Our 100th Post!!!

A modest accomplishment, yes, but we somehow managed to make it to a landmark 100 posts on our blog. It only took 10 or so of us, be we made it. How are we doing so far? Let us know in the comments.

With all of this blogging you wouldn't think we would have time for anything else, but rest assured we have a lot more going on. With the extra business of summer, we've been knee deep in books and the family reading program has kept our aisles packed with bodies. Personally, I spent the last weekend immersed in music. The whole gambit from Heavy Metal at Total Fest to seeing the Missoula Symphony Orchestra in Caras Park. And I know I wasn't the only public library employee at the Symphony concert...see if you can spot the other one in this picture (shamelessly stolen from Rebecca Ellen's Flickr stream)

Choking On Smoke

This is the scene here in Missoula this morning. Over the weekend there was a brief reprieve in smoke, while I was out of town of course. I came back to a smoky, low-visibility Missoula. I think the smoke is almost the only topic of conversation here at the library. When checking out to patrons our conversations rarely stray from small talk, and the weather is always an easy subject, so we focus on the heat and smoke.

Why is the smoke back? The Jocko lake fire exploded over the weekend and was declared the top-priority wildfire in the country. Yesterday crews estimated the fire had burned close to 18,000 acres, but called it a rough estimate since they couldn't see well enough through the intense amount of smoke. Read about it here.

So maybe it would be a good day to come grab a movie or book and stay inside, instead of choking on the smoke outside.

Missoula Public Library Welcomes Practicum Students!

Wow! We didn't know how much behind the scenes work goes on at MPL! It is an amazing place filled with awesome resources and fantastic people. We've been spending ninety hours here going from department to department hovering over the staff's shoulders trying to absorb as much as we can from everyone. We are constantly impressed with the amount of knowledge and experience that the staff has here at MPL. It has been a great learning experience for us.

Our first hand experiences with the Summer Activity Program (SAP) has given us up close and personal experience with Kate Davis and her raptors and also with Science Woman!

We would like to thank everyone at MPL for taking time out of their day to show us how a book gets from the mail room to the shelf. THANKS MPL!!