Category Archives: Communication

Twelve Things That Happen When You Read for 24 Hours Straight

Bibliotecaestantes

This article is from Book Riot, by Danika Ellis. We are not having an official CMLE 24 hour readathon this April – but we would love to hear from you about the books you are reading!

In Minnesota, this event starts Saturday at 7:00am; so as you read books this weekend, use to connect with the larger community around the world, and to connect with us! Sign up at the official website, and let’s read!

“(If you’d like to follow my journey through these 12 stages, I’ll be live tweeting @DanikaEllis!)”

Dewey’s 24 Hour Readathon is–well, self-explanatory for the most part. It takes place every April and October, and it is a huge internet book party! I love it! (Unsurprisingly, because I’ve written about it a bunch.) There is a misconception about the readathon I’d like to address, though. For some reason–who knows why!–people seem to think you have to read 24 hours during the 24 hour readathon. You can, of course! But you can also just read as much as you want to. I’ve stayed up the full 24 hours before, though I did take breaks during a few of the hours. I usually regret it, though. Here is my experience of reading for 24 hours: Continue reading Twelve Things That Happen When You Read for 24 Hours Straight

Thursday is CMLE Library Snapshot Day!

Coll. Marcè CL - Polaroid land camera Mod 95 1948

You already know that here at CMLE Headquarters, we love nothing more than gushing about the work our libraries do. Now we want to have some visuals we can use to show off libraries!

And thus: Our first CMLE Library Snapshot Day!

Thursday, take photos in your library of the things you have, the programs you provide, materials on the shelves, staffers hard at work (ask their permission first, please!) – whatever goes into making your library a wonderful resource. No need to do anything special; we want to see a typical day in the life of our libraries.

This is part of a national program, where people in libraries across the country take photos to show off their libraries. We do not all do this on the same day; but the results can be exciting to view as a big group, and can be powerful tools in showing stakeholders the range and diversity of the work we do in libraries!

From ALA: “Holding a library snapshot day is a simple way to prove that libraries provide invaluable services to our communities.” We agree that all our libraries  across CMLE – school, academic, public, and special – are providing invaluable services, and we want to show it!

You can email photos to us; or if you have social media and want to share photos there, just tag them with #CMLEPhotos. We will collect photos, and add them to our website.

What if you miss it on Thursday? We will still be happy to take your photos from this week and display them!

We are looking forward to seeing the great work you are doing!

Looking for some professional development opportunities?

It’s so important to learn new things in our library careers, or to attend conferences and interact with other library people doing similar work! If you’ve been feeling the need to network or to update some of your professional skills, make sure to keep your eyes on CMLE’s Continuing Education calendar!

The calendar is located on our Continuing Education page, which features a Google calendar that is updated daily with new learning opportunities. We include a variety of events like webinars, online courses, in-person conferences, workshops, and yes, even free opportunities!

The page also has links to organizations like Library Juice, TIES, and the AASL’s eAcademy that offer their own training and development opportunities.

And don’t forget CMLE offers scholarships! Apply for one today!

It Takes a Village: Tools to Help Keep the Community Informed, Engaged, and Supportive

Working Together Teamwork Puzzle Concept
I saw this blog entry referenced on the ITEM listserve, and read through it all – it was written by CMLE’s own Lisa Newhouse in Monticello! This is a great (GREAT!) example of strategies all library people can use to promote your library services to your community members! Read this excerpt below, and then click on the link to go read the rest of it at her site!!

By Lisa Newhouse,  @LisaNewhouse4

“The Media Center is an integral part of the school community. Media Specialists and Librarians are aware of this, but how do we keep the community informed of all we do? How do you engage your school and the community itself in the Media Center programs? How do you in turn get the community to stand behind the Media Center and support the many programs? Well, below I will tell you what I have done to get our community involved here. I’d love to hear how you get your community involved as well.
  • Web Site: The Media Center website has all of the information about everything that happens in the Media Center. I designed my Media Center website using Google Sites and some HTML coding. I tried to design it to be simple and functional so that parents, staff, and students could easily access what they were looking for. On the home page, I had links to my contact information, newsletter sign up, the school library catalog, the public library website, and useful websites and online sources.

Continue reading It Takes a Village: Tools to Help Keep the Community Informed, Engaged, and Supportive

Academic Libraries: Looking for Info on Scholarly Research!

From researcher Laura I. Spears, PhD:

Dear Colleagues:

Thanks to those who have already participated and for your responses to us about this study!  PLEASE share this link with ALL of your institution’s librarians and professional staff professional-level library employees regardless of appointment status, job type or educational credential – a diverse data pool
is key to our query!

Background:
In light of the increasing demand for scholarly research in libraries, we are seeking to explore the research training and supports for academic librarians to help effectively meet evidence-based decision making requirements and to balance human subject research standards.

This multi-method approach includes a survey of academic librarians; and, an examination of IRB standards and digital data collection research practices in ARL libraries.

You may access the online survey by clicking on this link or by copying and pasting the URL below into your Internet browser. The survey will close on Friday, May 5, 2017 at 11:59 PM EST.

Follow this link to the Survey:
https://ufl.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_4PLeZDdtTj6uUXb

This study has been approved by the UF Institutional Review Board
(IRB201700941). If you would like more information about this study, please contact Dr. Laura Spears, at laura.spears@ufl.edu or (352) 273-2711.

Thank you and best regards!

Laura I. Spears, PhD
Assessment Librarian
University of Florida Smathers Libraries
LW519
(352) 273-2711