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Notable Date to Celebrate: December 21st is Crossword Puzzle Day!

You probably already know that at CMLE, we offer a service called “Notable Dates for your Noggin” which feature special holidays and birthdays of authors, as well as publications of well-known books. In an effort to help you get more from this service, we’ve decided to select one “Notable Date” each month to feature. We will include a few fun programming and activity ideas too, all for you to use!

crossword-puzzle-day
Get ready to puzzle!

December 21st is Crossword Puzzle Day!

Crosswords are a great activity for snowy, cold days. If you are feeling festive, try this winter crossword, or this one about Christmas songs. Otherwise, you can’t go wrong with this Harry Potter themed crossword!

If you are feeling creative, make your own crossword puzzle here.

And should all this puzzling cause you to work up an appetite, whip up this crossword puzzle cake!

Finally, check out this intriguing video from Slate on how crossword puzzles are created:

Check this out:, General, School Media Specialist

AASL Recommended Apps: Google Classroom

google_classroomIn June 2016, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their 25 Best Apps for Teaching and Learning. The apps encourage qualities such as innovation and active participation, and are user-friendly.

Web-based app Google Classroom combines the user’s Google Apps for Education account with all their Google Apps services (Gmail, Docs, Calendar, etc) and makes it easy for teachers to distribute assignments, communicate, and stay organized. Teachers can also see the status of assignments and post grades and feedback in real-time. A good form of communication in this app is the Announcements feature, which allows you to attach files, videos, and links to content to share with your class.

This article from eLearning Industry lists several pros and cons of using Google Classroom. And check out this post that gives 10 tips for using Google Classroom efficiently plus contains links to further resources about the using the app.

Cost: Free!
Level: Elementary, Middle and High School
Platforms: iOS and Android

Academic, Check this out:, CMLE, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Let's Get Together! A very brief survey

survey
In response to member requests, CMLE is going to set up a regular monthly gathering. This will be an opportunity for members from all types of library and from across the system to get together casually, to chat, to have lunch or dinner, and to just get a chance to talk to each other in person. (And if you want to talk about non-library things, that’s fine too! This is your chance to just hang out with library colleagues; so discuss whatever you want!)
Click to tell us what time (lunch/dinner) and day (Monday – Friday) would work best for you.
We anticipate these will happen monthly, and will create a schedule for the first six months of 2017 to share with you.
While you can not know your schedule in detail for the next six months, we ask that you make some predictions about days and times that you think you would be most likely to be able to join colleagues for an hour or two. We will move the location around, so people from across the system can all have a chance at a shorter drive!
Pick your day and time below. And if you have suggestions on some public places to meet – think coffee, food, possibly adult beverages, and space for us to spread out – leave them below, or email them to us at admin@cmle.org!

 

If you didn’t already click: here it is again!

Academic, Check this out:, Research, Resources

CFP: The Future of Librarianship: Exploring what’s next for the Academic Librarian

Conference
they are ready to hang on your every idea!

Academic librarians – here is a chance for you to submit your work to the LACUNY Institute conference, happening May 12, 2017.

Do you have thoughts about the future? Do you want to share them with your colleagues? Consider submitting a proposal!

If you have not submitted a conference proposal before, or just want someone to discuss ideas or look at a draft – let us know! At CMLE Headquarters, we are here to help!

Continue reading CFP: The Future of Librarianship: Exploring what’s next for the Academic Librarian →

Academic, Check this out:, Public, Resources, School Media Specialist, Special, Training

Do you have training materials to share??

training
let’s share training!

Help!

At CMLE Headquarters we are working to assemble all kinds of library information you can use as you reach out to your communities. We have plans for all kinds of things, and are already working to add more material to our website so it will be useful to you. This collection of information will be one of the benefits of belonging to the CMLE system; so you can let us know what kind of information would be helpful to you!

One project we are starting is collecting training material on using online resources.We want to have this all in one handy spot, so when you need material on a resource you do not know, or when someone new joins a library, or you want to give instructions to patrons who are remote, nobody has to recreate things from scratch that already exist.

Have you used, or created, some training material that really worked for your patrons? We would love it if you shared it with us, so we could share it around the system! Do you have links to material already out there on the Web? Send them to us!

We are looking for training materials from all types of libraries across the system. An advantage to being part of a multi-type system is that we have similar needs, and approach them in different ways. That kind of perspective can be helpful to everyone else, as we work to improve our training for patrons!

You can send ideas, Office documents of all sorts, links to good training, names of people who know good things about our online resources, and anything else you have to share to us: admin@cmle.org.

Thanks for your help!