Tag Archives: Minnesota

Educator Carpool Karaoke!

Written by Maria Burnham, Sauk Rapids-Rice High School
EdCampMidMN is running for a second year in a row and registration is open!  This FREE professional development opportunity for preK-12 educators is taking place on Wednesday, June 8th at Sartell High School.  Details for the conference and registration can be found on our EdCampMidMN website.   The conference is actually an “unconference” meaning you get to pick what you want to learn; you also might have the chance to teach another educator something new!  Prizes are awarded throughout the day, not to mention some free treats!  We hope to see you there!  If you have any questions, contact any of the EdCampMidMN team, located on the website.

 

eBooks MN Free Posters

Steve's Birthday PartyeBooks MN has gone live, and the people who know about it are pretty excited! Now it is time for promotion! Are your library users aware of this free, new statewide resource? No?

The folks at Minitex are offering various items to promote Ebooks Minnesota at your library. Check out these neat-o, easy-to-print, 11×17, color posters. There are 13 in all! Check it out now before you forget.

Each poster highlights either a general subject area or book series for your readers.

Pssssttt: At our upcoming May 5th event, a Minitex trainer will be doing a live demo of eBooks MN. Click here for more detail about the event including registration.

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

Featured CMLE Service: Scholarships

MoneyAre professional development funds tight in your work setting? Is the money to pay your registration to a conference in the budget, but there is no money for hotel or mileage, or to pay a sub so you can be away from your workplace?

CMLE offers scholarships of up to $200 per fiscal year per individual for staff affiliated with any type of library in Aitkin, Benton, Chisago, Isanti, Kanabec, Mille Lacs, Morrison, Pine, Sherburne, Stearns, Todd and Wright counties in Central Minnesota. The scholarships can be used to attend workshops, conferences, library meetings or task forces, and other library-related activities to promote engagement and/or professional development. All expenses mentioned earlier are appropriate and we encourage you to use the scholarships even if it can’t cover all of the costs. And, if you use our scholarship to help with costs, feel free to mention to your administrator that you have used our program!

Need help paying for that sub? CMLE scholarships come in very handy in settings that require your employer to pay for a “sub” while you are off enhancing your library skill sets. When you fill out the form, just indicate the amount you need to cover that expense.

We all owe it to ourselves to keep our skill sets sharp. Confidence and new energy often result when we take time to invest in ourselves and spend time with our peers. CMLE would like to support you to that end. For all of the details and to apply for a scholarship, go to CMLE Scholarships. The application is quite simple and should take no more than 10 minutes if you know what you want to attend and have the event information in hand.

For more info on library conferences and other library continuing education events, go to the Minnesota Library Continuing Education Calendar listing.

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/o4onocb, licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

	

Minnesota joins the Open Textbook Library movement

alejandroescamilla-bookDid you hear that scream of joy from students across the state of Minnesota? Did the Vikings win? The Gophers? Maybe… Or maybe it was because of the recent announcement that Minnesota has joined the Open Text Book movement! This is part of the Open Textbook Library, a website that pulls together open access books in one place. “Those are not books we’re creating,” said David Ernst, chief information officer at the University of Minnesota’s College of Education. “Open textbooks have been published for years. We’re just putting them in one place.”

Ernst explained further: “The students can save thousands of dollars on the cost of their education, and professors and instructors can easily customize the books to their lesson plans without worrying about infringing on copyrighted material.” As the Open Textbook Library website explains, the “Open textbooks are real, complete textbooks licensed so teachers and students can freely use, adapt, and distribute the material.” CMLE has talked about Open Textbooks before. No longer a fad, open textbooks are a way to help students keep a little more money in their pockets without taking away from the quality of their education.

Read the whole article now or check out the Open Textbook Library.

New Minnesota Library CE Calendar

mn_lib_wordmark_color_png.png-image2993-280There is a new statewide Library Continuing Education (CE) Calendar sponsored by the seven Minnesota Multitype Library Systems. Its goal is to make it easy for library staff seeking CE opportunities & for planners of MN events to see what is already scheduled. Events on the calendar are open to all staff, although there may be some registration restrictions. Libraries & systems are invited to submit library CE opportunities to the calendar at calendar@mnlibs.info. Comments on the calendar are welcome at that address, too.