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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

A Mindful Moment: Tool 9: Be Curious

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

From now until the end of the school year, each week we will be including a post called A Mindful Moment.  Mindfulness is an emerging topic in libraries as it relates to our own personal wellness, but also as it affects good customer service. If you are at all like me, if you get a list of 12 things to consider at one time, it is just too overwhelming. Therefore, in these weekly posts, we will be providing small bits of information to assist you in moving toward  a more mindful life. All credit for the content goes to Leo Babauta at Fast Company, who believes “a mindful life is worth the effort.” I really, really love the introduction Leo gave to his 12 piece tool set and his explanation of a mindful life. This week, we feature this tool …..

Tool 9: Be Curious

This one fits so well with our current 23 Mobile Things program…..just go for it….don’t worry too much about the outcome!

“Too often we are stuck in our ways, and think we know how things should be, how people are. Instead, be curious. Find out. Experiment. Let go of what you think you know. When you start a new project or venture, if you feel the fear of failure, instead of thinking, “Oh no, I’m going to fail” or “Oh no, I don’t know how this will turn out”, try thinking, “Let’s see. Let’s find out.” And then there isn’t the fear of failure, but the joy of being curious and finding out. Learn to be okay with not knowing.”

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 recently?

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Progress on 23 Mobile Things…We Have Finishers!

We hope you are still enjoying the online learning provided by the 23 Mobile Things Program, and we wanted to take a quick minute to publicly congratulate some of our “high flyers” in the program. If you are off to a slow start, take heart, every bit of learning is valuable and is making you a better professional, better equipped to help your end users when they have questions about their devices or apps. But please don’t think I am letting you off easy, set your sites on completing at least the next five, request your badge, then see how great you feel. We guarantee, you will get hooked and want to continue!

icon_23_100px1CMLE Finishers of 23 Mobile Things

Yes folks, we have seven people in the CMLE region who have finished the program so far; others have until June 15, 2014. Some people are doing the program loud and proud, with a robust blog profile and picture,  others are flying under the radar, going incognito!

A huge congratulations to the following people:

  • Blog name: 23 in ’14: Carolyn Avaire, East Central Regional Library (ECRL)
  • Blog name: 23 Mobile Things: Duane Hawkinson, Monticello Public School Media Centers
  • Blog name: 23 New Ways of Looking at a Library: Katherine Morrow, ECRL
  • Blog name: The Adventures of SZSRocks: Zoma Olson, Elk River High School Media Staff
  • Blog name: How to Become an iPad Ninja in 23 Easy Steps: Holly Pringle, Becker School Media Specialist
  • Blog name: Library Connections: Sarah Hawkins, ECRL
  • Blog name: Sharvermobile: Great River Regional Library (GRRL)

We have an additional seven people who are sporting badges for completing either 5 or 10 of the Things. Well done! Keep going, you are doing great, and we will recognize you at the Finish Line too! I see many more blogs where people have not requested badges. Please do so, as it helps everyone  gauge other participants progress in the program. Tip:  If you are struggling on Thing 11, look for the people with a badge for 10 things, and check their blogs for hints or tips that might help you with that Thing. Better than randomly clicking on all blogs, right?

Did you expect to see your name on the list, but it is not there? Maybe you are not up to date on your badges?!

Badges! Each time you complete a group of five things (in any order), send an email to minn23@gmail.com with your name, region and blog name and we will add a badge next to your blog on the blog list by region. If you have another place to display a badge, let us know that, too, and we will send you the badge to display. You can see the badges in the right sidebar of the main program page, and you can review all of the CMLE blogs at http://23mobilethingsmn.org/cmle/. Good luck, enjoy the learning and sharing and see you online!

Prizes: CMLE participants who complete 23 Things will receive a completion prize and have their name entered in a special prize drawing from CMLE. You had to register your blog as described in Thing 1 and you need to complete all Things by June 15, 2014 to be eligible. Only registered Minnesota participants are eligible for prizes.  Keep on blogging, see you online!

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Minnesota Budget Priorities are Shaping Up

dollarsIt is a great situation to have a budget surplus, but the ideas about how to solve it can be quite different. A picture is worth a thousand words when the Governor, the House, and the Senate are trying to iron out differences on budget priorities. The folks at Minnesota Budget Bites have done a fantastic job of sharing the differences in the following easy graphic. Read the full blog post at:  http://tinyurl.com/mbebruf

 

table leg prioritiesApril 22, 2014 blog post graphic from Minnesota Budget Bites.

 

 

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Congratulations Talahi Community School!

TalahiBooksThe Association for Library Services to Children (ALSC) recently awarded the 2014 Bookapalooza Program to three libraries, one of them being our own  Talahi Community School in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

“The award includes a variety of materials from books to DVDs and audiobooks. These materials have been received at the ALSC office from publishers for selection committees to evaluate for awards and notables consideration. To make room for the next year’s publications, Bookapalooza was created to infuse three collections with new materials for children age birth through age 14.

The Talahi Community School has plans to use the Bookapalooza collection for many innovative programs that include a reading outreach project with a nearby retirement community, the STEM program for the St. Cloud School District and the newly created reading garden where the children will have an alternative place to read when the weather is nice. The school serves a diverse PreK-5 population of 518 students with much collaboration from the St. Cloud community.  The children who attend Talahi are at the 93-percent factor in free and reduced meals and more than 30 percent of the children come from single parent homes.”

CMLE staff contacted Talahi school media specialist Sara Martini to find out more…

“… the thanks go to Talahi’s foster grandpa, John Bowden, who wrote the grant application. The books came in 27 huge boxes and contained over 1,350 items, worth around $24,000. How exciting!” All of the books are hardcover and were published in 2013 or 2014 and will be available for students to check out.

Excerpts from this post came directly from the ALA press release at http://tinyurl.com/mf6vnq7

If you are part of a library/school media organization in Central Minnesota,  you may have a “feel good” story you too would like to share. These regional stories always have great appeal. Please send your ideas or stories to cmle@stcloudstate.edu and thank you!

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

A Mindful Moment: Tool 8: Watch Your Resistance

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

From now until the end of the school year, each week we will be including a post called A Mindful Moment.  Mindfulness is an emerging topic in libraries as it relates to our own personal wellness, but also as it affects good customer service. If you are at all like me, if you get a list of 12 things to consider at one time, it is just too overwhelming. Therefore, in these weekly posts, we will be providing small bits of information to assist you in moving toward  a more mindful life. All credit for the content goes to Leo Babauta at Fast Company, who believes “a mindful life is worth the effort.” I really, really love the introduction Leo gave to his 12 piece tool set and his explanation of a mindful life. This week, we feature this tool …..

Tool 8:Watch Your Resistance

“When you try to do something uncomfortable, or try to give up something you like or are used to, you’ll find resistance. But you can just watch the resistance, and be curious about it. Watch your resistance to things that annoy you–a loud sound that interrupts your concentration, for example. It’s not the sound that’s the problem, it’s your resistance to the sound. The same is true of resistance to food we don’t like, to being too cold or hot, to being hungry. The problem isn’t the sensation of the food, cold, heat or hunger–it’s our resistance to them. Watch the resistance, and feel it melt. This resistance, by the way, is why I’m doing my Year of Living Without.”

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 recently?