January 22, 2011 was Central Minnesota History Day at the Miller Center Library, and it was a smashing success! This was the third year SCSU has hosted this event, and we had 97 participants. In all, we had six schools attend. This year’s History Day Theme is Debate and Diplomacy in History: Successes, Failures, and Consequences.

The students received detailed research instruction, handouts, and assistance from SCSU librarians, interns, Minitex, and the Minnesota Historical Society (MHS) staff. MHS provided guidance on project creation, structure, appearance, and what makes a History Day project great! MHS also had a sample History Day project on hand from last year. Instruction was provided on such topics as: using the Minnesota Digital Library www.mndigital.org, accessing and utilizing SCSU’s many primary source databases, using the ELM Databases, and the SCSU online catalog. This instruction was invaluable, and really got students moving in the right direction.

Throughout the day, CMLE staffers provided assistance with checking out materials and requesting interlibrary loans. In all we checked out 109 materials – ensuring that students in the central Minnesota region have the primary and secondary sources that they need to create a successful project. In addition, Patricia assisted with research questions, provided a nice welcome during the opening session, helped set up the breakout rooms and lunch, and worked to ensure that the day ran smoothly.

 We were happy to see such a great showing and hope to welcome these schools back again next year… and, we’d also love to see you, too! Please visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/cmle1/ to see Central Minnesota History Day @ SCSU in action!

To learn more about National History Day, please visit http://www.nationalhistoryday.org/. To learn more about the research day at the Miller Center, visit http://research.stcloudstate.edu/page.phtml?page_id=344.

SCSU is looking forward to hosting the annual Central Minnesota History Day Regional competition on March 19th, 2011. The event is expected to bring students to campus to compete for prizes, such as monetary awards, continuing on to the state competition, and scholarships.