Teen Media Lab

Video Mashups & Editing. Audio Loops. Video Remixing. Camera Techniques. Sound interesting? Teens grades 7-12 (ages 13-18) can learn how to do all this from the pros at MCAT!

The Teen Media Lab starts Wednesday, Nov. 18, at 4 p.m. in the computer classroom on the lower level at the library. We're all starting from scratch, so you don't need to know anything about media to take part. PLUS (and this is a huge, huge PLUS) you'll be trained on MCAT equipment, which means you can check out their cameras, and your MCAT membership is FREE!

You can work on any style project you like, on any topic that you find interesting -- music videos, animation, you name it. Work on your own, or with other Labbers. There's no downside unless you don't come.

New Moon Trivia

I learned a new term the other day: Tweeks. Twilight Geeks. Anyone who loves the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer qualifies, or so I'm told. So for all you Tweeks out there anxiously waiting for the New Moon movie release, here's something to keep you busy:

What's your favorite piece of New Moon trivia?

We're going to have a New Moon release party for teens grades 7-12 on Friday, Nov. 20 at 4 p.m. including a trivia contest. I've been rifling through my copy to pick out some tidbits, but I'm curious what you know. How many times have you read the book? Are you Team Edward or Team Jacob? What's your favorite part? Drop us a comment.

Teens: After the party, Meet Me at the Movies - a bunch of us librarians are heading over to see the 7 p.m. showing of movie Nov. 20 and we want you to join us there! (You'll have to get your own ticket and transportation.) Here's a link to the official movie site, and unofficial fan site, to get you in the mood. Plus, Stephenie Meyer's page.

Disclaimer!!

You may notice that some novels have disclaimers stating that characters and events described in the story are indeed fictional and any similarity to real people or events is purely coincidental.

Last week I was processing (getting the book ready to go on the library shelves) a copy of Michael Alan Nelson's graphic novel The Gathering** (vol. 2 of the Fall of Cthulhu series) and found this disclaimer on the title page. I just had to share it with you all.

"The characters and events depicted herein are fictional. Any similarity to actual person, demons, anti-Christs, aliens, vampires, face-suckers or political figures, whether living, dead or undead, or to any actual or supernatural events is coincidental and unintentional. So don't come whining to us!" - Boom! Studio (TM) Publishers

I guess they just about covered everything!


** book call #
YC
NELSON
V.2

Linette's One Minute Book Review

Our Young Adult librarian, Linette Ivanovitch, reviews Ghost Medicine by Andrew Smith.

Anna's One Minute Book Review

We have another Young Adult book review, this time coming from Anna Doyle, one of our pages here at the library. She reviews "Un Lun Dun" by China Mieville.

Dana's One Minute Book Review

For the second installment of our one minute book reviews we turn to Dana, who splits his time between the Children and Young Adult desks reviewing another Young Adult book, "Skate" by Michael Harmon.

Joyce's One Minute Book Review

This is the first in our series of One Minute Book reviews. We're going to be featuring one each day this week to celebrate National Library Week, and then continue featuring them from time to time in the future. Our PR expert Joyce is up first with a review of Robin Brande's Young Adult novel "Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature."

Colorful Windows

The YA room's windows got a spring makeover today as we started the new tradition of adding art to the windows of the room. They look great!

My personal favorite is this next one. It declares, "YA Lives!"

Are you (or do you know) a teen who would like to contribute? We'll be switching the art around on a monthly basis, so just stop by the YA desk and express your interest.

Teen Book Reviews

We now have a section of our website devoted to teen book reviews!

Members of out Teen Reading Club have put together six reviews so far and posted them to our website. Read them right here. They've reviewed diverse genres from romance to fantasy to fantasy romance, and plan on putting more reviews up in the coming weeks.

Having teens post their own book reviews is great, because no matter what we read as librarians about what is cool, or what teens want to read, it always comes down to the readers. So in a way we're skipping the middleman (or woman as it may be) and letting the people actually checking out and reading the books tell US about them.

...and if you're a teen who wants to get in on the action, just stop by the YA room and chat with one of the librarians there. They'll let you know exactly what you need to do to get your reviews up on the site.

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.

YA Almost Finished

The Plastic walls have come down around the new and improved YA area. There are still a few adjustments and cleaning to take care of inside the walls, but we're keeping the specific details a secret until we're ready to have a grand opening/open house. When will that be? How's June 28th for you?

There will be an all ages open house from 4-6 with refreshments and door prizes. Then, when the library closes at six, teens are invited to stick around for a "We survived the renovations" Party. There will be games, prizes and more treats. Teens, be sure to show up before six, as the outside doors will be locked at that time.

What can you expect inside the room? Expanded shelving for YA materials, new computers just for teens, and comfortable sitting space to name a few.

We hope to see you soon as we start finishing up this phase of our renovations. The opening of the new YA room will also mean the return of our adult computer classes in our downstairs computer classroom. Be sure to check here to see what classes we will be offering once we resume classes.

The Construction Keeps Chugging Along

The doors to the YA room have arrived and are in place along with another coat of paint on the walls. Things are starting to look finished in there. That is if you avoid looking at the mess that resulted from the months of construction work.


Also, at this very minute, painters are working on the Stonehenge-like entrance to Entertainment Central. We have already started shelving CDs inside but we're waiting on the rest of our shelving to arrive before we start putting the rest of the AV materials in there.


In the next couple of weeks we will be starting the transition period for the circulation desk. Don't worry though, you'll still be able to check things out and pick up holds. More on THAT phase of construction later...

In Technicolor!

The new walls in the Young Adult room are now getting fresh coats of paints. The walls will be blue, tanish and red. Take a look!



The Children's entrance has also seen some action in the past few days. Now that the big pieces are finished, the details are emerging. Butterflies, foliage, and gnomes galore.




Exciting, right? The Children's entrance should be finished by May 17th and we'll have an opening reception to celebrate. More about that soon.

The Great Walls of YA

The steel framing has been replaced by walls in the YA area! Finally we get to see a little visible progress. While a lot of prep work had to go into getting the walls ready to go up, there's nothing like seeing the future entrance to the Young Adult area look close to what it will look like when it's all finished.



And the Rest of the walls look pretty classy as well!



Of course the construction workers made a big mess while putting up all the drywall, but that's to be expected. They still have a long way to go, and an even bigger mess to make before all's said and done. I'm sure they'll clean up after themselves in the end.

Where did YA go?

No, not you, but the Young Adult collection and computer room. Today we officially closed off the upstairs Young Adult area to do some construction, but never fear - we still have books and a computer room for you downstairs in our small meeting room. We are going to be keeping a YA librarian down there to help you find books in the new, temporary location.



We're enclosing the YA area to let you guys be a little louder and be able to have fun while you visit the library. Today is day one, and we're already pretty far with the wall framing, so hopefully this won't last too long!



There has also been quite a bit of progress on the entryway to the Children's area. Our Gnomos Locos got busy and started painting and texturing (which I'm not sure is even a word...those crazy gnomes!) the whole structure. And what's more, we're starting to see strange things, like faces, popping out of the the top. I can't wait to see how it will turn out.