Welcome Tami Lee  Hello Minnesota Library Community! I’m honored to be able to introduce myself as the director of State Library Services and Expanded Learning for the Minnesota Department of Education. I am so grateful for the warm welcome I have received from staff and library partners from around the state. I look forward to continuing and advancing the great work of the exceptional State Library Services team, and working with and learning from all of you in our collective endeavor to provide equitable, innovative library service and access to all Minnesotans. I’m excited to engage with all of you in the near future! Please do not hesitate to contact me with questions, concerns, and comments. More to come! Warm regards, Tami Tamara.lee@state.mn.us Create a Report from the Annual Report  Every year, Minnesota public libraries submit a report detailing their library’s usage statistics, financial data, and more. The summary data is available through State Library Service’s website, but what if you want to dig deeper? In this webinar, we’ll cover all the ways you can use the survey tool LibPAS to create reports on the data submitted through the Minnesota Public Library Annual Report, including peer comparisons, trend reports, and more! When: Tuesday, November 9, 1 – 2 p.m. Where: Zoom link will be emailed upon registration Register for LibPAS Reports webinar If you have questions, please contact Verena Getahun. |
Updates from our Partners Visualize the Community Around Your Library The U.S. Census has developed a dashboard in coordination with the Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) that allows you to visualize public library data alongside community data such as income levels, racial and ethnic demographics, and population by age and sex. The dashboard combines data from the FY19 Public Library Survey (PLS) and the 2015-2019 American Community Survey (ACS). By interacting with the layers, users can drill down to public library building location and ACS statistics at the county level. Side panels allow you to view statistics for each state, in many cases normalized per person for better comparison across states. Check it out! Join Makers in the Library  |
| Are you a leader in library maker programs? Join Makers in the Library to help build a national collective of library professionals who support one another to develop and deliver community-centered maker programs. The project is looking for six to seven libraries to help lay the foundation for the Collective, and take a leadership role in the project. The libraries chosen will help lead the direction the field takes on library makerspaces and decide the priorities for this Collective, the questions we address, and the ways we learn and grow together. Charter Members will receive a stipend for committing to: Create systems and processes for how the Collective will be run Alert Collective leaders to important issues that arise in the field and help to lead activities (e.g., a survey of the field) to learn how libraries have modified services during the pandemic. Serve as a mentor for other libraries to help build their capacity to create community-centered maker programming. Apply to the Makers in the Library project by Nov. 15, 2021. Interviews with finalists will take place the weeks of Nov. 29 – Dec. 10, 2021. Announcements will be made no later than Dec. 20, 2021. |
Host Arts-Based Program for Trans and Queer Youth
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| Minnesota Association for Children’s Mental Health is seeking school, library, and organizational partners to include in their application for an Afterschool Grant as a part of the ESSER Funds from the Cares Act. Our arts-based program for trans and queer youth led by trans and queer teaching artists will support participants’ mental health by exploring identity, learning queer history, building peer support systems, developing critical literacy skills, and supporting self expression. The curriculum is intentionally playful, including creative writing, oral storytelling and discussion, collaborative rehearsal and performance of short plays, mask-making and puppetmaking, planning and hosting an arts event for the community, and more. The 30-month grant period runs from January 2022 – June 2024. The groups must meet 60 times per school year (approximately twice per week) for at least 60 minutes. There would be no cost to hosting schools or libraries. This grant does not cover summer programming. If your library would like to host this program, please contact Matt Jenson (they/them) or Mariah Larkin (they/them) at your earliest convenience. Illustration: NIXX Design, Noun Project |
| About State Library Services State Library Services, a division of the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE), partners with libraries to achieve equity and excellence in our collective work for Minnesotans. Division staff are consultants who help libraries plan, develop and implement high-quality services that address community needs. State Library Services administers federal grant, state aid, and state grant programs that benefit all types of libraries. |
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