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Day Thirty One of the CMLE Summer Fun Library Tour!

Library people have such fun websites!

A lot of us got into this field because we like reading, we like information, and we really don’t want to settle on just one thing to do. So we instead choose to do all kinds of neat things!

Check out this website: Library Shenanigans, for some fun!

“I’m the Curator of Special Collections at Colorado College. I began keeping track of library shenanigans (streaking, singing, and other funny stuff people have done in and about libraries) in 2005. In 2010, I got tired of having the song “Dreamweaver” stuck in my head whenever I worked on the page, so I switched to WordPress. You can find out more about me professionally here and not-so-professionally here.

If you know about any library shenanigans I haven’t listed, by all means tell me! You can email me at jrandall followed by the AT sign and then coloradocollege.edu.”

Check out a recent entry: The Impact of a Book

SONY DSCThis work of art by Jorge Méndez Blake has been shown in several galleries, and images of it are all over the web under the title “The Impact of a Book” and “L’impact d’un livre.” The artist’s title for the piece is Il Castillo / The Castle, after the title of the Kafka book at the bottom of the bricks.SONY DSC

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Vote Early, Vote Often: It’s the LOL Podcast Awards!

We have had such fun making Season One of our Linking Our Libraries podcast! It has been great to read about so many neat libraries, so many great projects, and to get such good feedback from our listeners!

We started out to explore libraries, and to find information that would be useful to our members. As we get ready to wrap up Season One (the final episode drops Thursday Jun 15!), we are even MORE excited about libraries and all the great things happening here!

But it’s not just a lovely summertime season, it’s also festive Award Season here at Linking Our Libraries – and you are invited to join the party!!

We have enjoyed all of our topics and all of our Guest Hosts, and are already looking forward to Season Two. To celebrate the libraries and topics we covered, we are asking you to vote for the awards for our Season One LOL Award Show!

Vote for the awards you find most worthy, and you can add in your own award at the end. If we like it too, we will add it into our podcast episode which will be available Thursday June 29!

Thanks for listening and for supporting our podcast!

Remember: Vote Early, Vote Often!! We want to hear from you!

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Day Two of the CMLE Summer Fun Library Tour!

Wiki uspsMany of the libraries in the CMLE system serve small and rural communities, as do many libraries across Minnesota. Wouldn’t  it be convenient to combine the great things libraries provide with the necessary services of the post office??

No need to dream about it: this already exists! (Yes: libraries are such cool places, other people want to join with us!!)

Village Post Offices

You can get their FAQs, and also find a list of post offices to use yourself!

“The U.S. Postal Service announced the concept of the Village Post Office in July 2011 as a way to continue providing convenient access to postal products and services in more rural communities across the nation.

The first Village Post Office (VPO) opened in Malone, WA, in August 2011. On Dec. 19, 2012, the100th VPO, located in Linden, IN, began operations.

  • VPOs are located within existing communities in a variety of locations, including convenience stores, local businesses and libraries, and are operated by the management of those locations.
  • VPOs offer a range of popular products and services — the ones most used by customers — including PO Boxes, Forever stamps, Pre-paid Priority Mail Flat Rate envelopes and a mail collection box.
  • By being located inside established businesses and other places consumers already frequent, VPOs offer Postal Service customers time-saving convenience, and in most cases, longer hours than regular Post Offices.
  • VPOs provide operators — in most cases, the local business owners — with opportunities for increased customer foot traffic and revenue, as well as providing additional services for their customers and clients.”

Here are our Minnesota Village Post Office locations – I’m not sure if any of these are in libraries, but it’s a possibility!

Badger VPO 201 N Main St Badger MN 56714 11/26/2013
Bejou VPO 218 Hwy 59 Bejou MN 56516 4/22/2014
Brooks VPO 106 Hwy 59 S Brooks MN 56715 11/22/2013
Buckman VPO 9394 Hwy 25 Buckman MN 56317 12/1/2013
Fifty Lakes VPO 40447 Town Hall Rd Fifty Lakes MN 56448 7/25/2014
Miltona VPO 233 Main St Miltona MN 56354 10/22/2014
Plummer VPO 131 Central Ave E Plummer MN 56748 3/15/2013
Red Lake Falls VPO 405 Bridge St Red Lake Falls MN 56750 5/15/2014
Rothsay VPO 106 2nd St SW Rothsay MN 56579 4/28/2014
Vergas VPO 105 E Main St Vergas MN 56587-0219 6/21/2013
Wahkon VPO 104 N Main Wahkon MN 56386 10/23/2014
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The fight for library funding is on in the U.S. Senate

Image result for save IMLS

Posted by: Kevin Maher, from the ALA’s District Dispatch

“The Fight for Libraries! has moved to the United States Senate. Today, two “Dear Appropriator” letters began circulating in the Senate, one seeking $186.6 million for Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) and the other $27 million for the Innovative Approaches to Libraries (IAL) program for FY 2018. Senators Jack Reed (D-RI) and Susan Collins (R-ME) are again championing funds for LSTA, while Sens. Reed, Grassley (R-IA) and Stabenow (D-MI) are leading the fight for IAL. For more information about each program and the appropriations process, visit our previous posts on this topic or watch our most recent webinar. Continue reading The fight for library funding is on in the U.S. Senate →

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Our First Annual CMLE Library Snapshot Day report!

Our First Annual CMLE Library Snapshot Day was Thursday, April 27! On that day, people across all CMLE libraries were encouraged to take a few photos that represent a day in the life of their libraries. Nothing needed to be fancy; we just wanted to be able to collect photos to show off the good work our members are doing. And, as you can see below, there were all sorts of good things happening across the system!

Library Snapshot Day is a national program for libraries across the country. There is no defined day; so this is ours! Start thinking now about the photos you can share with us next year – we want to keep this going, so we all have great photos to show stakeholders about the valuable work libraries are doing in Central Minnesota.

Thank you to everyone who was able to contribute photos, and who asked about the day! We clearly have a lot of fun things happening across our system; and it’s great to have a chance to share with each other! (If you have a photo  or two to share, send them in and we will post them up here!)

We started the day here at CMLE HQ with our official office bear, Orville. He’s hanging out in his library garden, enjoying his books! (If you want to know more about library gardens, check out our podcast, Linking Our Libraries, episode 7!)

Check out the website to see all our photos – it was fun!!