Tag Archives: GRRL

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

GRRL Offers Teens and Children the Opportunity to Read Down their Fines

Read Down Your FinesCalling all young adults!  This month, all 32 Great River Regional Library (GRRL) branches will be offering opportunities for minors (ages 16 and under) with late fees to lower their fines by reading!  Read Down Your Fines Week will take place from October 13th through the 18th, concurrent with national Teen Read Week.  For every 15 minutes of reading the minor does at the library, $1 will be waived from their fines.  GRRL says, “in the case of very young children with fines on their cards, parents will be able to read down their child’s fines by reading to them in the library.”  The event applies to late fees, but not to lost or damaged materials.

The program is designed to get teens back into the library – library patron services specialist Beth Ringsmuth Stolpman says, “When teen are not allowed to check out materials they may feel unwelcome in our buildings.”  The first Read Down Your Fines Week was held in June of 2013, and the event was repeated again later that year.  GRRL reports that about 400 teens and children read their fines down to $0 in those two weeks, allowing them to check out materials again.  Click here for more information.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

GRRL Educator Request Form

GRRLAre you a busy educator in need of a collection of learning resources for study at your school? A new service from Great River Regional Library (GRRL) is here to help you out!

“Using the Educator Request Form on the GRRL website, educators can request subject-specific library materials by specifying the grade level they are teaching, the information they need, how the information will be used, and the sources already checked. On receiving the request, library staff will pull together a selection of books from across the region that are suitable for the specified classroom use. The educator can then pick up the materials at whichever of the library’s 32 locations he or she selects” (Press Release).

Among other reference and research services, the Educator Request Form can be found under the Ask A Librarian link on the library’s home page.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Explore eBooks MN Summit: A CMLE Scholarship

Jami TThe following post was submitted by CMLE scholarship recipient Jami Trenam, Associate Director, Collection Development at Great River Regional Library

Explore eBooks MN Summit

Thanks to a scholarship from CMLE I was able to attend the Explore eBooks MN summit in August 2014. It was a thought-provoking and exciting day as dozens of Minnesota library staff brainstormed ways to make eBooks easier for our patrons and communities to use. I was struck by everyone’s passion to ensure eContent is accessible to all Minnesota libraries and patrons.

I was inspired and impressed by Deb Hoadley’s work to coordinate a statewide eBook project in Massachusetts. I hope we in Minnesota can learn from the successes and challenges of the MA project. I was very struck by the research Hoadley shared regarding the disparity between staff and user experience: 87% of patrons reported they found what they were looking for, where only 56% of library staff reporting their needs were met. Additionally, I was intrigued by the concept of the state supporting the platform, and the libraries providing content. The concept of statewide collection development is cumbersome and exciting all at once!

I was also taken with Mark Sandler’s presentation on libraries of the future. He encouraged academic libraries to be the cosmetic counter on campus: offer a one-on-one consultation experience. Sandler asserted that people use libraries for service, and perhaps reference is not the service they need. I enjoy the challenge that the ideology of traditional library philosophy is at odds with patron needs. I came away from the session wondering how my library can help solve the problems that keep our patrons up at night, how can we help people achieve their goals – this is certainly one way how libraries will remain relevant in the digital age.

On the drive home from the summit I found myself grappling with more questions than I came with: should libraries even be in the best-seller business? How can libraries better serve local authors? How can we help preserve our local content? I’m contemplating digitizing yearbooks and city directories. I also love the idea of a postcard “End the Digital Lockout” advocacy campaign and I’m thinking about how that concept can be applied to my library’s funding challenges. Thank you, CMLE! Not only did I have the opportunity to work with other professionals to propose how a statewide eBook program could work, I left with a renewed sense of hope. Libraries are truly stronger when we work together, and I look forward to cooperative efforts with partner libraries in the future.

 

Did you miss the Explore ebooks MN series of webinars? Not able to make it to the Explore ebooks MN Summit? Not to worry, all content from the webinars and summit are available at the Explore ebooks MN website.

 

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

We’ve Learned: Staffing News & Updates From Around the Region

CMLE-Central_Minnesota_Libraries_Exchange_

We’ve Learned… is designed to keep our readers informed about news concerning personnel in CMLE libraries/media centers. Please keep us informed of any “happenings” regarding staff members in your area so that we can include them in the next write-up!  Happenings can include: changes in staffing, awards, honors… you get the idea!

Announcements

  • Jacob Grussing has accepted a new position with Scott County as the Library Director.
  • Michelle Kiley has accepted a permanent position with The Initiative Foundation as the Community and Economic Development Specialist.
  • Minnesota Educational Media Organization (MEMO) will officially change its name to Information and Technology Educators of Minnesota (ITEM) as of July 1, 2014.

Career Opportunities

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

GRRL’s Online Catalog Just Got Better!

Image retrieved online from GRRL. 11/18/13
Image retrieved online from GRRL 11/18/13.

A recent press release shared an exciting new development in our region. In addition to the expected bibliographic data we see in our GRRL search results, that information is now fortified with a service called NoveList Select!

According to the press release….” It makes book searches fun by providing recommendations readers will see as they browse online. For example, readers who look for Catching Fireby Suzanne Collins will not only see that the library owns multiple copies, but also that it is the second book in a series: the Hunger Games trilogy. They will also see covers of other series and other books recommended for readers of Catching Fire. Additional enhancements include listings for recommended authors, reader ratings and reviews, a link to the NoveList website, and extras from NoveList in the form of award winner listings and booktalk links.

NoveList Select turns a static catalog into a place for book discovery. The recommendations are created by a large team of experts at NoveList including numerous professional librarians. “Traditionally, readers would speak with their local librarian to get book recommendations,” said Jake Grussing, the library’s associate director for collection development. “That reader’s advisory still takes place, but large numbers of patrons now visit us online, and the addition of NoveList Select makes it possible for us to provide an equivalent kind of service to the online browser.”

Great River Regional Library’s website address is griver.org. GRRL provides library services at 32 public libraries in Benton, Morrison, Sherburne, Stearns, Todd and Wright Counties. It provides Central Minnesota residents with nearly 1 million books, CDs and DVDs, 250 public computers, programming and information services.