The Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange (CMLE) is one of seven regional multitype library systems established to meet the needs of and share the resources of all types of libraries.
We love libraries, and are here to support them!
The information in this post was written by Jennifer Nelson, State Library Program Specialist.
(Since this communication was received, Jennifer has been named Interim Director of State Library Services. For more information, see our associated blog post about changes to the MN State Librarian.)
State Library Services has established a list-serve for distributing information to libraries in Minnesota. It will be used as a primary tool for announcements, including competitive grants, from the agency. The list-serve will also be used to distribute information of broad interest to the library community in Minnesota. The list-serve will not replace current distribution lists directed at specific audiences.
Please contact me if you have additional questions about communications from State Library Services. We look forward to your continued partnership.
Jennifer R. Nelson
State Library Programs Specialist
State Library Services
Minnesota Department of Education
1500 Hwy 36 West, Roseville MN 55113
Voice: 651-582-8791
Email: Jennifer.r.nelson@state.mn.us
This past summer Nancy Walton announced her retirement as the State Librarian for Minnesota. In a recent interview by Minitex she stated, “The best advice that I could give for you… don’t cling to the past, be willing to embrace the future.” Click here to listen/download the entire interview with Nancy Walton as she looks back on her career. Since then, Kevin McHenry, Assistant Commissioner has been meeting with various library systems to talk about the pending transitions in leadership and to identify a list of current issues.
Here is a statement written by McHenry on 9/11/13;
Over the last month I have had an opportunity to work closely with State Library Services as Acting Chief Library Officer. I have developed an understanding of the needs and challenges that libraries in Minnesota are facing today and am eager to take the next steps in restructuring State Library Services so that the division is poised to support quality library services that address the needs of Minnesotans.
As we move forward with planning for a new Director/State Librarian while also supporting division staff on a day-to-day basis, I am pleased to announce that Jennifer R. Nelson has accepted the position of Interim Director. Jen has worked in and for libraries for well over 25 years. Her extensive background includes stints as a children’s librarian, reference librarian, interlibrary loan coordinator, archives assistant, e-resource and training coordinator and more. She is recognized across the United States for her work in developing innovative technology programs for youth and is the author of “Technology and literacy: 21st century library programming for children and teens” (ALA Editions, 2012). Jen also serves as an adjunct faculty member in St. Catherine University’s MLIS program, teaching a course in grant writing and proposal development. Her expertise in administration, project management and partnership development will ensure a consistent level of support for Minnesota’s libraries and build on the work that we have already accomplished. Jen can be reached directly at 651-582-8791 or Jennifer.r.nelson@state.mn.us
I will be working closely with Jen during her time as interim director and continue to welcome your thoughts, ideas and feedback on how State Library Services can best address the needs of libraries.
Kevin McHenry
Assistant Commissioner
Minnesota Department of Education
O: 651.582.8250 M: 612.306.0895
Email: kevin.mchenry@state.mn.us
“Leading for educational excellence and equity- Every day for every one”
Welcome to a new fiscal year with CMLE. Fall signals new beginnings for most people. And whether we work in a K-12 school or college or somewhere else, we are all part of the educational process. The life of library staff varies during the summer. Most K-12 staff are off duty as are some college librarians. In contrast, public libraries are extremely busy with reading programs in the summer. Most special librarians see no change in their work life in summer except often taking a much needed vacation. CMLE staff fit in this last category, and rather than a vacation this year, I had my knee replaced the first week in June. Prior to that, I had my hip replaced in February (yes, the same leg). Not a great summer for me!
We are a small office of two, so if things seemed a bit quiet last year on the CMLE front, you now understand why! The knee produced complications and setbacks that have made this the hardest year of my life. I take comfort in knowing I am almost back to fulltime, and hope to have much of my energy back by the October MEMO and MLA conferences in October.
Last year marked our gradual transition out of the interlibrary loan (ILL) service. Our staff consulted one-on-one with the small remaining group of ILL users who needed new solutions. In all cases, we found ILL alternatives that served their specific needs. Now, we are able to focus on our many other services, some of which are brand new. The question has come up, “If CMLE no longer does ILL, what does it do?” If we had a tagline, it would probably be: Providing support services to library staff in Central Minnesota. The needs for support are defined largely by people like you. Therefore, at any time feel free to communicate with our staff about your needs. Our services change as the needs of our twelve-county region change.
The services of CMLE are planned by the Director, an eleven-member Governing Board, and with member feedback. Four members of the Board are practicing librarians in the Central Minnesota region, and are selected by their representative caucus of academic, public, K-12 or special libraries.
CMLE has three strategic focus areas to guide services in FY13 through FY15
Refined Focus on K-12 Media Center Needs
Convening and Bridging Libraries Around Issues (all library types)
Stretching Dollars: Strategies and Services (all library types)
Some ways in which CMLE currently fulfills these focus areas is by engaging in the following activities;
Functions as a current awareness service to library professionals for national, statewide, and regional library news: To reach people where they are, CMLE utilizes email, a website, a WordPress blog, Facebook, Twitter and other online collaboration tools or Web 2.0 tools.
Provides scholarships to attend professional development events.
Negotiates discounts from various companies for both print and eBooks.
Maintains a collaborative role in the North Star Library Consortium in order to extend discounts on Follett’s Destiny software and additional library manager subscriptions.
Facilitates a succession of trainings, workshops, or “convened conversations” as needs dictate, which are typically offered at low or no cost to attendees.
Conducts various library advocacy activities in the work setting, statewide and national: The CMLE Director serves as a voice for libraries when there is no voice.
Manages a library shadowing program: CMLE staff gather and maintain valuable site-specific data to assist them in pairing librarians from the region to experience different library settings.
