Tag Archives: media specialist

Check it Out:, CMLE, Guest Blogger

Karen Gfroerer Extended Mini Grant Report

This is a guest post from Karen Gfroerer K-5 Media Specialist at Prairie View Elementary Middle School in Otsego, MN. Read more about our Extended Mini Grant Program or fill out one of our applications. This program is only available during the FY21 school year.

*Note: scroll to the bottom to watch a fantastic video Karen put together to show her students the new books!!

To the Central MN Libraries Exchange,

I want to start off by saying THANK YOU! I received my nonfiction book order today and it was so much fun unpacking the books. With every book I pulled out, I knew exactly the group of students that was going to go crazy for them and that made me so anxious to get pictures and put together a video for them showcasing the books.

As stated in my grant application, the target for my purchase was balancing out a need for gaps in our nonfiction section, particularly for the younger readers. All of the books I purchased do just that while also being high interest. Knowing this I feel certain that all of the books will have a high circulation rate.

As we prepare for students to return to school in two weeks, we have had to rethink how we operate our library. Since I have to go to the classrooms for their media time it will prohibit students from browsing shelves.  However, I have come up with a way for them to still get books THEY want. I have created a request slip where the students in K-2 can circle pictures of topics they like to read about and then our media assistant and I will pull their choices and deliver their orders to them, just as they would utilize a grab-n-go at a public library. The 3rd-5th graders will use our Destiny Discover catalog to put choices on hold. One of the nice features of Destiny Discover is it highlights new books at the top, with pictures of the covers too!  Navigating our book checkout this way leaves me pretty confident that there will be no lull in circulation. 

This grant gave me such hope this year when nearly all funding sources for purchasing new books were giving poor returns or none at all. The students at my school truly love choosing library books and I know they will be very excited to access the ones purchased from this grant opportunity.

Guest Blogger, School Media Specialist

CMLE Mini Grant: PaperBackSwap.com

This is a Guest Post from Tammie Walker, Library Designee, Staff Development and Assessment chair and Advisor at Jane Goodall Environmental Sciences Academy in Maple Lake. Want to read more reports from CMLE Mini Grants? Check out our page.

We are elated at the support an organization such as yours could be to our small rural Charter School. Our Library team consists of an advisor, two parent volunteers and seven students. We serve a student body of 110, so having a fully functioning library has been a goal of ours for some time now.

Deciding how to best use the $300.00 gave us an opportunity to discuss ways to use the funds in the most beneficial way. Our consideration was two-fold: One, filling gaps in our library book kits. And two, the environment. We have decided to use the money to subscribe to a program called PaperbackSwap.com.

This site allows us to purchase books to fill out our library book kits, and also to share books that we no longer need.
How this works: 1. We list books we no longer need so that we can swap them for ones we do. 2. Once the book is requested we send it to the recipient for the cost of Media Mail. 3. In return, we gain points to have the book we need sent to us free of charge.

It is a win for us, a win for those who receive our books, and a win for the environment, keeping unused books out of landfills. It is a win all around.

The grant will be used to fund the Media Mail fees as we fill our kits. The first titles we will request will be some of Shakespeare’s plays along with Of Mice and Men ​and ​Animal Farm. Some contemporary selections will be Hunger Games ​ and ​Out of the Dust.

Once again, thank you so much for this grant. One of our “take-a-ways” is: when multiple organizations work together and pool resources, a small win becomes a bigger win.

Tammie, Vicky, Janis, Yuli, Sam, Belle, Bayley, Zane, Matt and Drew

Check it Out:, School Media Specialist, Tech

November VR Training in St. Cloud AND Cambridge!

You are invited to in-person training Nov. 5th and 8th!

Quick Update: our St Cloud location is just about full! So we would love to see you in Cambridge too! If you are signed up for St Cloud, but would like to shift to Cambridge (it’s on that Friday), just send us a quick email to admin @ cmle.org (no spaces). Each day and location will be flexible, as we know you have tight schedules – we are just happy to see you!

Mark your calendars! We hope you take advantage of our upcoming VR training to learn how to operate the VR headsets we are loaning to our school libraries FOR FREE. You can reserve your own kit here.

Please RSVP at the bottom of this post. You are welcome to drop in to training as your schedule allows. You are still allowed to reserve VR kits for your school if you cannot attend training.

