Tag Archives: mn

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Minnesota Legislative Updates

Capital SunsetThe following legislative update was written by Elaine Keefe, library lobbyist for the Minnesota Library Association (MLA) and Information Technology Educators of MN (ITEM). Being its near the end of the legislation season, this post contains 4 separate updates. 

Received Wednesday, May 13, 2015 at 10:08 PM

Our latest intelligence indicates that the Senate has offered to accept the House position on Legacy funding for regional public libraries.  This would mean that libraries would receive $4 million over the next two years, as compared to $6 million during the current two-year budget period.  If you have not already done so, please contact the members of the conference committee listed below.  In addition:

Please contact your Senator and ask him or her to urge Senator Cohen to uphold the Senate position on Legacy funding for libraries.  Your senator will likely assume that Senator Cohen will be fighting to uphold the Senate position, but we have strong reason to believe that Senator Cohen has said privately that he prefers the House position.

Please contact your House member and urge him or her to urge Rep. Urdahl to move to the Senate position on Legacy funding for libraries.  The Senate position is still $50,000 per year below current funding, but is substantially better than the House position.

Received Monday, May 11, 2015 at 4:45 PM

Legacy Conference Committee:  This afternoon the Legacy conference committee was appointed.  The ten members of the conference committee will negotiate the differences between the House and Senate Legacy bills over the next few days.

The Senate bill provides $2.95 million per year for regional public libraries.  The House bill provides $1.5 million in FY 16 and $2.5 million in FY 17.

Please contact the conferees  and ask them to support the Senate level of Legacy funding for libraries!

The conferees are listed below with their contact information:

Rep. Dean Urdahl (R – Grove City)
rep.dean.urdahl@house.mn
651-296-4344 or 800-920-5861

Rep. Denny McNamara  (R – Hastings)
rep.denny.mcnamara@house.mn
651-296-3135

Rep. Paul Torkelson (R – Hanska)
rep.paul.torkelson@house.mn
651-296-9303 or 888-727-3891

Rep. Josh Heintzeman (R-Nisswa)
rep.josh.heintzeman@house.mn
651-296-4333

Rep. Phyllis Kahn (DFL – Minneapolis)
rep.phyllis.kahn@house.mn
651-296-4257

Senator Dick Cohen (DFL – St. Paul)
www.senate.mn/senatorcohenemail
651-296-5931

Senator Bev Scalze (DFL – Little Canada)
sen.bev.scalze@senate.mn
651-296-5537

Senator LeRoy Stumpf (DFL – Plummer)
www.senate.mn/senatorstumpfemail
651-296-8660

Senator Katie Sieben (DFL – Newport)
www.senate.mn/senatorsiebenemail
651-297-8060

Senator Michelle Fischbach (R – Paynesville)
sen.michelle.fischbach@senate.mn
651-296-2084

 

Received Friday, May 8, 2015 at 3:42 PM

Education Conference Committee:  The education conference committee met this week on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday for about 3 hours each day.  The first meeting was spent having staff walk through the House and Senate bills.  The second meeting featured the completion of the staff walk through of the bills, followed by testimony on facilities, Q-comp and testing.  Yesterday’s meeting was devoted to hearing testimony on extended time revenue and early learning scholarships.

The committee will not meet again until Monday.  Thus far the meetings have been quite cordial and low-key.  Partly this reflects the personalities of the chairs, Senator Wiger and Rep. Loon, neither of whom has a penchant for drama.  The other factor is that the tough decision-making won’t get serious until House and Senate leaders and Governor Dayton agree on a budget target for education.   I do not expect that to happen until the middle of next week.

Legacy Bill:  Last night the Senate passed its version of the omnibus Legacy bill by a vote of 44-9.  In his remarks about the bill Senator Cohen acknowledged that two years ago when the Legacy bill was debated on the Senate floor, there was much concern expressed about the low level of funding for libraries, and that he had assured his fellow senators that it would be addressed in the conference committee, and it was.  Senator Cohen then pointed out that this year the Senate Legacy bill provides more funding for libraries than the House bill does – the first time that has ever happened.  It was great to see that the large number of e-mails you sent to your senators two years ago are still having an impact.

