CMLE people – this is a great opportunity, so consider applying! I know Maureen Sullivan, and can tell you that she is wonderful at leading these events – you would really get a lot out of this program.
In upcoming years, CMLE will be offering this kind of intensive training program for members (and others); but if you can take advantage of this – please do! Remember we have some scholarship money to offset the cost!
From the ALA:
Applications for the 2017 “Leading to the Future” ALA Leadership Institute (August 7-10, Q Center, St. Charles, Illinois) will be accepted through April 13, 2017. The institute is designed to help future library leaders develop and practice their leadership skills in areas critical to the future of the libraries they lead.
Building on the success of the past ALA Leadership Institutes, the four-day immersive leadership development program for up to 40 mid-career librarians will be led again by ALA past-president Maureen Sullivan and library and leadership consultant Kathryn Deiss.
poster presentations are a fun way to meet people who do what you do!
CMLE libraries have a lot of great things to offer their communities and the library profession. And we would like to see you showing it off!
Do you have an interesting program? An exciting event? A neat way to organize, arrange, display, or circulate your materials?? Make a poster, and share it!
Posters are very simple to make, and at Headquarters we can give you all the help you need. It is a great way to share information with colleagues, and you have the chance to learn all kinds of interesting ideas from your fellow presenters – who will all be sharing information on a topic similar to yours.
You do not need to have a completed poster when you submit the application, so you have plenty of time to think about graphic ways to show your neat stuff! (The design element is pretty low key; everyone there just wants to hear about your work!)
And if you want to go to the Annual Conference (you do not need to be an ALA member to attend!), exhibiting a poster is a good way to help convince your supervisor you should attend!
A Guest Blog from Simone Schloss. Simone is completing her final semester at Simmons SLIS and job hunting in NYC. She is currently interning at Tisch’s Lilly Music Library, Tufts University. @SimoneSchloss
Intended to address the challenges of economic information, the conference brings together experts to share their experiences at the frontier of economic data and information, to discuss problems, challenges, and potential solutions, and to identify ways to improve access to and understanding of economic information. The objective is to provide librarians and other information professionals with the knowledge, competence, and enthusiasm to disseminate economic information expertise to their respective audiences.
The traditional role of librarians in selecting materials and subscription databases is evolving rapidly with the growth of open data. More time is now spent advising users on where to find it, how to organize it, and what to do with it. The conference was a crash course in Federal Reserve acronyms such as FRED (Economic Data), FRASER (Archival System for Economic Research), and CLINT (Categorically Linked Timeline). A university professor summarized the opportunities and pitfalls of data. An agency director described the collaboration between public and private entities in the development and application of Big Data. Federal Reserve Board staff discussed best practices for replicable and accessible data, surprisingly uncharted territory.
Outside of panel hours, we helped ourselves to generous breakfast, lunch, and snack buffets. Complimentary evening get-togethers were sponsored by BRASS/RUSA and IASSIST. We were even invited on a private tour of the incredible Inside the Economy museum. I made dozens of valuable professional contacts from among the 120 attendees.
Librarians and library students with an interest in the social sciences: mark your calendars for fall 2018 and share in this free treat! Subscribe to the GOVDOC and BUSLIB ListServs so as not to miss a thing. It’s all about the data!
Interested in being a Guest Blogger for CMLE? Contact us at admin@cmle.org
It is always great to meet library colleagues – you have so much to talk about right away! Going to conferences is a very good strategy for meeting up with colleagues; and attending a state association conference lets you put faces to the names of people you may be emailing with, talking with on listserves- or maybe did not even know yet!
This year the Minnesota Library Association’s Annual Conference was in Duluth, September 29-30. From everything I saw, did, and enjoyed there, I can say that a good time was had by all! And it was definitely a learning experience, with so many great sessions and presentations, and many opportunities to connect with people from across the state.
Do you want more information about it, or to see some of the events? MLA has you covered!
It all looks fun, doesn’t it?? Sign up for next year’s conference, which will be held in Rochester! Apply to CMLE for some money to offset your registration. If there is enough interest, we can rent a van and drive a group over one day! (Trust me: it’s ALWAYS fun to travel with library people!)
