Tag Archives: information

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.

How to Keep Libraries Relevant

Image by MLibrary. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Common's licensing.
Image by MLibrary. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Common’s licensing.

A recent post on the Education Week blog caught my eye, and captured the true dilemma many librarians and media specialists face as they ponder the future of libraries. The post is most specific to K-12, yet there are parallels for other library types too. Author Matthew Lynch proposes that to keep up with student needs, school libraries need to embrace a blend of traditional and contemporary philosophical needs (then takes the time to list them out). It is not hard to understand that remote access to the school catalog is a huge deal to students, yet so many schools in our region do not provide such access. In some districts, individual schools cannot even see each other’s catalogs. Why is that? Is it only a money thing, or do some believe our power remains in forcing people to  physically visit the library or in asking the  media person to do a search for them? Students want instant, remote access  to school catalogs for  books and other objects too. The post concluded with a rousing conclusion about Libraries of the Future and our own Minnesota school media leader Doug Johnson provided a great quote in this section.  Johnson says “that all libraries have three primary responsibilities in the coming decade: providing high touch environments in a high tech world; offering virtual services; and standing ground as uber information hubs.”  If decision makers are willing to break out of the traditional rut, school libraries (all libraries) will remain relevant and viable. Take five minutes to read the complete post, including  quotes from other thought leaders on this subject!

Patricia Post, Director
Central MN Libraries Exchange (CMLE)
A Minnesota Multitype Library System
St. Cloud State University, Miller Center 130-D
720 4th Ave. So.
St. Cloud, MN  56301-4498

Phone: 320-308-4779  Fax: 320-308-5131
E-mail: papost@stcloudstate.edu

State Librarian Changes for MN

This past summer Nancy Walton announced her retirement as the State Librarian for Minnesota. In a recent interview by Minitex she stated, “The best advice that I could give for you… don’t cling to the past, be willing to embrace the future.” Click here to listen/download the entire interview with Nancy Walton as she looks back on her career. Since then, Kevin McHenry, Assistant Commissioner has been meeting with various library systems to talk about the pending transitions in leadership and to identify a list of current issues.

Here is a statement written by McHenry on 9/11/13;

Over the last month I have had an opportunity to work closely with State Library Services as Acting Chief Library Officer.  I have developed an understanding of the needs and challenges that libraries in Minnesota are facing today and am eager to take the next steps in restructuring State Library Services so that the division is poised to support quality library services that address the needs of Minnesotans.

As we move forward with planning for a new Director/State Librarian while also supporting division staff on a day-to-day basis, I am pleased to announce that Jennifer R. Nelson has accepted the position of Interim Director. Jen has worked in and for libraries for well over 25 years. Her extensive background includes stints as a children’s librarian, reference librarian, interlibrary loan coordinator, archives assistant, e-resource and training coordinator and more. She is recognized across the United States for her work in developing innovative technology programs for youth and is the author of “Technology and literacy: 21st century library programming for children and teens” (ALA Editions, 2012).  Jen also serves as an adjunct faculty member in St. Catherine University’s MLIS program, teaching a course in grant writing and proposal development. Her expertise in administration, project management and partnership development will ensure a consistent level of support for Minnesota’s libraries and build on the work that we have already accomplished. Jen can be reached directly at 651-582-8791 or Jennifer.r.nelson@state.mn.us

I will be working closely with Jen during her time as interim director and continue to welcome your thoughts, ideas and feedback on how State Library Services can best address the needs of libraries.

Kevin McHenry
Assistant Commissioner
Minnesota Department of Education
O: 651.582.8250   M: 612.306.0895
Email: kevin.mchenry@state.mn.us

“Leading for educational excellence and equity- Every day for every one”

New (Re-Direct) Links for Britannica School K-12

The new Britannica School interfaces went live in July!

This new platform has been developed for Britannica School resources.  Therefore, if your school media center uses Britannica you will want to obtain a copy of the following updated links to access K-12 databases;

Image retrieved from Britannica School website. All rights reserved
Image retrieved from Britannica School website. All rights reserved

Other points of interest:

  • Previous links will only be redirected until December 2013.
  • In the months to come, Minitex Reference Outreach & Instruction plans on offering webinars.
  • Users of Britannica’s Public Library Edition and Academic Edition are not affected by this change.
  • There is a new lesson plan builder feature in Britannica School.

