Thank you to everyone who participated in our needs assessment survey! The winners of the $25 Amazon gift cards have been notified.
As with all surveys, we wanted to learn more about the needs of our community. In our case, our community is our member libraries; and our need is figuring out what you guys need so we can better serve you. In any organization with a new director, it is valuable to spend this time asking around about things people want so we can keep building on successful partnerships from the past, as well as helping with the new needs a rapidly-changing profession like ours creates. Combining the information we learned here with the information learned in visiting our member libraries gives us a better picture of the things we can do to help support our libraries!
This will be a quick overview of the highlights of the results from the information received. We will be working on this for a while, and using this information to build services and materials we can offer to you. In any sort of partnership, things will keep changing and the work we do today will change too. We will be sending out another needs assessment survey in about a year and a half, to see where we are then, and what other kinds of things we can be doing.
The results here are not necessarily representative of all members, but they are giving us a basis to start thinking about things. People who are really interested in statistical testing and analysis should contact me, because I love to talk about that stuff! But this is designed as an overview, a place to start, and to have other information filled in from visits, discussions, and other sources around the system. So it may not be perfect, but every plan needs a starting point!
CMLE libraries – we are working to bring you information from libraries across the state and the country. Here is the latest newsletter from the State Library Services department, to get you caught up on some important issues happening across the state!
Bringing Early STEM to Libraries The Science Museum of Minnesota is offering early STEM training to library and early education staff through a series of workshops across the state this October and November. Over 180 library and early childhood professionals have attended or are registered to attend the workshops. There is still room to register for the Nov. 10 workshop in Waseca.
To support library efforts after the training, the museum is developing early STEM activity plans, kits and prompts as well as educational messaging to help library staff and volunteers facilitate early STEM experiences for children and their caring adults. We look forward to sharing more information and new resources after the training sessions have wrapped up. Contact Jackie Blagsvedt(651-582-8805) with questions.
Evaluating Our LSTA Five-Year Plan We are working with the Management Analysis and Development (MAD) consulting group to assess our progress toward meeting the goals of the current LSTA Five-Year Plan. On November 1, we launched a survey to aggregate input from the library community that will inform the required evaluation of our 2013-2017 plan. Your input truly is helpful as we determine how well we have achieved the goals of the plan. You should have received an email from Karen Gaides with an invitation to complete the survey. If you did not receive an email invitation, please contact Karen Gaides(651-259-3822) to request the link.Continue reading State Library Services update→
CMLE Elementary School Libraries in a Title 1 school:
Here is some potentially interesting information from Overdrive.com on eBook donations! Below is a press release they have issued. You may be receiving this directly from them; but to be sure no one is overlooked, we are copying it here for you. There is an application to fill out (linked below). If you have questions, you can contact Overdrive; if you need some assistance with the form, or want to talk about ideas contact us at CMLE Headquarters and we can help! (We are available to assist with any grant applications!)
See if this is right for you and your school. We will share other offers and grant opportunities periodically on this site; and we put all the grants we find on our Grants and Awards calendar. Check it every so often to see if there are opportunities for you to get money and/or awards! CMLE Headquarters is always available to help you with the applications, or to help you think through the process of applying.
Here are the FAQs for the program:
Who can apply for this program?
Any adult who works in a Title 1 (or Title 1 eligible) school can apply. You must apply for each school individually.
What happens after I submit my application?
OverDrive will review your application and contact you if your school is selected to receive one year of free K5 Quickstart access.
What grade levels is this intended for?
The K5 Quickstart program is intended for schools serving students in Grades K through 8.
You have probably heard of elevator speeches, but may be fuzzy on the concept. It started as a business idea: you meet the Head Honcho in an elevator, and have about 60 seconds to wow her with your big idea. This is your shot, you don’t want to throw it away!
This has kind of expanded to encompass all kinds of advocacy speech, but the basic idea remains the same.
Quick
Concise
Articulate
You probably already do this on a daily basis – talking about the things your library has, does, and provides. An elevator speech is just a way to formalize it, and to help you give the best presentation of your ideas.
When do you want to use this kind of presentation? Usually, when you need to make your point quickly, and move on. If you just have a minute or two with someone, and you need to get out your message – it’s elevator speech time!
