All posts by Angie

Advocacy, CMLE, Communication

Postcard Party Success!

Thank you to all our members that were able to join us last week at the Local Blend in St. Joe for our Library Advocacy Postcard Party! 

The goal behind our Postcard Parties is to share the value of libraries with legislators and other library stakeholders who may not hear enough about the incredible work that takes place in libraries. We need to take the time to let them know about the importance of all types of libraries: schools, public, special, and academic!

We were able to mail a nice stack of postcards to our various legislators. If you missed the party, we do have extra postcards and are happy to share! Stop by CMLE HQ to write out a few to your legislators, School Board members, or other stakeholders, and we’d be happy to get them mailed for you. Library advocacy is so important!

General

Learning About Library Associations: Canadian School Libraries Association

Library science is an enormous field, home to every interest you could imagine! This means that there are many organizations out there for you to join, in order to connect with other people who share your professional interests.

So even if you work alone in your library, there are other people out there doing work similar to yours! Each week we will highlight a different library association for you to learn more about, and depending on your work, potentially join! You can also check out our page dedicated to Library Associations.

This week we will take a look at the Canadian School Libraries Association. This organization “connects school library practitioners and educators across Canada in the collaborative pursuit of delivering exemplary practices reflective of current professional school library learning commons standards.”

CSL is “dedicated to professional research and development in the field of the school library learning commons in Canada.”

They publish the Canadian School Library Journal and their Spring 2018 issue is now available. Check out their articles about the importance of digital literacy in the era of fake news or how to incorporate Breakout activities into your library.

CSL has this cool postcard (you know we are fans of postcards at CMLE) that can be downloaded and shared with individuals and stakeholders curious about the resources available. Some of these resources include studies on the impact of school libraries, information regarding several national projects involving school libraries taking place across Canada, and some excellent materials targeted at school administrators.

You can learn more about the Canadian Library Association on their History page!

Advocacy, CMLE

Tomorrow: Library Advocacy Postcard Party at the Local Blend!

Need an excuse to share happy stories about what you’ve accomplished at your library this year? Looking for a chance to cool off with a beverage and chat with other library people? Tomorrow is your chance to do all these things!

Join CMLE at the Local Blend in St. Joseph from 3-5pm tomorrow, Thursday May 31st for another Library Advocacy Postcard Party! 

 

We will provide postcards (with new designs!), library facts, addresses for state and federal legislators (if you have information for principals or school board members, bring those along too), and sample text of what to write on your postcard. Plus, we’ll mail all the postcards for you so don’t worry about postage.

If postcards aren’t your thing, feel free to use social media, email, or make a few phone calls. Our main goal is to spread the word to library stakeholders about how valuable and essential all types of libraries are to our communities.

We hope to see you there! If you have questions, send us an email at admin@cmle.org.

 

Communication, General

Learning About Library Associations: Association of Research Libraries

Library science is an enormous field, home to every interest you could imagine! This means that there are many organizations out there for you to join, in order to connect with other people who share your professional interests.

So even if you work alone in your library, there are other people out there doing work similar to yours! Each week we will highlight a different library association for you to learn more about, and depending on your work, potentially join! You can also check out our page dedicated to Library Associations.

This week let’s take a look at the Association of Research Libraries (ARL). ARL is an “organization of 125 research libraries at comprehensive, research institutions in Canada and the US that share similar research missions, aspirations, and achievements.” You can check out a cool map of all their member institutions here.

ARL has several different focus areas that come from their Strategic Framework that works to support their mission and the current needs of members. Some of these focus areas include: Accessibility, Open Scholarship, and Telecommunications Policies.

Stay up-to-date with ARL News, check out some Advocacy and Public Policy Updates, browse a few of ARL’s blogs, or look ahead with ARL’s future projects. Or take a look at their Upcoming Events page!

There are tons of benefits that come with becoming a member of ARL. Read about them all here! Want your institution to join? Learn about membership procedures here.

 

 

Books

Book Suggestion: Lady Knight by Tamora Pierce

We love to read books, and to talk about books. Check out our entire series here! Need more book chatting and suggestions in your life? Check out our book group podcast, Reading With Libraries! You can find every episode, and stream all of them, right here!

Lady Knight (Protector of the Small Series Book 4) by Tamora Pierce

 

Medieval battles, a quest, magic, helpful animals and more are just some of the reasons that this book is so enjoyable! Tamora Pierce knows how to write female characters that manage to defy all the odds against them and yet somehow be totally relatable. I’m really enjoying this last book in the Protector of the Small series and if you haven’t read this particular series, I highly recommend it. (Especially if you’ve read the Alanna the Lioness series, it’s so fun to compare/contrast the two!) This book follows Lady Knight Kel after she’s earned her shield and is placed in command of a refugee camp while her country is at war. She learns to work with new people who sometimes struggle taking orders from a woman, but she also gets to fight alongside old friends (and returning favorite characters!)

From Goodreads: “Tamora Pierce once again draws her legions of fans into her story, blending humor, pathos, exhilarating battles, and gripping drama with a very real, very appealing protagonist. It’s easy to make war appear black and white, a matter of good versus evil. Pierce finds the shades of gray.”