Category Archives: Training

CMLE, Communication, Training

Summer is great for Continuing Education!

It can be hard to find the time for growing your professional skills and connections, but CMLE is here to help! We maintain this calendar full of many opportunities for Continuing Education classes, webinars, and conferences.

Remember, we also offer scholarships to make it possible for you to take advantage of these learning opportunities!

Take a look at the calendar which is located on our Continuing Education page and is updated often with new learning opportunities. We include a variety of events like webinars, online courses, in-person conferences, workshops, and yes, even free opportunities!

The page also has links to organizations like Library Juice, TIES, and the AASL’s eAcademy that offer their own training and development opportunities.

Make Continuing Education a priority this summer, and you will have some great new knowledge and skills to bring to your library in the fall! (Of course, if you are a year-round library person, you can put your new skills to work right away! 🙂 )

Conference, Training

United for Libraries, RUSA and Chapter Relations to host ‘Crisis Communication: Who Speaks for Your Library?’

From RUSA Update, by Joseph Thompson

“Will you be attending ALA Annual 2017 in Chicago later this month? Please join United for Libraries, RUSA and ALA Chapter Relations for the timely discussion: “Crisis Communication: Who Speaks for Your Library?”. The discussion group will will take place from 1-2:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 25 at McCormick Place West, W194b. Add this event to your conference schedule.

What happens when a newspaper calls the library for a quote on a Saturday morning? Is it your Library Director or Trustee who answers an elected official’s question about the library? In the event of a materials challenge, who serves as the library’s spokesperson? Stuff happens, whether you work for a public, academic, or school library. Are you ready in a crisis, whatever it may be?

This program/discussion will feature Macey Morales, Deputy Director of ALA’s Public Awareness Office; Susan Jennings, Past President of the Tennessee Library Association, and Brian Auger, Director of the Somerset County (N.J.) Public Library. Participants will use scenarios and role-playing, and learn how to prepare statements and a crisis communication plan for their libraries.

For a detailed listing of United for Libraries programs at the ALA Annual Conference, as well as information on purchasing tickets and registering, visit their website.

United for Libraries: The Association of Library Trustees, Advocates, Friends and Foundations, is a division of the American Library Association with approximately 4,000 personal and group members representing hundreds of thousands of library supporters. United for Libraries supports those who govern, promote, advocate, and fundraise for libraries, and brings together library Trustees, advocates, Friends, and Foundations into a partnership that creates a powerful force for libraries in the 21st century. To join, please visit United for Libraries website or call (800) 545-2433, ext. 2161.

The Reference and User Services Association (RUSA), a division of the American Library Association, represents librarians and library staff in the fields of reference, specialized reference, collection development, readers’ advisory and resource sharing. RUSA is the foremost organization of reference and information professionals who make the connections between people and the information sources, services and collection materials they need. Learn more about RUSA.”

CMLE, Tech, Training

Day Seven of the CMLE Summer Fun Library Tour!

Playing games to learn things is increasingly popular – and what can be better than making learning fun? Good instruction always means reaching out to your learners where they are, and working to connect the information you have to share in a way that speaks to them. Games can be a great tool for this!

In every kind of library, we need to work with our community members to help them build information literacy skills. This just sounds dull on the face of it, so making it fun with a game is a wonderful idea.

Minitex has made this a reality! They have a fun game called Information Fallout, designed to build information literacy skills.

“Information Fallout is a narrative-based learning tool designed to introduce information literacy skills to students….[It] sets out six learning objectives for students. These are assessed by a series of multiple choice questions embedded within the narrative. To proceed through the narrative, students must answer those questions correctly.

  • The student will be able to demonstrate that context influences authority.
  • The student will be able to identify an element of the creation process that may be an indicator of quality for school work.
  • The student will be able to assert the importance of citing sources.
  • The student will be able to rank a research topic based on a question as being more effective than one that provides an overview.
  • The student will be able to articulate that scholarship evolves over time.
  • The student will be able to identify one or more reasons why it is important to consult more than one source when conducting research. “

Take a break from your other summertime activities, and play a round or two of this game now! It’s not “just” playing games – you are doing an assessment of a potentially valuable professional resource. If it so happens you are also having fun- that’s not a problem!

Academic, Training

Webinar on June 8: Researcher profiles and metrics that matter

Library Connect - Partnering with the Library Community

“I wanted to share information on a free, one-hour Library Connect webinar that will take place Thursday, June 8 (11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. EDT).”

Researcher Profiles and Metrics That Matter

Register: http://libraryconnect.elsevier.com/library-connect-webinars?commid=257883

Presenters:

  • Chris Belter, Bibliometrics Informationist, NIH Library
  • Ellen Cole, Scholarly Publications Librarian, Northumbria University
  • Andrea Michalek, VP of Research Metrics, Elsevier | Managing Director of Plum Analytics

Topics to be Covered:

  • Clearing up misconceptions about bibliometric indicators
  • Metrics as a means to counterbalance other biases
  • Telling researchers’ stories through metrics
  • Metrics for different disciplines and career stages
  • Promoting ORCID at various points in the researchers’ career
  • Touchpoints for researcher training

Continue reading Webinar on June 8: Researcher profiles and metrics that matter →

Books, Children's services, Training

Try Camp Read A Lot!

Image result for camp read a lot

Do you want to read books and chat about them?? Sounds great! Check out the Camp Read-A-Lot programs! (Remember: you can receive up to $300 in scholarship money from CMLE for your continuing education!)

You can have reading fun this summer at three different Minnesota locations:

  • Welcome to the 2017 SELCO Camp Read-a-Lot

    We are happy to bring you the 9th Annual Camp Read-a-Lot!  A professional development opportunity for those who work with children’s literature, focusing on specifically on grades 2-5.  Our campers have the chance to read from a set list of books prior to camp and then spend the day discussing the books with their peers.  They’ll also have a chance to hear from Dr. Sarah Park Dahlen, Assistant Professor in St. Catherine University’s Master of Library Information Science Program, and Minnesota children’s book author Lauren Stringer.

    Tuesday, August 15, 2017  |  Check-in begins at 8:30a, Camp runs from 9:00a-4:30p  |  $30 Fee

  • ADVENTUROUS READING AWAITS
    Welcome to the 2017 TdS Camp Read-a-Lot

    We are happy to bring you the 1st Annual Camp Read-a-Lot!

    Join us for a professional development day designed for librarians and teachers who work with children’s literature, focusing on grades 2-8. Campers read and discuss new children’s literature and fresh techniques to bring reading alive to students and patrons.

  • Wednesday July 26, 2017

    SAMMI and Plum Creek

    Mark your calendars for Camp Read-a-Lot 2017, July 26 & 27.  The Plum Creek Library and Pioneerland Library Systems along with SAMMIE are once again sponsoring CAMP READ-A-LOT, a conference full of fun and education for teachers, media specialists, homeschool educators and public library staff.  Camp Read focuses on literacy and literature for today’s young people and is designed to help educators and librarians enhance student reading experiences.   July 26 – 27, 2017