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Academic, Check this out:, Guest Blogger, Resources, Special

Guest Blogger: Beyond the Numbers conference

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Enjoy a different perspective!


A Guest Blog from Simone Schloss. Simone is completing her final semester at Simmons SLIS and job hunting in NYC. She is currently interning at Tisch’s Lilly Music Library, Tufts University. @SimoneSchloss

What could be better than free data and a free conference all wrapped up into one exciting 2 ½-day package? From October 6-8, 2016, I made my way to the “Gateway City” for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ bi-annual “Beyond the Numbers” Economics and Data Conference for Information Professionals. I was richly rewarded by interesting presentations, engaging colleagues, and delicious meals and outings.

Intended to address the challenges of economic information, the conference brings together experts to share their experiences at the frontier of economic data and information, to discuss problems, challenges, and potential solutions, and to identify ways to improve access to and understanding of economic information. The objective is to provide librarians and other information professionals with the knowledge, competence, and enthusiasm to disseminate economic information expertise to their respective audiences.

The traditional role of librarians in selecting materials and subscription databases is evolving rapidly with the growth of open data. More time is now spent advising users on where to find it, how to organize it, and what to do with it. The conference was a crash course in Federal Reserve acronyms such as FRED (Economic Data), FRASER (Archival System for Economic Research), and CLINT (Categorically Linked Timeline). A university professor summarized the opportunities and pitfalls of data. An agency director described the collaboration between public and private entities in the development and application of Big Data.  Federal Reserve Board staff discussed best practices for replicable and accessible data, surprisingly uncharted territory.

Outside of panel hours, we helped ourselves to generous breakfast, lunch, and snack buffets. Complimentary evening get-togethers were sponsored by BRASS/RUSA and IASSIST. We were even invited on a private tour of the incredible Inside the Economy museum. I made dozens of valuable professional contacts from among the 120 attendees.

Librarians and library students with an interest in the social sciences: mark your calendars for fall 2018 and share in this free treat! Subscribe to the GOVDOC and BUSLIB ListServs so as not to miss a thing. It’s all about the data!

Interested in being a Guest Blogger for CMLE? Contact us at admin@cmle.org

Check this out:, General, Resources, Tech

Themed ambient sounds – can they help you work?

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hogwarts-express
Escape reality for awhile!

Have you ever tried working with ambient noise in the background? Did it help make you more effective, or did you find it distracting or stressful? Personally, I’ve never tried specifically ambient noise, although music definitely helps my productivity and mood. But an article from Book Riot “Immerse Yourself Into the Harry Potter World with Harry Potter Ambient Sounds” got my attention (for obvious reasons) and I decided to give it a try!

The article directs you to AmbientMixer.com which features a huge selection of free ambient sounds and even lets you create your own, or make adjustments to existing sounds. After sampling different options like “Storm on the Hogwarts Express” and “Autumn Forest” I ended up listening to “Hufflepuff Common Room” the longest. I liked the combination of birds chirping, the sound of a pen scratching, and the faint purr of a cat in the background.

For all you fellow nerds out there, it’s not just Harry Potter ambient sounds that are available – they have Doctor Who, Game of Thrones, and Lord of the Rings!

This article from Brainscape talks more about the “ideal noise level” for being more productive (they relate it to studying, but it could be applied to other tasks too) and gives some suggestions on the type of noise that could be helpful based on the task you are performing. If you really want to get in-depth, check out this article from Scientific American, which suggests that background noise may actually have a negative impact on brain functioning, and impair learning and memory.

At CMLE, classical music tends to keep us focused and uplifted. Check out YourClassical.org which features special playlists for relaxation, inspiration, and more! Or, if you prefer white noise, check out the site Noisli for different sounds options.

What do you think? Do you like to work or learn in complete silence, with music, or with ambient sounds?

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

RUSA needs you!

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Are you a CMLE librarian who has some good information to share?? RUSA wants to help you spread your knowledge, skills, and abilities to people all over the place! Submit a proposal for your webinar or online course today!! Members – we are happy to work with you on your proposal and/or your training program; so get your proposals underway!

The Reference and User Services Association, (RUSA) seeks proposals for webinars and online courses. The proposals must be submitted by October 31, 2016 for presentation November 2016 to August 2017.

Submit webinar proposals using this online proposal form; there is a separate submission form for online courses.

Continue reading RUSA needs you! →

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

Notable Dates for your Noggin: November 2016

Each month we’ll bring you a compiled list of fun national holidays, birthdays of authors, and publication dates of favorite books. You can use these for your own personal use or for some library inspiration! Share what inspired you in the comments.

scroll-307485_960_720November is National Novel Writing Month! Other things to celebrate in November. . .

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

CMLE's Goodreads: Check out our picks for November!

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Join our reading fun!

 

Hello, fellow book-loving library people!

Have you been taking part in CMLE’s Goodreads book group? For the month of October we read and discussed two books.In our CMLE Librarian Professionals group, we learned about getting organized and happy with The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. Our other group, CMLE Librarians Enjoying Books, had fun reading about a Minnesotan librarian and her helpful, conveniently magical, cats in Curiosity Thrilled the Cat by Sofie Kelly.

But November is quickly approaching! We are excited to announce our book choices for next month:

cover_good_2_gr8CMLE Librarian Professionals will be reading Good to Great – Why Some Companies Make the Leap…and Other’s Don’t by Jim Collins. Goodreads summarizes the premise of the book as:  “But what about the company that is not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness?” We will discuss the ideas presented in the book and learn more about achieving success. You can read the author’s top 10 tips to improve your company in this article from Inc.com.

dewey-library-catCMLE Librarians Enjoying Books will read Dewey: The Small-Town Cat Who Touched the World by Vicki Myron. Dewey was abandoned in a library in Spencer, Iowa and eventually became the library’s cat. We are excited to read about his journey!

Watch this video featuring Dewey and friends:

Like last month, we’ll have limited copies available of each book to borrow, so let us know if you want to be put on the borrowing list.

We are looking forward to another month of reading!