Montana librarians hit the electronic books

Montana librarians have a challenge issued formally by the Montana State Library and informally by our computer users- learn about Web 2.0. Sometimes, it's difficult enough to learn about the basics of the Internet. So what is Web 2.0? As emerging technologies continue to allow faster, more robust networks- designers are creating more advanced tools to allow people to connect and do new things. This blog is Web 2.0, along with other sites like MySpace, Facebook, Flickr and so many others. Check out http://mslonline.pbwiki.com/ to participate in the Montana State Library challenge. You won't be able to register but the links are open to anyone interested. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0 has more information and good definitions of how the Internet is evolving.

he's on his way...

We, at the Flathead County Library, would like to wish you a Merry Christmas. If you've been naughty with fines on your account, we will be open until 5:00 pm this evening so you can rectify the situation. We'll be closed Christmas Day and open regular hours the rest of the week.

Books to Film

It's a big year for "books to films." Recently the Flathead has been host to Into the Wild, based on the novel by Jon Krakaer; Gone Baby Gone, by the excellent Dennis Lehane; 3:10 to Yuma, based on a short story by Elmore Leonard; and is currently showing No Country for Old Men, based on the dark, dark Cormac McCarthy novel.

Into the Wild is excellent! Sean Penn handles the camera and the subject matter with precision and love and the film has just received 4 Screen Actors Guild nominations. Emile Hirsch does an incredible job as Christopher McCandless who gives away his entire $24,000 savings before escaping to the Alaskan Wilderness in search of himself. By the end of the shooting Hirsch had lost 30 pounds getting into character. A beautiful film.... And, as an added bonus the Eddie Vedder score is great! All three--the book, the DVD, and the CD--are available for holds or checkout at your local library branch.

If you haven't read Dennis LeHane's series of mysteries with Angie Gennaro and Patrick Kenzie, you really must. While serving up a fast-paced and oftentimes violent story, LeHane gives a great social commentary on race and class issues in his native Boston. The film version of Gone Baby Gone, Ben Affleck's impressive directorial debut, follows Kenzie and Gennaro on a search for a missing 4-year old girl. The moral dilemna posed by the end of the film will have you discussing it for days.

More on books into films in another post...

Digital Camera Classes

Is Santa bringing you a digital camera for Christmas? Did he bring you one last year and the pictures are still not on the computer?

Come to our digital camera classes on Jan. 7th & 8th at 6:00 pm in the meeting room of the Main Library in Kalispell. We will go over helpful tips and necessary knowledge. This will be a hands-on class, please bring your camera with you. If you don't have one yet but want to learn more about them- this class is for you, as well!

Put it on your calendar and tell a friend. Any questions can be posted here or contact me directly at 758.5814. This is the same class offered on two consecutive nights, plan to attend either one.

Montana Traffic Jam

I went hunting for a few days of last week down by Dillon for the extended elk season and got into what we call a traffic jam. It was one of many classic moments that made me ever so glad to call this state home. The pickup in the middle of the cattle inched his way through and no animals were injured, harmed or harassed in the making of this photograph.

Magazines at FCL!

Flathead County Libraries now offer over 70 magazine titles with new subscriptions this winter including Spin, Nation, Foreign Affairs, Men’s Health, Ready Made, Martha Stewart Living and more!

Two years worth of back issues check out for 28 days and cardholders are also able to place holds on issues through the
Montana Shared Catalog and have them delivered to the location of their choice - just like books!

Stop in to your favorite location to browse, hangout, and/or checkout!
Call the Info Desk at 758-5815 for more details.

Ten Ways Adults Can Support Teen Reading

Are you a parent, friend, or mentor of a teen? I recently saw this short and excellent guide to helping teens read for pleasure, available at ilovelibraries.org.

My personal favorite is #5: Everybody Wants to Be Free. Teens need to be able to choose their own books! Consider bringing your teens into the library and letting them browse our wide selection of young adult materials. We also have teen book lists available to for teens to take, keep, and pass along.

As the Teen Services Librarian for Flathead County Libraries, I am always available for book recommendations and just general chatting about books. Give me a call at 758-5713 if you'd like to talk more about teen reading.

And read on!

The Fire Next Time

Thursday evening, the Library will screen The Fire Next Time, a film that "follows a deeply divided group of citizens [living in and around Flathead County] caught in a web of conflicts intesified by rapid growth and the power of talk radio." On hand will be filmmaker Patrice O'Neil who screens this film around the country helping communities come together by talking about tolerance. "I think in 'The Fire Next Time' you see what happens when people stop listening to each other... and how quickly we can become enemies."

Partially in response to the type of behavior portrayed in the film, Flathead on the Move's Turning Strangers into Neighbors project worked with a large group of community leaders to come up with the Principles for Civil Dialogue. This document took many painstaking hours of people listening and contructively criticizing to finally reach consensus on how we should conduct ourselves at public meetings, in our places of work, and out in the community. The Principles of Civil Dialogue are:

·We provide a safe environment where individual perspectives are respected, heard, and acknowledged.

