Tag Archives: Event

Check this out:, School Media Specialist

TIES Technical Leadership Conference in St. Cloud

Mary Mehsikomer, TIES, announces that the TIES Technical Leadership Conference will be held on February 14-15, 2013 at the St. Cloud Convention Center. Click on this link  for more information and a registration link.

Or, go directly to http://tinyurl.com/avmz6rp for the conference website.
I hope to see you there! If you have questions, please feel free to call or e-mail me.ties
Mary

Mary Mehsikomer
Technology Integration Development & Outreach Facilitator
TIES
1667 Snelling Avenue North
St. Paul, MN 55108
(651) 999-6510
E-mail: mary.mehsikomer@ties.k12.mn.us
http://www.ties.k12.mn.us

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

New ELM Webinars

ELMPlease take a look at the new ELM offerings for January – April 2013,  and get creative! You could use some of these free webinars to help raise awareness and help teachers/librarians/paras get their feet wet in using the databases. Then, when they start using them for specific needs,  and have more in-depth questions, you can be the in-house expert! You could also consider hosting a viewing party for some of these webinars! Maybe you need a refresher or want to learn something new; that works well too with this free, accessible content! The link at the bottom will get you to more in depth descriptions and registration information!

• Employment Research with ELM
• Intro to ELM for Teachers (all 5 sessions)
• Intro to ELM for Teachers: Elementary School (session 1)
• Intro to ELM for Teachers: Social Studies (session 2)
• Intro to ELM for Teachers: Science (session 3)
• Intro to ELM for Teachers: English Language Arts (session 4)
• Intro to ELM for Teachers: Education Professional Development (session 5)
• Educational Games in Britannica for Elementary Students
• The History of Minnesota – Digitized for Your Convenience
• Multimedia in ELM
• After School Homework Help with ELM
• Online Information Literacy and ELM
• ELM Over Lunch Series (all 3 sessions)
• ELM Over Lunch: Consumer Health Complete (session 1)
• ELM Over Lunch: MasterFILE Premier (session 2)
• ELM Over Lunch: ProQuest Newsstand Complete (session 3)
• Perspectives on Current Events
• Primary Sources in ELM
• Accessing Your ELM Usage Statistics
• Personalize (and Share!) Your News Experience with ProQuest Newsstand Complete
• Best Practices in Virtual Reference

Register now for our upcoming ELM webinar offerings, January-April 2013, and remember  that most of these offerings will be available in archived format too!

Academic, Check this out:, Special

Save the Date for ARLD Day

Mark your calendars; ARLD Day is coming soon!  Join us on April 26, 2013 as we explore Changing Collections: Advocating for our Future.  This annual gathering is hosted by the Minnesota Libraryaward Association’s Academic and Research Libraries Division.

Our keynote speaker, Jenica Rogers, is the Director of Libraries at the State University of New York at Potsdam.  She has taken a stand against unsustainable pricing structures by database content providers, most notably by cancelling the American Chemical Society journal package for 2013 and instituting alternate resources.  In addition, Rogers has said she will not agree to anymore non-disclosure forms with publishers going forward.  Will librarians follow her lead in advocating for our future?  See her blog at http://www.attemptingelegance.com and recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education at http://chronicle.com/article/As-Chemistry-Journals-Prices/134650/

Look for ARLD’s call for conference session proposals, in both full-length and “lightning round” formats.  We will be calling for submissions on a variety of topics such as: innovations in collection development, publisher/vendor relationships, teaching and learning, mobility and e-learning, e-books in academia, reference and outreach, assessment and impact, advocacy through social media, purchase on demand, patron driven acquisition, open access publishing, and marketing and promotion.

In addition we are seeking nominations for the Innovator’s Award which recognizes librarians or project teams who have made an outstanding recent contribution to advance the mission of an academic library in Minnesota.  More information is available at .http://www.mnlibraryassociation.org/awards/minnesota-academic-innovators-award

We hope you will be able to join us on April 26, 2013, at the beautiful University of Minnesota Arboretum in Chanhassen. Registration information will be available in March.  It’s a great opportunity to share ideas, connect with colleagues, and explore new ideas for your library.

