It’s always good to go visit our members! Everyone is doing things that are interesting, and things that other libraries will want to learn about or try for themselves. (Yes, I’m feeling a little braggy here, but CMLE has the best members!)

This was a quick visit to the library at North Junior High School. Have we been to visit your library yet? Send us an email at admin @ cmle . org, and let’s set up a date that works for your schedule! (We like to come and oooh and aaah over your stuff!)

This is probably not in every library – but I was so delighted to see it in this library! These are the cubes members can print out and assemble themselves, and use with the VR headsets in the kits we are loaning out to members! One of the things everyone gets with the loan is free access to all the lessons (over 700 of them!); and in some of them students can use augmented reality to hold images in their hands with these cubes. Would your students like to hold atoms in chemistry class? Statues in art class? It’s all there, for you!

I admit to being overly happy at reading about communication information! And if you add that in with some good books students can enjoy by grade? Well, this set of signs is making me very happy to enjoy!

One thing you immediately notice about this library is how nicely it is arranged! Sorry about my poor photography, but you can see how bright and open it feels, and how nicely the shelves are organized. Using shelves that staff can see over lets students get help when needed. And using the smaller sized shelves is appropriate for students who are not quite fully grown yet.

Check these out!! I love to see comics and graphic novels in libraries! Not every student will come to you, ready to enjoy 600 page novels. Trying to force people into a book that is not right for them is contrary to every principle of library science. They might start with these materials, and move into longer novels – or not. Either is fine, so we need to be ready to serve our community members!

Aaaaahhhhh – look at another shot of the lovely, airy feeling in this library! The ceiling is two stories over the floor, so it feels so nice and open. And when you add in the skylights, the whole place feels like somewhere you would choose to enjoy passing time.

While libraries are always more than “just” books – of course, books are kind of our best-known product! And it’s always useful to be able to do some Reader’s Advisory with our community members. Look at the helpful genre descriptions here! It’s so useful for students, and adults, to get a sense of the range of books available.

We are very into this idea – and even have a podcast all about it! Check out Reading with Libraries, where we talk about new genres and books each week! You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app, or stream it on our website. And we are ALWAYS looking for more people to come be part of our community, and to chat with us about books they like! It’s fun, it’s easy, and you would really help me out if you would send me an email at mary @ cmle . org, and tell me a genre you like (no matter how broad or obscure!), and give me a couple of potential dates you can come over.