Tag Archives: fun

Advocacy, Communication

Day Twenty Six of the CMLE Summer Fun Library Tour!

I absolutely love the library profession! There is such a range of ideas, things to do, and interests and skills across the profession – it’s great to see!!

This video is a few years old now, but it makes me smile every time I see it. Whether or not Lady Gaga, or singing library people, are your personal interest – use this as a springboard for your own creativity! What can you do in your library to make it more fun, to show people what you do, or just to have something to talk about with other library people who will be interested in your ideas and projects? Dive in and try something new!! We are all about fun experiments here at CMLE HQ!!

Librarians Do Gaga

“Students and faculty from the University of Washington’s Information School get their groove on.

Directed, edited, and produced by Sarah Wachter.
Lyrics by Sarah Wachter.
Lyrics available here: http://www.athenasbanquet.net/2010/05…
More info available here: http://www.athenasbanquet.net/2010/05…
Now captioned for the Deaf and hearing impaired.

Vocals and sound editing by Laura Mielenhausen.”

CMLE, Communication, Visits

It’s Summer – Hang Out with CMLE Library People!

Summer FlowersAh, summer! We all live for the relaxing, slower pace of the hot weather. (Okay, fewer mosquitoes would be good; but that’s a small quibble!)

And eventually everyone gets tired of hanging out, and wishes for some good library discussion. We are here to help with that!

We really enjoyed having our social events in the winter and spring; and are looking forward to hearing from you guys about your summer work, any plans you are making for upcoming programs, and any other interesting library things you want to share! (And it’s ALL interesting when it comes to library stuff!!)

So let’s set up some times and places we can meet up to talk. Vote below for some general days and times that will work out for you. We anticipate setting up multiple events, at different times and places, so everyone who wants to do so can come visit, chat, and have some unstructured time to hang out with your library colleagues from across the system! (It’s possible that I’m just biased; but I think we have the most interesting discussions and people! Come check it out for yourself!)

We are putting together plans for a September “Welcome To Fall” event; so feel free to share any ideas you might have for that. More details will be available as we get closer to September.

Now go enjoy yourself, listen to some back episodes of our “Linking Our Libraries” podcast, and follow along with our Summer Fun Library Tour posts each day to get a quick, fun library story!

What day is generally best for you over the summer? (check as many as you want)

What general time would work best for you? (again, check all that work)

What general geographic area would be good for you to meet us? (still: pick all that work for you)

Would you rather have meals/snacks, or rather have a focused activity (again: choose any that sound fun!)

CMLE, Communication

Day Twenty One of the CMLE Summer Fun Library Tour!

Librarians may have problems, but they are funny!

Well, they are funny in meme form on the Tumblr Librarian Problems! And even when your problems are not so immediately funny in real life, it’s good to know that other library people face the same problems you do – and are laughing at them!

This one made me laugh, because I’ve been had this conversation a million times!

DESCRIBING LIBRARIANSHIP TO NON-LIBRARIANS

As well as this one:

WHEN A PATRON ASSUMES WE DON’T HAVE A BOOK BECAUSE IT’S NOT ON THE SHELF

And I looooove this one!

WHEN A TEEN SAYS THEY’RE BORED AND THEY HATE READING

To learn more about William, the creator, or to book him to speak at your library event, check out his information here!

Communication, Resources

Day Nineteen of the CMLE Summer Fun Library Tour!

Image result for librarian
Lego Librarian rare books at the MacOdrum Library, Carleton University

What do you do?

Are you tired of explaining that library workers do more than “just” checking out books all day? I am!! It’s important too, but we do lots of neat things!

Check out this list of real job titles people are using across the Library and Information Science (LIS) profession – it’s pretty amazing!! When I teach the Foundations class to LIS Master’s degree students, I always have them look at this list to help them think about the range of potential jobs they might look for as they work on their degrees.

Does it give you any ideas about trying for a fun new job, or changing around your job responsibilities?? At CMLE HQ, we are here to help with job hunting, policy/procedure redesign, and other strategies for making your job highly satisfactory for you!

Here are a few samples of jobs that might be not only cool, but just right for you!

  • Audiovisual/Special Materials Cataloger
  • Bioterrrorism Librarian
  • Copyright/Reference Librarian
  • Document Analyst
  • Extended Campus Librarian
  • Federal Depository Librarian
  • Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Librarian
  • Humanities and Fine Arts Librarian
  • Information Resource Officer
  • Manuscripts and Archives Librarian
  • Photoarchivist
  • Strategic Information Manager
  • University Archivist
  • Wired For Youth Librarian
  • Zoo Librarian
Books, Resources

Day Eighteen of the CMLE Summer Fun Library Tour!

LOC Main Reading Room Highsmith

The Library of Congress belongs to all of us. Not only is it an amazing resource for anyone in the library profession, but it also as an amazing symbol of the value of libraries and national access to, and storage of, information! We are a pretty amazing profession, and the LOC is our professional home.

Check out these Fascinating Facts about the LOC, and click on their page to learn even more!

Origins

The Library was founded in 1800, making it the oldest federal cultural institution in the nation. On August 24, 1814, British troops burned the Capitol building (where the Library was housed) and destroyed the Library’s core collection of 3,000 volumes. On January 30, 1815, Congress approved the purchase of Thomas Jefferson’s personal library of 6,487 books for $23,950.

Statistics

The Library of Congress is the largest library in the world, with more than 164 million items on approximately 838 miles of bookshelves. The collections include more than 38 million books and other printed materials, 3.6 million recordings, 14 million photographs, 5.5 million maps, 8.1 million pieces of sheet music and 70 million manuscripts.

The Collections

The Library receives some 15,000 items each working day and adds approximately 12,000 items to the collections daily. The majority of the collections are received through the Copyright registration process, as the Library is home to the U.S. Copyright Office. Materials are also acquired through gift, purchase, other government agencies (state, local and federal), Cataloging in Publication (a pre-publication arrangement with publishers) and exchange with libraries in the United States and abroad. Items not selected for the collections or other internal purposes are used in the Library’s national and international exchange programs. Through these exchanges the Library acquires material that would not be available otherwise. The remaining items are made available to other federal agencies and are then available for donation to educational institutions, public bodies and nonprofit tax-exempt organizations in the United States.

Continue reading Day Eighteen of the CMLE Summer Fun Library Tour! →