Library closing for two-day state conference

The Havre-Hill County Library will be closed Thursday and Friday so the library staff can attend the Montana Library Association Conference in Great Falls.

Regular hours for the library will resume on Saturday, when the library is open from noon to 5 p.m.

"The Sky's the Limit at Montana Libraries" is the convention, expressing what's happening in public, academic, special and school libraries.

One of the advances is an effort across the state, with the help of grant funding through the Library Services and Technology Act, toward shared cataloging and an attitude of sharing of all resources among libraries. Shared catalogs which means that all of the holdings of the member libraries are on one catalog, accessible to all of the libraries as well as to patrons through on-line public access catalogs are being implemented in Havre for several Hi-Lline libraries and in Helena for a group of libraries surrounding Missoula.

Montana State Library and the state Library Commission have established both a Montana Library Network led by Bruce Newell and a task force made up of representatives of all types of libraries.

These entities have worked together toward state licensing for Infotrac, a large periodical and reference database, and OCLC, the organization that provides cataloging and interlibrary loan services for all member libraries.