Is your school talking about or moving into a one-to-one computing (1:1) movement in your school? Or, are you still trying to figure out how to best grab hold of or understand this shift in education? CMLE staff are compiling a list of best practice sites, articles, and other key resources (some of you are in the current list), and we value your opinions on this subject! We invite you to take a moment to nominate your favorite 1:1 resources (could be yours) in the comments area following this blog post. Too many to share in the comments area? Send an email containing your favorites to cmle@stcloudstate.edu with a subject line of “1:1”. Our staff will compile the list and produce a subject guide for our 319 libraries in our twelve county region. Thanks in advance for working with us and sharing with your colleagues in Central Minnesota. We are stronger by working together!
Category Archives: Check this out:
Youth Should Read More Non-Fiction
Read this blog post as a reminder of the value and charm of getting kids hooked on nonfiction as well as fiction. As more schools move into 1:1 computing and away from print textbooks, it is inevitable that the role of non-fiction becomes more important. Read the post from the SmartBlog on Education, then weigh in here in Leave a Reply field below. Question: What percentage of your collection is nonfiction?
11 Amazing Librarian Tattoos
Wow, take a short break and view what some very brave librarians have had inked on their bodies as part of the Brand Yourself a Librarian project. Certainly not part of the job description, but a true show of passion!
Welcome & Service Changes: From the Director
First off, welcome back to a new academic year! Our K-12 and college libraries are gearing up just as the public libraries breathe a sigh of relief after their summer reading programs come to an end. We have lots of exciting news at CMLE, so hang in there for a few minutes, and let me know if you have concerns or questions! Hopefully, during our eight month strategic planning process, we did our homework, and our plans for the future will meet your needs. If not, please know that I welcome any and all of your suggestions!
Our mission: CMLE is a Central Minnesota library hub, a clearinghouse of talent, materials, and expertise for all types of libraries.
Our new strategic focus areas for the next three years include:
- Refined focus on K-12 media center needs
- Convening and bridging libraries around issues
- Stretching dollars: Cost avoidance and cost savings
For more detail on our Strategic Framework and our Strategic Workplan, go here
New Communication Streams: Our staff strives to get you important library/school media information, yet keep your life uncluttered. With our new communication strategy we hope to reach you wherever you are:
- Each Thursday, you will receive a CMLE Weekly Review message recapping our blog posts of the week. Just click on the links of what interests you; it is as easy as that! So, going forward, you will receive fewer emails from CMLE, but will lose no content from us.
- Twitter: Find us, follow us, and we’ll follow you back! Our Twitter handle is CMLEMN
- Facebook: Find us by searching for “Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange”. Please “Like Us” right away so you never have to do this search again!
Service Changes….
Interlibrary Loan (ILL): After conducting a 10-year trend analysis which showed consistent drop in ILL requests, and a cost-benefit analysis of what it costs us to provide this service, our governing Board is in agreement that we sunset our physical ILL service. However, we do not want to end our tradition of resource sharing in Central MN and will evolve resource sharing into more digital resources. We will spend this academic year helping users of the ILL service to find alternative methods for getting the resources they need before our end date of June 30, 2013. We will also be unveiling new resource sharing strategies soon, so stay tuned!
Annual Meeting: After careful debate and thought, the Board agreed that we can serve more of you better if we convene some smaller, targeted gatherings around the region rather than one big event. Please watch for more detail about possibilities, and if there is a conversation you would like us to convene, please let us know. Example: Would you enjoy a conversation about information literacy with academic, K-12, public, and special librarians to hear what works best in their settings? Information literacy and e-books are already on our wish list of possibilities, what is on yours?
As we work through this exciting but difficult transitional year, know that we are seeking ways to further assess and serve your needs, and engage you. We hope that some of our new ideas including our new communication streams provide new opportunity and energy in your world.
Patricia Post, Director of CMLE
New Minitex Director
ANNOUNCEMENT TO THE MINITEX COMMUNITY
I am pleased to share the exciting news about the successful search for a new director of Minitex. Valerie Horton, Executive Director of the Colorado Library Consortium (CLiC), will assume the role in early December.
Ms. Horton brings an extraordinary portfolio to the Minitex leadership position. As the founding director of CLiC, she has developed robust programs of resource sharing, as well as open source library systems and continuing education. Earlier appointments as a library director (Mesa State College), systems and budget officer (New Mexico State University), ALA International Library Fellow, and systems librarian (Brown University) round out her rich record. Her commitment to collaboration is evidenced in her lead roles in the open access journal Collaborative Librarianship and in conferences around the challenging topic of delivery and in her extensive contributions to our profession.
The search process has been expansive. The search committee, with representatives across the various sectors of the Minitex community, did a stellar job, bringing us an exceptional pool of finalists. The engagement of our communities was significant, with well over 150 individuals online watching the public presentations. Feedback from participants was equally strong, with abundant commentary from individuals across the region. I want to thank the search committee, particularly the chair Linda DeBeau-Melting, for managing this inclusive process. And thank you to all who contributed to this important search.
Valerie hopes to visit Minnesota in the months before her official start, and looks forward to working with the fabulous Minitex staff and deeply committed library communities across Minnesota and the Dakotas.
Wendy Pradt Lougee, University Librarian, University of Minnesota