Everyone knows how easy it is to have something important to share – and spend time talking around the topic, or stammering with the flow of words inside your head happening faster than you can speak them. What is the cure for this?? Just as if you wanted to go to Carnegie Hall: Practice, practice, practice! Continue reading You too can give an elevator speech! (Advocacy Series #3)→
The excitement in visiting this school started immediately, as I stopped at the space capsule outside to admire it. Yes: a real NASA training capsule, just like the astronauts rode to the moon! I knew this was going to be an exciting trip, and the library did not let me down. Media Specialist Susan Hoffman was there to show me around and to answer all my questions about her very nice library.
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Everything is better with fish!
This fish tank is the first thing you see as you walk into the big, open library area. It gives visitors a good welcome and establishes the library as a place where possibly unexpected great things will appear – always a good idea for libraries!
Spoooky holidays on the calendar!
This calendar was so fun! As we were near Halloween, it was great to see all the appropriately spooky holidays mentioned here. I love to celebrate holidays, and at CMLE Headquarters we are enthusiastic decorators. (You need to stop in and visit us!) I had no idea that Haunted Refrigerator Night was a thing – but it is! I was simultaneously terrified, and seized with the urge to clean out my leftovers. There was no time for that, as there were so many other things to see in the library.
We will always have paper books!
Libraries, as we all know, do so much more than hand out paper books to deserving readers as we did back in the olden days of library work. Now we have all kinds of tools to reach out to our patrons, to connect with their information needs, and to provide some fun. This display of New Books meets a few different goals in a library setting. Of course, new books are always fun, and any bibliophile will happily browse here (I did!). But this shelf is special, because those multiple copies of books you see are books from the book club run in this library! (Susan will be contributing a Guest Blog on her book club; and the information should be good for everyone considering starting a group).
Looking at it all
You can get an idea of the huge size of the library space here (As is always important in a library and in a school, I am struggling here not to get any student patrons in the pictures; so angles can be a little odd. It is a truly outstanding “problem” that the library was filled with students!). I love this sign with all the values being embraced in the library here in one place. Students see this as they enter the large space, and it seems like it would give a good perspective on being part of the community of learners here. Diversity issues can be tough to work with each day; and it is good to see them being publicly embraced.
As you look toward the right in this picture, you can not quite see the two completely filled computer stations. Each has 32 terminals. There is also access to the iPad cart filled with tablets, laptops to lend out, and other technology tools available for students to use in their learning endeavors.
Apollo Eagle art!
It is always good to see art in a library – a visual reminder that information comes in all kinds of formats, and we should be ready to share them all. This was particularly interesting art, as it is a chain saw carving done by Minnesota artist Jerry Faber (Walker, MN). This kind of traditional art has information and meaning beyond the message of the Apollo Eagle; it also demonstrates the value of folk art done by talented artists working with tools available to them. Art is for everyone!
Reader’s Advisory tools
It is probably no surprise that I, along with almost all library people, am a big reader. So, when I saw these really good binders filled with book suggestions, it was a struggle to not just stand there and take notes about the recommendations! And no – I was not able to stop myself from picking them up and flipping thru the pages. As another demonstration of reaching out to patrons with different kinds of tools – some people will be more comfortable with paper and binders, while others will flinch away and reach for a phone to look online. Both types of searching are fine; we need to be ready to respond to all patrons with information tools that work for them. So not only did I enjoy these, but other patrons had obviously been using them as well!
Be like Batman!
On the way out, I saw this at the Circ Desk! Working with students can add a level of complexity to any library job; and it is important to keep up your sense of humor! And again – this is a great way to reach out to the patrons who need to hear a message. They may not necessarily recognize the 14th Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden (follow her on Twitter @LibnOfCongress); but everyone knows Batman. While it may be difficult to calculate the ROI on the sign in terms of returned materials, just the moment of seeing it and having a quick laugh may plant the seed of returned books in the patrons!
As always, there were so many other great things to see here! Use these posts as opportunity to reach out to your colleagues. Library people across CMLE are doing all kinds of different and interesting things; let’s connect to talk about issues faced across the system! CMLE Headquarters is here to make everyone stronger!
Partnering with libraries for visioning, advocating, and educating
