Category Archives: Communication

Day Twenty Six of the CMLE Summer Fun Library Tour!

June 26, 2017 Mary Jordan

I absolutely love the library profession! There is such a range of ideas, things to do, and interests and skills across the profession – it’s great to see!!

This video is a few years old now, but it makes me smile every time I see it. Whether or not Lady Gaga, or singing library people, are your personal interest – use this as a springboard for your own creativity! What can you do in your library to make it more fun, to show people what you do, or just to have something to talk about with other library people who will be interested in your ideas and projects? Dive in and try something new!! We are all about fun experiments here at CMLE HQ!!

Librarians Do Gaga

“Students and faculty from the University of Washington’s Information School get their groove on.

Directed, edited, and produced by Sarah Wachter.
Lyrics by Sarah Wachter.
Lyrics available here: http://www.athenasbanquet.net/2010/05…
More info available here: http://www.athenasbanquet.net/2010/05…
Now captioned for the Deaf and hearing impaired.

Vocals and sound editing by Laura Mielenhausen.”

Communication, Services

Day Twenty Five of the CMLE Summer Fun Library Tour!

June 25, 2017 Mary Jordan

Need to relax? Take a break for meditation

Hopefully most days you are happy in your job; but even in such a lovely profession as libraries, things get pretty stressful.

If you are feeling a little overwhelmed today, take a couple of minutes now to watch this nice video from the Mayo Clinic, do some breathing, and just let some of that stress melt away.

And you want to explore a little more on stress management in the workplace, listen to our podcast episode on this topic, or read through some of our collected material.

Books, Communication, Resources

Day Twenty Four of the CMLE Summer Fun Library Tour!

June 24, 2017 Mary Jordan

Image result for choose your own adventure

Do you read these as a kid? My brother and I were VERY into these books! I had a bunch of them, and read a lot at the library; but have not looked at them in many years now.

I had no idea people were mapping the books and helping other enjoy all kinds of different adventures!

“For years, fans have been creating visualizations of the forking structures of “Choose Your Own Adventure” books. Often, they’re interested in the types of outcomes at the end of each path. One map labels each ending as “new life, return home, or death,” and another separates them into “cliffhanger, solution, or death.” Christian Swinehart’s extensive graphical analysis of the books labels the endings as “great, favorable, mediocre, disappointing, or catastrophic.””

Read through this entire article to get more information, and to see all the very cool charts included!

Communication, General, Resources

How being mindful can help your work as a librarian

June 22, 2017 Angie

We’d all like to have more inner peace and behave with more kindness and patience as we go through our day, right? Life in the library field can be stressful and exhausting with constant demands from students, patrons, supervisors. or stakeholders. This article from American Libraries is all about mindful librarianship and how learning to practice mindfulness has helped some librarians with their work lives.

What is mindfulness, anyway? According to the American Psychological Association it is the “moment-to-moment awareness of one’s experience without judgment.” Through the use of breathing exercises and meditation, the goal is to be in the moment without worries or distractions.

Being able to be mindful while working in a library can have huge benefits, particularly in relation to stress. If you work in a library, you know that things aren’t always smooth and easy, especially when there is too much work to do and too little time in which to do it! The article acknowledges that “many librarians feel that they are spread increasingly thin on the job, yet their performance often depends on their ability to maintain focus amid a flurry of responsibilities. That’s something with which mindfulness can help.”

Read more about the benefits of practicing mindfulness as a library person here.

And if you want to know more, check out CMLE’s past series on mindfulness and see if the practice is beneficial to you!

CMLE, Communication, Visits

It’s Summer – Hang Out with CMLE Library People!

June 21, 2017 Mary Jordan

Ah, summer! We all live for the relaxing, slower pace of the hot weather. (Okay, fewer mosquitoes would be good; but that’s a small quibble!)

And eventually everyone gets tired of hanging out, and wishes for some good library discussion. We are here to help with that!

We really enjoyed having our social events in the winter and spring; and are looking forward to hearing from you guys about your summer work, any plans you are making for upcoming programs, and any other interesting library things you want to share! (And it’s ALL interesting when it comes to library stuff!!)

So let’s set up some times and places we can meet up to talk. Vote below for some general days and times that will work out for you. We anticipate setting up multiple events, at different times and places, so everyone who wants to do so can come visit, chat, and have some unstructured time to hang out with your library colleagues from across the system! (It’s possible that I’m just biased; but I think we have the most interesting discussions and people! Come check it out for yourself!)

We are putting together plans for a September “Welcome To Fall” event; so feel free to share any ideas you might have for that. More details will be available as we get closer to September.

Now go enjoy yourself, listen to some back episodes of our “Linking Our Libraries” podcast, and follow along with our Summer Fun Library Tour posts each day to get a quick, fun library story!

Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange