We always enjoy vising our members! Sure – any library will have interesting things to see; that’s one of the cool things about touring all sorts of libraries. But it feels a little extra special when we are seeing cool things in one of our member libraries! (There may be a teeny bit of bias; but really – it’s pretty unquestionable that we have some great libraries in our CMLE community!)

I love cute library art – so seeing this as I walked into the media center was just great for me! Bringing art, colorful things, and catchy images into your library will always help to ensure your patrons will be more likely to pay attention to your materials, services, and programs.

Every library needs to think about their physical layout. (Well, the library staff do that, not the library area itself!) As you are looking around your library, it’s important to think about it from the perspective of your users – not what you are used to doing. Can small kids reach the books? Can patrons in wheelchairs maneuver down the aisles? Does it look appealing, or do your shelves scream “Don’t touch me!”

You can see an example of a nice job done here! Ahhhh…a bench! It’s nice to have someplace to sit with a stack of books a patron might want to browse before deciding which books to take home. And this is an elementary school, so you can see that the shelves are low enough to be read. Cover art sells the book! Admire how many books are faced outward, so books are going to be more likely to attract a patron who may want to them them home. It feels roomy, tidy, and like a place I’d enjoy browsing!

Sorry about the poor photo quality – I’m not showing the library as nicely as it looks in real life; but you can see how neat it is! All those covers! Cute things on the shelves to encourage people to pick them up! And look at that undersea art hanging from the ceiling!!!! I love that the library is working in three dimensions of providing interesting things to look at for kids visiting the library!

I was there right after the Newbery Medal awards were distributed, along with a host of other good awards for kid books. Check them all out here. It’s been great to see how many of our members immediately set up displays to show off award-winning books! These are not the only good books to share in a library, but they are a good place to start with developing a good collection!

For some info on award winners, check out our Reading With Library podcast episode: Minnesota Youth Reading Awards. (You can subscribe to this podcast in your favorite app, or just listen on our website.)

Sorry again about the poor photo quality! But I wanted to include this anyway because I loooove this shelving strategy!!

Hands up, everyone who understands what all the numbers/classification metadata in the Dewey Decimal system means? (Catalogers, put your hands down; we aren’t counting you here.) Yeah, I don’t either. Sure, we’ve probably all got the gist of it. But it’s our job (most of us!) to understand the basics of how to find books.

Great. It’s not that it’s bad. It’s just…complicated.

Anything that puts up a barrier between “patron eagerly looking for information” and “stuff we provide” is a problem. It’s already hard enough to talk people into coming to the library, and then to use it, and to take the further step of checking things out to enjoy at home. Whatever we can do make those steps easier is always going to be a great decision.

So, I love when I see libraries with verbal descriptions of what those numbers mean! I absolutely could NOT have told you that 910.919 means: Space travel near Earth. But look! Those books are sitting right there, on the shelf, and as I walk by – no matter what I was looking for beforehand – I might now think these are just the right books for me. And yay: we’ve moved more information into the hands of a patron!

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And here I’m going to take a little bit of extra pride in the work Doug Asquith, Media and Digital Learning Specialist, and his staff are doing. Because he bought these books with a mini-grant from CMLE! I had to stop and admire them – all cataloged and ready to be loaned out to students. This is a great series for making that transition between younger kid books, and the chapter books for more advanced readers. What a great idea!!

So, have we been to YOUR library yet? You know we want to come visit! So send me an email (mary @ cmle . org) with a couple of days that are good for you. Let’s get this started!

Welcome back to Season Six of Linking Our Libraries!

Check out our full show notes page here.

This week we look at a skill that adds fun to your life: attending conferences! There are so many good things out there for you to consider, and attending conferences can be tough. We’ll talk about some strategies for getting the most out of your conference!

This week our Guest Host is Jennifer Hill, who is the St. Michael Elementary School Media Specialist and teaches at St Cloud State University.

Conferences can be a great strategy for learning new skills, meeting new people, and trying out new skills! They can also be exhausting, expensive, and a little terrifying. We want your conference experience to be more of the first group – but it will involve some of the second group too

We have looked at a lot of different uses for VR – education, health, employment, fun. And you have been hearing about the VR kits our members are borrowing from us to do some good educational programs for their schools.

This week’s VR example is a great use of the technology! When people cannot make a trip, now there can be a substitute experience that happens in virtual reality.

Check out this article about a group of older veterans, who are making a virtual trip to visit the memorials built to the sacrifices they made in their war.

Virtual reality taking vets to DC

“Every year, retired U.S. Navy Admiral Jim Hart leads hundreds of World War II, Korean and Vietnam veterans from Florida to Washington on a free, one-day trip called Honor Flight. They visit the memorials built to honor those who served.

“They came home. There wasn’t a lot of fanfare,” said Hart, president of the Space Coast Honor Flight. “They have never really been honored for what they have done.”

But with many vets now in their 80s and 90s, it’s difficult for some to make the trip.

So Honor Flight teamed up with the Hospice of St. Francis, and with the help of virtual reality, they’re making sure every veteran can experience the trip – even if it’s from their living room.

89-year-old John Schultz, who served in the Korean War, was diagnosed with a lung disease and relies on an oxygen tank to breathe – making it impossible to fly.

360 degree, 3-D video of an Honor Flight trip uploaded to virtual reality goggles allowed Schultz to take part without ever leaving the ground.

“It was remarkable,” said Schultz about the virtual reality experience. “The technology today is overwhelming.””

Read the rest of this story here.

We know there are a lot of crafters who work in libraries. And of course, crafting is a great type of program to do in any type of library! Each week we are sharing links to a craft that you might want to try in your library – or work on it yourself. (Hint: we would love to see photos when you are done!!)

This week’s craft takes a little more work, and maybe a little more bravery, than some of our others. But the results look great!

It’s cold and snowy here in Minnesota, and we are enjoying it! Bring some of that snowy fun inside with this really cute craft.

Here are the supplies you will need:

• Mason Jar with gasket lid
• Clear Elmer’s Glue
• Snack cup (washed and dry) – optional
• Scissors
• Elmer’s CraftBond Glue Gun + Glue Sticks
• Bottlebrush Christmas Tree or other miniatures
• Glitter

All of the directions, with photos in every step (so handy! I love when bloggers do this!) are right here.

And here is a picture from her blog, of the final product. I feel happier already, just getting plans together to make this!

We like books; we like parks – and Minnesota is lucky to have both of them! Join our Goodreads book challenge: Armchair Travel to Minnesota State Parks.

We give you a link to each state park, a short fact, and a prompt for you to find a book. You find it, and read a book, and then tell us all about it.

In this podcast, we give you a few suggestions for books to fit a prompt for each park. Try one of these books, or find one of your own to enjoy!

Jay Cooke State Park is a beautiful park, famous for the sights and for their swinging suspension bridge! https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/state_par…

Enjoy this park by reading a book featuring a bridge, either on the cover or as a plot point.