As part of our continuing series, walking you around our website to point out information and resources you might use, our library visits are very fun!
Yes, the visits themselves are fun. We love going to see our members, and to admire the work everyone is doing. There are so many interesting things happening across the CMLE system, that it is always a treat to see them all!
And our mission is to share information and to help build connections across all our members in the system. We know many of you are working solo, or with only one or two other people (this describes most of our members!); and that feeling of being alone, and being the only one who does what you do, or who cares about what you care about, can be hard.
We not only really enjoy visiting our members; sharing the workings of all kinds of libraries can help everyone to feel connected. You can see things going on in other places, and you can find people who do what you do! You might get some new ideas, you might think about different types of displays, or different materials. Or, you might “just” enjoy seeing what other library people are dong!
We are steadily adding to our list of libraries visited – but we want to come see YOU! We will be visiting all our members (300+ of you!), so you could really help us out by offering up a day and time before we have to track you down. (Because, you know we WILL track you down eventually!)
And in the meantime, just enjoy looking at some very nice libraries. We are a multitype system, so our members are from all over the profession; these kinds of articles let you see that we all have much more in common than any professional differences.
Libraries are excellent! Let’s all visit more often!!
Check out this cool computer lab! Although more schools are moving toward a 1 to 1 Chromebook/laptop program, reducing the need for labs, there are still good teaching programs to be done in a lab, in addition to other important uses, and providing this in a library is a great resource! (Plus, look how nicely organized this is; maybe it’s the librarian in me, but this makes me happy to see.)
I love these long views over the library! You can see how far-ranging the resources are here, and how many neat things there are available for students in this library. It’s a good perspective to have! Here we are looking out over the fiction collection.
It is always fun to visit all of our member libraries; but special libraries (those focused in on specialized collections and audiences) are a special kind of fun because they tend to be organized a little differently and to have different materials than most other libraries. Hazelden was no exception! Barb Weiner showed me around the library, and graciously sat with me while I asked a million questions and we chatted about libraries.
You can see the special touches in this library, presenting the library as a valuable resource as well as a welcoming place to visit. I just love this book-themed curtain separating out the work space from the public space – it’s adorable! And says that this is a nice place to visit – always an important message when encouraging people to use your library!
Look at these books and the plant! At CMLE HQ, we love plants and gardens (P
