It’s member visiting season again – yay!
We love to visit our members, and to see all the neat things they are doing. Have we been to YOUR library yet?? If not, then email us and let’s set it up!
I was invited to come visit a small but very active library in the St. Cloud VA Health Care System. (Okay, I kind of invited myself over. It still counts!) And this was a small but mighty library, lead by Patricia Grelson.
I found it! (I’m always absurdly proud when I find a new library!) To be fair here, a very nice person on the floor above this one showed me where to go. She brightened up when I asked for the final stretch of directions to the library. “Oh yes! I can take you there!” I tried to just get directions, but she escorted me nearly to the door. So nice!
It’s not huge, space-wise. A lot of the tour took place with me sitting at Pat’s desk and admiring things as I turned my head. A lot of their work takes place online, as is true in so many libraries! Sharing information that way makes it convenient for community members spread across a huge physical campus.
Sorry about the terrible shot here. I was literally sitting in a chair, and probably waving my other hand excitedly as Pat and I chatted a thousand miles a minute about all her cool library work!
That’s Pat! Everybody wave! *waves* Don’t be fooled by the sign; she’s fiercely devoted to her library and to serving her community – but not scary. She is a great example to us all – joining every committee and group she can find, to be sure she’s there to tell people about the things her library can provide. That’s good advocacy, right there!
Again, sorry about the poor picture quality. (Did I stick my hand on the lens? Entirely possible.) You can see the materials in the boxes, all labeled and ready to share. And the tubs are book group packages – organized by month, so they can keep track of books shared and people can easily check into it again.
And check out these signs of the coolness of this library!! Sparkle is key for us all. And I am in fact a stress/happiness researcher, so I can tell you this correlation referenced on the right is correct. Implement it in your library today!
Libraries are important parts of their community. This library serves the information needs of the community of professionals working at the VA, across a huge range of specialties. As a librarian – I’m impressed! As the daughter of a veteran wounded in combat, who has been using VA services for nearly 50 years now, I’m kind of in awe of the work they are able to do.
Can I can visit your library in November??? I’m scheduling visits NOW!! I’m looking forward to coming there and gushing over your stuff and your work!! Let’s set it up – email me at admin @ cmle.org.
It’s always exciting to walk into a library and see the cool stuff available! While all libraries are individual, and we are all evolving to serve new needs in connecting information with our community members; it is nice to see some standard ideas carrying across all libraries. We all have Circ Desks, and places where patrons can come to us for help.
And I love to see this kind of art in libraries!! We are all doing our part to encourage people to come use our resources, and creating a good environment is a part of that!
This seems like a small thing, and hardly worth mentioning. Unless, of course, you are too short to reach the top shelf! Usability in libraries is always so important – and thinking about strategies for ensuring patrons can actually reach all of our materials is a great thing. Take a moment to walk around your library; can everyone reach the top shelf? In a lot of places, that is not possible for all patrons. If it may be a challenge in your library, what can you do to address it?
I always love to see schools and libraries reaching out to serve the information needs of their patrons. In this case, the library has set up special stations for the students to take the 
This just made me happy! Again, think about connecting your resources and your materials with your patrons – and make that happen in a way that makes sense to them. If you want to force everyone to communicate in your way, that is not going to work. Using an assortment of communication styles and formats is always the way to go! (Plus, this is just too cute!)
While the library is very modern and current with all their offerings, it was so cool to see some of the information resources in the back room!!! Do you remember using microfilm and microfiche?? There is a ton of great information still in this format, though it isn’t used very often anymore. Most libraries have some of this still hanging around, and this library not only has some good info but also the devices to read it! (Probably not used much, if at all; but I do love to see old tech!) The box standing up is the Staples newspaper from February 1954 to December 1955.
If you have visited us at all, or seen photos of our office space, you know that we are big fans of decorations. So it was very cool to see the nice boxes, all labeled and ready to go for any decorating situation! We are pretty serious fans of Minnesota books and authors here (check out our 
This is just one piece of a pretty extensive packet of information that was just awesome to see. Each year the school sets up a Reality Store, with all kinds of booths and people from around the community. They give students the chance to “shop” around and to learn about all the great stuff they will work with in reality: car payments, insurance, bank loans, and more. I just love this kind of engagement! Helping patrons (in this case, students) to learn about their own information needs and to help give them some useful perspective on the kinds of information they will need, is just wonderful. And the community engagement just made this all sound very special!
And of course, 
The signs are helpful, and I admit I got kind of excited when I saw that I was so close to the books and other cool stuff!
This display was not in the library, but it is always cool to see schools (and other organizations) that celebrate their history!
This display was immediately eye-catching! I love the round book shelves, fitting in just perfectly under the stairs. Meetings are held here, and it serves as the heart of the school.
I do suffer from a pretty advanced case of what I call “librarian disease” – it’s always exciting to see book shelves with all these nice book, and it’s really difficult to stop myself from just grabbing all the books and looking at them. Jill was very helpful and we spent some time talking about good books for kids!
I like to see the endcap displays on shelves – libraries need to do whatever we can do encourage everyone to come over and check out our materials!
I was not the only book fan in this library! This very nice display of books on Maud Hart Lovelace was pretty nearly cleaned out by students. Yes, this is indeed a great way to know your collection development and display selections are successful: if the shelves are empty, then great! People took home all the great stuff you have and are enjoying it too!
And of course, libraries are more than books! We share information of all sorts, in all kinds of formats. I was very excited to see this video room, with the green screen and the assorted equipment – that sound mixer is pretty much the same one as we have for our podcasts!
I was here for a very cool program they were doing with all kinds of makerspace items! Kids were gluing, sorting, attaching, spinning – everything was excellent, fun, slightly messy, and just generally exactly what you want to see happening in a library! Everyone learns best when we can get our hands on stuff and try it out in a flexible way – and that was exactly what happened here.
There was going to be more fun ahead in this makerspace! Just check out these kits, and the awesome stuff they were going to work with on another day, or in another class.
This is a library that interacts with their community members – the key to success in any library!! You can see the empty brackets here, all ready for March Madness. (Connecting with community members, with things they want and need, is always going to be the right answer!)
We did get to stop in the tech lab, so I could see the cool equipment for kids! You can just tell that kids are doing some really interesting things there!
Right away we knew that this library was a fun place, from the welcoming banners on each floor to the happy snowman in an office space.
Outside the Dean’s office area is the main computer area, with lots of spacious areas for students to spread out. We heard about students who would set themselves up to work at a computer and stay so long they went through multiple meals! Whatever it takes to get those assignments finished!
It was great to see a library providing access to vending machines and a microwave for students to use. It was a busy area and hard to take a picture without including students!
We were also able to tour some of the classrooms the library has available for both librarians and faculty to use. This room is the favorite because the design allows for more collaboration. It’s easier to have discussions sitting at a circular table, plus the many whiteboards and giant screen on the wall allows for ideas to be shared easily.
The design of this library is very open and airy, and these high ceilings definitely help that feeling. We admired the architecture while students busily worked together at the long tables.
After the basement, we went up to the third floor which is also an area for quiet work. The windows are lovely, and you can look down on a lot of the library from here. It’s pretty cool!
We turned the corner to discover the archives! They had a bunch of books on display that were written by faculty, and of course I recognized a favorite former professor, so I had to take a picture. There were also very cool artifacts on display from the William M. Lindgren East Asian Art Collection.
We continued across the third floor into the children’s area. The Education building also has children’s materials. This area was cheerful with lots of stuffed animal friends adorning the shelves.