iPhoto importing problem

I just got a new MBP and I wanted to tranfer my pictures from my old Powerbook so I copied the iPhoto library and placed it in the Pictures folder instead of importing it. I did this so that each roll would still be separate instead of iPhoto grouping all the photos into one import. It seemed to have worked fine except that all my photos since last October don't show up, yet they are in the iPhoto library where I copied them (I can see the rolls in finder but it refuses to open in iPhoto even when I try and import from the proper location. It says it is being used by iPhoto library.) this is my first experience with iPhoto 08 and I don't like it very much

So can anyone help me get iPhoto to show me my photos when I run it? Thanks