There were so many different sessions, looking at so many different types of libraries and library issues, it was impossible to see it all. No matter what you like to talk about and learn about in libraries: it was here! There were exhibitors, from assorted library vendors; all ready to chat with everyone about products and strategies to make libraries better. There was a poster session, with a variety of ARLD (Academic and Research Division of MLA) people presenting current research, professional activities, and things interesting to the members.
CMLE was represented in a great session on advocacy. “Library Legislative Process 101” was presented by Barbara Misselt, Director, East Central Regional Library and Jami Trenam, Associate Director of Collection Development, Great River Regional Library. “Library advocacy is for everyone, not just library directors and administrators. Join both seasoned and not-so-experienced library advocates at this roundtable to explore and share how we can advocate for library services for Minnesota citizens at the legislature.” This is such an important topic for all library people to explore, it was great to see it at MLA!
That evening, there was a social and networking event at the Glensheen Mansion! “The Minnesota Multicounty Multitype Library Systems and the Kathryn A. Martin Library, University of Minnesota Duluth invite you to the Glensheen Mansion for fun, food, and networking. There will be guided tours of the mansion and grounds – including a rare peek into the family library at Glensheen led by Director Dan Hartman – chili buffet and a cash bar.” This was a very fun event, with a lot of opportunities to talk about history and libraries, to chat with people from all over the state, and enjoy learning the history of the house, the inhabitants, and all the household items.
Crabby Ol’ Bills: it’s a landmark, not JUST a good place to have doughnuts! (Though, it’s also that!)
What else happened? So many things! For more information look over the schedule and get some ideas about things you might want to learn about, or people who you might connect with from around the state. You can see all kinds of topics and learn about people who are doing things that you are interested in trying. Don’t hesitate to send an email to people who are involved in things you would like to know more about (politely, of course!). Conferences, and the after-conference discussions, are a great way to learn about different ideas to try out for yourself!
Ideally, you are able to attend a library conference of some form at least once a year. If you have a job that counts on you staying up-to-date, a conference is a great way to sharpen your skill set. I understand that professional development dollars are tight, but think beyond the dollars for a moment. Faced with incredibly big jobs, high work expectations beyond what we thought possible, and a world of fast-paced change, why go to a MN library conference?
Here are myTop 10 Reasons to Register for the ITEM or MLA Fall Conferences Now….
You have an excuse to buy a cool outfit, a new pair of shoes, or gasp…a new bag (even though you have hundreds)
Informal conversations: Whether it be at a lunch table, in the commons area between sessions, or over cocktails at happy hour, a conference is an excellent place to figure out what your peers are worried about, working on, and thinking about. Be brave, strike up a conversation! You can save yourself a ton of time and work by talking to others who will share.
Bags: While in the exhibit area, you have the opportunity to collect yet more bags for your collection of hundreds; some that include cat portraits!
Free books: many companies are handing out free advanced copies of books!
Do you hate talking on the phone with sales people, but need some new products, pricing, or information? Bribe a colleague to go with you (for the free candy) to the exhibit areas, and plan ahead of time how you will exit any sales talk that has gone far enough. Tag teams rule!
Authors: Library conferences always include author talks, and we do love anything an author has to say!
Eyeglasses: Have I mentioned that librarians also love to show off their hip eyewear, and why is it that most of us are almost blind?
Keynotes: Conference planners think long and hard to bring in big names and popular folk that have appeal, and it is rare to be thoroughly disappointed, very rare!
Breakout sessions: There are usually so many to pick from, that you often have a hard time. Me, I intentionally look for the rooms bursting at the seams with people. I want to know what everyone is so geeked up about! If it is something I know very little about, I really should be there! Am hoping for a session on Cosplay.
The evening social event: You will have a blast and get to know the playful side of people. The multitype library systems (CMLE is one of them) offer fun events like trivia or literary games. Prizes and bragging rights come with the territory too! Did I mention free food? Can it get better?
What have I missed? What do you love most about conferences? Add it in the comments! Ready to register now?
Go to our handy events table, and click on the appropriate event link to register! Easy…
No Money? A CMLE scholarship of up to $200 is yours to use for registration, hotel, mileage, meals, or to subsidize the cost of your employer hiring a substitute worker so you can be away. If you approach your boss to say you have found a way to contribute $200, they will know you are invested and have taken initiative. The application process is easy, CMLE would love to exhaust its scholarship budget this year on these two conferences alone, so go for it!
Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/o4jqtd7, licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0
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