Category Archives: CMLE

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

Orville's Adventure: a slumber party at the library!

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Are you looking for a fun library activity to engage youngsters at your library or media center? Last week, CMLE’s own Office Bear Orville was able to participate in a fantastic event at the St. Cloud Public Library – the Stuffed Animal Sleepover!

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There is Orville, surrounded by furry friends! (They are wearing superhero capes, just one of the event’s activities!)

Mary was able to represent CMLE at the event, and accompanied Orville as he got to meet the other stuffed friends and their chaperones, heard a story, then had some fun with crafting superhero capes and necklaces. Then it was time to say goodnight to the stuffed animals and leave them for the night, with instructions to “be good!” Library staff then got to work documenting all the mischief the stuffed animals created in the library!

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Orville enjoyed playing with legos!

While we have several fun pictures to share with you here, we also have some exciting printed ones at CMLE HQ. Some of these include Orville riding Wally, the huge book sorting machine that is behind the scenes at the library, and also a picture of Orville and assorted friends working together to break into the Executive Director’s office! The printed photos of library shenanigans were distributed to each child when they arrived the next morning to pick up their stuffed friend. The kids got to enjoy a snack while they heard all about the adventures of the previous night, while admiring the picture display set up in the Children’s Department of all the stuffed animals and their troublemaking!

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Orville had fun exploring!

 

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He got to make new friends, too!

For the past four years, Dezra Rittmann has brought this awesome event to life, and works very hard to make sure kids and stuffed animals enjoy themselves! She describes it as a very popular program, and it’s easy to see why. In fact, it is so popular that registration is required!

CMLE had so much fun taking part in this event, and we think that it could be a great program for your library, too! Especially with school libraries or media centers – kids would love to see what mischief their stuffed animals get into after the school is closed! Let us know if you need more information, and we can connect you with the right people!

A huge thank-you to Dezra and everyone at the St. Cloud Public Library for letting us participate in your program!

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

Strategies to Simplify: Moving forward

“Work simply. Live fully.”  This week CMLE focuses on the following work productivity tip from Work Simply, Carson Tate’s popular book.  At CMLE, we’ve boiled down Tate’s wealth of knowledge from Work Simply to a few key points; please see the book for more detail and resources. At the bottom, see links to earlier tips in the series! Let’s all be our best selves….

This week’s activity: Free yourself from the pull of constant “busyness” by focusing on achieving your best life. 

work simply coverIn the final chapter of Carson Tate’s book Work Simply, she describes an activity she uses with her clients. She has them imagine their lives with all aspects – personal and professional – just the way they want it to be. She has them think how this would look, how they would feel, who they would be with. This exercise creates feelings of “excitement, joy, fun, meaning, and purpose.”

Want to make that fantasy a reality?

Take all the tips and strategies you’ve learned from this series, and put them into action!

In case you need a quick review: Set your READY goals: Realistic, Exciting, Action-oriented, Directive, and Yours. Take a look at the tasks you complete each day and evaluate whether they will help you come closer to achieving your goals. Next, learn better ways of investing your most valuable resource, time. Finally, ask for help! Realize that you actually don’t need to do it all yourself, or all on your own.

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Work Simply

Looking for more resources for streamlining your life and living with more meaning and purpose? Check out www.carsontate.com for more strategies and information.

If you missed it, discover your Productivity Style with a simple assessment. See our earlier posts in the series for personalized tips on working with your Productivity Style in order to transform your work and personal life.

Previous tips in this series


	

	
	




	
	

				

			Check this out:, CMLE, Communication, General, Tech
		

			
CMLE's web redesign week is Dec. 14th – 20th, stop in and say hello!

		

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Snowmen and Sound of Music candles at CMLE HQ!


Here at CMLE Headquarters, we have eagerly been awaiting the chance to dive in and make some changes and improvements to our website. Mid-December would be the perfect time to do that! During the week of Dec. 14th – 20th, we will be here at HQ devoting our focus to website redesign. We are sharing this information with you in case you have some suggestions for the updated website! Is there anything you’d like to see more of, certain features that would make the site more accessible, or templates that you find especially useful? Let us know! Email us or feel free to stop in during our week of web redesign.


holiday-3Since we love the holiday season, if you do stop in, we will show you around our decorated space and share some yummy treats – maybe even some hot chocolate! You can feel free to chat with us about libraries, websites, or your holiday plans.


holiday-2Hope to see you then!

	

	
	




	
	

				

			Check this out:, CMLE, General, Resources, Training
		

			
STRESS! Let's listen to podcasts to help!

		

			 		

	


		

		
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podcasts of happiness await you!


Stress affects everyone, and end-of-year stress can be particularly difficult. Many of us are struggling to finish up all our work for the end of the semester, or celebrating holidays and all that comes with it, in addition to dealing with every single other thing that was already driving us crazy all year long! Patrons have less patience, money is suddenly tighter, and all kinds of extra programs can just cause even the best-balanced library person to hit a breaking point.


CMLE is here to help you. This month we will provide all kinds of information about stress, to help you learn more about it, and learn some strategies for managing stress. You cannot stop stress from happening, but we can all learn better ways to increase our resilience so stress does not knock us out!


One easy way to help is to listen to podcasts.


Of course, there are all kinds of librarian podcasts out there, and we recommend those as nice way to keep up with interesting things happening in the profession!


And there are podcasts you can listen to that will help you address your stress in a productive way.  Continue reading STRESS! Let's listen to podcasts to help! →

	

	
	




	
	

				

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

			
Start planning now: Library Legislative Day is coming soon!

		

			 		

	


		

		
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At CMLE Headquarters, we want you to be informed about all the great things happening across the profession. And advocacy is ALWAYS an important topic!!


If there is sufficient interest in this, CMLE HQ can help to make arrangements for members to travel to Washington DC, so we can directly tell our federal politicians how valuable we are to our communities. Funding is going to be tight, and priorities for resources are shifting – and libraries are not at the top of the list for support.


The profession needs YOU!


    

  • If you can not make it to Washington, then attend our Minnesota legislative day!
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  • If you can not do that, then give your legislator a call and tell them (briefly, politely) about something great your library did today, or this week, or this month.
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  • And if you need to practice your phone call before you make it, talk to us first! We can help you organize ideas, and to feel confident that you have a great story to share!!
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This is not just for “other” library people, or just people with a degree, or just ALA members, or just ANYTHING!


YOU are in a library, YOU know about the service you provide, the materials your patrons would not have without you, the help you give every single day. YOU are exactly the right person to do some advocacy for your library, for your community, and for your profession. GO TELL SOMEONE!!


(There we go – that’s library advocacy! You nailed it!!) Continue reading Start planning now: Library Legislative Day is coming soon! →