Category Archives: Advocacy

Advocacy, Conference

New Paraprofessional Track at the 2018 MLA Conference

It’s nearly Conference Time!!!

As you know, CMLE is a big supporter of everyone going to conferences. It can be such a valuable way for you to meet people who do what you do in a library, it lets you put names to faces of people you talk with online, and it gives you an opportunity to meet vendors and presenters of all sorts of information.

Library people can not just assume their skills are fine. Our profession requires constant updating and movement. There are a lot of ways to build skills – and conferences is on of the fun ways!

SO!!!

This October 11-12, the Minnesota Library Association Library Association Annual Conference will be in St Cloud.

WE WANT YOU TO GO!

MLA also wants you to go! Register here, and check out the entire schedule here!

To overcome any perception that conferences are only for someone else, or only for people with degrees (NOPE!!), MLA has established a specific track of presentations for Frontline Staff in any sort of library. If you do anything, in any  type of library, that involves humans of any sort: THIS IS FOR YOU!!

(Does that sound expansive enough?? It’s supposed to!)

Sign up for the whole conference, Thursday and Friday, or just Friday. This track will be presented on Friday, and includes:

8:00am

Whole Person Librarianship: Structured Empathy on the Front Lines Mary C. Nienow • Sara Zettervall

9:15am

Geek Squad by Default: Dealing with patron technology questions as front-line staff Jake Fejedelem Visual Merchandising in Marketing your Library: What is it? How can you use it at your library? Leah Egersdorf • Tony Molaro

10:30am

Going Far Together: Working in Teams Valerie Horton

2:15pm

Physical labor is not the only labor that can be hard: Emotional labor in librarianship Kimberly L Clakre • Wanda R Marsolek

Sounds good, doesn’t it??!!

Remember back when I said WE WANT YOU TO GO TO THIS CONFERENCE???

CMLE will reimburse our members $50 toward your conference registration cost not otherwise paid for by other funding sources. (This is separate from, and in addition to any other scholarship or mini-grant you may receive from CMLE this year.)

Fill out the Scholarship form before the conference to get approved. Then, send us your receipts  and a short write-up of the  conference (photos are always appreciated!), and we will send you a reimbursement check for $50.

Pretty easy, isn’t it?

This conference is for everyone. It is for all types of libraries, all levels of experience, all job titles. And, as it’s here in CMLE’s own backyard, we particularity want to see people able to take advantage of it!

As a bonus for CMLE members, if you need a letter of support to attend this conference to give to your supervisor – we will be happy to provide one detailing the benefits of your attendance on your professional development, as well as the benefits to the library when you return.

We’ll see you at the conference!!!

PS: as a small plug, CMLE staff are giving two presentations at this MLA conference, and we’d love to see you there! Stop by, chat, and let’s have conference fun together!

  • Thursday, October 11 • 8:00am – 8:50am The Basics of Community Engagement: Nailing the Fundamentals so Magic Can Happen! Library people are skilled at finding, compiling, and sharing information – and these are skills we can share in our wider community! In this session, we will discuss the fundamentals of working with community groups and handling meetings effectively. we will discuss strategies for finding community groups, for connecting with them as a library professional and a community member yourself, and then for encouraging progress. Community groups can accomplish great things; but without fundamentals, that potential is squandered!

  •  Friday, October 12 • 10:30am – 11:20am   Leadership is On The Air! Training Through Podcasting! Leadership is for everyone. It’s for you! And we are here to help you with building your skills!! In this session, we will discuss the basics of using a podcast as a tool for training leadership skills and competencies. We will talk about the strategy we used to identify the competencies we are sharing in the podcast. We will talk, briefly, about setting up a podcast of your own if you want to do some training for your patrons, or staff, or other population. You will leave this session with ideas on leadership development and on learning by podcasting. Together we will enjoy discussing leadership!

Advocacy, CMLE

Fall Library Advocacy Postcard Party!

Are your fall calendars filling up already? Ours are too, even though it still feels very summery outside! We want to make sure you add our next Library Advocacy Postcard Party to your plans!