A recent article in Reference Notes (September 2013) written by Beth Staats, discusses the new Lesson Plan Builder tool. Staats states the following,

“One of the new features, specifically for teachers, is the Lesson Plan Builder. It is available in My Britannica, which is a tool that allows you to save and share content . You’ll need to create a free account to access it and use the Teacher Code KMVL when setting up your account . Once I logged in with the teacher code, I was shown a page that introduced me to the features available in My Britannica . This tool lets you save and organize favorites and create descriptive tags for those items; lets you search for interactive lessons, study guides, and lesson plans; and lets you create lesson plans.”

Click here to read the full Minitex article in Reference Notes on page 4.

Staying Connected with CMLE via Email

CMLE wants to stay connected with you! One of the ways we do this is by sending specific and targeted emails to five distinct listservs. We do our best to keep the messages basic so that the email isn’t blocked or marked as spam by your email service; however, we have found that some of our library personnel struggle with this quite a bit. Below we’ve provided some key information about staying connected with CMLE – feel free to apply some of these techniques to other contacts you wish to stay in touch with as well!

Have you noticed that many important emails are showing up in junk folders or on spam reports?   This problem can easily be fixed in five (maybe more) ways.

  1. The best way of preventing  important emails from going into your spam report or junk folder is to add the sender(s) to your safe senders list. See the section below for CMLE addresses to add to your safe sender list. In Outlook software, go into the junk folder, right click on a spam message, and add the sender to your safe sender list.
  2. Add important senders to your Contacts list. If you use Outlook, each time you add a person to your Contacts list, that person is automatically added to your safe sender list.
  3. The last way is by taking people off of your blocked senders list.  Once a sender ends up in your spam folder, that sender’s emails may (or may not) continue going there. This is because in some email  programs, some contacts in the spam folder are automatically added to the blocked senders list.  You will want to go into your blocked senders list. Remove the important people from this list so you will still get their messages.
  4. Have you tried the three options above and still haven’t gotten anywhere? Or, are you just not sure about this whole process? Print out this blog post, take it to your tech person, and ask for their assistance in putting the addresses in the next section on your Safe Senders list (sometimes also referred to as a whitelist).
  5. Have you tried the options above and aren’t able to work with your tech support? Contact Kate Bessey at kmbessey@stcloudstate.edu for help!

CMLE Addresses to Add to your Safe Sender or Contacts List

Most of our members can easily spot which listserv below that they would be included on. Board members or those not necessarily affiliated directly with a specific library type, may fall into Other. Consider your work setting, then select which of following five selections below as the most probable list you would reside on.  Please add it to your safe senders list (some email services also call it a whitelist).

  1. Academic Library Listserv: cmle-list-academic-bounces@lists.stcloudstate.edu
  2. K-12 Library Media Center Listserv: cmle-list-k-12-bounces@lists.stcloudstate.edu
  3. Public Library Listserv: cmle-list-public-bounces@lists.stcloudstate.edu
  4. Special Library Listserv: cmle-list-special-bounces@lists.stcloudstate.edu
  5. Other Listserv: cmle-list-other-bounces@lists.stcloudstate.edu

In addition, it is important to make sure you can receive email from the following three email addresses by adding these to your Contacts or safe senders list.

papost@stcloudstate.edu (Patricia Post)

kmbessey@stcloudstate.edu (Kate Bessey)

cmle@stcloudstate.edu (This email sends you overdue and cancellation letters on your CMLE interlibrary loan items, and it is also used by our ILL Assistant, Danielle.)

Final Important Tip

Please remember to check your Junk folder or spam report at least once a week. Sometimes, a subject line on a message will send an email to your Junk folder, even if messages from that person don’t typically go there, and even if they are included on your safe senders list and on your Contacts list.

CMLE cannot guarantee that all of our 319 member libraries receive all pertinent emails sent from our office. Your diligence in checking your spam folder and addressing problems as outlined in this communication are very much appreciated and will go a long way towards ensuring that you will receive emails about promotions, discounts, and free offers. Thank you.