All posts by admincmle

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!
Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

CMLE Discounts are Ready

2 Comments

We have eleven book companies participating in the discount program this year, and eight of them are discounting e-books!  Please check your inbox for an  email attachment with all of the discount details. These discounts provide cost savings to 319 academic, school, public, and special libraries. The eleven participating book  companies this year are listed below, the companies with e-book discounts are blue! Don’t forget, you must mention the promo code with each company to get the described discounts. Please let me know if you have any problems using these discounts, or if the list does not include a company you would like to suggest for inclusion next year. These discounts are a perk to you as part of your free membership as a CMLE member library. Send email to papost@stcloudstate.edu with your input. Thanks!

Didn’t get the attachment? Send an email to cmle@stcloudstate.edu and use subject line, Discount Promo Codes Needed.

Abdo, Baker & Taylor, Brodart, Follett, Gumdrop, Ingram, Mackin, Rainbow,

Sebco, Scholastic, and Usborne

General, School Media Specialist

Laura Bush Grants for School Libraries

The Laura Bush Foundation for America’s Libraries seeks to provide books and reading materials to school libraries and students that most need them. The Foundation provides grants of up to $5,000 to help school libraries expand, update and diversify their book collections. In the last funding cycle, the foundation made grants totaling more than $1.1 million to two hundred      and  thirty-eight schools.

All Laura Bush Foundation grants are made to individual schools rather than to school districts, county systems, private organizations, foundations or other entities. This includes all public, private, parochial, charter, city, state, county and reservation schools — including special schools, social services schools, and juvenile detention center schools in any of those jurisdictions — that serve any combination of pre-kindergarten through high school students. Only schools where a minimum of 80 percent of the student body qualify for the free or reduced lunch program are eligible to apply.

Funds are only available for library books and magazine/serial copies and subscriptions. Get the details including grant application at http://www.laurabushfoundation.com/ Proposals are due December 1, 2012.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Central MN Referendum Success!

Yesterday’s election was a chance for forty school districts in the state to put an operating referendum on the ballot. Statewide, 37 referendum questions passed, with 18 fails. According to MPR News, about half of the districts are asking voters to continue levies that are already in place, the other half are asking voters for an increase. Last year, 130 districts came to voters with levies. This fall, it appears that school districts are avoiding asking voters during busy election years for fear their pleas for taxpayer help will be lost amid the rest of the campaign activity.

The variety in levy requests statewide is surprising. The districts in Barnum, Milaca, McGregor and Peqout Lakes are asking for $1 per student. Meanwhile the Red Lake Falls, Fosston, Red Wing and Clearbrook-Gonvick districts are asking for more than $1,000 per student per year. The Hendricks Public School District levy is $2,000 per student.

We are happy to report that schools in Central Minnesota did pretty well with their operating referendums, with only the Royalton district failing. The following schools  may be celebrating a bit today due to passed referendums, and we offer hearty congratulations!

Becker, Delano, Elk River, McGregor, Milaca,  Paynesville, Rocori, Sauk Rapids Rice,

To see the statewide details of the levies, go to http://tinyurl.com/aakn2ko

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

AASL Filtering Report is Now Available

According to results of a survey conducted by the American Association of School Libraries (AASL), the filtering of legitimate, educational websites and academically useful social networking tools continues to be an issue in most schools across the country.  An executive summary of the supplemental questions on filtering are included as a part of AASL’s longitudinal survey, School Libraries Count!    Read the four-page summary report on the AASL website and  consider taking a look at the banned websites part of the site too. Banned Websites Awareness Day seeks to promote an awareness of how overly restrictive filtering affects student learning at the very time that schools are encouraging the learning of 21st Century Learning Skills!                                                                       

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

The Professional Development “Unconference”

Have you been hearing about a new (technically a few years old) way of doing conferences called the unconference? Admittedly, they are informal events, sometimes on a Saturday, and the success of them is based largely on who attends, who has knowledge of proposed topics, and the willingness of attendees to not only listen and learn, but contribute too. The popularity of Edcamps, a type of professional development for educators, originated from social media connections. Get an insider’s view of what makes these events tick, and what kind of usability we could consider here in Central Minnesota. Go to the full article on SmartBlog on Education, 10/30/2012.