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!

Save the Date! The ELM Expo is Coming

Have you noticed that ELM is big and multi-faceted? Have you wondered how you could just spend an entire day picking and choosing what you need to learn about ELM. Well look no more….for the first time ever, we are offering an ELM Expo! Raise your awareness of all that is available and increase your hands-on skillset in a comfortable lab/wifi friendly setting with your peers.  Registration and more information is coming soon!

What: ELM Expo
When: Friday, November 6, 2015
Where: Anoka-Hennepin Staff Development Center
2727 North Ferry Street
Anoka, MN 55303

This event is co-sponsored by CMLE, Metronet, and Minitex.

Why Go to a Library Conference?

Apple BasketThe Information and Technology Educators of MN (ITEM) conference is thundering down the calendar toward us beginning the first week in October. Then, during the second week in October, the Minnesota Library Association (MLA) Conference crops up! Are you registered?

Ideally, you are able to attend  a library conference of some form at least once a year. If you have a job that counts on you staying up-to-date, a conference is a great way to sharpen your skill set. I understand that professional development dollars are tight, but think beyond the dollars for a moment. Faced with incredibly big jobs, high work expectations beyond what we thought possible, and a world of fast-paced change, why go to a MN library conference?

Here are  my Top 10 Reasons to Register for the ITEM or MLA Fall Conferences Now….

  1. You have an excuse to buy a cool outfit, a new pair of shoes, or gasp…a new bag (even though you have hundreds)
  2. Informal conversations: Whether it be at a lunch table, in the commons area between sessions, or over cocktails at happy hour, a conference is an excellent place to figure out what your peers are worried about, working on, and thinking about. Be brave, strike up a conversation! You can save yourself a ton of time and work by talking to others who will share.
  3. Bags: While in the exhibit area, you have the opportunity to collect yet more bags for your collection of hundreds; some that include cat portraits!
  4. Free books: many companies are handing out free advanced copies of books!
  5. Do you hate talking on the phone with sales people, but need some new products, pricing, or information? Bribe a colleague to go with you (for the free candy) to the exhibit areas, and plan ahead of time how you will exit any sales talk that has gone far enough. Tag teams rule!
  6. Authors: Library conferences always include author talks, and we do love anything an author has to say!
  7. Eyeglasses: Have I mentioned that librarians also love to show off their hip eyewear, and why is it that most of us are almost blind?
  8. Keynotes: Conference planners think long and hard to bring in big names and popular folk that have appeal, and it is rare to be thoroughly disappointed, very rare!
  9. Breakout sessions: There are usually so many to pick from, that you often have a hard time. Me, I intentionally look for the rooms bursting at the seams with people. I want to know what everyone is so geeked up about! If it is something I know very little about, I really should be there! Am hoping for a session on Cosplay.
  10. The evening social event: You will have a blast and get to know the playful side of people. The multitype library systems (CMLE is one of them) offer fun events like trivia or literary games. Prizes and bragging rights come with the territory too! Did I mention free food? Can it get better?

What have I missed? What do you love most about conferences? Add it in the comments! Ready to register now?

Go to our handy events table, and click on the appropriate event link to register! Easy…

No Money? A  CMLE scholarship  of up to $200 is yours to use for registration, hotel, mileage, meals, or to subsidize the cost of your employer hiring a substitute worker so you can be away. If you approach your boss to say you have found a way to contribute  $200, they will know you are invested and have taken initiative. The application process is easy, CMLE would love to exhaust its scholarship budget this year on these two conferences alone, so go for it!

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/o4jqtd7, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

Welcome Back!

Patricia Post, CMLE Director
Patricia Post, CMLE Director

This week marks the beginning of our new Weekly Review publication cycle, and by now, most of our K-12 and academic librarians have at least one week under their belts. Public librarians are taking a slight breather now that the summer reading programs have ended! And, it is hard to say what the special librarians are feeling at the moment; probably sadness that summer is ending! Schedules are slightly different for the 320 libraries in the Central MN region, but new energy is definitely in the Fall air! CMLE provides support services to library/school media center personnel. A few facts and reminders….

