Digital Signage! ...and new baskets

If you've been to the library this week, you may have noticed our brand new digital signs. There are two screens, one right outside Web Alley in the basement and one upstairs near the entrance (fittingly) of Entertainment Central. These will have information on upcoming events and happenings at the library.
In less interesting news, we just added lots more baskets for you to use in the library while browsing the stacks. It looks like you'll need them, because we saw a record number of checkouts last month. Keep it coming!

Sue Malek Supports Montana Libraries!

The next legislator in our series of elected officials who support Montana Libraries is Representative Sue Malek from Missoula's House District 98.

Poetry

April is National Poetry Month, one of my favorite times of the year! We have some great events going on at the Library to celebrate this month (which I'll go into in depth later), so I hope you'll come in and join us. Here's a well-known offering to kick off the month:

OZYMANDIAS

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: `Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear --
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.'

Percy Bysshe Shelley was an Englishman who wrote at the beginning of the 19th century, one of the great Romantic poets. His wife, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, achieved fame in her own right as the author of that quintessential horror story "Frankenstein". Followers of current films or readers of graphic novels may recognize the name "Ozymandias" from "The Watchmen".

Missoula Public Library Processes Last Book Ever!

Our technical services staff finished cataloging and processing the last physical copy of a book the library will ever buy today. As they put the finishing touches on Nora Robert's upcoming novel Vision in White a collective sigh was heard throughout the library. The book will be available on April 28th and will be the last "book" added to the library's collection.

(Original photo by flickr user John Pastor. Some Rights Reserved.)

Missoula Public Library has decided to move to purely digital copies, also known as e-books, of both new and classic titles. Patrons will be able to download the titles onto devices like Amazon's Kindle (seen above) or Apple's iPhone. This will allow our patrons to virtually browse our shelves from home and avoid long checkout lines. Physical copies of our books will be gradually phased out to make room for more Internet access computers, e-book download stations and a vast expansion of Entertainment Central's DVD collection.

Also slated to be phased out will be Books on Tape and Books on CD. They will be available only as mp3s from our download stations.

Alert from Social Security - Don't get Scammed

Beware of Recovery "Phishers"
Beneficiaries are, no doubt, looking forward to receiving their one-time recovery payments from Social Security. But Social Security wants to warn people not to fall victim to scammers who may be "phishing" for a cut of their own. To make sure no one does, we'll state the facts as clearly as possible:
All Social Security and SSI beneficiaries who are eligible for the special one-time recovery payment will have their payment issued in May;
The payment is automatic; and
There are no requests to make, no applications to complete, no emails to respond to and no fees to pay.
If you receive an email from anyone claiming to want to help obtain your payment, don't fall victim to the scam. Social Security has an Office of the Inspector General (OIG) that will investigate allegations of fraud, including circumstances where scammers attempt to intercept a beneficiary's one-time economic recovery payment. Please report such activity to Social Security's OIG at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/oig/ or by calling the fraud hotline at 1-800-269-0271 between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. EST.