Image by Bogeskov. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Common’s licensing.
A few weeks ago, we had a spirited conversation after a fire drill about risk, and how far an employee should be expected to go when a college student will not vacate the university library during a fire drill. And what about if there had been a real fire? Should library staff be expected to risk their lives for patrons who will not comply with announcements to vacate the building? Needless to say, there were feelings expressed, and some with passion too! Let me tell you a story about risk and passion…..
I read a story about a children’s librarian in Queens (Miss Susan) who made a promise for her summer reading program. If at least 300 children registered and read at least 4,000 books over the summer, she would read a story to a live alligator! In past years she has made other outrageous promises too, made good on all of them, but this one topped the previous ones! Well, you guessed it, Miss Susan read “There’s an Alligator Under My Bed” by Mercer Mayer to Wally, a female alligator. Read the full story and please be aware that after hearing the story, Wally had no comment!
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!
CMLE announces the following staffing changes in the region;
Annie Allen, Media Specialist, Elk River Area School District
Eric Hall, Library Technician-Circulation, St. Cloud State University, Learning Resources Services
Kelly K. Kraemer, Business Information & Outreach Librarian, College of St. Benedict’s
Laurie Conzemius, Media & Technology Integration, Park Rapids Area Schools
Laurie Muellenbach, Media Assistant, Pine Meadows Elementary, Sartell
Mary Ramacher, Library Technician-ILL, St. Cloud State University, Learning Resources Services
Rachel Dale, Media/Library Supervisor, Maple Lake High School
Roxanne Backowski, Library Technician-Circulation, St. Cloud State University, Learning Resources Services
Job announcements:
District Technician, Princeton Public Schools (ISD #477) Link
Technology Coordinator, Mora Public Schools (ISD# 332) Link
Image by Charles Jeffrey Danoff. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Common’s licensing.
All librarians/media specialists teach! Some are assigned specific courses, others work with classes throughout the year and many collaborate with other teachers to identify resources and develop appropriate curriculum.
Dawn Casey-Rowe wrote an article for new teachers sharing her experiences, and offering sound advice that is applicable for first year newbies to seasoned veterans. This post includes lists of resources and adoption tips; stressing the importance of mentoring, developing checklists, managing behaviors, etc. Even more valuable may be the links to additional resources. Click here to read the full article, 10 Digital Resources for New Teachers (August 2013.)
Tip: A learnist board is a visual repository of articles and resources. While reading the 50 Different Bulletin Boards for Your Classroom, I navigated my way to a “how to” learnist board about writing. Click here to view the board.
Image by Jessaaz. Retrieved from FlickR. Used under Creative Commons licensing.
An article in Brain Hive placed by a high school librarian refers to the impact Tumblr had on her teen patrons. Robin Brenner professes that using this form of social media is even more affluent than Facebook or Twitter. Robin goes on to list essential tips (8) on how she successfully marketed library resources, to teens, with Tumblr. She also shares her top picks for current sites categorized by Teen Lit Tumblrs, Tumblarians, Teen Authors who Tumble, etc. Click here to read, Power Tumbl’ng: Why Tumblr Is a Great Way to Reach Teen Patrons (September 2013.)
In a related post, The Library Is Open: A Look at Librarians and Tumblr(June 2013), Molly Mcardle talks about how librarians have and can incorporate Tumblr in their work. Molly quotes other types of librarians targeting a wide range of patrons who also use Tumblr.
This fiscal year concludes on June 30, 2013, and it has been a whirlwind of change and transitions in Central MN Libraries Exchange (CMLE)! It’s good to look back over the year, while also looking forward to next year and exciting new possibilities! I’ve included a few highlights as a warm up to writing year-end reports soon:
Beginning last July, CMLE vowed to Refocus, Retool, and Evolve at the conclusion of its strategic planning process. The Governing Board helped us make some hard decisions. The most significant one was the sunsetting of our physical interlibrary loan service after a 10 year downward spiral in usage. Costs for providing the service have not decreased, so the cost/benefit analysis spoke loudly to all involved. We continue to assist users of that service in finding alternate ways to order interlibrary loans.
The Board got even more excited about the results of an opportunity analysis for CMLE, some of which you experienced this year.
Beginning in September, we replaced our quarterly newsletter and began to use our weekly communication streams including our Weekly Review email messages, our blog posts, Facebook and Twitter. The first month we made this change, we went from 62 hits on our blog to 584! News on the street was that our users loved this change and we loved the new freedom and immediacy that a blogging platform provided to us. By January, we more than doubled our September blog hits at 1,506!
We offered two popular e-book events in the fall; one for academics, one for K-12 media personnel. We also continued our Bridging Information Literacy Across Libraries initiative work, including a college student survey to 400 students, and beginning development of a video.
Kate Bessey left CMLE in January to return to her librarian role at Rasmussen College.
Michelle Kiley began as our invaluable new Information Specialist upon Kate’s departure.
I took a six week medical leave of absence to replace a very worn out hip in mid-February. Ouch, but much better now!
Upon my return we initiated seven Quick Question Polls (QQP’s) on various topics to gather data to help us refocus our programming in FY14.
In early June, I will return to the orthopedic workshop for a new knee. I know, it’s been a tough year! Michelle proved her ability to hold down the fort during my first leave, and will valiantly do the same this summer.
Our summer CMLE to-do list is quite different from our weekly work during the academic year. Summer is an important time for administrative work including year-end reports, discount agreements, internal system updates, program planning, and our commitments to library conference planning too. So, it might seem a bit sad, but our Weekly Review and associated blog posts will be on a short hiatus during the summer months, but we will be back in the Fall! We will continue to wrap our arms around the glut of library news and opportunity, distill it down to an easy to digest format, and write it up again for you starting in September. We remain committed to offering tips, shortcuts and application ideas too. According to one of our QQP’s, many of you will be gearing down a bit in your professional summer reading too, so we hope this little blip in service gives everyone a refreshing “breather”. Watch your email in the event that something significant happens this summer that we feel a need to share immediately. Otherwise, enjoy quiet moments of summer serenity curled up with a good book under a big shady tree. Summer is a great time to renew and refresh. See you online in the Fall!
Didn’t have time to read any of our blog posts this year? Go to http://cmleinfofeed.wordpress.com/ and meander through this year’s posts!
CMLE Director, Patricia Post
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
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