All posts by Angie

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

Strategies to Simplify: Tip 4: The Master To-Do List

“Work simply. Live fully.”  This week CMLE focuses on the following work productivity tip from Work Simply, Carson Tate’s popular book.  At CMLE, we’ve boiled down Tate’s wealth of knowledge from Work Simply to a few key points; please see the book for more detail and resources. At the bottom, see links to earlier tips in the series! Let’s all be our best selves….

This week’s activity: Consolidate your to-do lists into one Master Task List

To get all your to-dos in one place, first you need to perform a “brain dump,” in which you think about everything you need to get done, both at work and in your personal life. In Work Simply, Carson Tate describes this process as “Turning your brain upside down and emptying its contents.”  Then, if you have noticed that your list contains more projects than simple tasks, work to create attainable next steps that aren’t so overwhelming. Finally, keep this list in one place for easy and constant reference.

Recently, you discovered your Productivity Style with a simple assessment.

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Work Simply

Find your Productivity Style for some personalized tools to manage your Master List:

Prioritizer: Try using ruled or lined paper. Some apps that may be useful to you include iDoneThis, which sends out e-mail reminders asking what tasks you have completed.

Planner: You may like using calendars, or Outlook’s task manager. Also try out Wunderlist, an app that allows you to keep all your to-dos in one place, and includes due dates and reminders.

Arranger: Try using Stickies, or the app Carrot, which takes a to-do list to the next level – earn points for completing tasks and get praised (or scolded!) for how many tasks you complete.

Visualizer: Whiteboards or unlined notebooks may work well for you, or try Personal Brain, a mind-mapping tool that works on both PCs and Macs, which links ideas, documents, and sites based on the way you think.

Previous tips in this series

General, Special

Preservation in a nuclear bunker

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Packard Campus

When you think of archives, you may picture dusty boxes or dark closets filled with preserved documents or other media. You maybe don’t think of 90 miles of shelves in climate controlled and “radiation hardened” vaults!

However, that is exactly where the Library of Congress is storing its Audio/Visual collection in Culpeper, Virginia. The storage facility is actually a former nuclear bunker that was built during the Cold War to protect huge amounts of money as well as up to 500 Federal employees. This article from the blog Architect of the Capital details the original goal of the bunker structure, pictures and illustrations of the site, and also the end goal of the Library of Congress to eventually digitize their film and video collection.

Watch this video from the Library of Congress that describes the Packard Campus and the process that the digital files go through to record and preserve them at the facility (it includes robotics!):

 

Academic, General, Public, Resources, School Media Specialist, Special

Strategies to Simplify: Tip 3: Time tactics

“Work simply. Live fully.”  This week CMLE focuses on the following work productivity tip from Work Simply, Carson Tate’s popular book.  At CMLE, we’ve boiled down Tate’s wealth of knowledge from Work Simply to a few key points; please see the book for more detail and resources. At the bottom, see links to earlier tips in the series! Let’s all be our best selves….

This week’s activity: Time is valuable, so choose time investment tactics that work best for you.

In her book Work Simply, Carson Tate argues that “Time is more valuable than money. You need to start treating it that way.” In order to do that, we need to begin “thinking about time as a commodity, and in particular as an infinitely valuable, nonrenewable resource.”

Recently, you discovered your Productivity Style with a simple assessment.

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Work Simply

Find your Productivity Style for some personalized time tactics:

Prioritizer: You excel at using time efficiently. Try this: Begin your day with your highest priority project or task.

Planner: You are able to minimize the risk of mistakes by adhering to best practices or past procedures. Try this: Plan for extra time each week to allow for unanticipated issues or opportunities

Arranger: You are skilled at encouraging teamwork in order to get the most done. Try this: To help keep your focus, turn off your e-mail notifications.

Visualizer: You can productively handle multiple tasks and projects at once. Try this: Ask yourself, “What is the best use of my time right now?”

Previous tips in this series

General, Public, School Media Specialist, Services

Bubbles + Storytime = Fun!

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Try bubbles as a storytime prop!

If you are a children’s librarian, or even just a parent that has taken your child to storytime, you know how fun and important that time can be! In this article from the ALSC blog, librarian April Lee describes her use of introducing bubbles into her storytime adventures.

Lee shares how she was initially apprehensive about using bubbles as a prop during her storytime, but then discovered that a bubble machine solved most of her worries, and the experience was very positive. She writes that the bubbles “Give children a fun sensory experience and a chance to play together at the beginning of storytime – as opposed to just the end – along with breaking down the initial shyness among the group.” You can even find her original bubble-related song lyrics on her blog! 

Another example of bubbles and storytime can be found in this post on the Library Village blog, which describes several different types of bubble machines and even links to some bubble songs on YouTube. For more things bubble-related, including recipes and activities, check out this link to Pinterest.

Have you used bubbles in your library or media center, during storytime or a different activity? Share your experience in the comments!

Academic, CMLE, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Read with CMLE – Book group materials available to borrow!

Attention, book-loving CMLE members! (We hope that is most of you!)

You may have read our earlier post introducing CMLE’s two new book groups on Goodreads. One of our groups is aimed at professional development for librarians, and the books that we will be reading will hopefully be useful to you in your place of work. Our second book group is more about reading for fun, and the books we read will be a little more light-hearted!

life-changing-magic-of-tidying-up curiosity_cover_250For the month of October, our book for the group CMLE Librarian Professionals is The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. Our book for the group CMLE Librarians Enjoying Books is Curiosity Thrilled the Cat by Sofie Kelly.

Do you want to read with us, but need to borrow a copy of either book? CMLE has two copies of The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up and one copy of Curiosity Thrilled the Cat that are available to borrow! 

Email Angie and let her know if you are interested. Looking forward to reading together!