Category Archives: Special

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Community Grants from Walmart

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Does your library have an idea for a program or service you could set up to benefit your community? Walmart might be able to help!

Through their Community Grant Program, the Walmart Foundation provides funds to nonprofit and government organizations serving communities. “Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have identified four core areas of giving: Hunger Relief & Healthy Eating, Sustainability, Women’s Economic Empowerment, and Opportunity.”

The guidelines are here; so read through them to see if your idea might fit into their funding. The deadline for this round of grants is December  31, 2016; but if your idea is more suitable for setting up later, this is an annual program.

They have set up an FAQ section here, and reading through these might give you some ideas.

CMLE Libraries: Do you want to discuss some grant ideas? Want to get some help in writing your application, or a second set of eyes? Email or call us, and we will be happy to help out on your application material!

 

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Strategies to Simplify: Tip 1: Focus your attention

“Work simply. Live fully.”  This week CMLE focuses on the following work productivity tip from Work Simply, Carson Tate’s popular book.  At CMLE, we’ve boiled down Tate’s wealth of knowledge from Work Simply to a few key points; please see the book for more detail and resources. At the bottom, see links to earlier tips in the series! Let’s all be our best selves….

This week’s activity: Use your Productivity Style to focus your attention.

As Carson Tate explains in Work Simply, “Our attention is an enormously powerful force, one that can profoundly shape our lives and our very being.” With all the distractions around today, learning to make the most of our attention is an essential skill. Last week you discovered your Productivity Style with a simple assessment. Use your style to consider these tips.

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Work simply. Live fully

 

Find your Productivity Style for some personalized tips:

Prioritizer: Try setting a timer or alarm to go off at specific intervals throughout your day. The alarm serves to remind you to focus your attention and stay on task!

Planner: Use your scheduling skills to your benefit, and plan your day’s tasks around your varying energy levels or the type of work required by each task.

Arranger: Make a plan to mix your solitary work with a conversation or collaboration with a friend or co-worker. Music can also help Arrangers keep their focus. (As an Arranger, I can vouch for both of these tips! Angie)

Visualizer: Keep a balance in your day between the routine, boring tasks and more enjoyable, stimulating tasks. The variety will help keep your attention focused.

Previous tips in this series


	

	
	




	
	

				

			Academic, Public, Special
		

			
RUSA Achievements Awards and Grants

		

			 		

	


		

		
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Call from RUSA!


The Reference and User Services Association announced a call for nominations!


“RUSA encourages members to nominate their colleagues whose work has influenced their thinking and performance and whose outstanding contributions merit recognition by the profession. RUSA has, and will continue to, nominate, select and honor the very best in the field of reference and user services with the continued support of industry sponsors.”


Are you doing some great work in Reference? Do you have a colleague, in your library or in another one, who is doing great work? Nominate yourself or someone else! (Self nominations are fine here; you may know better than anyone else around you how well you are doing in Reference work, and it’s great to nominate yourself.)


There are CMLE librarians doing some great work; if you want to work on one of these nominations, they can make a big difference in the professional life of a winner. Contact Mary at CMLE headquarters to talk about the form, and for help in writing and editing your nomination.


There are a wide variety of awards available, reflecting the breadth of Reference work in today’s libraries. Here are just a few examples of the full list:



 


Questions about these awards should be directed to Leighann Wood, Sr. Program Officer, lwood@ala.org. More information about these awards, including nominating instructions, can be found on RUSA’s awards webpage.


 


 

	

	
	




	
	

				

			Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special
		

			
Bingewatching YA read-alikes

		

			 		

	


		

		
Just as finishing an excellent book can make you sad and a bit lonely, the same can be true when you finish a really great TV series! Maybe you had some extra time over the summer or holiday weekend and binge-watched an entire show, and now can’t imagine becoming as emotionally invested into a new story. Well, this list is here to help!


In this article from YALSA’s “The Hub” blog, author Tara Kehoe offers some suggestions for your next book, based on your favorite TV series. You can read a few options below:


Are you a fan of Gilmore Girls? Give these titles a try (and check out this librarian’s blog):


    

  • Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls by Julie Schumacherthe-unbearable-book-club-for-unsinkable-girls
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  • Gabi, a Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quinterogabi-a-girl-in-pieces
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Loved The Walking Dead (and struggling with the wait for the beginning of Season 7?!) Check out these books:


    

  • Forest of Teeth and Hands by Carrie Ryanforest_hands_teeth_hb_cover
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  • The Stand by Stephen Kingthe-stand
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Enjoyed Friday Night Lights? Maybe you’ll like these titles:


    

  • The Bridge from Me to You by Lisa Shroederbridge-from-me-to-you-the-large
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  • The Truth About Alice by Jennifer Mathieutruth-about-alice
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If you have a favorite TV series and can think of a book or two that would appeal to fans, let us know in the comments!


 

	

	
	




	
	

				

			Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special
		

			
New Series! Strategies to Simplify

		

			 		

	


		

		
“Work simply. Live fully.” These are the words of Carson Tate, renowned author, coach, and expert on workplace productivity. Each week CMLE will focus on a particular tip from Work Simply (a book our staff love). We hope to summarize concepts and share manageable bites of information for you to try in your daily life. And of course, we hope you fall in love with the book too!




Your beginning activity: Discover your productivity style


work simply coverA main argument of Work Simply is that one-size-fits-all approaches to time management just don’t work. That is because people have natural inclinations for the ways they work. Instead of fighting against these inclinations, find out what they are and harness them to your benefit! You will need your type to work through this series!


Take the assessment here! 


(This does require you to enter your name and email address)


P.S. I found out I’m an Arranger (Angie). Finally, an explanation for my love of multi-colored pens! The other productivity styles include Prioritizer, Planner, and Visualizer.  So go ahead, take five, and learn more about your productivity style. Let us know in the comments if it is what you expected!