  • Some posts this week are gathered from news compiled over the summer, case in point, Getting Caught Up With State Library News
  • We continue to seek stories about programming in Central MN libraries and school media centers. Send stories or pictures  to admin@cmle.org
  • Last year,  CMLE used Google Hangouts to do monthly think tank meetings with a representative group of members. Are you interested in helping us assess needs and propose programming in our region? If so, please send email to admin@cmle.org
  • A reminder that upcoming library conferences, webinars and other noteworthy events will be offered through our Library Events Page.
  • Each week we will try to provide some easy, breezy, “good-to-know” posts about the library world or your home library too, but we will also insert some bigger picture posts to stretch you a bit too! No grumbling please….it is good for all of us…
  • Each week, we cull through hundreds of items and choose 7-15 items we feel might be of most interest or most helpful. Did we miss the mark? Let us know at admin@cmle.org
  • Last academic year we posted nearly 500 blog posts. We keep it manageable for you though one email per week with a listing of all of the weeks blog posts! Then, you are in control to pick and choose what meets your needs.
  • CMLE also has a Facebook and Twitter account….check us out. Facebook at Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange and Twitter @CMLEMN. Like us or follow us today!

Onward! Welcome back to a new academic year and lots of interesting activity and information from library land!

CMLE Has Moved!

186HThis summer has been a time of fast change and activity for CMLE!

During the past 35+ years, St. Cloud State University and CMLE have cooperatively succeeded in accomplishing many things which have benefited both organizations. In fact, CMLE members lobbied strongly with the Minnesota Legislature to secure the funding for the building of the university library back in the late 90’s! It was portrayed to be the information hub for Central Minnesota. With 265 K-12 schools benefiting from the interlibrary loan service, SCSU and CMLE lived up to that promise. Books and other materials were shared by both organizations to the benefit of students at SCSU as well as at other colleges, prisons, schools, and hospitals within the CMLE service area.

It has been a great partnership, but like many relationships there comes a time when the needs of each partner change. It was the decision of the staff and Governing Board in June that it was time for a separation. CMLE needed more flexibility in providing staff and expertise than the SCSU union environment could provide. The 2013 sunsetting of the CMLE interlibrary loan  service also changed previous reasons for physical proximity too.

CMLE has moved into the offices of cmERDC in East St. Cloud, and we are on a fast track to become 100% operational. At the time of this writing, we are still working out of boxes, but our laptops don’t care! Please change our contact information as soon as possible….you can find it here on our website. See pictures on our Facebook page of our space progress thus far; stay tuned for updates!

ERDC staff have welcomed us, and have been nothing but gracious, friendly and helpful. We are open and optimistic about the future!

Patricia Post
CMLE Executive Director

Image credit: http://gratisography.com/ (Ryan McGuire), licensed under CC0 1.0

From the Director: The year in review….

PPphoto
Patricia Post, CMLE Director

CMLE staffers dust themselves off this time of  year and take stock of this fiscal/academic year. Academic and K-12 library staff are doing the same, and we realize many are limping to the finish line on fumes! We also realize our public library staff are just entering their busiest season, and we wish them well in their important work of inspiring kids to love the library and keep up their reading skills!

As we take stock of the high points this year, our weekly publishing hits the top of the list, and this week, we offered a blog post that captured our 10 most popular blog posts.  This was a big year for us around infrastructure, and the reveal of our new website was beyond satisfying. Our site is powered by WordPress, which allows us to easily keep our site fresh and current!  Our favorite event this year hands down was our copyright event with almost 60 of you along with U of M Copyright Librarian Nancy Sims joining us at the Stearns History Museum. The item that made me feel most connected this year was the set of results we received through our needs assessment. Your voice matters very much to us as we develop future programming. Special mention also goes to our first Google Hangout meetings this winter, which had direct positive impact on GRRL’s policy around library cards for students. We hope to enlarge the circle a tiny bit and try this again next fiscal year.

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 the July Library Legislative Forum, our annual audit, year-end reports to MDE, book discount agreements, internal system updates, program planning for next year, and our commitments to the MLA and ITEM Fall conferences too.

So, it might seem a  bit sad, but our Weekly Review and associated blog posts will be on a short hiatus again during the summer months, but we will be back in the Fall! At that time, we will continue to scan the horizon, wrap our arms around the glut of library news and opportunity, filter and distill it down to an easy to digest format, and share it with you again starting in September. We remain committed to offering technology ideas and tips, best practices, cost savings, big picture concepts, library events, and application ideas too.  We hope this little blip in service gives everyone a refreshing “breather”. Watch our website in the event that time sensitive information surfaces that we feel a need to share immediately during the summer months. Enjoy your summer with quiet moments of  serenity curled up with a good book under a big shady tree. Are you taking classes or attending events this summer to sharpen your skill set? Good for you…that is another important way to take care of yourself. Summer is a great time to retool, renew and refresh. See you in the Fall!

Didn’t have time to read all of our blog posts this year? No problem, no guilt. Go to https://cmle.org/ and notice the blog post archives in the right frame of the page. Select the month you missed, and meander through this year’s posts! Many of the posts are timeless, so better late than never….

 Tash reading on the beach
Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/mogarhq, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0