 

Received Tuesday, May 5, 2015 at 7:55am

The Legislature must adjourn on midnight on Monday, May 18,  just under two weeks from now.  Here is the latest news:

Senate Legacy Bill:  Yesterday the Senate’s omnibus Legacy bill was unveiled and passed out of the Legacy Subcommittee.  The bill appropriates 2.95 million per year for regional public libraries.  This is $50,000 less per year than the current appropriation from Legacy funds, but it is far better than the House Legacy appropriation of $1.5 million in FY 16 and $2.5 million in FY 17.  The Senate bill allocates $300,00 per year for the Minnesota Digital Library, which is the current level of funding.  The House Legacy bill provides $280,000 per year for MDL.  The Senate Legacy bill will be heard in the full Senate Finance Committee later today, where it is expected to be passed and sent to the Senate floor.

Education Conference Committee:  The education conference committee will meet for the first time this afternoon.  Typically the first meeting consists of a walk-through of the side-by-side comparison of the House and Senate bills.  You can find the side-by-side comparison for each article of the education bill here: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/side_by_sides/

Elaine Keefe
Capitol Hill Associates
525 Park Street, Suite 310
St. Paul, MN 55103
(office)651-293-0229
(cell) 612-590-1244
elaine@capitolhillassoc.com

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/p4m2ool, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

MN State Library Updates

state_mn

 

 

 

TO: Minnesota Libraries
FROM: State Library Services
DATE: April 27, 2015
SUBJECT: Updates from State Library Services: Financial Capability Roundtable, VISTA Opening at State Library Services and more

Financial Capability Roundtable
Governor Mark Dayton proclaimed April as Financial Capability Month, an opportunity to demonstrate how financial education and empowerment can positively impact all Minnesotans. A Financial Capability Roundtable, featuring keynote speaker Richard Cordray, Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, will bring stakeholders and advocates together to connect and identify opportunities for enhancing every Minnesotan’s financial future. The Roundtable will be held on Tuesday, April 28 from 1-4:30 p.m. at the Minnesota History Center in Saint Paul. Register to attend. Please contact Julia Miller at julia.miller@state.mn.us or 651-539-1467 with questions about the event.

Early Literacy VISTA Opening at State Library Services
Interested in making a difference in the ability of public libraries to deliver high-quality early literacy services? State Library Services is recruiting a full-time VISTA member to work with us on connecting libraries with childcare providers and to develop, deliver and assess early childhood services that improve school readiness in at-risk populations. Apply at the Americorps website. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. Please contact Jackie Blagsvedt for more information at 651-582-8805 or jacqueline.blagsvedt@state.mn.us.

ITEM Twitter Chat about Summer Reading
With the end of the school year and the start of summer reading programs just around the corner, ITEM is hosting a Twitter chat to engage librarians of all types in a summer reading discussion. You can join in the conversation on Monday, May 18, 2015 at 7 p.m. Share your knowledge about how schools can promote summer reading and the ways schools and public libraries can collaborate to reduce summer slide. It’s easy to take part, just follow the hashtag #mnitem on Twitter starting at 7 p.m. on May 18.

The Meetup Met Up
The first annual Libraries Serving Youth Meetup was held on April 18, 2015 at the Minnesota Department of Education in Roseville. Nearly fifty enthusiastic school media specialists and public librarians came together to learn about stand-out Minnesota school and public library collaborations, share ideas and network. Attendees overwhelmingly expressed their appreciation for this singular opportunity to mix and mingle with colleagues from both schools and public libraries. While State Library Services will host another Meetup next spring, we encourage you to coordinate a meetup between schools and libraries in your region. Please contact Jennifer Verbrugge at jennifer.verbrugge@state.mn.us or 651-582-8356 to request slides from the presentations or for tips and tricks in planning your own meetup.

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

2014 Teen Tech Week Materials

Image by nic519. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by nic519. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

Looking ahead to 2014, YALSA (ALA) has exciting news about   Teen Tech Week which will be March 9-15, 2014. The theme this year is DIY @ Your Library and it presents a chance to showcase your non-print resources available to youth. The purpose of this week is to demonstrate to teens and their families, the positive influence of libraries in their communities.

