Category Archives: Check this out:

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

Free Minitex Trials

This post was provided by Minitex, a cooperative purchasing and electronic resource service.

Minitext is offering a set of free trials for you to consider in your library now through October 31st.  Electronic resources are grouped by theme and include:

Image provided by Minitex.
Image provided by Minitex.

eBooks

  • eBook Business Collection Subscription

Nursing and Applied Science

  • EBSCO CINAHL Complete
  • EBSCO Applied Science & Technology Source

Humanities and Social Sciences

  • American Psychological Association PsycTESTS
  • American Psychological Association PsycTHERAPY
  • EBSCO Art Source
  • EBSCO Education Source
  • EBSCO Humanities Source
  • ProQuest Statistical Abstract of the United States

K-12 Resources

  • Rosen Publishing PowerKnowledge Science Suite
  • Rosen Publishing Core Concepts Periodic Table Database
  • Rosen Publishing Financial Literacy
  • Rosen Publishing Digital Literacy

For pricing and questions, please email cpers@minitex.umn.edu.

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

ELM Webinars & Brochure

As you know, the Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM) is a collection of free databases available to all Minnesota schools, libraries, and residents. In addition, each month, ELM hosts a series of free training sessions.  Consider attending one (or all) of the following webinars;ELM

  • Intro to ELM for Teachers: English Language Arts, Oct 21st Link
  • Points of View Reference Center (Oct. 24) Link
  • An Electronic Library for Adult Education ( Nov. 6th, 18th & Dec. 12) Link

Special Note: New ELM brochures are available for your library. Order Now!

Help us spread the word about ELM by requesting bundles of our new brochures! These are perfect if you’re looking for something to hand to people as you describe how ELM can help them.

The new brochures have only minor content changes, so if you have the five-paneled fold-out brochures with the cut-out circle on the front, please do feel free to continue to circulate those. In addition to the minor content tweaks (like highlighting the ELM Learning Center), the new brochures include the updated ELM logo.

Order in bundles of 100 and don’t be shy about ordering in quantity (there’s no charge for these, of course). Thanks for promoting ELM to your users!

Reprinted from Minitex Reference Notes, October 2013

Check this out:, General, School Media Specialist

The First Ever MEMO Unconference

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Participant’s hands had a death grip on steaming mugs of coffee as we assembled for the Joyce Valenza keynote, which kicked off the Saturday Unconference day for the 2013 MEMO Conference. Valenza was amazing as always, and I have reams of notes from her presentation; mostly new tools. Links will be forthcoming.

About one third of the attendees had attended an unconference before, which surprised me. The content of an unconference is based solely on the immediate interest of those in the room .  The rules were: NO power points, rule of two feet (leave a session if it does not suit your immediate need), everyone has a voice, everyone is an expert, and have fun! Then, pads of sticky notes were placed on the tables and we were asked to consider topics to put on the slips of paper to then transfer to a large grid at the front of the room. We were asked  to consider: What can I teach about, what do I want to learn about, or,  I want to discuss or collaborate with others on this topic. The suggested topics  sorted themselves out quickly and numbers were placed on tables to correspond to the numbered topics.

10-8-2013 2-05-05 PM

It was really hard to choose where to go, but then I remembered the “two feet” rule, so the stress was instantly gone! In round two, I chose the e-folio table, but most of us were there hoping for an expert or someone to lead the conversation. When no one took on either role, without guilt, I got up and ambled on over to student PLN’s which was better.

But the highlight for me was truly during the first round, I picked Being Influential. I was delighted and surprised to see that Stephen Abram, our Friday luncheon keynote speaker was prepared to lead the conversation. Stephen has many claims to fame and I have followed him online for years.  He is the author of Stephen’s Lighthouse blog, is a library trend watcher, fundraiser,  innovator, thought provoker, and has held several executive leadership positions in the library field; big names like Gale, SirsiDynix, Thomson, and ProQuest. Bonus! So, I and seven other professionals could sit around a table and listen to Stephen’s thoughts on the subject,  and shoot him questions about how to apply his suggestions to local situations. It was well worth my while, I took detailed notes,  and will share the details of that little round table discussion next week, so stay tuned!

If you were also at the MEMO Unconference, what did you think? Is this an event model that you would like to try in our Central Minnesota region among colleagues? CMLE listens to its member libraries/media center staff,  so if you have an opinion, make your voice heard!

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

Positive News for Academic Performance in Minnesota K-12’s

Image by Phil Roeder. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by Phil Roeder. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

As you may know, the MN Department of Education (MDE) has a new mechanism to measure schools across the state. The new rating system is said to be fairer, and a more accurate accountability system for schools. Why the change? This new system was put into place because Minnesota was granted a waiver from the No Child Left Behind Act. The long and short of the new system is to improve disparities in academic performance and positively impact a school’s performance in four categories: 1) Proficiency, 2) Growth, 3) Progress in closing the achievement gap, and 4) Graduation rates.

The three Multiple Measurement Rating (MMR) school designations include:

  • Reward Schools: The highest performing 15% of Title I schools in the state. Reward schools will be identified every year.
  • Focus Schools: The 10% of Title I schools making the biggest contribution to the state’s achievement gap. New listing of schools once every three years.
  • Priority Schools: The five percent most-persistently, low-performing Title I schools in the state. New listing once every three years.

MDE and the newly created Regional Centers of Excellence will recognize Reward Schools, and work closely with Priority and Focus schools by helping them create a school turnaround plan based on federal turnaround principles. They will also share best practices from reward schools. According to Commissioner Brenda Cassellius, The October 1 “…press  release is about the hard work taking place every single day in our schools to ensure the success of each child. “…It is because of the inspiring commitment, dedication and collaboration of teachers, support staff and school leaders that we are seeing improvements in our Priority and Focus schools.”

Read the full press release which includes a list of schools who have progressed out of their previous category (scroll down in the press release).

Other Resources:

Read a list of the 2013 Reward Schools

See a summary of 2013 MMR results

View a spreadsheet of all of the 2013 MMR results data

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

The Influence of Technology on Student Writing

Image by PEW Research. Retrieved online October 8, 2013.
Image by PEW Research. Retrieved online October 8, 2013.

In 2012, PEW Research surveyed more than 2,400 teachers involved in Advanced Placement (AP) and/or National Writing Project (NWP) in the United States. The study asked teachers about their middle and high school student’s writing  in relation to, and perception of, the influence of digital tools/technologies.

The study findings indicated that digital tools created a wider, more diverse audience; and encouraged collaboration and personal expression across multiple platforms. Also, undesirable effects of these digital tools were noted which included the use of a more informal writing style and language. The research goes into further detail about copyrighting, plagiarism, comprehension, etc. Click here for the summary of findings,  full report and additional information about survey methodology for the PEW Research study, The Impact of Digital Tools on Student Writing and How Writing is Taught in School by PEW Research’s (July 2013).