Last Best News (https://montana-mint.com/lastbestnews/tag/billings-public-library/page/3/)
Lay of the Land: A series of essays on the spirit of Montana
I can’t remember when I first came to Billings, but the safe money would put it sometime in the first half of 1970, when I would have been mere weeks or months old. My parents lived in Casper, Wyo., at the time, and we had kin in Billings and Great Falls who were eager to meet me. (more…) Continue Reading →
More than a decade after she began writing “The Home Place,” Billings environmental lawyer Carrie La Seur’s debut novel will be released on July 29. (more…) Continue Reading →
On a bookshelf above my desk, Thomas Hickey looks down at me every day with his perpetual expression of forlorn longing. All I know of Mr. Hickey is that he lived at 14 Patrick Street, Fermoy, and that he was 45 years old when he died on Oct. 28, 1942. (more…) Continue Reading →
At the beginning of a panel discussion on the future of the printed word Tuesday night, magazine editor Seabring Davis told the audience, “When you figure out what the current state of publishing is, please let me know.” (more…) Continue Reading →
The Friends of the Billings Public Library had been planning to conduct book sales in the new library this spring, summer and fall. That was until the move was made to the new library in February and the group took stock of the used books still in its possession. (more…) Continue Reading →
Ron May and Ed Riesinger are standing in a storeroom at Central Christian Church, surrounded by thousands of books. Some of the books are in plastic milk crates or open cardboard boxes. Many more are packed in boxes that tower high overhead. (more…) Continue Reading →
Don’t look for any fireworks — or a big implosion — during the demolition of the old Parmly Billings Library
The three-story building, constructed as a heavy-duty warehouse, will come down in stages, chipped away by a crew of four people. If all goes well, they will be done by mid-May and a 102-space parking lot will be open by mid-June. (more…) Continue Reading →
Neil Gaiman was a shrewd choice to bring in for a reading during the extended celebration of the new Billings Public Library. Appearing Friday night at the Babcock Theatre, courtesy of the Friends of the Library and the library foundation, he spoke lovingly of his own immersion in libraries as a boy and of their continuing importance in our culture. (more…) Continue Reading →
It took 17 years, but I finally got a story in the Billings Outpost. I was working at the Gazette something like 20 years ago when David Crisp joined the staff as an assistant region editor, the same job I had. We worked together for a few years — and drank beer, played darts, shot pool, went canoeing and listened to Jimmie Rodgers records together — until David went over to being a reporter, an excellent reporter. And then he left the paper to start his own weekly, the Outpost. (more…) Continue Reading →
Nearly 40 years clear of it, I still remember my first visit to a public library. It’s not with the crystal recall I might have boasted 20 years ago, when there was more tread on the tires, but the wonder — at the stacks of books, thousands of them, all there for the claiming — remains fresh, as if it happened yesterday. And in a way, it did. (more…) Continue Reading →
