Who was Sheila Cates?

She was a wife and a mom.

With daughter Kristen

With husband Dennis, daughter Kristen, and son Patrick

She was also an extraordinary Montana

librarian.

Sheila Cates served as Library Development Coordinator at the Montana State Library from 1985

until her death from cancer in 1993.

Sheila, whose energy, kindness, and ingenuity made an impact on so many Montana librarians, was

named Montana Library Association’s Librarian of the Year in 1993. In 1994, the Montana Library

Association established the Sheila Cates Scholarship to provide financial support to association members

seeking education in the library science field.

“It is a joy to reflect on Sheila’s sense of humor, her warmth and humanity, her tireless work ethic, and her amazing passion for libraries.”

Bob CooperRetired, Montana State Library

“Sheila never considered an issue without considering the benefits for all libraries and all Montanans.”

“No one person in Montana’s library community worked so hard on behalf of all types of Montana libraries.”

From a letter for Sheila’s nomination for Montana Librarian of the Year, 1993

Why We Celebrate Sheila Cates

“Sheila always made me feel special and important even though our county library serves only 1,000 patrons.”

From a letter for Sheila’s nomination for Montana Librarian of the Year, 1993

“Sheila was vigilant in reminding us of our basic principles of librarianship, in reminding librarians what we stand for, and the importance of our libraries to our communities.”

From a letter for Sheila’s nomination for Montana Librarian of the Year, 1993

How We Celebrate Sheila Cates

We have

silent auctions …

A traveling

quilt The Sheila Cates Traveling Quilt was created in 1994 by Montana Librarian Eva English as an item to be used for the annual Sheila Cates Scholarship Silent Auction. The first winner of the silent auction quilt decided to give it back to the Cates Scholarship Committee and now the quilt has become a traveling quilt. At conference each spring, librarian’s names are drawn for a three-month display of the quilt at the librarian’s home library. Each visited library puts a library patch on the quilt so one can see where it’s traveled in honor of Sheila Cates, one of the great Montana librarians whose work carries on in the form of financial support for Montana’s new librarians.

and …

Lots of crazy fundraising events at

conference!

Festival

of

Library

Potential

1994

Bona

Fide

Bingo

Night

1995

Desserts and Silent Auction

1996, 1998

Bowling

for

Bucks

1997

Bowling for Bucks

1997

Library

Promotional

Materials as

Fundraiser

1999

Sumo

Wrestling

2000

Sumo Wrestling

2000

Murder

Mystery

2004

Fashion

Through the

Decades

2006

Trivia Night

with Nancy

Pearl

2007

Librarian

Olympics

LibrarianJeopardy

Library

Melodrama

2011

Library

Melodrama

2011

Charades,

Cakes,

and

Costumes

2012

2012

2013

Librarian

Feud

and

Let’s

Make a Deal

2014

Bunco

Bash

& Hat Contest

In Remembrance of Sheila Cates

LIBRARIES …Some people work in them.

Some people believe in them.Some people are advocates for them.

And some people LOVE them.

In the words of Sheila Cates herself…

Sheila Cates did all of the above

Please give generously to the MLA Sheila Cates Scholarship Fund.

Thank you.