Tag Archives: CMLE

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

Librarian Salaries and Job Placement Data

Image by Photologue_NP. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by Photologue_NP. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

A variety of reports, studies, and survey results are now in, and open for your review. The good news or bad news depends on where your heart lies in the library field. Our biggest challenge is finding data that works equally well for academic, public, school, and special libraries. A number of links are provided here to help you hone in on what matters most to you. If you want to review the entire landscape of library types, consider reviewing all of the following links.

Most notable in placement rate was in school libraries. National school library placements dropped from 13.5 percent of the reported jobs in 2011 to 8.9 percent in 2012.  And, in the Midwest, the placement rate dropped from 40 percent of the reported school library positions in 2011 to 21.7 percent in 2012! However,  on a positive note, school media salaries improved by nearly two percent, rising from $44,515 in 2011 to $45,376 in 2012. Also of interest is that about 21 percent of job placements are in organizations other than library or information agencies. This encompasses state and federal governmental agencies, nonprofits, and corporate environments.

So, whether you are ready to celebrate good news or wallow in defeat, there is one last link to consider if you want to hear how others in the library field respond to their investment in their Masters in Library science and/or this data and/or the outlook and advice for the future. Go to the Beer Brarian blog to read and comment on the library landscape. Tip: Working on your degree right now? Read sage advice from those who hire!

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

Free MN Book Award Materials

MNBookAwards
Image Retrieved online from Minnesota Book Awards site 10/28/13.

MEMO and The Friends of The Saint Paul Public Library are providing free Minnesota Book Award materials for all MEMO members. Posters and bookmarks can be ordered online. Click here to request your materials.

Tip: Pass these on to your teachers and students; especially if they have incorporated a MN Book Award winner in their curriculum. For an additional cost, Honored Book Seals are also available.

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

Teaching Vocabulary Effectively

Image by Caitlinator. Retrieved from FlickR. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by Caitlinator. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

Danielle Hartman, Literacy and technology integration specialist, provides tips and tricks to teach PreK-8 students vocabulary.  Hartman emphasizes the importance of creating a fun and engaging environment for students. She stresses that the key is variety and outlines the following four activities for you to try in your lesson plan this month;

  1. Nuance Activity
  2. Vocabulary Word Panels
  3. Inductive Sort
  4. Power Words

Additional details about each activity can be found in the full article, 4 Activities to Effectively Teach Vocabulary posted by Edudemic (August 2013.)

If you would like suggestions for apps, Edudemic published an article on 3 Vocabulary Apps for SAT Takers and Lifelong Learners (February 2013.)

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

Game-Based Makerspaces

Image by Sergey Galyonkin. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by Sergey Galyonkin. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

Gaming programs are growing in some libraries across the United States.  In ALA’s blog The Scoop, Brian Mayer wrote an article detailing how he facilitated game creation, with students, using classroom curriculum.  Mayer is a gaming and library technology specialist at the Genesee Valley (N.Y.) Educational Partnership. When creating this game-based type of makerspace, he focuses on “…demonstrating concept understanding and mastery throughout the design process and in the finished product.” This work is accomplished in collaboration with classroom teachers and the school librarians.  Find out more about how Mayer engages and empowers youth in Creating Game-Based Makerspaces, (July 2013.)

Note:  Interested in incorporating games in your learning process?  Read the related article, How to Gamify Your Classroom (October 2013), in which the author decodes how you can win students over in five simple levels.

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

Library Test Kitchen

Image by the State Library of Victoria Collection. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Common's licensing.
Image by the State Library of Victoria Collection. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Common’s licensing.

Three years ago Jeffrey Schnapp, a faculty member at Harvard, began a library test kitchen engaging students in the School of Design to, “create a hybrid [library] space where analog and digital coexist.”  Striving to identify new ways to interact with books and the “material soul”  to blend into one library voice through design for both print and digital materials.

The “test kitchen” was set-up in the location of a former bookstore. Student projects were displayed using pop-up galleries in satellite locations, sharing with the campus community their projects, findings and design suggestions. Click here to read the full article published by Boston Globe, The Library Test Kitchen at Harvard written by Anne Gray Fischer (July 2013.)

Note: The Director of CMLE, Patricia Post, often writes under a subcategory called “Food for Thought” where she identifies articles that pertain to  all librarians and library types. This week she highlights a lecture on libraries by Neil Gaiman. Consider these posts throughout the year to help feed the soul of your library.