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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

From the Director

For all practical purposes, this fiscal year is coming to an end, and I must admit, our CMLE staff is limping to the finish line on fumes! Having said that, due to popular demand, our 23 Mobile Things Program will plug along until June 15, 2014, although our blogging activities will end for the summer with this edition of the Weekly Review . If you are one of the participants that swore you would finish if we accepted your wish to extend the deadline to June 15th,  please don’t disappoint us! All finishers will receive an incentive prize, but CMLE will also put all finishers from our region into a drawing for a new Galaxie Tab 4 OR an iPad Mini! I am counting on you to finish the program in order to be in the drawing! Right now your odds are very good, but we are hoping lots of participants are “laying in the weeds” and will spring into action soon! It is not unusual to see people cross the finish line at midnight, so don’t worry about your pride on that front….you would not be the only one!

Important: I will rely on the fact that your badges are up to date so we can easily see who has finished the program!

If you haven’t already, don’t forget to let us know when you’ve earned a badge (at 5, 10, 15, 20 and 23 Things completed)! Just email minn23@gmail.com with your blog name, multitype region (CMLE), and how many Things you’ve completed. Multitype staff will place your badge in our CMLE blogroll and send you one you can display on your blog to share your progress.

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 Library Legislative Forum, annual audit, year-end reports, discount agreements, internal system updates, program planning, and  our commitments to Fall 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, filter and distill it down to an easy to digest format, and share it with  you starting in September. We remain committed to offering ideas, tips, shortcuts, cost savings,  and application ideas too.  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 in the Fall!

Didn’t have time to read all of our blog posts this year? Go to http://cmleinfofeed.wordpress.com/ and meander through this year’s posts! Many of the posts are timeless, so better late than never….

CMLE Director, Patricia Post
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

 

 

 

 

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Final Mindful Moment: Be Compassionate

CMLE staff have now guided you through twelve tools that will hopefully produce a more mindful state of being in your life. What? You have had no time to pay attention to the series? No worries, go to the bottom of this post during the lazier days of summer, and work your way through the content, one tool at a time! Who knows, maybe in the Fall we will have a whole group of very Zen librarians!

All credit for the content goes to Leo Babauta at Fast Company, who believes “a mindful life is worth the effort.

Image by bibigeek. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by bibigeek. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

Tool 12: Be Compassionate

“This sounds trite, but compassion for others can change the way you feel about the world, on a day-to-day basis. And compassion for yourself is life-changing. These two things need remembering, though, so mindful living is about remembering to be compassionate after you forget.

That seems like a lot to digest and remember, and I often forget all of this stuff, but then I remember, and say, “Ah, I was doing it again!” And then I practice again.

And then I forget, but I reflect, and I learn, and I practice again.

This is the process of learning mindfulness. It’s forgetting, and then remembering, again and again.”

 

What is this business about a mindful life? Read Leo’s introduction, it will take like one minute and is well worth your time to frame this subject!

Interested in other posts CMLE has done on mindfulness this academic year?

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Story Vending Machines

Image by Maria Reyes-McDavis. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by Maria Reyes-McDavis. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

Who knew that dispensing literature from vending machines dates way back to 1822? And that these machines have dispensed a variety of items including poetry, tiny books, art, music, and film. Get the history behind this cool idea and read about how a Philadelphia high school is launching an innovative student-run publishing program that offers YA stories via a vending machine. http://tinyurl.com/ogwwek8

 

 

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Congrats SRR Middle School!

isd47-website21The Sauk Rapids-Rice Middle School has been awarded the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) Grant from the Minnesota Department of Education. Consequently, the Middle School will receive approximately $134,000 toward next year’s programming to increase access to digital literacy and technology! The grant focuses on removing financial barriers for families and increasing opportunities for students to succeed in literacy. Purchases of iPads and eContent are part of the work of this grant.

Many individuals including, but not limited to, Media Specialist Cindy Hiedemen, Technology Coach Laura Mackenthun, Language Arts Teacher Sandie Lahr, and Middle School Principal Nate Rudolph  researched and wrote the grant.   Grant partners include the City of Rice, Apple Inc., the Central MN Libraries Exchange (CMLE), and Sauk Rapids-Rice Education Foundation.

CMLE staff wish SRR the very best in going forward on a fast track with the implementation of this grant. We look forward to reporting back to those in the region about the progress and outcomes of this work. Well done!

Note: The Sauk Rapids-Rice High School also has exciting news about embarking on a 1:1 laptop initiative next school year. Recently, a St. Cloud Times article provided more detail.

Is your school moving in the same direction? Send your stories to cmle@stcloudstate.edu

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

You're a Book Nerd If….

BookSnakeBeth Bartlett writes: “In this age of YouTube and endless TV, it takes passion to fulfill yourself with the written word. Yet the book nerd thrives, surviving on the scent of old books and the meaty thoughts of great writers. How do you tell the difference between the casual reader and those with binding glue in their veins? You know you are book nerd if . . .”  Review the 18 reasons to see how you score at You’re a book nerd if . . . , The Huffington Post,May 23