St. Cloud Training:

Tuesday, Nov. 5th 9am – 3pm (lunch provided 12 – 1)
Classroom at cmERDC location: 570 1st St. SE St. Cloud MN 56304

We are located inside the cmERDC building

Cambridge Training:

Friday, Nov. 8th 9:30am – 3pm (lunch provided 12 – 1)
Meeting Room at the Cambridge Public Library: 244 S. Birch St. Cambridge, MN 55008

We’ll have a morning and afternoon training session with lunch in between so both sessions can eat. Please feel free to attend both sessions in order to get comfortable using the headsets and Portal.

The plan is to cover fundamentals in the morning and more advanced VR skills in the afternoon, but please feel free to drop in or leave as your schedule allows! Remember to bring your own computer (and headphones if interested).

At this training session, you will learn how to operate the devices, find lessons that line up with your curriculum, send the VR/AR content to the devices, and use the headsets effectively in your library, media center, or classroom.

The ClassVR vendor will be holding a free Q&A webinar on Nov. 13th. Here is the link in case anyone is interested in participating. CMLE staff attended the one offered in October and found it useful.

Visit our page to find out more information about the VR kit loan program, including instructions and links to additional materials.

RSVP St. Cloud Nov. 5th training:

RSVP Cambridge Nov. 8th training:

Check this out:, General, School Media Specialist

CMLE Featured Service: North Star Library Consortium

money and savingsAre you looking for discount pricing on Destiny software and its associated subscriptions? Budgets continue to be tight, and there is a need to find solutions to manage school library collections!

Destiny is a state-of-the-art software solution that supports K-12 students and staff in the classroom, media center, or from home. Its higher-end, school-specific functionality is typically priced outside of the reach of small districts, unless they have access to a consortial buy. The North Star Library Consortium is a statewide opportunity open to any school media centers.  Its “hosted solution pricing”  offers affordability and support to even the smallest school districts!

Why? Consider the following efficiencies…

  • It is not necessary, but we strongly encourage all schools in a district to join the Consortium at the same time. Do you have high schools students reading at a middle school level, or vice versa? Within the Consortium, media specialists within a district can see all parts of the district’s collections, work together to share materials or solve problems, or assist each other with software tweaks too.This elevates the role of the school media center and its staff.
  • Membership in the Consortium also provides access to over 200 other schools on a discussion list using the very same product, solving the same problems. For media specialists/paras who have been working in acute isolation, this can be energizing, and offers a huge layer of support in their daily work.
  • Lacking tech support? By having the software hosted and maintained at Region 1 in Moorhead, MN, media specialists no longer have to rely on assistance from over-burdened tech staff in their district. Region 1 staff backs up Consortium data every two hours and attends to software updates too.

The full Consortium is currently represented by 110 districts, with 240 individual sites.  Over 2.8 million library titles are managed through this system, with an estimated value of $58 million, serving 182,716 patrons. Seventeen CMLE school districts and 42 schools are part of the North Star Library Consortium and include: Sartell, Rocori, East Central, Melrose, Aitkin, Long Prairie/Grey Eagle, Cathedral-John XXIII, North Branch, Kimball, Monticello, Paynesville, Becker, Maple Lake, McGregor, Royalton, Eden Valley-Watkins, and Osakis.

Interest in getting a bid? Go to http://bit.ly/1GuHtyN to see all of the schools in the Consortium and to access the process for requesting a bid for joining. Note: Requesting a bid does not obligate you to join, but it can give you the information to do some possible tweaking on your budget!

This is one possible solution. Have you found other cost-effective solutions for managing your school library collections? Interested in other CMLE services? Additional information can be found on our website.

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/peod3sf, licensed under CC BY 2.0
General, School Media Specialist

We’ve Learned

LightbulbJOB OPENINGS

The St. Cloud School District is looking for a Media Specialist. The position is open until filled. View the position here.

The St. Cloud School District is also looking for a Level 1 District Support Technician. The application process closes 5/29/15. View the position here.

Finally, the St. Cloud School District is looking for 2 Summer Media Paras. The position is open until filled. View the positions here.

Princeton Public School is looking for a Technology Integration Specialist. The position is open until filled. View the position here.

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/nwbfuhq, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0