Tag Archives: ALA

Communication, Resources

MANGO/NMRT Professional Development Grant

Apply Now for the 2017 MANGO/NMRT Professional Development Grant

Deadline: Tuesday, March 7, 2016 at 5 pm (EST)

We are excited to announce that members of ALA’s New Members Round Table (NMRT) can apply to receive a $1000 grant, which will assist with expenses to attend the ALA Annual Conference, June 22 – June 27, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. This award is generously sponsored by MANGO Languages.

You must be a current member of NMRT in order to apply. To join NMRT, visit the ALA website and follow the “Join ALA” link to add NMRT to your ALA membership, it is well worth the low cost!  Successful applicants will show their attendance at ALA will impact their home institution, NMRT or another ALA organization, and their personal professional development.

Click Here to go to the application.

Questions? Please contact Katy Holder, Chair of the NMRT Professional Development Grant Committee, at holderk4@winthrop.edu.

Advocacy, General, Resources

Intellectual Freedom News from ALA

As part of our commitment to providing our members with news from around the profession, we are copying information for you from the latest ALA newsletter from the Office of Intellectual Freedom! Supporting the intellectual freedom of your patrons is an important aspect of being an library professional; so here is some news on how this topic is shaping up around the country!

At the end is information on how to subscribe for yourself, or to follow them on social media.

Continue reading Intellectual Freedom News from ALA →

Communication, General

Call for Volunteer Judges (in person and virtual) 2017 PR Xchange Awards Competition

CMLE members: we encourage you to attend conferences (virtual and in person), so you can hang out with people who do thing things you do in libraries. There are many conferences across Minnesota that would be interesting to you, and the American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference is coming to our (general) area this June! If you have not been to one yet – picture more than 25,000 library people, from every corner of the library world, with every job and every title possible in libraries, all gathered together to learn, network, and to have fun!

If you have experience in marketing, graphic design, or communications, and can get together virtually on April 4th, this would be a fun introduction to the conference!

Continue reading Call for Volunteer Judges (in person and virtual) 2017 PR Xchange Awards Competition →

General, Training

Circulating Unusual Items: A Webinar

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CMLE members: some of you already have unusual items you are circulating, and some of you are considering them. Everyone might enjoy this webinar on these items from the Association of Specialized & Cooperative Library Agencies (ASCLA)!

Join in on Tuesday, February 7!

There is a growing trend of adding “unusual items” to libraries’ circulating collections. Circulating cake pans, post- hole diggers, ukuleles, soil testers, bread machines and more is exciting and impactful, but challenging. This talk introduces and contextualizes the trend, discusses best practices, addresses common questions, and suggests a plan for adding unusual items to your own library. Continue reading Circulating Unusual Items: A Webinar →

Advocacy, Communication

Statement from MLA President Amy Boese

CMLE continues to serve as your sources for news around the profession. There are a lot of changes happening nationally that affect libraries, and library activities and missions. We are sharing information from our professional organizations with you to help you sort through ideas for yourself, and to have professional information to share with your stakeholders.

Sharing information freely, and understanding the value of valid and reliable resources as part of information literacy, are cornerstones of our professional work. These are issues we deal with every day in the library. Any changes to these core ideas are a problem for us, and we want to be able to address them.

People sometimes ask what kinds of things would be appropriate topics for library advocacy. Certainly anything you feel impacts your work in libraries, or libraries across the country, would be very appropriate to discuss!  You should feel empowered to talk with your legislators (local, state, and federal) to share your experiences and your views. (If you want to practice an elevator speech, or having another set of eyes look at an email draft – CMLE is here to help you!)

Read on for the MLA statement: Continue reading Statement from MLA President Amy Boese →