·We are responsible for respectful and courteous dialogue and participation.

·We respect diverse opinions as a means to find solutions based on common ground.

·We encourage and value broad community participation.

·We encourage creative approaches to engage public participation.

·We value informed decision-making and take personal responsibility to educate and be educated.

·We believe that respectful public dialogue fosters healthy community relationships, understanding, and problem-solving.

·We acknowledge, consider and respect the natural tensions created by collaboration, change, and transition.

·We follow the rules & guidelines established for each meeting.

Evel, Montana loves you

The heat is on

Now that the heat is turned up bit and the snowpacked and icy roads are gone, it's a great day to come on down to the library and take a browse through the shelves. If you want to use the wireless Internet, we saved a seat for you.

After all, it is Monday morning and that means it's a great day to be alive.
(There will be free program calendars to the first 1,001 people to say they read this blog posting.)

Scanners in the Library

We have new microfilm readers in Kalispell and Whitefish for those that didn't know. They are hooked to a computer and do a very good job of "crisping" the image of old microfilm. We have 22" widescreen monitors attached that make it easier to read the vertical layout of a newspaper page.

We also have regular scanner computers in Columbia Falls, Kalispell and Whitefish that you can use to scan photos and old slides into a digital image. Documents can be scanned into .pdf documents or an editable Word document. The fun never stops in the digital world of the Flathead County Libraries!

Books: The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea

I just had the good fortune to take a little trip down to Tucson, Arizona for a vacation. I spent a few days getting to know phainopeplas, saguaros, javelinas, prickly pear cacti, and other desert flora and fauna. My literary companion on the trip was the excellent novel The Hummingbird's Daughter. Set in late 1800's Mexico, the book tells the story of real life Teresita, the Saint of Cabora. Born to a 14 year old Yaqui girl known as The Hummingbird, Teresita grows up under the watchful eye of Huila, a midwife and healer. Eventually, as mystical, political, and social events collide, Teresita becomes an international sensation as a miracle worker.

The Hummingbird's Daughter is a fascinating and dazzling portrait of a woman and her country. As author Gail Tsukiyama writes, Urrea's landscape is "swollen and untamed, populated by rich, educated Dons, Mexican soldiers, valiant revolutionaries, dusty vaqueros, poor Yaqui and Mayo Indians, spiritual healers, and corrupt politicians."

If you're a fan of historical or literary fiction, add this book to your reading list!

check it out! films

After a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner, 17 of us (a golf professional, home economics teacher, insurance salesman, wheatfarmer, horsewoman, classics professor, homemaker, flight attendant, librarian, student, IT professional, etc) sat around the table and one by one told the others what we'd want to be if we weren't what we were now. The kids got to say what they want to be when they grow up. Having just watched Carlos Saura's Blood Wedding, I announced that I would like to be a flamenco dancer. Watch the movie and you'll understand why. Saura's Flamenco Trilogy--Blood Wedding, Carmen, and El Amor Brujo--was recently released as a Criterion Collection Eclipse series. This first film is incredible--whether or not you appreciate dance you'll be amazed at the beauty of the dancers, the beauty of the dance, the beauty of the music, and the incredible camera work that captures it all.

"Carlos Saura began what would become his trilogy with this depiction of a single dress rehearsal for choreographer Antonio Gades's adaptation of poet/playwright Federico Garcia Lorca's tale of passionate revenge. No mere recording of a ballet, Bodas de sangre (Blood Wedding) uses gripping camerawork and heart-pounding rhythmic editing to evoke the experience of moving with the dancers every step of the way."

We'll take what you don't want

Cleaning out your old books, VHS cassettes, DVD's, etc? You can donate them to the library to be added to the collection, sold at the Friends of the Library annual book sale or the ongoing sales at your local library. It's a great way to support the county libraries and get rid of the clutter. Write it off for taxes and smile knowing that you made a difference- one piece of junk at a time!*

*Wayne's World should in no way be misconstrued as junk, nor is any other book or movie that you are donating, even though I clearly stated that it is junk.

Every State, Providence and Continent

Help us record a hit in every state of the U.S., every providence in Canada and every continent on the globe. We've been using a new tool since the release of the new web page that allows us to see where the traffic is coming from. (City only, no conspiracy theories here!) On your next vacation for the holidays, log on to the web page and blog from grandma's house or after deep-sea diving. IF we accomplish this monumental task, the director has agreed that there will be free books, DVDs, etc. to check out AND a special bonus gift, she will even let people use the computers for free ; )

Happy Thanksgiving and Safe Travels!

Literature of the West at High Country News

The October 29th issue of High Country News, the magazine "For people who care about the West" includes book reviews and information about Western literature, new and old.

Scroll down the page to "Book Reviews" and check out a fall reading list, a new book by Deirdre McNamer about Montana, a new collection of essays by William Kittredge, two books about wildfires, and a 'best of' list of books about the Pacific Northwest.

