All posts by Angie

Communication

Tomorrow: Join us for dinner and exciting library discussion!

Hey, library people! Just a reminder that TOMORROW, July 20th, is our CMLE dinner event at the White Horse in St. Cloud!

Thursday, July 20th
5:30 pm
The White Horse
809 West Saint Germain, St Cloud, MN 56301

We are looking forward to hearing from you guys about your summer work, any plans you are making for upcoming programs, and any other interesting library things you want to share!

We will see you tomorrow for some happy library conversation and good food! Email us with any questions, and we hope to see you there! ?

Tech, Training

Vets Who Code

Libraries offer great resources to their veteran patrons, so when we saw the work this nonprofit is doing in regards to serving veterans, we thought we should share!

Vets Who Code was created by veteran and programmer Jerome Hardaway. The organization’s goal is to help veterans become programmers and also to challenge some stigmas out there about veterans and the workforce.

From their website:

“Launched in 2014, Vets Who Code is a non-profit dedicated to filling the nations technical skills gap with America’s best. We achieve this by using technology to connect and train veterans remotely in web development in order to close the digital talent gap and ease career transition for military veterans and to give military spouses skills to provide stability as they move to support their families. We believe that those who serve in uniform can be the digital economy’s most productive and innovative assets. Vets Who Code prepares them to enter the civilian work force with tangible skills for new careers.”

Check out this podcast interview with Hardaway, where they discuss some of the challenges he has faced, such as “reentering civilian life at the height of the Great Recession, how Vets Who Code was born, the specific assets vets bring to programming and the tech world, and how they overcome the challenges and stereotypes they face.”

CMLE, Communication

Special Visitor for CMLE Office Hours

Today is our first day of CMLE Office Hours!

Every Wednesday afternoon with an even numbered date, we’ll be here in the office from 11:00 to 1:00, and available for you to visit!

And since this is the very first Wednesday we are holding Office Hours, we have a special visitor: Lady Grey!

Feel free to drop in today between 11:00 and 1:00 to talk about library programs, policies and procedures, ask questions, talk about cool things you are doing, or any other library-type stuff. And you can hang out with Lady Grey or try out our bike desk, if you’d like!

If you can’t make it in, give us a call or email, and we will be happy to help you.

Books, Communication, Tech

Enjoy the connections of bookstagram!

Since you are reading this, you are probably a library person, and you probably like books! But not everyone around us may understand our enjoyment of books and reading. Sometimes we just want to stay home and curl up with a stack of library books! Thankfully, there are some awesome online communities that you can connect with through social media that will appreciate and encourage your bookish ways.

This article from Book Riot details all the different ways you can connect to fellow bookish friends online, including book blogs, book Twitter, Goodreads, Bookstagram, and more!

You can check out these links to see which accounts you may be interested in following:

  • Best libraries to follow on Instagram
  • Cool librarians to follow on Twitter
  • Bookish accounts (including Cat Book Club) to follow on Instagram
  • Fun accounts for book lovers to follow on Twitter
  • And don’t forget to include hashtags in your posts, so you can interact with fellow book loving people! Good ones to use include: #books, #bookstagram, #bookblogger, #amreading, #yalit, #bookshelfie

Did you see your favorite book-related account mentioned? If not, leave us a comment so we can check it out!

 

 

CMLE, Communication

CMLE Office Hours

After our recent poll investigating what type of summer social event our members and fellow library people would like, we discovered there was interest in having time available for people to drop in to our CMLE Headquarters, to chat, ask questions, do some planning, or discuss other library topics!

So we decided to start CMLE HQ Office Hours!

Starting Wednesday, July 12, and every other Wednesday after that (we define this as: all Wednesdays with an even numbered date), we will be in the office from 11:00 to 1:00, and ready to chat about writing policies, working through materials selections, negotiating with vendors, planning your website or social media, going to conferences as a presenter or an attendee, zines/manga/pop culture coolness, or anything else you want to discuss! Would you like to just come say hi for a minute, and put a face to our names? Do it! You can test out the bike desks, see the plants and ever-changing seasonal decorations, and check in on Orville The Official Office Bear! No need to call ahead, just drop in and we will be happy to see you.

We hope you take advantage of these hours and are excited to show you our Headquarters while assisting with your library needs!