All posts by Angie

General, School Media Specialist

AASL Recommended App: Humanities & Arts: Homes

homesIn June 2016, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their 25 Best Apps for Teaching and Learning. The apps encourage qualities such as innovation and active participation, and are user-friendly.

The app Homes allows students to travel around the globe and take interactive tours of different traditional homes. They can learn about living in a Brooklyn brownstone, Yemeni tower house, Mongolian ger (yurt), and Guatemalan adobe. Students learn about daily activities in other cultures and see how electricity and water is directed in each building. The app is available in over 50 languages and has a guide for parents that includes questions to help encourage learning.

Cost: $3.99
Level: Elementary
Platforms: iOS

Watch the video here:

Check this out:, CMLE, General

Ever read a whole book in one sitting?

Summer Reading
Must be a good book!

Librarians have SO much more to their job than just working with books (teaching/dealing with technology, customer service, information literacy, plus so much more) however, books tend to be very special to librarians! Most, if not all, librarians are avid readers. So hopefully you will be able to relate to this cute slideshow all about finishing a book in one sitting!

Have you ever been so pulled into a book that you literally could not put it down until you found out what happened? Or, on the flip side, have you ever raced to finish a book because it was terrible but you wanted to just get it done? 🙂

My most recent race-to-finish books:
A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin (because I needed a break from the intensity of the book, but also really wanted to find out what happened!)
A Thousand Pardons by Jonathan Dee (because I didn’t really care for it)

Academic, Check this out:, CMLE, General, Resources, Tech

Biking while working – at the library!

laptop-desks-at-troy-university
Read the article here – these look so fun!

In this article from American Libraries, Troy University in Alabama is featured because of their awesome new additions – six exercise bikes with tables for laptops that were purchased for student use!
Three bikes are available in the library’s student space at the main campus in Troy, and three are available at the university’s extension campus in Dothan, AL. The additions have been so popular and well-received that the university has ordered three more bikes and six elliptical machines that can be used under tables while students are seated!

Continue reading Biking while working – at the library! →

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, Resources, School Media Specialist

Children's literature: Books that shaped the century

kids-reading
Share a book with a child or re-discover an old favorite!

As we near the end of 2016, there are plenty “Best Books of the Year” lists out there, which are great! But if you’ve exhausted your new literature, and are looking to add some variety (specifically, in the area of Children’s Literature), check out School Library Journal’s selection of the most significant children’s literature of the 20th century! It could be a great opportunity to find a gift, or just revisit some old favorites.

The full list has several different categories, and can be found here. Some highlights are: Continue reading Children's literature: Books that shaped the century →

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Notable Date to Celebrate: December 21st is Crossword Puzzle Day!

You probably already know that at CMLE, we offer a service called “Notable Dates for your Noggin” which feature special holidays and birthdays of authors, as well as publications of well-known books. In an effort to help you get more from this service, we’ve decided to select one “Notable Date” each month to feature. We will include a few fun programming and activity ideas too, all for you to use!

crossword-puzzle-day
Get ready to puzzle!

December 21st is Crossword Puzzle Day!

Crosswords are a great activity for snowy, cold days. If you are feeling festive, try this winter crossword, or this one about Christmas songs. Otherwise, you can’t go wrong with this Harry Potter themed crossword!

If you are feeling creative, make your own crossword puzzle here.

And should all this puzzling cause you to work up an appetite, whip up this crossword puzzle cake!

Finally, check out this intriguing video from Slate on how crossword puzzles are created: