Category Archives: School Media Specialist

School Media Specialist

Apply Today for a $4,000 National School Library Program Award for Exemplary Humanities Programming!

The ALA Public Programs Office is now accepting nominations for the 2013 Sara Jaffarian School Library Program Award for Exemplary Humanities Programming. School libraries, public or private, that served children in any combination of grades K-8 and conducted humanities programs during the 2011-2012 school year are eligible. Applications and award guidelines are available at www.ala.org/jaffarianaward. To be considered, nominations must be received by the ALA Public Programs Office by December 15.

The award consists of a $4,000 honorarium and a plaque. Additionally, the winning program will be promoted as a model program for other school libraries on www.ProgrammingLibrarian.org, a library programming resource center. To be considered, applicant libraries must have conducted a humanities program or program series during the prior school year (2011-2012). The humanities program can be focused in many subject areas, including but not limited to social studies, poetry, drama, art, music, language arts, foreign language and culture. Programs should focus on broadening perspectives and helping students understand the wider world and their place in it. They should be initiated and coordinated by the school librarian and exemplify the role of the library program in advancing the overall educational goals of the school.

To help you find inspiration for your application, ALA Public Programs Office and ProgrammingLibrarian.org present an online learning opportunity especially for school librarians:

Who Are We?: An award-winning humanities program model for school libraries

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

4:00 p.m. CDT

Francis Feeley, school librarian of Inter-American Magnet School in Chicago, Ill., and winner of the 2012 Sara Jaffarian Award, will present his winning model for humanities programming in the school library. The program, titled “Who Are We?” challenged seventh- and eighth-grade students to explore the individual and collective behavior of human beings in the past and present in a series of quarterly research projects. Following the presentation, Feeley will discuss elements of his award application that lead to his selection, and give tips to prospective applicants to help get their applications started. Registration for this event is required, and can be found at: http://www.programminglibrarian.org/online-learning/who-are-we-an-award-winning-humanities-program-model-for-school-libraries.html.

With questions, please contact the ALA Public Programs Office, publicprograms@ala.org or 800-545-2433 x5045.

School Media Specialist

MEMO Early Bird Registration Deadline Extended!

Register for the MEMO Conference by September 25th (even if your school can’t send a check until a bit later) to take advantage of this great early bird deal!

Join us on October 12 & 13 to hear Kathy Schrock, Gail Lovely, Shannon McClintock Miller, Mary Amato – not to mention many of our own local talented folks! Learn, network with friends and colleagues, and have some fun to start the school year off right! You can also add the MEMO Pre-conference on October 11 for only $50!

Details and registration are available at http://memotech.ning.com/page/2012-fall-conference

Questions? Contact MEMO at admin@memoweb.org.

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

Welcome & Service Changes: From the Director

First off, welcome back to a new academic year! Our K-12 and college libraries are gearing up just as the public libraries breathe a sigh of relief after their summer reading programs come to an end. We have lots of exciting news at CMLE, so hang in there for a few minutes, and let me know if you have concerns or questions! Hopefully, during our eight month strategic planning process, we did our homework, and our plans for the future will meet your needs. If not, please know that I welcome any and all of your suggestions!

Our mission: CMLE is a Central Minnesota library hub, a clearinghouse of talent, materials, and expertise for all types of libraries.

Our new strategic focus areas for the next three years include:

  1. Refined focus on K-12 media center needs
  2. Convening and bridging libraries around issues
  3. Stretching dollars: Cost avoidance and cost savings

For more detail on our Strategic Framework and our Strategic Workplan, go here

New Communication Streams: Our staff strives to get you important library/school media information, yet keep your life uncluttered. With our new communication strategy we hope to reach you wherever you are:

  • Each Thursday, you will receive a CMLE Weekly Review message recapping our blog posts of the week. Just click on the links of what interests you; it is as easy as that! So, going forward, you will receive fewer emails from CMLE, but will lose no content from us.
  • Twitter: Find us, follow us, and we’ll follow you back!  Our Twitter handle is CMLEMN
  • Facebook: Find us by searching for “Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange”.  Please “Like Us” right away so you never have to do this search again!

Service Changes….

