Gnome for the Holidays

A very merry Christmas to everyone. The library is closed, and while the staff is out with their friends and family, the gnomes are having their own tiny celebration in their Gnome House today. Looks like Santa left a few presents under their tree! Enjoy your holiday and we'll see you tomorrow.

Sad News

Our longtime friend and inspiration Mona Frangos died this week. You may not have known Mona, but if you've ever stepped foot inside our building you no doubt know her handiwork:

The gnome house has inspired wonder and imagination in children for 20+ years. Odds are most of our patrons remember the gnome house much longer than anything else about the library. While working upstairs at the desk, I see kids crowded around the gnome house almost all day long. The intricacies and details of the house are a testament to Mona's artistic prowess and her sense of wonder. Whenever we look at the gnome house or the entrance to the children's area, which was inspired by the gnome house, we'll think of you Mona. RIP.

Here are some of my favorite pictures of the details in the gnome house.

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 Progress Just Keeps Coming

We just keep on keeping on here at the library. Things are constantly moving and changing, as reflected by our new banner.



We are truly a work in progress. But if we take a second to peek behind the plastic we can see that lots of stuff is going on back there. This is the scene our YA librarians are greeted with each morning when they pull books from the construction zone to bring downstairs or to the hold shelf.



The Gnome Archway has kept getting more and more decorated. Some new trolls or gnomes or sprites are now welcoming kids into the children's department, while tree branches have been popping up all over.



We're still a ways from being done, but progress is progress and we'll just keep on keeping on until we get things settled into the new normal of the library.

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.

Construction Action

The kids department was awash in activity today as we began to shift our shelving units 18 inches. Sounds pretty easy, but believe me, it's not. All the books have to be shifted to an empty shelf, and the units have to be dismantled and unbolted from the floor. Plus They're really heavy. But, like Nicolas Cage says in Con Air, "Many hands make light work, my daddy taught me that." We're not quite halfway done, but progress is being made, special thanks to our maintenance guy Rob for doing the bulk of the work.

The new kids entrance also saw some improvements as details began to emerge. Its always strange to come to work and see things that have happened overnight, almost as if the gnomes themselves were building it.



And speaking of the gnomes, the staff was treated to a message from the builders explaining their view about how the entrance will turn out. Viva los Gnomos!

Construction Update

If you've been into the library in the last week or so, you may have noticed some unusual goings-on in the children's department. The children's non-fiction books aren't quite where they used to be, it seems like something is missing, and it definitely feels like there's something new.

That's because we are building a gnome-house-inspired entryway to the children's department! This is just the beginning of some of the changes that will be coming. You may remember that our Director and Administrative Assistant got new offices a couple months ago. Next on the docket are the children's and young adult sections, with the entryway getting the ball rolling.

To make room for the entryway, we had to move one of the non-fiction shelves to the other side of the range of shelves, which is why all the books don't seem to be in quite the same place.

This sketch to the right is an idea of what the entryway will look like when it's all finished. Something is being changed or added every day, so come in and check it out.

Gnome House Postcards Teaser

A while back I mentioned that the library would soon be getting brand new postcards showing off our fantastic gnome house. Well, after 6 months we just received our new postcards. We're still very hush, hush about them, but they will debut sometime in the next week, there are 3 different designs and they cost 50 cents a piece or 3 for $1.00. Not bad, if I do say so myself. Collect all three!

Hopefully, we'll have more and more rooms in the future. But for now, wait with baited breath for the postcards to officially debut. Thanks to the Friends of Missoula Public Library for buying us these postcards.

Gnome Sweet Gnome

I'll bet one of the only things people remember about our library years after they move away from Missoula is our fantastic Gnome House. It sits right across from our circulation desk and serves as a sort of "gateway" into the children's area. I love watching kids run from our front door right up to the Gnome house and start peering inside.

We have postcards for sale at the checkout desk, but they don't show nearly enough of the painstaking detail the Gnome House has to offer. So, we're considering starting a series of postcards that showcase the individual rooms, as opposed to the whole house in general. What do you guys think? Here's a few test shots that may or may not be used in the very near future for this project. Let me know in the comments which ones you like and which ones don't work.



And one that I'm not actually considering, but may be the creepiest thing I've seen in the library ever. (Which is saying quite a bit!)

And we have more images at our flickr site.