PNLA Quarterly, Vol. 63 No.4 Summer 1999

Montana
Barry Brown, Montana Representative

People

Wendy Bay was hired last fall as the new Development Director for the Bozeman Public Library Foundation. Eva McDunn became the new Youth Services Librarian for Great Falls Public Library last December; previously she served as the director of the Old Trail Museum in Choteau. Marlene Palmquist is the new Library Director for the Lincoln County Libraries. Palmquist comes to Lincoln County from the James Blackstone Memorial Library in Branford, Connecticut, where she has been director for the past twelve years. Bruce Newell, past recipient of the MLA MT Librarian of the Year Award and the incoming president of the Montana Library Association, left his position at the Lewis and Clark Public Library to become the Director of the Montana Library Network at the Montana State Library. Alvin Randall, retired from his duties as librarian at Libby High School, and was appointed by the Governor to serve a term on the State Library Commission. Representative Linda McCulloch, a school librarian from Bonner and a Montana legislator announced that she will be running for the office of MT Superintendent of Public Education.

Magi Malone is leaving the Montana State Library in her position as Technology Librarian and has accepted a position at the Yellowstone Art Museum in Billings. Alberta "Birdie" Blanton announced her retirement, as Readers Advisor for the Montana Talking Book Library, effective the end of April 1999. Darlene McNay, library director of the Bicentennial Library of Colstrip since 1991, has announced her retirement. Bill Cochran, director of the Parmly Billings Library and president of the Montana Library Association, announced in January 1999 his resignation and acceptance of a new position as Director of the Aurora Public Library in Illinois. Then, in March, he surprised (and delighted) everyone by announcing that due to housing and financial issues he was not leaving Montana, was resuming his previous positions, and was planning on attending the many already planned going away parties for him.

The Montana Library community lost Diana Graves, former director of the Jocko Valley Library and regular MLA conference attendee, who passed away in October 1998; Mabel Brewer, former director of the Flathead County Library and also formerly employed at the University of Montana, Mansfield Library, and at the Montana State Library, who passed away in February, 1999; and Irene Evers, longtime Forestry Librarian at the University of Montana who worked until she was 80 years old and passed away in March, 1999.

Libraries

Montana Public Libraries will receive approximately $1.6 million in grants from The Gates Foundation Library Initiative to purchase hardware, software, and training so that their patrons can access information resources via the Internet.

As part of the information gathering process for submitting a Gates Library Foundation Application grant, the Montana State Library recently compiled the following Public Library statistics for the 106 Public Library Buildings in Montana (includes main and branch buildings):

--47% are using some type of automated system, some libraries are only using the circulation feature and the most popular systems are Winnebago, Dynix, and Follett; --95% have at least one telephone line (indoor toilets weren't tallied); and --76% have Internet access (most have a dial-up connection)

As of January 1999, 20 public libraries in Montana have received funding commitment letters from the Schools and Libraries Division for telecommunication services that are eligible for discounts through the federal E-Rate program; for Montana public libraries the amounts range from $288 to $13,226 with the total amount committed so far over $60,000. The theme for the 1999 Montana Summer Reading Program is "Dig Up Montana Treasure--Read for Pleasure." Jamie Greco, Glacier County Library is coordinating the production of a manual for the program and can be reached at jkgreco4@yahoo.com; ideas for the manual include dinosaurs, treasure hunting, oil, mining, ghost towns, national parks, etc.

The Bozeman Public Library Foundation hosted "Dessert and a Story" on November 6, 1998 with local outdoor writers reading excerpts from their favorite western authors. The Rosebud County Library held their annual library luncheon centered on the theme of "A Harvest of Humanities." It included a raffle and raised a sizeable contribution to the fund for automating the library. The Jefferson County Library System was awarded a grant from the Washington Foundation for $3624 to help remodel their children's area. Havre-Hill County Library was given an online subscription to the World Book Encyclopedia by the Havre Soropomist Club, and their Winter Reading Series was funded by the Montana Committee for the Humanities. Hearst Free Library was chosen to participate in "National Connections," a reading discussion series for adult new readers, which will be offered in the spring and fall of 1999. The Big Horn County Library became automated last November with a Dynix library system. The Kohrs Library received a $500 grant from the William K. Kohrs Memorial Library Foundation to buy educational and instructional videos.

1998 was a record breaking year for donations to the Great Falls Public Library which received over $260,000 in donations!