Interlibrary Loan (ILL): After conducting  a 10-year trend analysis which showed consistent drop in ILL requests,  and a cost-benefit analysis of what it costs us to provide this service, our governing Board is in agreement that we sunset our physical ILL service. However, we do not want to end our tradition of resource sharing in Central MN and will evolve resource sharing into more digital resources. We will spend this academic year helping users of the ILL service to find alternative methods for getting the resources they need before our end date of June 30, 2013. We will also be unveiling new resource sharing strategies soon, so stay tuned!

 Annual Meeting: After careful debate and thought, the Board agreed that we can serve more of you better if we convene some smaller, targeted gatherings around the region rather than one big event. Please watch for more detail about possibilities, and if there is a conversation you would like us to convene, please let us know. Example: Would you enjoy a conversation about information literacy with academic, K-12, public, and special librarians to hear what works best in their settings? Information literacy and e-books are already on our wish list of possibilities, what is on yours?

As we work through this exciting but difficult transitional year, know that we are seeking ways to further assess and serve your needs, and engage you. We hope that some of our new ideas including our new communication streams provide new opportunity and energy in your world.

Patricia Post, Director of CMLE

General, Public, School Media Specialist

Free Website & App – Tracking the Change in Seasons

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Have you heard complaints from your students about the change in the weather and the decrease in daylight hours? Use this conversation to your advantage on show off a few great resources that help users to track and understand the change in seasons… Check it out!

Journey North is a free Internet-based program that engages students in a global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. K–12 students in North American can track the coming of fall and spring through the migration patterns of monarch butterflies, robins, hummingbirds, whooping cranes, gray whales, bald eagles, and other birds and mammals. They also observe the budding of plants, changing sunlight and other natural events. Find migration maps, pictures, standards-based lesson plans, activities and information to help students make local observations and fit them into a global context.
Click Here to Visit Website

Plus: Students can take Journey North outside with the new citizen science app for their mobile device. They can report their sightings from the field, and they can view maps, take pictures and leave comments. The free app is available for the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch. An Android version of the app will soon be available.
Click Here to Access Free App

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Minnesota Library Futures Initiative Update and Announcement

The message below is from the Minnesota Library Futures Initiative…

What will your library look like in 2025?

Looking to the future, the challenges facing libraries may seem daunting, but libraries have always evolved to meet the needs of their communities.

The Minnesota Library Futures Initiative was developed to spark conversation about the future of libraries in Minnesota. The MNLFI Steering Committee selected 24 participants from all types of libraries through an open application process. MNLFI Futurists gathered to research and discuss factors likely to impact the future of libraries and possible ways libraries might respond to those opportunities and challenges. What we discovered is that being engaged in the conversation about the future is more empowering and energizing than reading about it and everyone has something to contribute.

The Minnesota Library Futurists would like to help your library or organization facilitate a conversation about the future of library services. We invite you to consider planning an MNLFI Workshop for your library or organization.

What is an MNLFI Workshop?

Gather your staff, organization or community for a workshop led by representatives from the Minnesota Library Futures Initiative. MNLFI members trained in Technology of Participation (ToP) methods will facilitate a conversation at your location based around your intended outcomes. We will help you to develop a workshop which will ensure your entire staff will be engaged in discussing the future and empowered to meet its possibilities and challenges.

Want to lead your own discussion?

The MNLFI Toolkit is a set of resources intended to support local conversations and personal exploration about the future of libraries without facilitation from the MNLFI group. The Toolkit includes demographic information, suggested readings on the future of libraries and MNLFI 2025 Scenarios which describe potential aspects of the library environment of 2025.

Visit our Website

On the new MNLFI website you’ll find more information on MNLFI, our workshops and the MNLFI Toolkit. You can keep up to date with our latest events or fill out a request form if you’d like to schedule an MNLFI workshop for your library or organization.

Join the Conversation

As we facilitate workshops throughout the state, we’ll post outcomes on the Shared Visions page where you can discover and discuss ideas developed by our workshop participants. We invite you to add your own vision of the library in 2025 to the conversation.

We Look Toward the Future

The MNLFI Futurists were given the charge to “envision the library of 2025”. We have been inspired and empowered through our own conversations about the future of libraries and we look forward to sharing that enthusiasm with your library as we envision the future of Minnesota libraries together.