All posts by Mary Jordan

Check this out:, CMLE, Public, Visits

Visiting the Princeton Area Library

On my day of being shown around some of the ECRL libraries, it was great to see so many library people doing all kinds of interesting things in the different branches! The Princeton branch was like all others, in that there were a lot of patrons there using materials and some very exciting visual displays of library materials and artwork. They are also in a very beautiful building, with windows everywhere and a beautiful view of the Rum River. The prairie style interior and decor really emphasized the natural setting around the library. The result is just lovely!

When you walk in the front door, it is totally natural to look up in admiration for this art installation. These round paintings by Minnesota artist  Amy Sabrina, to commemorate different aspects of the life of Elmer L. Anderson, the 30th Governor of Minnesota. The visual biography is very striking, and again shows how visual representations of information can be so useful in conveying ideas to people. Libraries are here to share information in a way that is meaningful to the patron; visual tools are one strategy for this!

book-display
Book display!

One of the fun things about visiting any library is seeing the displays they create for books! Creativity in libraries is valuable, and looking at different libraries gives different ideas for displays and things to celebrate in your own library! Celebrating Eloise is always fun, and her creator, Kay Thompson‘s birthday was Nov 9, 1909; so this is a great demonstration of library fun! Continue reading Visiting the Princeton Area Library →

Academic, Check this out:, CMLE, Public, Resources, School Media Specialist, Special

Advocacy from the ALA!

ala

At CMLE Headquarters, we want to help members with access to resources and ideas from across the profession and our professional organizations. This press release, copied below, is timely in discussing an issue that is being widely pondered by librarians, teachers, parents, and everyone else: how libraries can respond with information assistance after the election. Any election and post-election season is filled with excitement, changes, and a rapid flow of all kinds of information, and this one has had all of that.

Libraries are here to help people sort through that information, to figure out what is real and meaningful, and to understand how information can apply to patrons and to their communities.

Continue reading Advocacy from the ALA! →

Academic, Check this out:, CMLE, Public, School Media Specialist, Special, Visits

A Visit to the Avon Elementary School Library

Angie and I were invited to visit the Avon Elementary School library, where we were in the capable hands of Cathy Studer and Gayle. They showed us around their very nice library, in between helping their young patrons and teachers in technology distress. (A busy library’s work is never done!) Teaching a class in the computer lab behind the library was Dana Dingmann, and swamped with busy kids working on assorted projects. Dana also helps in the library, and works on devices for the school.

book-tasting-display
looks good enough to eat!

When you walk in the door you immediately see this great display. It changes monthly, and this month they are focused on food and books. This theme carries over to other displays in the library.

tablets-and-crayons
important library supplies

Check out the really cute basket of crayons! This food-themed strategy for putting out crayons for patron is on all the work tables in the library. The library is also available for backup for the school’s technology needs. They have a laptop cart with 30 laptops, and iPad cart with 30 devices, and another cart of 30 Chromebooks. Each classroom works on a 2:1 ratio of tech tools – Chromebooks and iPads – to student. Cathy and Gayle are available to work with everyone to be sure the tech is effective in teaching and learning. And there was a copy of a Magic Tree House series book – one of my favorites! Continue reading A Visit to the Avon Elementary School Library →

Check this out:, CMLE, General, Resources

CMLE is caching in Quarry Park!

libraries-rock-hidden-in-cable-merger
caching in the park

A quick update on the CMLE travel bug progress! We have dropped another travel bug – this one in Quarry Park near St Cloud.

This TB is called “Libraries Rock” and is hidden in a very nice cache just off a trail in the park. You can go out there, and hunt for the Cable Merger cache, find this travel bug, blow bubbles with it if you wish, and then take it to its next location – preferably near a library!

We are always looking for tools to share information, to connect with library people, and to just enjoy it all! We hope you will get involved in caching and finding – or placing – caches and travel bugs, in your library or elsewhere. Go enjoy yourself, and find some caches!

Academic, Check this out:, Public, Resources, School Media Specialist, Special

Self-Advocacy (Advocacy Series #4)

advocacy
You are valuable – advocate for yourself!!

In this series we have spent a lot of time focused on libraries and how we can advocate for our libraries and our profession. Of course this is important, and if you have not told someone today about a great thing your library does – get on that!

We also need to talk about advocating for ourselves! As library people, we need to advocate for our specific jobs, and we need to advocate for ourselves to move into other jobs, to be taken seriously, and to do the good things we want to do in the library. (You can also advocate for yourself outside of the library; but here we will focus on self-advocacy in the workplace.)

Where do we start? Think about your job now. Do you like it? This is a serious question. Too many people are stuck in jobs they don’t like, or jobs that don’t speak to their skills and professional interests. Sometimes there is nothing to do about that, and then you either decide to just grit your teeth and do it (develop some good outside hobbies!), or you start looking around for another job.

Let’s assume that we are somewhere different, that we are in a job that may not really connect with the things we know we can do professionally, or that we can not see with a strong potential for growth and promotion. It’s not bad enough to leave it, but things could be better.

This is where self-advocacy can really come in handy! Continue reading Self-Advocacy (Advocacy Series #4) →