will be announced in November 2009.

For more information on the award including how you can nominate your favorite local librarian see http://www.ilovelibraries.org/lovemylibrarian/about.cfm and show the world that Missoula librarians rock your world!

MLA conference 2009

Greetings again from Kalispell where we just finished a rousing Librarian Olympics as part of a fundraiser for library scholarships in memory of Sheila Cates. You will be so pleased to hear that your MPL team won two silvers and a gold with sterling performances by all our members.

The day was well spent with an outstanding keynote speaker and many worthwhile workshops. At the awards luncheon we were delighted to see Vaun Stevens receive her Librarian of the Year award with long-time colleagues, Don Spritzer and Paulette Parpart in attendance. We all enjoyed the reception announcing the winner of the Montana Book Award by Barbara Theroux, President of the MPL Friends of the Library which is (drum roll please) Full Court Quest (call #796.323 PEAVY ) a non-fiction account of the 1904 women's basketball team from Ft. Shaw that went to the St Louis World's Fair. Definitely a must read for anyone interested in Montana history and especially Montana native American history. It beat out some great books so must certainly be worth the read.

Tomorrow morning our wakeup call is for 6 a.m.

Montana Library Association conference 2009

Greetings from lovely Kalispell MT, site of this year's annual MLA http://www.mtlib.org/ conference. The library director, Honore Bray, and I arrived late yesterday evening so that she could be up bright and early to introduce this morning's pre-conference speaker. I, on the other hand, after getting up early to work out and blog will soon be heading out to help with conference check-in and to read board reports in preparation for the MLA board meeting which will be followed by a meeting of the AskMontana virtual reference team. The conference gives us an opportunity to meet face-to-face with our colleagues from across the state to share ideas, war stories, and to have a little fun.
This year it will be my pleasure to introduce the winner of the Librarian of the Year award at the annual awards luncheon on Thursday. This year's recipient will be MPL's reference librarian, Vaun Stevens and I am delighted to be able to honor her service to the Missoula community and to Montana. However I will not post a picture of her lest she run me through the wringer. More from the conference tomorrow...

National Library Worker's Day

These days it takes more than putting your hair up in a bun and waving your shushing finger at anyone who dares squeak their shoes in your proximity to work in a library. The old stereotype is as good as dead. Our library has more than a handful of male employees, we've hosted rock bands in our lobby, we show popular, new movies on our big screen (and along the same lines, we let teens play video games on said big screen), and on and on.

It takes lots and lots of different people to keep this library functioning.

The Board - These are our real bosses. They meet monthly and look at statistics, approve the budget, and generally shape the policy of what happens at the library. We're lucky to have a fantastic board!

The Friends - The friends are everyday people who support the library and make it possible to provide many of the events we put on here at the library. They sponser Senior Outreach, our copy machines, traveling exhibits and even buy the staff food on occasion. We couldn't do it without our friends!

The Foundation - The Foundation is like the Friends on steroids. They deal with the big money contributions and use that to help us fund events, upgrades and other things we need.

Administration - These are the day-to-day head honchos. They submit a budget to the board (lots and lots of work), and work with the board of trustees to shape policy and look at the direction of the library. They deal with scheduling, staffing and making sure the policy is carried out here at the library.

Reference - This is the go-to source for information. Want to look at newspaper archives from the 60's? Want to find information on Celtic designs? Need to know the difference between a gerbil and a hamster? Already read everything Stephen King has written, and want to find something similar? These are the people to ask.

Young Adult Librarians - If you're a teen, you already know this group. They organize teen events, pick out the best teen books, help you out on the computer in the YA room, and let you play Rock Band on the big screen. They are the cool, hip librarians who keep the staff feeling young.

Children's Librarians - This bunch is busy. They organize storytime for the youngsters, give tours to the 5th graders (EVERY 5th grader in Missoula comes through the library at least once, that's a lot of 5th graders!), give parents suggestions on books for their kids, help the kids play games on the kids computers, and organize the insanely poplular Summer reading program every year. They give the best first impression to the library we could hope for!

