Attending MLA 2009 Vicariously

I'm not at MLA this year, but somehow if feels like I am. Through a variety of sources, I've got a pretty decent idea of the goings on.

Marje, one of our reference librarians, is attending and has written not one, but two posts about the conference so far.

Paulette, our cataloging genius, drove up to attend the award ceremony for another reference librarian, Vaun, who was named Librarian of the year. Way to go Vaun! Paulette brought back photographic evidence as proof.

To Vaun's left is Don, a retired MPL reference librarian. This was the dynamic duo that answered all the questions Missoula could throw at them for years.

And if that isn't enough, I've been keeping up with the conference live via Twitter. From these posts I know the opening speaker was great, there was a pretty lively discussion of Intellectual Freedom, and there was a lot of what happens at every conference - waiting for the next workshop or speaker to begin.

With the wide array of social web tools, and a little bit of inside info, I'm able to keep up with a professional conference that I didn't attend. It's a grand new age of information. Has anyone else been following MLA from afar like I have?

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.

Big Wednesday at MPL!

Today was a busy day! Our brand new reference desk finally arrived and was plopped down in front of the old desk. Starting tomorrow, expect to hear very loud drilling, banging, etc. coming from the reference department. No word on when it will be finished, but hopefully soon.

As I type this, there is a presentation going on in the large meeting room about movies that were shot in Montana. This is part of our Know Montana series facilitated by our genealogist-extraordinaire Paulette. The next Know Montana date is October 8th, with more details here. History buffs, these programs are for you.

And also, we're right in the thick of banned books week. With a little help from some of our Young Adult patrons, we've put labels on banned books on our shelves to highlight the sheer number of books that have been banned or challenged. Here's a great article on banned books.

Ok, that's enough for one day. Tomorrow, I'll be heading to Olympia, WA to attend the WALE conference. I might even have an update from the road, who knows?

Celebrating the Heart of the Library

We woke up bright and early today to serve up some breakfast to our amazing group of volunteers. Every year we try to honor them and give back a small portion of what they give us by having a breakfast in their honor.


We had lots of fruit and a delicious egg bake which really hit the spot. We also chose two "Volunteers of the year" which is always hard because they all do such a tremendous job. This year we honored Carol Israel and Blanche Tate.


Without our volunteers the library wouldn't be able to function as well as it does. From shelving to covering books to indexing newspapers and more, the volunteers really are the heart of the library.

New Stuff for the New Year

After the inevitable neglect I gave the blog over the holidays, I'm back.

Today, we launched a brand new review page on our website entitled, "We Have It!" This page will offer reviews of books, magazines, films, and anything else you can think of, along with the capability for you to leave comments about the reviews. Did you read the same book and think it was horrible? Let us know.

Click here to check it out.

On a personal note, this page made me flex my programming muscle a little bit as I experimented with CSS and Javascript functions I'd never delved into before. It was a great learning experience.

And on another, even more personal note, my fellow co-worker and blogger Mitch is an expectant father, so the library threw him and his wife a surprise baby shower last night. This was my first baby shower, and the first of most of the guys in attendance. Here's Mitch opening my present, a baby toupee! (Nice picture Paulette!)

Alexander Hamilton Opening Reception

Last night we opened our Alexander Hamilton exhibit in style. The theme for the evening was a 19th Century Christmas, and almost 150 people showed up to celebrate with us. We had lots of great cookies and cheese, along with a spectacular hot cider. There was no coffee because, as all history enthusiasts know, coffee was a fairly rare commodity in Alexander Hamilton's time.

The room was decorated with spruce branches and pine cones, which made it smell great.



Don, our own ex-reference librarian and curator of the exhibit, kicked things off with a quick speech and then we enjoyed music from members of the Missoula Symphony Orchestra, including our very own Claire!


After a bit of music we were treated to a minuet performance by the Rocky Mountain Ballet. These girls did an amazing job, and even provided an impromptu history lesson between their pieces. I found out afterward this group will be traveling to China to dance in the opening ceremony of the Olympics when they come there. Wow. I guess we gave them a chance to warm up for the big dance.

A big thank you goes out to the opening reception committee who got everything set up: Vaun, Tove and Paulette. They spent the afternoon setting everything up, and it went off without a hitch.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from all of us here at the library. Especially from Tove, Paulette, Caroline and Karen who all came to work today with true Halloween spirit. (Paula also dressed up as a member of the FBI or Federal Book Inspectors, but she was AWOL when the picture was taken.) We'll have some candy tonight at our circulation desk and in our computer lab for any little ones who might stop by. Be safe tonight and have a Happy Halloween!


EDIT - Paula was located doing "official" Federal Book Inspector business and was out tracking an overdue book at the time of the initial picture.