Randi Madisen, Electronic Resources Librarian

Century College Library, 651-779-3292

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

Spotlight on Books Conference

Press Release

Spotlight on Books Book Conference Coming in April

(Wednesday, January 16, 2013)

Moorhead, MN  – A conference for adults concerned with helping youth find involvement and satisfaction with the best books have to offer will be held April 11 – 13, 2013, at Ruttger’s Sugar Lake Lodge Resort, Grand Rapids, MN.  This will be the 25th anniversary of the conference Spotlight on Books.

Conference workshops will include a Caldecott Crash Course where members from the 2009 and 2012 national Caldecott committee will describe how the annual award is chosen.  Featured authors for this year’s conference include Susan Marie Swanson, winner of the 2009 Minnesota Book Award, and Karen Cushman, author of Will Sparrow’s Road which was named one of Publisher’s Weekly Best Book of 2012.

“Over the years, Spotlight on Books has proven to be both entertaining and informative, helping people who work with young people share the joy of books,” said Kathy Enger, executive director of the Northern Lights Library Network (NLLN).  “This year’s program promises to fully carry on this 25 year tradition.”

A full conference schedule and registration can be found at http://spotlightonbooks.weebly.com or by calling the Northern Lights Library Network at 1-800-450-1032.  Early bird registration for the full conference is $160 per person and must be received by March 15.  Full time students can attend for just $85.  A special conference rate for accommodations of $90 is available from Ruttgers.  Visit http://nlln.org/Ruttgerslodging2012.pdf for resort registration.

Spotlight on Books is organized by the following library agencies:  Arrowhead Library System, Minnesota Library Association Children’s and Young People Section, Friends of the Grand Rapids Public Library, Grand Rapids Public Library, Kitchigami Regional Library, Lake Agassiz Regional Library, Minnesota Education media Organization Literature Special Interest Division, Minnesota reading Association, North Country Library Cooperative, Northern Lights Library network, Northwest Regional Library, Viking Library System

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

E-Books and K-12 School Media Event Summary

Thanks to everyone who attended the E-Books and K-12 School Media event at RJ’s American Grill and Bar on Tuesday, January 8! Patricia and I were quite happy with the turn-out (20 participants!) and were glad to touch base with so many of you again.

The event kicked off around 3:30, with a brief welcome and introduction to the topic and the event from Patricia. Soon after, we launched Sue Polanka’s webinar recording. Polanka is a Head of Reference and Instruction at Wright State University and is the author of the No Shelf Required blog. Polanka shared some broad information about e-books, e-book readers, e-book lending, e-book publishing, and trends to be aware of. She is a big picture thinker, and provided a thorough overview for the topic of e-books.e-book

After Polanka’s video, we conversed for about 30 minutes on a variety of topics related to e-books and K-12 media. The evaluations from the event indicate that attendees appreciated the opportunity to discuss e-books with others from around the region. And, that there was value in seeing where others are “at” with e-books at their media centers. Next, we took a break, allowing the opportunity for attendees to grab some pizza – yum!

The last video presentation was from Chad Mairn. Chad Mairn is the Information Services Librarian and Adjunct Professor at St. Petersburg College & Chief Technology Officer at Novare Library Services. Mairn was humorous and energizing, and talked about tips and tricks for library staff to help their patrons use their e-reading devices to their full potential. Specific focus areas included: dedicated and non-dedicated e-readers, new and innovative e-reading devices and software, current and upcoming e-formats, Digital Rights Management, privacy issues, and emerging technologies impacting reading in a digital age.

Attendees indicated that as a result of attending this event, they hope to:

  • share what they’ve learned about e-books with other media specialists in their district
  • publicize & market their current e-book collection
  • engage in broad discussions within their district about e-books
  • look into links and websites shared by the presenters
  • investigate e-book publishers/providers