Kalispell Library is "Bewitching"

Take a virtual tour of the Kalispell Library via "The Librarian Is In" blog. Justine Shaffner highlights public libraries worldwide, and she recently showcased our library.

In addition to raving about the historic building and interior features, she discusses the library branches, the many items available for checkout, programs for children and teens, and the Montana Shared Catalog.

Statistics can tell a story or two.

It's been a long time since I've taken a look at our web site statistics but found a couple of interesting trends popping up since my last peek. Williston, N.D. has cracked the top 10 list of cities visiting FCLS. I was a traveling road construction worker in a former life and spent some pretty boring evenings far from home. It makes me smile to think that those workers, who are driving across the state, are picking up some books to read or movies to watch while they are away from their families. Perhaps, a good audio book makes the long commute a little easier for them.

The other interesting trend is the amount of mobile devices that are accessing our web site. It comes as no surprise, as we have logged the most downloaded audio and ebooks throughout the state in the past few months. This data helps spark ideas on how to make a better experience while visiting our site on a mobile device.

In case you're a nerd like me- here is the order of mobile devices that have accessed our site.
- iPad
- Android
- iPhone/iPod
- Blackberry
- Windows

Megan Glidden Recieves Scholarship

Megan Glidden has been awarded a scholarship to pursue a master’s degree in library and information science through the University of North Texas’s distance program. She will begin classes this fall with other students from the Rocky Mountain region. Glidden’s $14,400 scholarship will go toward the cost of tuition at the University of North Texas’s College of Information. She will attend most classes online and will also travel to meet with her cohort twice during the two-year program for in-person orientation and instruction.

After graduation, as part of the scholarship requirements, Glidden will work for at least two years as a professional librarian in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, or South Dakota. She also will continue her membership in the Montana Library Association and attend the annual conference. Glidden currently works at both the Columbia Falls Branch Library and in the Children’s Department at the Main Library in Kalispell. She is enthusiastic about helping our communities with literacy and learning, and is excited to explore the variety of experiences available as a librarian. When asked about specific career goals, Glidden answered, “Someday I would love to manage a branch library, which would allow me to do a little bit of everything.”

Glidden’s scholarship award is the result of an application she made in April 2010 to the SWIM Regional Collaborative Library Education Project, which is designed to increase the number of professional librarians working in the SWIM (South Dakota, Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana) region. At that time, she was selected by the SWIM Advisory Council as an alternate to receive a scholarship and was placed on a waiting list. The SWIM project received additional funding this month, which made it possible for Glidden to receive the scholarship. SWIM is funded through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services’ Laura Bush 21^st Century Librarian Program.

Grand Prize winners for session 1

We drew our winners for the session 1 Summer Reading Program grand prizes in the Children's Department!

The following readers each won $25 to the Imagination Station.

Layne Potts-Wood of Kalispell
Eric Bott of Columbia Falls
Reid Barrows of Bigfork

Congratulations, and great job to all who have participated so far. Look for more winners during the week of August 22nd, which is when we will also draw our teen winners.

Summer Reading Nonfiction

If you'd like a real page-turner to monopolize your day or evening, check out Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World's Richest Museum. Fascinating!

"In award-winning reporting for the Los Angeles Times, journalists Jason Felch and Ralph Frammolino exposed the dramatic story of the Getty's underhanded art dealings led by their former antiquities curator, Marion True. From back alleys to basement bank vaults, True got her hands on beautiful objects, from an ancient gold wreath to the stone goddess in question — where Felch and Frammolino got the name of their new book: Chasing Aphrodite: The Hunt for Looted Antiquities at the World's Richest Museum."

"True isn't the only guilty one, of course. The Getty and many other top American museums are part of a long history of illicit art trade. Looted art has been trafficked for as long as art has been in existence, and Frammolino says this is due to the overpowering effects of antiquity," excerpted from NPR.

SRP roundup

We are heading into our 3rd week of Summer Reading Program activities and thought we would share some photos and details about what we are up to lately.

For our kick-off events, we were lucky to have Jack Gladstone perform songs with his daughter Mariah performing American Indian sign language alongside him. The audience loved them!

Last week we journeyed to Africa. The younger children created elephant masks, and the older children made lion masks. We also read stories and sang songs about Africa, and some of us even learned some Swahili.









We also had a great group of teens come and work on journaling projects. They decorated their own journals and then spent an hour writing about their hopes, dreams, selves, and futures.





Stay tuned for more news and pictures as we continue our adventures this summer!

Summer Reading Program is coming!

“One World, Many Stories” is the theme for Flathead County Library System’s 2011 Summer Reading Program for children. Through stories, songs, and a variety of crafts, children will enjoy activities and stories that will take them on an extraordinary global journey. The 2011 Summer Reading Program is a free program that encourages all children from infants to those entering 5th grade to enjoy books all summer long.

Registration begins on June 13 at any Flathead County Library System branch. Those participating in the Summer Reading Program will receive a reading log to record time spent reading or listening to books. The program concludes on August 22.

Library locations will offer a variety of children’s programs all summer; no registration is required to attend the programs. Brochures listing program schedules are available at Flathead County Library System locations. In Kalispell, programs will be held Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 11:00 a.m. Columbia Falls will have programs at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesdays. Programs at Bigfork will be on Wednesdays at 10:00 a.m. Visit the Summer Reading Program website for more details.

“You Are Here” is this year’s theme for the Teen Summer Reading Program. Area teens entering grades 6 through 12 are invited to sign up for the Teen Summer Reading Program. Teens can keep track of their time spent reading and earn prizes; teens participating in the program will be entered for grand prizes that include an iPod Touch and a Nook eReader. Teens can also join fun events all summer long. Teen Summer Reading Program flyers are available at all library locations, or contact your library for a list of upcoming events and times.

Registration for the teen program begins on June 13 and the program concludes on August 22.

This year, the Friends of the Flathead County Library System will again sponsor Readers to the Rescue, an additional component of the Summer Reading Program. Any extra hours read by children and teen participants will go to the Readers to the Rescue fund and will be converted to a donation (up to $2000). This summer, Readers to the Rescue will support Literacy Volunteers of Flathead County, a community non-profit organization that improves people’s lives through reading and writing skills.

Special thanks to Park Side Federal Credit Union for their generous support in sponsoring FCLS’s Summer Reading Program.