CMLE is looking for a contractor to work with us through mid-June of 2021.

Our overarching goal with this position is to provide quick, useful connections and assistance to CMLE members across our twelve counties. 

• We want someone who can move fast, identify problems, and help us to come up with solutions for our members. 
• We are looking for someone who is familiar with K-12 schools in Minnesota, and can help us to connect our professional library services with the needs our school library members are facing. 
• In particular, we want to be ready to provide assistance, advice, and potentially some money to school libraries to help them to best serve their communities during this pandemic. We will need our contractor to be self-motivated in reaching out.
• This job will require someone with experience in schools, and preferably in school libraries/media centers. 
• We need someone who is a good communicator – online and in person, when necessary. 

This job will do a variety of things, including:

• Help us identify our the most current staff in all of our school libraries – updating our member database
• Communicate regularly with our school members, to help us identify specific issues they are facing in providing library services in hybrid or online environments. We want to share information across the membership on evolving best practices for working with patrons during the pandemic, and need this position to be the point person in gathering it.
• Work with schools to connect them with our mini-grant opportunities, as they are available.
• Help us to advertise our online training classes to schools, including all library staffers and potentially expanding to include other teachers as our content develops.
• Help us to connect our classes with state certification requirements, to ensure school staff, and potentially teachers, can get PD/CE hours from our classes. At the end of this we want a specific set of instructions on how to make this happen.
• Identify some additional topics necessary to school library staffers for continuing education needs and requirements – topics related to pandemic-era service, or otherwise.
• Assist CMLE staff with preliminary strategic planning process, including assisting with creating and distribution of a needs assessment, and organizing Zoom interviews and focus groups with our stakeholders.

The current situation is ever-changing for our members as they work through dealing with the pandemic, so our response may be fluid. We anticipate the above listed tasks will be the entirety of your work with us, however we will leave open the possibility of additional or alternative tasks. 

We will work to keep in-person contacts to a minimum, in accordance with best practices and guidelines for working during the pandemic. However, it is possible that there will be some need to meet with people in person. In that case, we will reimburse mileage, using the standard IRS mileage reimbursement rate. Please talk with the CMLE Executive Director prior to that travel for approval.

It will be the responsibility of the contractor to submit regular invoices with hours worked, a description of tasks, and any mileage incurred. Invoices should be submitted at least every two weeks.

The contractor will meet regularly with CMLE staff, to report on progress, clarify expectations, ask questions, and discuss plans.

Weekly hours: 10 to 15 (this is negotiable prior to the start of the contract, and can vary from week to week, depending on CMLE needs and the contractor’s schedule)

Hourly pay: $20

Applicants for this position should submit a resume and a cover letter. Send your application to Mary Jordan: mary@cmle.org.

• The letter should be specific in identifying the skills or background the applicant has that will allow them to meet the needs of this contract position. 
• We will conduct interviews with prospective candidates, to assess their qualifications for the position.

Any questions about this contractor position should be directed to Mary Jordan, Executive Director of CMLE: mary@cmle.org.