All posts by Angie

General

Learning About Library Associations: NASIG (formerly the North American Serials Interest Group)

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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’ll take a look at the organization called NASIG, formerly known as the North American Serials Interest Group. NASIG was established in 1985 with the goal of promoting “communication, information, and continuing education about serials, electronic resources, and the broader issues of scholarly communication.”

NASIG offers plenty of Continuing Education opportunities, such as webinars, several Core Competencies, and a page of Reference Resources for Serialists. NASIG also has an annual conference, this year in Atlanta from June 8th – 11th.

Keep up with NASIG news by reading their newsletter or blog. Or check out their many different awards, scholarships, and grants, and apply for one!

Some benefits of becoming a member of NASIG include access to networking forums and an online membership directory, handouts from the presenters at the annual conference, access to the the Proceedings archive, discounted admission to the annual conference, ability to only pay the member rate for NISO webinars, plus a special rate on subscriptions to The Serials Librarian.

Visit their membership page or download their pdf Membership Brochure to find out more about joining NASIG.

Conference, Guest Blogger

Guest Post: Zine Librarians unConference

This is a guest post from CMLE member Violet Fox. Have you gone to a particularly interesting conference or class? We’d love to hear about it!

Did you know zine librarians across the U.S. and beyond will be visiting Minnesota this July 12th through 14th? Minneapolis will be the site of the eleventh Zine Librarians unConference and you are cordially invited!

(Do you need some background information on what zines are, and how they can have a positive impact on your library? Check out this interview we did with Violet in 2016 where she tells us all about them!)

It’s been nine years since the first Zine Librarians unConference (ZLuC) took place in Seattle in 2009—I had just started volunteering with Seattle’s Zine Archive & Publishing Project, and I was delighted to meet so many folks who were excited about talking about zines in libraries. Since then, ZLuC has been held around the country, including Boston, Long Beach, Pittsburgh, Austin, and Portland. This year the site selection committee chose Minneapolis, likely because of the strong zine libraries community that is developing in the Twin Cities and beyond.

The unConference is a multi-day affair that welcomes workers and volunteers from academic, public, and special libraries, as well as community-oriented independent libraries and archives. Like other unconferences, the topics that will be discussed aren’t determined in advance—they’re decided on by the participants during the event. Typical topics covered often include collection development, event programming, teaching with zines, preservation, cataloging, and acquisitions. Previous ZLuCs have resulted in the creation of the Zine Librarians Code of Ethics, collaboration on a variety of projects, idea sharing, and general support for people dealing with the challenges and opportunities of providing access to zines in libraries and archives.

Because there are multiple libraries that collect zines in the Twin Cities area, ZLuC 2018 will be held at three different sites over three days. The afternoon of Thursday July 12 there’ll be a half day of ZLuC at MCTC (Minneapolis Community and Technical College). MCTC’s library has a huge zine collection and a zine lounge area. Friday July 13 there’ll be a full day of ZLuC at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. The UMN Libraries holds the incredible Marshall Weber Culture Wars Zine Collection. And the morning of Saturday July 14 ZLuC will wrap up with another half day at the Hennepin County Library’s beautiful Minneapolis Central Library. HCL is in the process of ramping up their zine collection and will be the host of this year’s Twin Cities Zine Fest in September. Social events for all three evenings will be planned, likely including a free visit to the Walker Art Center and a zinester reading.

Best of all, registration for ZLuC is free. If you’re coming from out of town, there will also be an option for cheap dorm rooms at the University of Minnesota residence halls ($46/person/day for a shared room, $61/person/day for a private room).

Whether you’re thinking of starting a zine collection, planning your first zine workshop, or already considering the nitty-gritty details of maintaining your collection, consider attending one or more days of ZLuC 2018 in Minneapolis! Please get in touch with me (violetfox@gmail.com) if you have any questions.

CMLE, Communication

Stop by CMLE on Tuesdays in February for Office Hours!

We hold Office Hours at CMLE because we want to be easily available to our members, especially if you’d like to have a face-to-face conversation about any important (or fun!) library topics. We encourage you to stop by, no appointment necessary, to chat with us about any library issues you may be working on!

CMLE Office Hours will be held each Tuesday of the month of Febrary: the 6th, 13th, 20th, and 27th. Note: Lady Grey will NOT be available for library consultation on Feb. 13th. Office Hours are held from 11am to 1pm at our headquarters location in the cmERDC building at 570 1st St. SE in St. Cloud, MN 56304.

Of course, if you need to set up a time to chat (or if you’d like us to visit you) definitely email us at admin@cmle.org and we’ll work something out!

Books

CMLE Reads Across MN: Through No Fault of My Own: A Girl’s Diary of Life on Summit Avenue in the Jazz Age

Minnesota is the land of 10,000 lakes, and it also has many interesting books. In this series, we are sharing some of the books we like from Minnesota, or Minnesota authors.

We are mapping our literary journey around Minnesota, so you can see all the interesting places where our books are set. Follow our progress on our Google Map, accessible by clicking that link or searching for the title CMLE Reads Across Minnesota!This book sounds so interesting, and as someone who has always been curious about the lives of the people who have lived in the fancy mansions on Summit Avenue, I’m excited to read about a girl who lived there during the Jazz Age!

Through No Fault of My Own: A Girl’s Diary of Life on Summit Avenue in the Jazz Age by Coco Irvine (Author) and Peg Meier (Introduction) is about Coco, the daughter of a lumber baron, who grew up on Summit Avenue during the Jazz Age.

“Coco’s diary carefully records her adventures, problems, and romances, written with a lively wit and a droll sense of humor. Whether sneaking out to a dance hall in her mother’s clothes or getting in trouble for telling an off-color joke, Coco and her escapades will captivate and delight preteen readers as well as their mothers and grandmothers.
Peg Meier’s introduction describes St. Paul life in the 1920s and provides context for the privileged world that Coco inhabits, while an afterword tells what happens to Coco as an adult—and reveals surprises about some of the other characters in the diary.”
Is there a Minnesota book you think we should feature? Leave a comment, let us know!

 

General

Learning About Library Associations: The Canadian Association for Information Science

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.

Founded in 1970, the goal of the Canadian Association of Information Science (CAIS) is to “promote the advancement of information science in Canada, and encourage and facilitate the exchange of information relating to the use, access, retrieval, organization, management, and dissemination of information.” It’s a bilingual association with the French name L’Association canadienne des sciences de l’information (ACSI).

Some members of CAIS include “information scientists and archivists, librarians, computer scientists, economists, educators,  and others who support its objectives.”

CAIS has an annual conference which will be held May 30th – June 1st 2018 at the University of Regina. Their annual conferences are to provide members a chance to “discuss the access, retrieval, production, value, use, and management of information.” If you are interested in viewing materials from last year’s conference, click here.

CAIS is the publisher of the Canadian Journal of Information and Library Science which is published in print on a quarterly basis and also available online. For more information on submitting to the journal, or to subscribe, see their website page. 

To learn more about the benefits of joining CAIS and to find out how to join, visit their membership page.