You're the Tops!

We celebrated our volunteers and the amazing job they do here at the library with our annual Volunteer Breakfast this morning. Betty Fulton was honored as our volunteer of the year with a gift certificate, and had her name added to the plaque that hangs near the Reference Desk. Below: Marje, who you've all seen at the Reference desk, presents the plaque to Betty.


Celebrating our volunteers is the perfect way to cap off National Library Week which ends today. Thanks to our volunteers, and all our residents who support the library and make it such an amazing place to visit!

Volunteer Breakfast

Last Saturday we held our annual Volunteer Breakfast to honor our awesome volunteers. As you can see, we had a full house. Everyone was fed and had the chance to introduce themselves to everybody else, since usually volunteers don't really know who else is volunteering, because they come at all different times of the day and on different days of the week.

We also named our volunteer of the year, Marguerite Ragan!

Thank you to everyone who volunteers at the library, you guys make it possible for us to provide programming, materials and services to our patrons. We couldn't do it without you!

We are looking for more volunteers, so if you are so inclined, fill out an application and drop it off here at the library.

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.

Dinosaurs in the bathroom?

Who are these guys, and what are they doing in the bathroom?


I really doubt that many of you have noticed what is happening in the boys' bathroom in the Children's Department. However, you really need to take a look, you'll find dinosaurs in there!

A team of volunteers from Hellgate High School have donated their time and energy to transform the bathroom into something just a little more interesting than your normal ho-hum bathroom.

It has been fascinating watching the entire process, from the research they did, to the rough sketches, and then transferring their ideas onto the walls, first in pencil, and then with paint.

I know, it sounds crazy when I tell people they need to come look at the boys bathroom, but really, come see what they have done. (and excuse me now, while I go take some more pictures of this work in progress)

VVV - very valuable volunteers

Tuesdays are hopping with volunteers at the library. At 9am our volunteer book menders ring the doorbell, anxious to spend their morning caring for your favorite books that we're not ready to give up on just yet.

Before long another faithful volunteer appears to cover soft back books. It's a tedious and tricky job and we're grateful to have a willing helper.

Moving upstairs, I see that our "paperback ladies" have arrived. For decades, these ladies (and a couple of husbands in tow) have taken care of shelving the adult paperback books. There's a different crew for each day of the week - that's one smooth, flawless operation!

Speaking of teamwork, the Friends of the Library has a small team of dedicated folks who sort through our book donations and organize them for giveaway (downstairs) or for our upstairs sale shelves. Before noon today I notice one of our regular booksale volunteers busily sorting through the backlog of gifts. In the last two months we have received over 100 boxes of donations.

What would we do without these amazing volunteers?! And it's not even noon yet. So much work in so little time - with a paycheck that includes appreciation from staff and the knowledge that library users like you receive better service because of their efforts.

Want more information about our volunteer program? Check out the following:

http://www.missoulapubliclibrary.org/about/volunteers.htm

Here's wishing I had the perfect picture...

C