Category Archives: Public

Academic, Check this out:, CMLE, Public, Special

CMLE membership needs assessment!

survey
All the cool kids fill out surveys!

 

This one goes out just to our members! (Everyone else: we like you too. We are just looking for member feedback right now.)

Survey Link

As your library system, our job at CMLE Headquarters is to support you and provide help in training, grants, and other services to make your job easier as you serve your community. And so: this survey.
As I am new, I want to get acquainted with all the libraries in our system, and to start making some longer range plans on services we can provide to help you to do your jobs. I want to know what people are doing, what kinds of continuing education would be useful, what issues you see coming up, and really anything else you think is important for me to know about the libraries here.Tell me about your job, about the things that are important to you, and let me know what CMLE can do to help you!

Continue reading CMLE membership needs assessment! →

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

State Library Services Updates!

As always at CMLE Headquarters, we want to keep you up to date on library happenings around Minnesota; so we are sharing the regular updates from the State Library Services. It is always good to know what is going on in the larger world of library work, beyond just what you do every day. As a group of very excellent library people, we are all doing so many neat things it can be tough to keep up! So follow the CMLE blog, check out all the training we list on our calendar, see what we are saying on Twitter – we are here to help you keep track of the best things in libraries! Continue reading State Library Services Updates! →

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

Wanna read books with CMLE?

books
Reading is FUN-damental at CMLE!

Are you reading our October book group selections?

At CMLE Headquarters, we are big fans of books and reading -and as we are in a system filled with library people we know our members likewise are readers! So each month we will read a fiction book with a library theme attached, and a nonfiction book with some applicability to making our work lives better.

What are we reading for November?? That is up to you!

We have a poll up on our Goodreads page for you to select your choice for the next book. The poll will be open through October 26, giving us a couple of weeks to still read our October book and to think about November.

Remember: these are very low-key book groups! We all just want to read books, and have a place to talk about ideas if we feel like sharing. As library people we spend so much time working with books, it can be hard to remember to take time to enjoy them. CMLE is here to help with that!

So read, enjoy, post discussions if you wish – and just have a good time with books!

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

Libraries lending musical instruments

A photo by Roberta Sorge. unsplash.com/photos/PN_c3RKCVlA
Make some music with your library!

The days of libraries only checking out books have long passed. Libraries serve so many vital functions in their communities, and are open to learning from their patrons what types of services and programs would be most valuable. This has led to libraries checking out neck ties to job searchers (check out CMLE’s post on the subject) and now, to the Vancouver Public Library opening their Sun Life Financial Musical Instrument Lending Library.

This article from Public Libraries Online describes some of the instruments available (they are mainly stringed instruments and hand drums) like acoustic guitars, ukuleles, and bongos. The library hopes to gain more instruments to share with the public during their instrument drive.

The way it works is that a person can borrow one instrument at a time for 21 days, and if no one else has made a request for the instrument, they are able to renew their instrument up to two times. However, that opportunity won’t come for awhile – the article shares how only three days after the Vancouver Public Library launched the Instrument Lending Library, every instrument was checked out, with a wait list of up to 70 patrons for some instruments! Hopefully the instrument drive is successful and the library will be able to acquire more instruments to share with the public.

Looking for more libraries that offer musical instruments? Take a look at the Toronto Public Library, Forbes Library in MA, the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the Ann Arbor District Library which loans out a variety of music-related tools.

 

 

 

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

Giving and receiving: Performance Appraisals (Hiring Series #2)

performance-appraisals
It’s a conversation!

Everyone dreads this. It’s hard, as an employee, to have your performance judged – even when the result is good news. And it’s hard, as a manager, to have to come up with insightful things to say about everyone’s work without constantly repeating yourself.

So is it still valuable to go through the process? For most people: yes!

Ideally, a performance appraisal is not a time to talk about problems – though those should be addressed. When there are performance issues during the year, those can be addressed in the moment and dealt with at the time. They should not build up to wait for the annual review. Instead it is a time for people to reflect on their past performance,  and to think about what they want to do over the next year. It is an opportunity to take time out of a hectic schedule, or one that has a lot of repetition from day-to-day and week-to-week, and to see, think, and do some self-evaluation.

Continue reading Giving and receiving: Performance Appraisals (Hiring Series #2) →