Category Archives: Visits

A Trip to the Elk River High School Library!

This was another fun school library to visit! It’s always great to visit our members: most of the services and materials are similar across all our libraries, but every library has a few interesting individual features!

Right at the front door was one of the individual features of this library: a Little Free Library, with books available to everyone! I’m such a fan of the Little Free Libraries, and it was so fun to see it here!

You can see how nice the desk area is, with displays, handouts, and all sorts of things to look at as patrons are processed.

Thinking about those patrons is always a good idea, and this is (hopefully!) a fantastic idea for summer reading! The library books can be checked out for the entire summer now – giving students a great opportunity to get some fun (or even educational!) reading done over the summer!! This is the first year they are trying this idea; so everyone cross your fingers that it is a big success!

 

Continue reading A Trip to the Elk River High School Library!

A visit to the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Library!

It is always fun to visit all of our member libraries; but special libraries (those focused in on specialized collections and audiences) are a special kind of fun because they tend to be organized a little differently and to have different materials than most other libraries. Hazelden was no exception! Barb Weiner showed me around the library, and graciously sat with me while I asked a million questions and we chatted about libraries.

 

You can see the special touches in this library, presenting the library as a valuable resource as well as a welcoming place to visit.  I just love this book-themed curtain separating out the work space from the public space – it’s adorable! And says that this is a nice place to visit – always an important message when encouraging people to use your library!

 

Continue reading A visit to the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Library!

Next week: Visit Buffalo High School Library with CMLE!

Attention CMLE members and library fans: we are approaching the date for our next CMLE Group Library Visit! 

The new date for this Group Visit is Tuesday, May 9th at 2pm.

We are working on visiting all types of libraries, as we are a multitype system. We have much more in common in services and programs and materials, than the small differences in the focus of our different libraries.

On Tuesday, May 9th at 2:00pm we will be visiting the library at Buffalo High School. We are so excited to be able to take our members to another one of our system’s great libraries! Last month, Mary was able to tour this library and enjoyed seeing their colorful displays, fun programming, and the rest of the exciting work happening at this high school library.

Will you join us? Let us know:

Are joining us for our Buffalo High School visit?(required)

Would you like to go out afterward for snacking and talking?

Visit to the Annandale Public Library

One of the most fun parts of my job is the chance to go visit our member libraries! As someone who has spent years traveling around the country, visiting libraries, I can say there has never been a library that did not have something fun/interesting/unique to see. Being able to visit the CMLE members, and to see how much work they are doing in helping their communities is fantastic!

Annandale Public Library, part of the Great River Library System, is another library doing some great work. You can see immediately how much thought is put into making the library a welcoming place. Art in a library can be such an important tool for reaching out to patrons, and for helping everyone to feel comfortable.  (Check out our podcast, Linking Our Libraries, episode seven for a look at art in libraries!)

 

Look at these books and the plant! At CMLE HQ, we love plants and gardens (Podcast #7: Library Gardens, with a mention of Annandale!) As I always do, I struggled to keep from grabbing books off the shelves to take home. It’s a constant struggle for library people, when out visiting! Continue reading Visit to the Annandale Public Library

CMLE members can Shuffle Off to Buffalo, High School Library!

It has been great to visit our member libraries, with groups of CMLE members (and fans! all are welcome) – and we will keep up this program!! We are working on visiting all types of libraries, as we are a multitype system. We have much more in common in services and programs and materials, than the small differences in the focus of our different libraries.

Our next visit will be to the Buffalo High School. We will tour this library Tuesday, May 9th at 2:00. As always, we understand if people are coming from work and other obligations; so feel free to come a little late or depart early.

We will have two cars leaving from CMLE Headquarters, and you are welcome to ride with us if you would like to do that. There is plenty of parking here, where you can leave your car.

You may remember that CMLE has already had one visit to this library – and it was a lot of fun!

We would love to see all of you there, and will have a report back for anyone who is not able to make it. If there is interest, we may go have a late lunch/snack/chatting time after this visit. It’s always good to have a chance to see each other in person, and we should take advantage of it!

Are joining us for our Buffalo High School visit?(required)

Would you like to go out afterward for snacking and talking?