My favorite selection is the literary trivia quiz; you can see the questions online and make your guesses, but to find the answers you'll need to visit the library and take a look at the hard copy of the magazine - on the shelf in the periodicals at the Main Library. Consider it a bit of a scavenger hunt, and take some books home with you to get started on your wintertime reading.

An Ode to the Print Reference Collection

Anyone who has recently visited the second floor of the Main Library, may beg to ask the question – where have all the reference books gone? Within the last two months we have reduced the print reference collection to nearly half its size, and branches in Columbia Falls and Bigfork are doing likewise. Our print reference collection at the Main Library has represented a wide breadth and scope of authoritative and respected resources – not to mention the hard work and dedication of librarians who have cultivated the collection to respond to the questions and needs of the community.

So, why the dramatic reduction? Technology and space. With resources like Google people can discover more information and become more independent searchers. The way librarians once created collections, which were supposed to be more mediated, has changed dramatically: we now create access points in the “wider web” to the content we hold for our customers. World-wide, we as information professionals, have to rethink traditional notions of reference, as well as how to organize the collections and what kind of collections we should have. Our online Auto Repair Database is a great example of this shift.

Space is another issue throughout the Flathead County Library system. As our collections grow, so do the communities' need for services such as free access computers and relaxing places to sit. Many of the reference books have been moved to the Adult Non-Fiction collection and are now able to check out. Others that were dated and/or the information is better found online, have been given to the Friends’ of the Library or discarded, while long runs of serials have been moved to storage.

While some reference materials will always remain viable, the daily duties and the tools used to achieve FCL’s Plan of Service Goals have changed dramatically. Technology has penetrated every facet of library service and these changes in turn have affected how staff and customers interact with and structure libraries. These changes keep a library relevant, shape how libraries are perceived, and most of all - how libraries are used.

Forward!

check it out! books

If you liked The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime you may also enjoy Kiara Brinkman's debut novel, Up High in the Trees. There's no mystery here really, but the novel unfolds as a mystery would; all the information comes through Sebby, the 8-year-old narrator who is struggling to come to terms with a family tragedy. Because Sebby suffers from an Asperger's type illness his sensory perception of the world is sharply focused, which is believably rendered in his narration. His "feelings" come across in letters that he regularly writes to his teacher. This is a sweet, simple novel that has a few definite flaws (why isn't anyone paying more attention to this family's unravelling?) but it's also a quick and satisfying read. Suitable for teens as well as adults.

New Book Reviews

Thanks to a volunteer, Joan Smith, we will have a book review page accessible at www.flatheadcountylibrary.org/adults.htm. We will continue to add more reviews on that page and on this blog. Also, at the bottom of the iBistro library catalog page, there are a number of book lists and bestseller lists. One thing is for sure, there is no shortage of great books to delve into on gray, winter days!

Cattle drive at the Columbia Falls storyhour

Our square cardboard cow yielded 30 square cardboard cartons of milk for storyhour kids today in Columbia Falls. Not bad for such a young cow. Her udder is a surgical glove filled with water. Small holes were added at the last minute, before the dairy workers arrived. She proved easy to milk and friendly too.

check it out! music

Loudon Wainright III's newest CD, "Strange Weirdos: music from and inspired by the film Knocked Up" is wonderful--balanced, evocative songs that will get you thinkin' and eventually joining in. In his July, 9, 2007 New Yorker article, Ben Greenman says:

On “Strange Weirdos” (Concord), which is nominally the soundtrack to the film “Knocked Up” but pretty much plays like a new solo record, Wainwright is as good as he’s ever been. Almost forty years into his recording career, he has not only retained his sharpness of wit but has also learned to cut with greater skill.

I have yet to see the film, but after listening to this collection of songs, I've put it on hold also.

The new web site!!

Okay, so I'm ecstatic that we have a new web page. I've been working on it and collaborating with others for so long that I've learned to overlook any faults that it has. We want to make it better and would love your input on the successes and failures of the new site. Is there something missing still? Are things not clear? Do you want the old site back? Let us know! Comment here, in person at the library or click on the feedback link at the bottom of each page associated with http://www.flatheadcountylibrary.org/ We love having you stop by, so show us some love back by giving us the add to your Favorites or Bookmarks.

check it out! books

I just read a wonderful new novel by Helen Schulman called A Day at the Beach. The novel takes place in the 24 hours immediately before and after the terrible tragedy of September 11, 2001. The Falktoph family, she a dancer, he a coreographer, live with their two year old son in a loft apartment directly across from the twin towers. As the city is laid bare so is the relationship and marriage of this couple. I had read Don DeLillo's Falling Man in late summer and that too captures the emotional landscape of a few people following the events of September 11th. But I liked Schulman's book much better.

FCL joins the modern era

We've been toying with the idea of having a blog with a variety of topics for some time now and that day has arrived, my friends. We'll be offering posts on library happenings, videos, technology upgrades and fun facts.

Let us know what you would like to see here and any feedback on any library service.