Tag Archives: Advocacy

Academic, Check this out:, CMLE, Public, Special, Tech

Looking forward to November: Advocacy! (Training provided!)

advocacy
Tell people how great libraries are!

In November, our Monthly Topic will be Advocacy!!

This is such an important skill for everyone in your library to master. We all need to advocate for ourselves in the workplace, for our libraries, and for the profession. During November we will collect and share information on each of these aspects of advocacy, to help build your skills and your comfort level with it.

At the heart: Advocacy is fun!! We get to tell people how great our libraries are, all the wonderful things we provide to our communities, and how valuable we are!! It can be tempting to just assume people know about this – but we want to really be sure they understand, so we need to tell them. This is our chance to brag!

CMLE will offer an in-person training session at our Headquarters (570 First Street SE, St Cloud, MN 56304). This will happen Nov 15.

  • First session: noon to 1:30:
  • Second session: 4:30 to 6:00
  • Webinar will be provided online for future viewing

You are invited to attend either in-person session (they are identical). Feel free to bring your food! We will provide beverages.

Sign up at our Eventbrite site here!

When you leave this session you will have some basic skills and ideas:

  • identification of your library’s elected representatives
  • a draft email to send to each of them
  • a set of talking points about your library’s value
  • an elevator speech to share your accomplishments
  • details on library service nationally, for easy sharing

Any questions? Send Mary an email.

Would you like a training session brought to your library? Send Mary an email on that too!

 

 

Check this out:, General, Resources, School Media Specialist

ITEM Members: A call for your input!

This is a message from ITEM, asking for your input on the ESSA issues that will happen in your library! You always want YOUR voice heard in matters important to your work!!

If anyone would like to gather here at CMLE Headquarters prior to the St Cloud meeting on Oct 26, just let us know. We can meet here, have snacks to get fortified, and head over as a group. It could be a good opportunity to chat among ourselves about issues important here in CMLE, and how to best approach ESSA.

Please use the link from ITEM (below) to register for an event that is convenient for you!!

Continue reading ITEM Members: A call for your input! →

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Data Walls – Create a transparent library environment

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photo-1422080567534-309d0d19392aFresh from the ITEM conference, CMLE has learned from Library Girl the power of data! Actually, the power of sharing your data with users in order to tell your story. Rather than just tell people, or worse yet not telling anyone, display your data, and your story, for the world to see. Library Girl, who was a keynote at this years ITEM conference, advocates for the power of transparency. She posts her library’s data, what she is doing, how she’s doing it, and who she is working with too. What happened when she put her data on the wall for the world to see?

“Within minutes of the data going up, students were coming in to the library asking questions: They wanted to know more about the number of books that were circulated, what the busiest time of day was.”

She also talks about teachers seeing it as well as parents. Remember, you can take your data beyond the wall too! Social media is a great tool for telling your story and creating a transparent library environment.

Academic, Special, and Public Libraries can use this idea too! How are you telling your story? Share your data and create a transparent library!

Read Library Girl’s Data Wall blogs Part 1 or Part 2 now!

More current content from CMLE

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

Free Symposium on Advocacy, Awareness and Archives

Image by Anna-Stina. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by Anna-Stina. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

The second annual Minnesota Archives Symposium will be held on Friday, November 15th, Making Connections: Advocacy, Awareness and Archives. The symposium is sponsored by Hennepin County Library Special Collections and the Twin Cities Archives Round Table. This free event will be held in the Mary and David Doty Board Room (2nd floor) at Central Public Library in Minneapolis, MN from 1:00 – 5:00 PM.

Contact TCART at tcartmn@gmail.com or Elissah Becknell at elissah.becknell@minneapolis.edu for additional information.

Click here to register.