All posts by Angie

CMLE, Communication

Stop in Wednesday for Office Hours

Do you have a pressing library issue to discuss, or a really exciting library idea that you are bursting to share? Stop by our office on Wednesday, March 7th, and tell us all about it!! (Office Dog Lady Grey will be excited to hear about it too)

CMLE Office hours are from 11am – 1pm on March 7th, March 14th, March 20th, and March 28th. We will be available to chat, no appointment needed, about all things libraries!

CMLE HQ is located at 570 1st St. SE St. Cloud MN 56304. We are in the cmERDC building right next to East Side Target. If you want to setup a different time to meet, send us an email at admin@cmle.org.

Books

March books for our Goodreads book groups!

March is here, so let’s start reading some new books in our online book groups! Do you want to join us? Get on Goodreads and search for our groups CMLE Librarian Professionals and CMLE Librarians Enjoying Books. You can simply join our groups or post your thoughts about the books in the discussion!

For our group CMLE Librarian Professionals we will be learning how to strengthen our willpower and reach our goals by reading Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals by Heidi Grant Halvorson.

“The strategies outlined in this book will not only help everyone reach their own goals but will also prove invaluable to parents, teachers, coaches, and employers. Dr. Grant Halvorson shows readers a new approach to problem solving that will change the way they approach their entire lives.”

For our group CMLE Librarians Enjoying Books we will be reading Agatha Christie’s The Body in the Library!

“Colonel Bantry has found the strangled body of an exotic blonde bombshell lying on his library hearth – and the neighbors are beginning to talk! When Miss Marple takes an interest, though, things begin to move along nicely, and its all far more convoluted – and sordid – than the genteel Bantrys could have imagined.”

We hope you can join us in one or both of our online book groups! We wish you happy reading in March!

CMLE, Communication, General

Office Hours for March!

Can you believe March starts tomorrow? Neither can we!
Starting in March we will be holding our CMLE Office Hours on Wednesdays! (With the exception of March 20th, which is a Tuesday, because we have a Board Meeting on Wednesday) So on March 7th, March 14th, March 20th, and March 28th between 11am and 1pm we will be available at CMLE HQ to chat, no appointment needed, about all things libraries!

Why do we offer Office Hours? Well, a vital part of being a multitype library system like CMLE is that we want to be easily available to our members! You can always email us at admin@cmle.org or call our office, but sometimes it’s nice to be able to have a face-to-face conversation, especially if you need shared excitement for a new project, or sympathy for a challenge you’re experiencing.

So stop by, pat Office Dog Lady Grey who will likely be in attendance, and let’s talk libraries!
CMLE HQ is located at 570 1st St. SE St. Cloud MN 56304. We are in the cmERDC building right next to East Side Target. If you want to setup a different time to meet, send us an email at admin@cmle.org.

 

Communication, General

Learning About Library Associations: Cache Valley Library 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 learn about the Cache Valley Library Association (CVLA)! CVLA is a relatively new association that was founded in 2012 and has more than 130 members. Their goals include:

  • Facilitate communication, networking, collaboration, mentoring, professional development, and socializing among all persons engaged in any aspect of library services.
  • Promote awareness of library resources, activities, practices, and goals both within its membership and to the community at-large.
  • Advocate on behalf of all libraries and their services, resources, and workers.

Membership to CVLA is free and open to anyone in their area interested in library services. “To officially join, send an email to cachelibraries@gmail.com or sign up at one of our bimonthly meetings. Registered members are eligible to vote and serve in leadership positions. ” Check out their map directory of members on their website.

CVLA has an awesome resource called “Phone A Friend” that connects members with the knowledge and experience of other library workers in their community. If you have a question in your library work, you can contact someone from their list that has signed up to offer assistance. Or if you are knowledgeable in a certain area, you can sign up as someone willing to answer questions that other library workers may have!

Check out CVLA’s job postings, annual reports or meeting minutes, or just stay up to date with the latest news. It looks like CVLA is doing great work in their library community!

Books

Book Suggestion: The Age of Innocence by Edith Wharton

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? Listen to our Books and Beverages podcast!

I had this book recommended to me, and I’m so glad I decided to give Edith Wharton another chance! I listened to the audio version of Ethan Frome to help me win last year’s reading challenge and was not a fan. But so far I’m enjoying The Age of Innocence! The social commentary is biting, and the character descriptions are pretty fantastic (some make me laugh out loud). Plus, it’s very interesting to read about New York City in the 1870s. If you are a fan of Jane Austen it’s probably safe to say you’ll enjoy this book as well.

From Goodreads:
“Winner of the 1921 Pulitzer Prize, The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton’s masterful portrait of desire and betrayal during the sumptuous Golden Age of Old New York, a time when society people “dreaded scandal more than disease.”
This is Newland Archer’s world as he prepares to marry the beautiful but conventional May Welland. But when the mysterious Countess Ellen Olenska returns to New York after a disastrous marriage, Archer falls deeply in love with her. Torn between duty and passion, Archer struggles to make a decision that will either courageously define his life—or mercilessly destroy it.”