Identifies and develops subject guides on professional topics including library best practices.
Supports, engages, and collaborates with professional library organizations such as MEMO, MLA, ISTE, ALA, AASL: Includes conference support activities (Internet Cafes, networking activities, conference presentations, etc.)
We hope to have a fantastic year building relationships and gathering program ideas from our membership. Please know that your ideas and goals do matter and our staff is here to serve your professional needs. My “door” is always open, so please feel free to make direct contact with me via email or phone when that makes the most sense. Otherwise, I will “see” you online, at the MLA or MEMO conferences, or at one of our events. All the best as you move into a year of making a difference with the important work you do!
Patricia-
Patricia Post, Director
Central MN Libraries Exchange (CMLE) A Minnesota Multitype Library System
St. Cloud State University, Miller Center 130-D
720 4th Ave. So., St. Cloud, MN 56301-4498
Phone: 320-308-4779 Fax: 320-308-5131 E-mail: papost@stcloudstate.edu
As promised, this week we resume our CMLE communication streams! This means that CMLE staff cull through hundreds of library news items each week and pick the news we hope is most important to you. Hopefully, we offer a “manageable bite” of national, state, and regional library news and resources to academic, public, school and special library staff. Our goal is to provide opportunities to learn something new while also helping everyone feel connected to the larger library world. We share the chosen items through a weekly email message (like the one you are reading) which feeds our blog (www.cmleinfofeed.wordpress.com), Facebook (Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange) and Twitter (@CMLEMN) accounts. We use all of these options so we can connect with you where you are, when you have the time! This way, you have four possible ways of connecting with us for this information! And, by using the comment feature in three of these tools, you can interact with us and other library staff in our region. Sometimes CMLE staff will ask for your preferences for future news or programming, so please help us by using the comment feature. This year we hope to include very short polls too if that is most efficient. Too shy to go public with a comment? Or, are you wondering about how to share staffing changes in your library? Or, do you have a specific service need? Or, do you have a story to share with us to include in the Weekly Review? Email us at cmle@stcloudstate.edu or call us at 320-308-2950.
Patricia Post, Director
Central MN Libraries Exchange (CMLE) A Minnesota Multitype Library System
St. Cloud State University, Miller Center 130-D
720 4th Ave. So.
St. Cloud, MN 56301-4498
Phone: 320-308-4779 Fax: 320-308-5131 E-mail: papost@stcloudstate.edu
This fiscal year concludes on June 30, 2013, and it has been a whirlwind of change and transitions in Central MN Libraries Exchange (CMLE)! It’s good to look back over the year, while also looking forward to next year and exciting new possibilities! I’ve included a few highlights as a warm up to writing year-end reports soon:
Beginning last July, CMLE vowed to Refocus, Retool, and Evolve at the conclusion of its strategic planning process. The Governing Board helped us make some hard decisions. The most significant one was the sunsetting of our physical interlibrary loan service after a 10 year downward spiral in usage. Costs for providing the service have not decreased, so the cost/benefit analysis spoke loudly to all involved. We continue to assist users of that service in finding alternate ways to order interlibrary loans.
The Board got even more excited about the results of an opportunity analysis for CMLE, some of which you experienced this year.
Beginning in September, we replaced our quarterly newsletter and began to use our weekly communication streams including our Weekly Review email messages, our blog posts, Facebook and Twitter. The first month we made this change, we went from 62 hits on our blog to 584! News on the street was that our users loved this change and we loved the new freedom and immediacy that a blogging platform provided to us. By January, we more than doubled our September blog hits at 1,506!
We offered two popular e-book events in the fall; one for academics, one for K-12 media personnel. We also continued our Bridging Information Literacy Across Libraries initiative work, including a college student survey to 400 students, and beginning development of a video.
Kate Bessey left CMLE in January to return to her librarian role at Rasmussen College.
Michelle Kiley began as our invaluable new Information Specialist upon Kate’s departure.
I took a six week medical leave of absence to replace a very worn out hip in mid-February. Ouch, but much better now!
Upon my return we initiated seven Quick Question Polls (QQP’s) on various topics to gather data to help us refocus our programming in FY14.
In early June, I will return to the orthopedic workshop for a new knee. I know, it’s been a tough year! Michelle proved her ability to hold down the fort during my first leave, and will valiantly do the same this summer.
Our summer CMLE to-do list is quite different from our weekly work during the academic year. Summer is an important time for administrative work including year-end reports, discount agreements, internal system updates, program planning, and our commitments to library conference planning too. So, it might seem a bit sad, but our Weekly Review and associated blog posts will be on a short hiatus during the summer months, but we will be back in the Fall! We will continue to wrap our arms around the glut of library news and opportunity, distill it down to an easy to digest format, and write it up again for you starting in September. We remain committed to offering tips, shortcuts and application ideas too. According to one of our QQP’s, many of you will be gearing down a bit in your professional summer reading too, so we hope this little blip in service gives everyone a refreshing “breather”. Watch your email in the event that something significant happens this summer that we feel a need to share immediately. Otherwise, enjoy quiet moments of summer serenity curled up with a good book under a big shady tree. Summer is a great time to renew and refresh. See you online in the Fall!
Didn’t have time to read any of our blog posts this year? Go to http://cmleinfofeed.wordpress.com/ and meander through this year’s posts!
CMLE Director, Patricia Post
Patricia Post, Director
Central MN Libraries Exchange (CMLE)
A Minnesota Multitype Library System
St. Cloud State University, Miller Center 130-D
720 4th Ave. So.
St. Cloud, MN 56301-4498
Phone: 320-308-4779 Fax: 320-308-5131
E-mail: papost@stcloudstate.edu
Partnering with libraries for visioning, advocating, and educating