Circulation - These are the people who check your books in and out. They are the soldiers on the front line. They are constantly busy and always hard at work. This is the real lifeblood of the library. When you can't find a hold, they track it down. They register all of our new patrons. Their day is stressful and hectic, but they still do it with a smile.

Tech Services - This is where the books come from. And not just books, CDs, DVDs, Books on CD, everything. They order the books, process them, catalog them, and get them ready for you to check them out. Without them, we couldn't have a computerized catalog, or get the newest movies on the day they come out. They're down in the basement tirelessly working away to keep up with the demands of the public.

Interlibrary Loan - Interlibrary Loan gets you books from far, far away. If it isn't in our partnership, Mary and her team track it down and get it to you. Reference helps place the request, but all the dirty work is done in the ILL office. They also are the go-to crew for mailing and troubleshooting our mailing machine. If your friends in Boston need a book that only we have, they're the ones putting it in transit and making it available.

Pages - The pages get the books from the circulation department to the shelves. They're a quiet bunch, until you get them behind closed doors. Because they are knee deep in books all day long they are some of the most knowledgeable members of the staff. They keep the shelves in line, and keep the turnaround quick so the books that come in on Monday are out by Tuesday at the latest.

Volunteers - We have the best volunteers around. They mend our books, help the pages with shelving, and do anything else we ask them to do. Our volunteers repair broken spines, fix ripped pages, re-sleeve our DVDs, and do countless other tasks that we just don't have time for. Thank you all so much!

Our staff is just the best. If you stop in today, be sure to tell them thanks for the work they do all year long!

Maybe it won't be so bad after all

Change is aways hard and going through the changes, with all the chaos that brings can be even harder. That being said, I will be glad when the changes are all in place and there is a little less chaos. As for now I must say that although my initial reaction to the color scheme of red, navy and pumpkin was less than positive, having had a sneak peek at the Young Adult area I have been pleasantly surprised with the look... bold but comfortable on the eyes (at least mine). I tend to like nature colors and while no colors are going to please everyone, I like the way these look together.
The space designers that have been working with us on this project hve been very professional and I am looking forward to the "final product" as well as some of the not-so-physical changes that will be made. Some in particular will be the time dedicated to checking with folks in the stacks to see if they need help rather than making them come to the desks, self checkout which will increase privacy for patrons, and the "grab-and-go" section which will include best sellers that will be available right near the front for those that want a good book but are limited in time to spend in the library.

Love is in the air....

For many of us, love and books go hand-in-hand. Reading a good book inspires a feeling in us that is difficult to put into words. But for some, those amorous feelings are transferred from the information object to the information provider. And so I was inspired to compose this list of:

Top Ten Pick-up Lines Overheard in a Library

1. Can you tell me where I can find books on overcoming a deeply passionate love I have for a librarian?
   
   
2. Libraries should allow food in the building, because right now I could just eat you up.
   
   
3. I know what I need to access the Internet, but what do I need to access your heart?
   
   
4. What book would you recommend to help me sweep you off your feet?
   
   
5. Can you settle a bet? My friend says librarians have no life, but I say they're wild beasts. Can I take you out to dinner and prove my friend wrong?
   
   
6. You must have been burning books, because you're looking hot.
   
   
7. I’ve put my heart on Reserve... for you.
   
   
8. You know, when you leave the library, the guard will ask why you’ve stolen my heart.
   
   
9. I’m checking you out; can I get your call number?
   
   
10. Do you have any overdue library books? 'Cause you've got the word "fine" written all over.

Douglas, S. (2005, February 15). Corny library pickup lines and how librarians effectively shoot them down. Retrieved April 30, 2007, from McSweeney's Internet Tendency: Dispatches from a Public Librarian Web site: http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/librarian/14pickuplines.html

Holmes, L.A. (2000). Liz Amini Holmes. Retrieved May 3, 2007, from NORCA Web site: http://www.scbwinorca.org/bios/onlinegallery/futurefeature/love%20books.jpg

Kelly, M.A. (2006, May 18). 15 Lamont pick-up lines. Retrieved April 30, 2007, from The Harvard Crimson: Magazine Web site: http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=513526

Passion: Pick-up lines by the Signs. Retrieved April 30, 2007, from Astrology.com Web site: http://love.astrology.com/pickuplines.html