Library people are the most interesting people around! Sure, we may be the tiniest bit biases, but it seems pretty accurate.

So we are providing a variety of member events, to give library people a chance to meet up and chat with each other. Our next event is the to go camping at Lake Maria State Park!

Join us!

We have a site reserved Friday, June 28 thru Sunday June 30.

• You can camp one night
• You can camp two nights
• You can come on Saturday at 11:00 or at 2:00, where we will chat about books, libraries, and other interesting things.

If you would like to try camping, but aren’t sure about it/haven’t done it before/don’t have equipment – this is your chance to try things out! Newbies are welcome. And if you have camped tons of times, we would also love to see you!

This is definitely an event you can bring your friends and family to attend! This will be very low-key, low pressure event. We anticipate there will be a lot of time for people to explore trails, admire ponds, and everything else available in a state park. There is a cute little visitors center with info that you can visit.

We have paid for the campsite. You need to pay for the entrance fee – just a daily fee ($7), or you can join for an annual fee ($35), or if you have state park license plates you can enter any state park without additional fees.

RSVP back to us by sending an email to us at admin @ cmle.org.

We’ve talked about this in more detail in prior weeks, and will have more info directed to the people who RSVP.

Check out our full show notes page here!

In this episode we will talk about another important part of good library service: website design. Your website, or your webpage on someone else’s site, is your online branch. The world has moved online, and every single library, no matter how large or small, needs to be there. It’s an important way to share information and your resources – so let’s work on making it pretty good!

We are going to start by saying that none of us are website experts. None of us code. None of us have certifications or training. And you know what? We still built our website ourselves!

It’s not perfect – in fact this summer we are doing a pretty big overhaul of it, so keep an eye on things changing. And when things break, we sometimes panic and go to Starbucks for emergency coffee infusions to make it all feel better. In fact, as we were putting together the information for this episode, some unexplained glitch hit our site and we were working on resolving it.

But here we are. We have a site. It’s imperfect, but it’s fine. Problems will always happen, with any kind of program or service – and it is not the end of the world. The goal is just to keep building it and making it better.

You can do this too! And really – you need to do this.

You probably already know about our podcast Linking Our Libraries. In this training podcast we bring in Guest Hosts to chat with us about all kinds of different library skills you can use to be more successful in your job.

Now we are expanding that information offering to give you credit for learning and honing your skills!

We will be setting up online classes to correspond with every podcast episode. Each of these classes provides a subject matter skill you need in your library, no matter how large or small.

How does it work?

It’s pretty easy, and you can do this on your own schedule!

First: go to our Linking Our Libraries page and find a topic relevant to your work. (Really, they are all designed to be useful to all library staffers; so that should not be a big problem!) These topics are all aimed at a beginner level, and we provide enough information in the episode and the show notes that everyone should find something helpful.

Our Episode 501 is about Cataloging, with Guest Host Violet Fox. Click on the link, and you can listen to the episode there. You can also read our show notes, complete with lots of links to more information about the basics of cataloging.

Then you can go to our Podia class page for this topic. Just click here! You will be prompted to set up a free account. (It asks you to check a box to receive promotional material from CMLE; you can do it or not – it doesn’t matter to your registration!)

Take the quiz, thinking through your answers. After you are done, you can watch the video to walk through the questions as we chat about why the right answers are right and why not to choose the wrong answers.

In the video we give you the information you need to collect your clock hour from CMLE. Follow the directions, and we will issue you a certificate for one hour of credit. (We can call it Clock Hour or an hour of Continuing Education – whichever you need for your own professional education purposes.)

We’re starting slowly, but before the end of the summer we will have classes set up to go with every episode in Season Five (our current season).

For now, all classes will be offered a no cost. CMLE members will always have a window of time to take any of our classes for free. We will start charging non-members for classes later this fall – so if you want to give one a try over the summer, go ahead and see if this format works for you!

We are passing on some info on another great training program!

Student Voice & Choice Hot Dish: Recipes for Better Relationships, Better Learning & Computational
Thinking Made Easy (YALSA* Workshop)
July 18, 2019 – 8:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
ISD 279-Osseo Area Schools’ Educational Service Center

What Is Connected Learning (CL)?
Learn the core concepts of Connected Learning (relationships, interests and real-world application) and how this can look in libraries by looking at a practice model and thinking about adapting the concepts to your own setting.

Connecting CL & Computational Thinking (CT)
Even for beginners, CT doesn’t need to be scary. Ditch the fear by getting hands-on experience and a chance to discuss what computational thinking is and how it can be integrated into children’s and teen activities. Then discuss ways to combine that with Connected Learning for killer programs.

Current members: $35
Non-members: $50
Workshop + reduced-price membership: $85 ($10 savings)

Lunch (a variety of sandwiches) is included, and attendees earn 6 CEUs.

Registration deadline is July 7. Space is limited, so don’t delay.

Registration for YALSA Workshop

* Young Adult Library Services Association

Questions? Contact Deanna at admin@mnitem.org