Category Archives: Podcast

Check this out:, Podcast

Episode 509: Displays

In this episode we will talk about one of the most visible parts of good library service: creating displays. These are not just fun things, though they are that! Your job is to get books and materials off your shelves and into the hands of your patrons. Good displays will help make that happen!

This week we have returning Guest Hosts Ariel and Lydia, from the Great River Regional Library System, to help us get some ideas!

Check out our shownotes page here, with links to lots of useful material – and links to the books we read!!

When you visit a library that does not have displays, or is not making an effort to sell their materials, it’s kind of depressing. Remember: great collection development would mean that you get all those materials out of your library and taken home with people. If you want to encourage people to interact with your collection, instead of admiring the books neatly organized on shelves, you need to get them off the shelves and in people’s line of sight. Publishers spend a lot of time and money on the cover art to sell the book. Give it a chance to happen!

Children's services, Podcast

Episode 506: Children’s Services

In this episode, we will talk about the service most people think of first when they think about cool things libraries do: Children’s Services. While it’s not the only thing we do, it’s important!

This week we have returning Guest Host Kelly Groth, from the Great River Regional Library System to help us get some ideas!

Check out our shownotes page here!

We are big fans of the idea that kids are important parts of any library – public, school, even special library organizations. So we support the idea that service to kids is not just handing them a moldy, torn book from the 80s, or doing the same story time, or having no posters on the walls. It’s not actively working to shush them over anything else, or to ensure they are on their best behavior in the library.

Instead our job is to do just what we do with every patron: actively work to connect the patron to the information resources we provide. That might be books, or computers, or programming. We are filled with so many great things – let’s be sure they are shared with kids!

Podcast, Training

Episode 505: Collection Development

You can view our full shownotes page here!

In this episode, we will talk about one of the foundations of all library service: Collection Development. Without good collections, we might be nice places to visit – but it’s not a good library.

This week we have returning Guest Host Amy, from the Great River Regional Library System to help us get some ideas!

Thank you to Amy for joining us this week to discuss this topic!
Be sure you are subscribed to this podcast to get all the library skills directly to your favorite app each week. And you can check out our shownotes for each episode to get all the info we discussed, along with the links to more resources. Every episode we have created is available on our website!

If you want to enjoy our book group podcast, subscribe to Reading With Libraries.  

Thanks for joining us this week! And check back in with us next week for another library competency!

CMLE, Podcast

Reading over the summer? Share a Book Bite with us!

Summer is busy but it’s also a fantastic time for reading, especially if you get to do it outside, lemonade in hand! And we’d love to hear about the books you read. We’re looking for people to share a quick book review on our Book Bites podcast series.

Book Bites is just what it sounds like: A bite-sized book review in under 5 minutes! We publish these on both our Linking Our Libraries and Reading With Libraries podcast feeds because everyone could use more book ideas 😊

This summer we are really hoping to include more voices from school library people on our podcast (look out for an email from us about this soon!) but know all our library people are probably readers and have interesting book suggestions.

If you have a smartphone or computer, record yourself talking about a book for under five minutes. If you want to invite a friend to talk with you so it’s more like a conversation, awesome. Then send us the recording! Use either admin@cmle.org or ajordan@cmle.org.

We’ll edit the sound to the best of our abilities and publish it on our feeds! Then you can spend the rest of the summer bragging to friends and family that you are now podcast-famous.

As always, questions are welcome! Email me (Angie) ajordan@cmle.org and we’ll figure it out!

CMLE, Communication, Podcast

We Want YOU to Podcast With Us This Summer!

Stop by and chat with us this summer!

We’re making our summer plans at CMLE and you probably are too! Before your calendars get filled up too much, consider adding “podcasting with CMLE” to your list of summer activities!

We especially would like to feature school library people on our podcasts (Linking Our Libraries and Reading With Libraries). We understand it can be tough to get away during the school year so we want to make sure you have an opportunity to come record with us when it fits your schedule.

A big majority of our members work in school libraries and we want to make sure we are sharing your voices and experiences with your colleagues across our system!

Watch for an email headed your way later this week with more information. Or email me at ajordan@cmle.org with any questions!

Can’t make it to our office?

No problem!! You can still participate!
Maybe you’ve listened to our Book Bites series. That’s when we record around 5ish minutes of a guest talking about a book they’ve enjoyed. If you have a book you want to share, record yourself with your phone or computer and send it to ajordan@cmle.org! We’ll fix it up and use it in our series!

We love to hear about the variety of cool books that our members are reading.

Thank you for being willing to share your love of books and libraries with us and our larger community! We are all stronger when we work together!