Check it Out:

Recapping The Year at CMLE

christmas table with decorations for holiday
Photo by Oleg Zaicev on Pexels.com

Okay, well…it’s been a YEAR!

Not the worst year, historically. Things could have gone worse in a lot of ways that we did manage to avoid. Whew.

But, it was plenty bad enough!

I don’t know whether it will be worth all of the sacrifice and difficulty to know that our pandemic is the biggest historical event of our lifetimes. It does help to give some perspective on history as we’re reading it: it may all sound like it was exciting, everyone was on board, and the outcomes were inevitable. But of course, as we’re seeing now, it’s not really like that. It’s not fun to live in interesting times. It’s hard, it’s scary, and when we most need everyone to pull together there are small groups of people who get angry-scared and make everything harder for us all.

Bleh.

I have spent several years doing research on stress and also happiness in libraries, and one of the main things I found: everything is easier if you can look on the bright side. Not in a goofy “I’m ignoring the problems I see! La, la!” way. But especially in a sustained crisis, as we have here, spending time with people who complain, who are always upset, who are constantly forecasting disaster – this makes your time worse.

So, to the extent you can. Not forgetting things are hard/bad/terrible some times – so do what you can to make things better there. Focus on the positives, the things you have gained or learned or found this year.

(For me it’s Zoom meetings! The next in-person meeting I’m forced to attend will likely find me both sobbing in the back row and kicking the desk in front of me. I loooove the freedom Zoom meetings bring – to pay attention, to hear information, to participate – but to also deal with my email, to make lunch, to sort books, to update lists. During one memorable meeting, I watched kittens being born at Kitten Academy! Most meetings are a waste of time, and it’s good to have the freedom to make that time count.)

So we are celebrating some of the things that we have shared this year at CMLE! Yes: the year looks a LOT different than we anticipated. Some goals had to be discarded along the way. But other cool things happened, and we want to share them all.

CMLE Programs This Year

Well. This did NOT go as expected!

What did not really work out:

When we started 2020, we were really hitting our stride in providing the VR kits to members. We were ironing out the glitches in the distribution, lots of people were attending the training sessions, and we thought this was going to be the big focus of our work for at least the first half of the year.

So. That didn’t exactly go to plan!

Even when we delivered our (unknowing) last batch of kits to schools the last week of February/early March, things were already changing. Handshakes were out, things were being cleaned. And one very nice school person offered to take their kits home, in case the school ended up being shut for a rumored week or two, so we could get them back. (Take a moment to laugh at that timeline we thought seemed so extreme!)

We did end up getting all the kits back, from all the schools, in late May, and I’m very grateful that worked out! Thanks to everyone who was helpful and flexible with it.

So, we’ve put the VR program on hold for now. No worries – it will be back again, and we will be able to share them with schools once everyone gets things settled.

But! There were some good things too!

Things that were great!

When we heard the school buildings were closing in March, we whipped into action. We wanted to create a bridge to resources libraries could use to share information and virtual resources, beyond their standard stuff. With so many people – and especially kids – staying home, bored, and anxious, keeping busy is a priority.

So we created a page of activities every single day, seven days a week, the entire time the buildings were closed this spring. Every day we shared STEM projects, art museum visits, crafting, cooking, scavenger hunts, dance parties, math games, and more. And it is all still available to you. Feel free to take any of these resources, and use them for your library!

  • We are now creating the more modest What Are We Doing This Week? material, with activities to share each week. If you have material to suggest, send it in!
  • We were also very pleased to see the big numbers of people participating in our short online training from our podcast Linking Our Libraries. We have a lot of good topics and resources in each episode, so making short training was the way to go. You can find those classes here, and we are currently building more.
  • Our podcasts got a big boost this year! Our numbers are up, visit to the website are up. It makes us happy to see this.

    You can join the book group, Reading With Libraries, and enjoy a new genre each week. There are lots of book ideas, guests, and resources filled with info on the genre. None of us can know everything, so it’s helpful to have this as a reader’s advisory tool!

    Of course, everyone can brush up on library skills, or just enjoy chatting about libraries and our awesomeness! Subscribe to Linking Our Libraries to get info on ideas from libraries around the country, and to help you bring them back to your own library.

    While each of these podcasts are on hiatus – we only drop episodes on one show at a time – every Tuesday we share a short book podcast. Right now, we use Minnesota State Parks as starters. We take one fact about a park, and use that idea to suggest six books related to that topic. It’s fast, fun, and you can find a wide variety of book ideas!
  • We also saw a bunch of interest in an older virtual program: our High School Reading Challenge from 2019. Feel free to take these prompts and use them in your own school! Or, use this as the basis for another challenge you set up for your community members.
  • And one of our newest programs, that we are so proud of, was started by our own Board of Trustees: Special CMLE Extended Minigrant Program!!! Our members can apply for a grant, in this special short-time offer, of up to $1,000. We are offering preference here to schools, and to programs working with strategies for providing in-person, hybrid, and online services. Our first set of grants have been awarded, and we will be considering them monthly.

    We understand that if you’re new to writing grant applications, this process can seem a bit intimidating. So we’re holding a special Q&A Zoom session on Tuesday, January 12th at 10am! Join us to ask any questions you may have about the grant program or application. Reserve your space here!

Most Popular 2020 Articles!

Our website stats have been flying – we are so happy!!! It seems to be that we are building a good community of people who come to us for news and ideas. So, we are always happy to share information – and so happy all of you are here!

Here are the most-viewed articles we shared in 2020. Probably not too many surprises, but the more good information we have to share, the stronger we all can be!

Thank you to everyone!!!!

It’s been an unexpected year, for sure. And 2021 is probably going to be nearly as challenging for libraries.

So hang in there. Subscribe to our podcast. Subscribe to our Friday newsletter. Subscribe to our Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Because we’re with you. You are an important part of the community.

We’re going to get through all of these troubles, and the next set of troubles out there. We’re going to celebrate your good stuff, and share your triumphs!

Year 2021: We are ready!!!!