Many public librarians in Montana, like their counterparts nationwide, have received a "request" from Mr. David Burt, President of Filtering Facts, to provide certain library records. Montana State Librarian Karen Strege sent out a message indicating that the Montana Library Records Confidentiality Act prohibits the release or disclosure of library records. Therefore, libraries may not release library records to Mr. Burt if these records contain the names or other personal identifiers of library users or otherwise fit the definition of library records. In addition, based on the Montana Constitution, a library director may decide not to release documents if "the demand of individual privacy clearly exceed the merits of public disclosure." Mr. Burt also asks that the library redact or edit out any personal information from the library records. However, the Library Records Confidentially Act does not contain any provision that authorizes the release of "redacted" library records. The New York Times ran an article about Mr. Burt and his "research" (http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/04/cyber/articles/20library.html).

The Parmly Billings Public Library will now restrict access to the Internet, computer games, and printed material if that is the desire of their parents. Library trustees unanimously decided to implement a new library card that has a series of "codes" for each category of library material. Parents will select the categories to which their children may have access.

In a formal opinion, MT Attorney General Joe Mazurek said that Public Library Trustees not the County Commissioners who provide the money have control over how money is spent. This opinion, which has the force of law unless overturned by a court or the Legislature, came in response to Big Horn County Attorney Christine Cooke who had contended that because her county funded the library out of its general budget, the county commissioners could overrule library trustee decisions on how the money is spent and whether raises should be given to library workers.

The Montana State Library & the Montana Library Association (MLA)

A Montana "library education summit" meeting was held Oct. 28, 1998 at the Montana State Library. Fourteen members of Montana's library and higher education communities gathered to discuss aspects of future library education in Montana. The consensus seemed to lean towards pulling together available resources statewide to get an LTA (Library Technical Assistant, 2 year associate degree) program established. The Montana State Library is holding its first annual Library Fall Workshop at the Yogo Inn in Lewistown, September 24-25, 1999. The workshop is funded in part by FY99 LSTA grant funds and will feature sessions on library administration, advanced interlibrary loan techniques, collection development, and reference services. At its December 1998 meeting, the Montana State Library Commission adopted a revised set of Montana Public Library Standards which were developed by the MLA's Public Library Division's Committee on Standards and by the Montana State Library staff working together over 9 months.

Dee Ann Redman stepped down as the editor of the MLA Montana Library Focus, and Pam Henley (phenley@mtlib.org) has volunteered to be the new editor. After 5 years of service, John Thomas has stepped down as the MLA Administrative Assistant, and Karen Hatcher (hatcher@selway.umt.edu) has volunteered to be the new administrative assistant.

The MLA membership increased (again) this year and is now at almost 700 members! The Membership Directory is now available on the web at the MLA website: http://www.mtlib.org/.

The MLA Offline Interest Group held its annual retreat, "Offline 99" (the Montana version of Oregon's - Online Northwest event), in Bozeman during February 1999. Over 80 librarians attended, evaluations were glowing, and the event made almost $1,000 in profit for MLA. The Public Library Division of the Montana Library Association held a retreat on March 12-13 at the Parmly Billings Library and on March 19-20 at the Lewis and Clark Library.

The MLA conference, which was a joint conference with the Mountain Plains Library Association, was held June 13-16 at the beautiful Big Sky Resort in Big Sky, Montana (close to Yellowstone National Park), and was a smashing success with almost 600 attendees, beautiful weather, and many stimulating programs.

Legislation

At the fall 1998 MLA board meeting, the board ranked issues in priority order for the focus of the MLA lobbyist during the upcoming legislative session as: 1) Intellectual Freedom; 2) $400,000 for a statewide database license(s); 3) Library district statute; 4) Exceeding the maximum mill levy; and 5) Federation-ILL statute changes

All in all, libraries fared well in the 1999 MT Legislative Session. The Montana State Library introduced three bills, two were signed by the Governor; one bill failed on a close third vote of the house. Three bills were introduced by others that the Montana State Library and the MLA opposed. All three bills died in committee.

HB 107, a bill on library levies and bonding, was passed. HB 125, a bill on library Federations and ILL reimbursement, was passed. HB 152, a bill on library districts, failed on third reading in the House. HB 223, a bill on increasing the number of trustees on a public library board, was tabled in the committee by the request of the sponsor. HB 376, a mandatory-filtering bill for schools and libraries, was tabled in the committee. SB 332, a telecommunication bill that would have disallowed libraries and schools to give access to the Internet, was tabled in committee.

The new $400,000 appropriation to the Montana State Library budget for statewide licensing of periodical databases was passed. The Gale Group, which includes the former IAC products, was selected by a committee of librarians from around the state representing all types of libraries that reviewed several vendors.

During the fall 1998 election, Montana voters approved a constitutional initiative (CI-75) that required all new taxes and fees to be approved by the voters. However, in the midst of the 1999 spring legislative session, the Montana Supreme Court ruled that CI-75 is unconstitutional. Specifically, the Court ruled that although CI-75 was proposed as a single amendment, it actually amended multiple provisions of the Montana Constitution without separating each amendment out on the ballot so that each could be voted separately.