All posts by Kate

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Mulan, Manuscripts, and More!: A CMLE Scholarship

The following was submitted by a CMLE scholarship recipient.

 Submitted By: Jenny Hill, Media Specialist, St. Michael Elementary

 The 32rd annual Children’s Literature Workshop was held June 20-21 at the Kelly Inn, St. Cloud MN.  I had the opportunity to attend thanks to a generous scholarship that was awarded to me from CMLE. The workshop was jam-packed with information and activities; here are some of the highlights.

Jenny Hill and Robert D. San Souci

 The workshop featured author Robert D. San Souci (www.rsansouci.com) who has the distinguished honor of having written the screenplay for Disney’s 1998 animated classic, Mulan.  San Souci stressed the importance of completing thorough research when authoring a folk tale.  Accurately portraying cultures featured in folk tales is both a challenging and crucial research task.  Inaccuracies can be offensive to readers and are not easily forgotten. 

 Local presenters Sara Martini, Laurie Conzemius, and Dr. Marcia Thompson gave information to  attendees about the 2011-2012 Maud Hart Lovelace (MHL) nominees, how to integrate technology into  classroom activities in order to motivate readers, and what award winning books of the year are worth the read! 

 After attending there sessions, I have come away with three goals:

  •  To use the promotional resources available on the MHL Website (http://www.maudhartlovelace.org/) in order to generate reader interest.
  •  To have students create their own book trailers using Animoto (http://animoto.com/).
  •  To read and promote award winning literature, inspiring students to read.

 The workshop concluded with a presentation by 2011 Newberry Honor winner and fellow Minnesotan Joyce Sidman.  Sidman gave the audience some insight in the inner workings of her own creative writing process and shared some poetry techniques that can be used in the classroom.  More information about these techniques can be found on her website (http://www.joycesidman.com/). 

 Other workshop activities included a presentation by Susan Carr Brown of the Hennepin Public Library (http://www.hclib.org/) who reviewed new literature of 2011, a make and take puppet workshop facilitated by Dianne Gausch (http://www.gaschstories-puppets.com/), and an instructional and participatory storytelling lesson by the WonderWeavers (http://www.wonderweavers.com/).

 This particular workshop was historically significant.  Sandra Williams and Dr. Chris Inkster “passed the keys” to Drs. Merton and Marcia Thompson who will be in charge of the workshop next year.  The dates of the 2012 workshop are June  18th and 19th at the Kelly Inn.  Attendees are encouraged to bring a friend or colleague to next year’s extravaganza.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Minnesota Library Futures Initiative Update: 6/15/11

The Minnesota Library Futurists met on June 1st and June 2nd at the Maple Grove Public Library. The group scheduled a two day meeting for the purpose of gathering and building upon our ideas from day to day, and to share and finalize ideas for the outcomes process. The primary focus for the two-day meeting was Marketing and Advocacy, though Collaboration was discussed again as well.

The June 1st meeting kicked off with small group discussions regarding recommendations and possible outcomes for each focus area. The outcomes and recommendations were written, gathered, and submitted to team members from each focus area. Members from each of the focus areas met later to discuss these recommendations. This process ensured that all Futurists had a say in the final outcomes and recommendations for each focus area, not just their own. Later, the Futurists benefited from a panel of speakers on the topic of Marketing. Guest speakers included Meg Gerritsen-Knodl (Senior Librarian – Information and Online Services, Hennepin County Library System), Gail Hedstrom (Director, Elbow Lake Library), and David Lee King (Digital Branch and Services Manager, Topeka Public Library).  Key ideas or pieces of advice during the panel discussion included: marketing libraries well before it’s too late, using multimedia as well as traditional forms of communication to reach potential library users, marketing key items of interest that will attract users – don’t just market the traditional library building, market where your community is, and use your personality and be authentic in your writing style to draw people in. 

The June 2nd meeting focused on Advocacy and began with presentations and a Q&A session with Michael Scott (Assistant Director, SELCO and MLA Legislative Chair) and Mark Ranum (Director, Plum Creek Library System). Michael and Mark shared with the group their experiences in advocating for Minnesota libraries. Michael shared the roles and responsibilities that come with the position of MLA Legislative Chair. Both Michael and Mark expressed that you don’t have to be an expert, rather just care, show up, and make an effort; people currently involved in library advocacy want future library advocates to succeed and they will seek out ways to inform and assist you in becoming more involved.

During the remainder of the meeting, the Futurists focused on small group work and outcomes. Throughout the summer, many of the small focus groups will continue to meet (whether face-to-face or virtually) to develop and construct outcomes. The large group plans to reconvene near the end of summer. The Futurists will share results and outcomes with the library community in the fall.

Do you have ideas about the future Minnesota libraries? Please use this survey to connect with us or join the conversation at our blog.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

PBS Website Hacked – A Teachable Moment?

By now you’ve likely heard that the PBS website was recently hacked. While this incident is incredibly unfortunate for PBS and Tupac fans, skilled librarians and media specialists can use it as a prime example during information literacy workshops and discussions with students. Many people would likely assume that PBS is always an accurate new source; however, this situation proves how very important it is to fact check and to consult a variety of sources before using and citing information from all sources, even those thought to be “reliable”. You never can be too careful!

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Online News Sources on the Rise

It will likely come as no surprise that the latest PEW Research Center publication, titled State of the News Media, that news accessed online is the only type of news source that is on the rise. As you’ll see from the graph embedded in the brief article, all other sources of news have actually declined. Traditional news sources experiencing a decline in use include cable television, magazines, audio, newspapers, and local TV.

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/canadian/197440773/ by hellomike