We need to get them to us before we can hire great employees!
Part of hiring great people is making sure that they are applying to your library! Without a pool of good candidates, you can’t make good people appear.
How do you get these good people? Like so many things: you need a plan. A solid recruiting plan will help you to bring in the good applicants, and give you the best kind of hard choice to make when hiring – picking among people who would all be good in your library.
It sounds hard. Where will you get the time? How will you know if it is working? What kinds of decisions should you be making?
CMLE is here to help you! We will walk through the basic steps of creating a plan here, so you can start working on your own plan for your library. Then, we are here to work with members to finalize their plans, to make decisions, and to help with the evaluation. Continue reading Recruiting to hire good people (Hiring Series #3)→
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!→
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.
As we get updates from the State Library Services people, we share them here so everyone can get the news! Looking outside your own individual library is always good, because as a state we are doing all sorts of new and interesting things. Learning about other library activities, or ideas for programs you could offer or skills you could develop will be useful as you keep up with the demands of your community!
Jumpstart Your Library Programming with Early STEM Literacy Play and learn with instructors from the Science Museum of Minnesota at a hands-on workshop. Discover how early literacy and early science learning are intertwined and deepen your understanding of early childhood scientific thinking, problem solving and inquiry. Come ready to explore curriculum and activities designed by the Science Museum to help Minnesota libraries offer high-quality early STEM experiences. Leave prepared to facilitate children and caregivers in playful STEM learning experiences that capture their imaginations and prepare them for kindergarten.Continue reading State Library Update→
The stereotypical animal that is often associated with libraries (and librarians!) is the cat. And here at CMLE, we definitely love cats. But dogs can be even more helpful when it comes to libraries, and reading in general, especially when it comes to teaching literacy to kids.
This adorable Tweet sparked our curiosity. Just how much do dogs help kids with their reading skills? We also wondered where else in our area might dogs be interacting with kids, students, books, and libraries?
First, we discovered just how helpful dogs can be when it comes to assisting kids with their reading skills. This article from Public Libraries Online shares research done that states, “Children who read to dogs improved their own reading skills in comparison to children who did not read to dogs, based on the results of the Oral Text Reading for Comprehension Test” and even “reported a greater enjoyment of reading than children who did not read to dogs.” When kids are able to practice their reading skills out loud to a patient, non-judgmental listener (like a dog!) their reading improves, and just as importantly, their love of reading grows!
For real-life inspiration, we found a few instances of dogs and kids enjoying reading together. This article from MN Women’s Press tells the story of Lesa Hobright-Turner and her READ dog, Murphy, and their impact on a little girl with ADHD. The Hibbing Daily Tribunefeatured this article about kids reading with dogs at Keewatin Elementary school. The Rochester Public Library has the program “Sit, Stay, Read” that takes place the fourth Monday of the month from September – November. Finally, the Two Harbor’s Public Library has a program “Read to a Dog” that takes place on Fridays, featuring Lucy the dog:
We’re sure there are more programs out there, and would love to hear about them! Do you know of, or participate in, any activity that features animals helping kids with their reading? Let us know!
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