On Tuesday, September 25th from 11-1 (feel free to come a little early, or stay a little late, we’re flexible!) we will be having a lunchtime Postcard Party at the lovely Munsinger Gardens in St. Cloud.

This casual event will be similar to our past postcard parties, but this time we are focusing on local officials and decision makers. That means school boards, city council members, principals, and more.

These people need to be aware of the need for strong libraries of all types in their communities! School, public, academic, special libraries and archives all serve important roles and help people in different ways. Libraries deserve funding and support, so let’s spread that message!

We will again provide library advocacy postcards, postage, and yummy snacks to fuel your advocacy efforts! If you are unsure of the identity of your local officials, do some research beforehand otherwise we’re happy to help you out.

*Special note: if you are really into planning ahead, we already have our winter Postcard Party scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 18 from 3-5pm at the Local Blend in St. Joe*

Advocacy

Information on donating school supplies

School supplies at Best Buy? Really? (7410994896)
We are coming up fast on that back-to-school time, and that can be a big problem for families.

We are sharing some information from the St Cloud Times on ways to donate school supplies to families and kids who need them. I know there are doubtless many other outlets for donating supplies before school gets started; send them in and I’ll share them here!

 

“ST. CLOUD — The average shopper plans to spent $122 on school supplies, including notebooks, pencils, backpacks and lunch boxes.

For low-income families, that $100 can be the difference between making the rent, buying gas to get to work or having enough groceries for the week. Faced with those choices, families may not prioritize school supplies.

This is the scenario staff of Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Minnesota are trying to avoid, said Aimee Minnerath, marketing manager.

This week, they’ll begin collecting school supplies to distribute to their lower-income members.

“The need always exceeds the number of supplies we receive,” Minnerath said. “The more help we can give to these kids to make sure they start off the school year with confidence, the better.”

Not only do the donations ensure kids are equipped, it also gives them a confident mindset.

“What we want to try to do is make sure our kids have that level playing field on day one,” Minnerath said. “They can be proud they are contributing to their classroom, just like all the kids in the class are.”

Minnerath estimates they distributed about 250 backpacks last year.

But the all together, the organization serves 6,500 registered members in grades kindergarten through 12th at 18 sites, which includes three clubs and 15 KIDSTOP sites. “

Advocacy

Annual Library Legislative Forum

The Advocate Magazine Logo
At CMLE, we are big fans of advocacy for your library! This forum is an opportunity to learn about the specifics of the library legislative agenda and actions.

If you don’t know how to advocate – this is for you!

If you are kind of nervous about talking with legislators – this is for you!

And if you think you could talk about your library, and library issues, but you don’t know anyone else who wants to advocate, or you don’t know anyone who can give you some tips – this is DEFINITELY for you!

Reserve your spot for Wednesday, August 8. Below we share the information you will need to sign up for this session:

Everyone welcome: Experienced advocate or a novice, super-involved or just curious, please join us!
When: Aug 8, 2018, 9:00am – 3:30

What Happens at the Forum: Understanding the Platform
What Happens at the Forum: Understanding the Platform

pm (Networking from 9:00 – 9:30am. Forum starts at 9:30am.)

Who: All are welcome! MLA members, ITEM members and Library Trustees & Friends are especially encouraged to attend.
Cost:Free to register. Lunch provided. We work through lunch.  Registration required by August 3 to guarantee a lunch. A variety of sandwich options, including gluten-free, will be available. You are welcome to bring your own lunch.
Advocacy, CMLE, Communication

Postcard Party Success!

Thank you to all our members that were able to join us last week at the Local Blend in St. Joe for our Library Advocacy Postcard Party! 

The goal behind our Postcard Parties is to share the value of libraries with legislators and other library stakeholders who may not hear enough about the incredible work that takes place in libraries. We need to take the time to let them know about the importance of all types of libraries: schools, public, special, and academic!

We were able to mail a nice stack of postcards to our various legislators. If you missed the party, we do have extra postcards and are happy to share! Stop by CMLE HQ to write out a few to your legislators, School Board members, or other stakeholders, and we’d be happy to get them mailed for you. Library advocacy is so important!