MLA Conference in Bozeman

Greetings from Bozeman. We enjoyed the weather you sent our way. The conference has been great so far; went to a session on patrons experiencing homelessness and one with essential information on the movies that we show at the library. We were very excited to attend the Montana Book Award ceremony tonight at Bozeman Public Library honoring this year's honor books and winner, The Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet. The authors were all so great and there was a very nice turnout, despite the weather.

Just want all to know that we are all learning lots and doing lots of networking and enjoying the speakers and gee that Loriene Roy is hilarious, former president of the American Library Association and our keynote speaker.

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.