Free monthly webinars will begin in December, but you need to register.

Free toolkits are available online to help plan and publicize this week at your library. For additional creative ideas, click on the Makerspaces In Your Library or Game-Based Makerspaces posts by CMLE. Or, link to an article featuring Sauk Rapids-Rice High School’s new monthly, mini makerspace.

YALSA, Young Adult Library Services Association’s mission is to feature resources for youth ages 12-18 by, “… offering teens a space to extend learning beyond the classroom where they can explore, create and share content.”

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Feature Book: Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital

This post is a part of an original series created by librarians/media specialists across Central Minnesota featuring books. If you have a book you would like to showcase, send your review to our offices.

Review by Kathy Parker, Director of Libraries, Media, and Archives, College of Saint Benedict/Saint John’s University Libraries

Feature Book: Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital by Sheri Fink

Image of Kathy Parker provided by CSB/SJU.
Image of Kathy Parker provided by CSB/SJU.

Combining the best of both worlds, Five Days at Memorial has the tense plot line, complex characters, and life-and-death flashpoints of a thriller, but it’s actually a meticulously researched work of remarkable reportage.  Fink investigated events at a New Orleans hospital during and after Hurricane Katrina.  Healthcare workers struggled to keep critically ill patients alive as electricity winked off, generators flooded, HVAC systems failed, sleep was unattainable, looters were roving the streets, and rescue was uncertain.  In the end, some staff faced criminal allegations for injecting patients with drugs that hastened their death.   The author carefully avoids judgment, and instead helps readers understand how professionals trying to do their best in a crisis may arrive at very different decisions about how to respond.

As it happens, I was reading this book while updating and expanding our library’s disaster plan.  It made me realize that much of our plan is focused on keeping collections safe, and that I needed to pay more attention to how to keep people safe as well.  I learned some lessons about communication, coordinated responses, and compassion.  Sheri Fink’s book reinforced my fervent hope that I never have to live through such a horrendous disaster as Katrina; and it has given me the opportunity – the luxury, really —  to think about how I might wish decisions would be made should a disaster happen here.

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

State Librarian Changes for MN

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This past summer Nancy Walton announced her retirement as the State Librarian for Minnesota. In a recent interview by Minitex she stated, “The best advice that I could give for you… don’t cling to the past, be willing to embrace the future.” Click here to listen/download the entire interview with Nancy Walton as she looks back on her career. Since then, Kevin McHenry, Assistant Commissioner has been meeting with various library systems to talk about the pending transitions in leadership and to identify a list of current issues.

Here is a statement written by McHenry on 9/11/13;

Over the last month I have had an opportunity to work closely with State Library Services as Acting Chief Library Officer.  I have developed an understanding of the needs and challenges that libraries in Minnesota are facing today and am eager to take the next steps in restructuring State Library Services so that the division is poised to support quality library services that address the needs of Minnesotans.

As we move forward with planning for a new Director/State Librarian while also supporting division staff on a day-to-day basis, I am pleased to announce that Jennifer R. Nelson has accepted the position of Interim Director. Jen has worked in and for libraries for well over 25 years. Her extensive background includes stints as a children’s librarian, reference librarian, interlibrary loan coordinator, archives assistant, e-resource and training coordinator and more. She is recognized across the United States for her work in developing innovative technology programs for youth and is the author of “Technology and literacy: 21st century library programming for children and teens” (ALA Editions, 2012).  Jen also serves as an adjunct faculty member in St. Catherine University’s MLIS program, teaching a course in grant writing and proposal development. Her expertise in administration, project management and partnership development will ensure a consistent level of support for Minnesota’s libraries and build on the work that we have already accomplished. Jen can be reached directly at 651-582-8791 or Jennifer.r.nelson@state.mn.us

I will be working closely with Jen during her time as interim director and continue to welcome your thoughts, ideas and feedback on how State Library Services can best address the needs of libraries.

Kevin McHenry
Assistant Commissioner
Minnesota Department of Education
O: 651.582.8250   M: 612.306.0895
Email: kevin.mchenry@state.mn.us

“Leading for educational excellence and equity- Every day for every one”