All posts by Angie

General

Weekly Holiday: Sept. 29th is National Coffee Day!

Here’s another reason to look forward to Friday: it’s National Coffee Day! Not that you need a reason to justify your daily cup (or cups, we aren’t judging).

There are so many ways to enjoy this delicious caffeinated beverage, especially this time of year (Pumpkin Spice Latte, anyone?) so we decided to make a list of different ways you could celebrate this energizing holiday:

  • Of course coffee is delicious by itself, but why not incorporate it into some recipes? This article claims to contain the best coffee recipes on Pinterest, this one will help you make Chocolate Dipped Mocha popsicles, and in case you really want to splurge, whip up some Caramel Coffee Glazed Nutella donuts!
  • Read up on the health benefits of coffee from the Mayo Clinic, but remember that probably doesn’t apply to the donuts from the previous tip.
  • If you really want to show your knowledge about coffee, read about the History of Coffee.
  • And of course, National Coffee Day is the best day to share your love of coffee online! You can use some of the hashtags from this article.
  • Still need more ways to celebrate? Check out this article for additional suggestions.

I’m just excited to have an excuse to visit my favorite coffee shop, The Local Blend in St. Joe! Where is your favorite place to purchase or enjoy coffee? Let us know in the comments!

School Media Specialist, Tech

AASL Recommended App: Organization and Management: Quizizz

Last summer, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their Best Apps for Teaching and Learning 2017. The apps encourage qualities such as creativity and collaboration, and encourage discovery and curiosity.

Quizizz is “a game-based tool for class review or assessment. It provides class and student level data and works on any device with a browser. You can find quizzes made by other teachers or create your own, and you can conduct “live” quizzes or assign a quiz as homework. Students play together but each at their own pace. The app has gamification elements like avatars and memes.”

Level: All
Platform: iOS and Android
Cost: Free

Read a detailed review of the app from Teachers First that also includes several examples of ways to incorporate the app into your classroom. This article from Common Sense Education does a side-by-side comparison between Quizizz and the Kahoot! app. And check out the Quizizz website for testimonies from teachers that use the app.

Watch this video to see how Quizizz works:

Communication, General

CMLE Resource: Libraries After Dark

After your day at working at a library (whether it is a school library, academic, public, history center, museum, or other) it’s nice to leave the world of libraries behind to spend some time pursuing your hobbies. Whether that means meeting up with your band for practice, heading to a state park to go hiking, or settling in at home with your quilting project, we would like to hear about it! We are starting a new page called Libraries After Dark, to highlight our library people and their interesting talents and hobbies.

It’s clear to us at CMLE that libraries are places where people with diverse interests, hobbies, and talents tend to work. And after the library is closed (or after your shift ends, either one) the people that work there leave their libraries to go engage in interesting activities!

So we thought it would be fun to collect stories of our library people’s “hidden talents” in order to share them with each other! It’s so fun to get a glimpse into what our members are passionate about (besides libraries, of course!) and the goal of our page is to share those hobbies and skills. Some of our members are musicians, artists, master gardeners, bakers, or love hiking. Does this sound like I’m describing you? Please let us know! We’d love to feature you on our Libraries After Dark page and in this series on our blog! And no, you don’t need to be an “expert” in your area of interest – just the fact that you are trying something new is exciting! Let us know if you have a hobby, talent, or area of expertise that you’d like to write about for our blog. We’re happy to share videos, post pictures, or link to content that you’ve created (as long as it is appropriate). We can’t wait to hear about it!

Books

Book Suggestion Series: Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead by Brené Brown

We love talking about books with our members, and on our weekly library podcast Linking Our Libraries. So we began this series as just another way to share what books we are reading or want to recommend!

Daring Greatly by  Brené Brown is a book  I listened to from Overdrive a little while ago, and I remember being surprised how much I liked it. I don’t read a ton of nonfiction and this one seemed like it could potentially have a preachy or self-help feel. However, this was not the case! I liked the experience of listening to this book because it allowed me to think about the concepts instead of just flying past them like I might do while reading.

Dr. Brown has done a ton of research in the areas of shame and vulnerability and how we can work to change the way we relate to these things in order to be a more productive, creative, and happier person. She makes the point in the book that it’s actually brave to be vulnerable enough to take a chance or try something new, even though we could fail miserably.

From Goodreads:
“Researcher and thought leader Dr. Brené Brown offers a powerful new vision that encourages us to dare greatly: to embrace vulnerability and imperfection, to live wholeheartedly, and to courageously engage in our lives.

Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable, or to dare greatly. Whether the arena is a new relationship, an important meeting, our creative process, or a difficult family conversation, we must find the courage to walk into vulnerability and engage with our whole hearts.”

Check out Brené Brown’s other books:

The Gifts of Imperfection
Rising Strong
Braving the Wilderness

Watch her Ted Talk about the Power of Vulnerability: