Tag Archives: CMLE

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Meetup Events in January (including one this week!)

Happy Monday, friends! The holidays may be over but we have plenty of opportunities to get together and enjoy some book-related fun this month.

This week on Wednesday, January 8th from 5:30-7:30pm we will be having our next Relaxed Readers Meetup event! We will be meeting at Mexican Village Downtown. RSVP here!

Our book group had the option to all read the same book this month (Gretchen Rubin’s The Happiness Project) but this is absolutely not required reading. I loved hearing about all the different books people were reading last month! 📚

Can’t make it this week?

We have more meetups planned this month (read below) and will soon have a February date to share, too!

Tuesday, Jan. 21st 6 – 8pm: Crafting Meetup!
Bring your craft project to the session, and let’s have some time to chat and get some work done. Be prepared to admire other people’s work! Join us in the small meeting room at the St Cloud public library; just come in the front door, turn right, and we are in the second room. RSVP here.

Thursday, Jan. 23rd 6-8pm: Read Your Book Session at Crossroads Center
Did you set a New Year’s resolution to read more books, or do you like to read and lack the time? Join us!
We will be in the food court in Crossroads Mall in St. Cloud, all sitting together with our books. You can snack or have dinner at any of the venues, or just enjoy your book. Come in and out on your schedule – we’ll just be happy to see you! RSVP here.

CMLE

Buying Gifts Through Amazon? You Can Support CMLE at the same time!

There are so many ways to support CMLE: apply for scholarships or mini grants, take advantage of our VR headset loan program, attend member events and postcard parties, join us on Patreon!

Another very easy way to support us is by making your Amazon purchases through this link! Amazon will not tell us who you are or what you buy, but they will give us a small percentage of the total profit they make on your purchase.

Click our links anywhere we have book information (like in our Book Bouquet articles) or just visit Amazon from our site. Anything you buy during that visit to Amazon will be counted toward our total.

We are so grateful for your support! Our work is to strengthen our library community and these funds earned allow us to continue doing just that!

Check it Out:, School Media Specialist, Tech

Training in November for our FREE VR Device Loan Program!

If you are a school library member of CMLE, you can borrow VR kits for your school!

Come to our training event on Tuesday, Nov. 5th and learn how to use the headset devices!

📣🎆Have you heard the news? CMLE has VR kits to loan FOR FREE to our school library members! 🎉🎆

Apply here!

We’ll have a morning and afternoon training session with lunch in between so both sessions can eat. Please feel free to attend both sessions in order to get comfortable using the headsets and Portal.

Training will be held at our location: 570 1st St. SE St. Cloud MN 56304. We are inside the cmERDC building and have a large classroom to use.

The first session will be from 9am-12pm and the second from 1pm-3pm. CMLE will provide lunch from 12-1pm. (And if you’re here in the morning and have a book you’re reading that you’d like to tell us about, we will happily record a quick Book Bites podcast episode with you!)

If you can’t make it to the training, you can definitely still reserve the headsets for use at your school (provided you are a CMLE member school library) and you should still Apply Here!

At this training session, you will learn how to operate the devices, find lessons that line up with your curriculum, send the VR/AR content to the devices, and use the headsets effectively in your library, media center, or classroom.

Visit our page to find out more information about the VR kit loan program, including instructions and links to additional materials.

And if you apply ahead of time, you can definitely pick up your VR headset kit at this training event! You’ll get to keep the kit (each kit has 8 headsets) until schools close for winter break.

Please RSVP below if you plan to come to this training. Email any questions to vr@cmle.org 🙂

This program is funded in part with a grant from the Minnesota Department of Education using federal funding, CFDA 45.310 – Library Services and Technology Act, Grants to States Program (LS-00-19-0024-19). We would love you to send your thanks to @US_IMLS and with @MnDeptEd for providing this great program we can share with our members!

Programs

Upcoming Member Event: They/Them Project at CSB!

Next Month! Join CMLE and attend the They Them Project Discussion on October 9th at 7pm, Gorecki 204C

Facilitator: Brent Dundore, Creator of the They/Them Project
Participants: Rue Ether, Oscar E. Menjivar and Mikko

The They/Them Project interviews individuals who currently use or previously used gender nonconforming pronouns. The project informs individuals about how words and actions affect the Trans+ community. Brent Dundore has taken photographs of the individuals he interviews. Those photographs would be on display at Alcuin Library.

If CMLE members would like to meet early and go to this event together, please RSVP below!

CMLE, Communication

CMLE’s Top Posts of the Year!

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It’s always fun for us to take a look back on our most read posts and pages from the past academic year. We like to learn what our community is reading about!

  1. Our most read page was our Book Bites Quickie Podcast! We have so much fun recording this, and we’re SO glad you like to listen! Life needs more book recommendations and this quick podcast is easy to fit into your day 🙂
  2. And going right along with number one is our second place winner – our Reading With Libraries page! Each week we invite a guest to tell us about their favorite book genre. We get to learn, share unique and delicious drink recipes, and gather strategies for Reader’s Advisory! Oh, and gush over books, too.
  3. People like to learn about our podcasts! Linking Our Libraries is in third place. This podcast is focused on improving your leadership abilities and working on specific library skills. We hear from local professionals and cover a fantastic variety of topics!
  4. Episode 209: Young Adult Literature has been a popular post. We had Kate and Dezra from the St. Cloud Public Library as Guest Hosts and it was a very energetic conversation!
  5. Officially our most listened-to podcast episode, Episode 210 Magical Realism is such a cool genre to explore! Our Guest Host Kelly from the St. John’s/St. Ben’s library shared some wonderful book titles with us.
  6. Need some ideas for apps to incorporate into your education work? Our series on the AASL Recommended Apps has detailed suggestions for you, and PBS Kid’s Games was a popular one this year.
  7. We LOVE awarding scholarships! Our page CMLE Scholarships was visited many times (and you should go check it out if you need a scholarship for some professional development!)
  8. Reader’s Advisory is such an important part of working in the library community! This article, part of our Training Tips series, won the number eight spot on our list.
  9. Another Training Tip: Student Library Assistant Training Guide: Shelving Basics made the Top Post cutoff!
  10. It is so rewarding to see advocacy efforts having an impact! Our page Did You Receive A Library Postcard? for the legislators and library stakeholders that we contacted via postcard was definitely sharing the value of libraries this year!