Tag Archives: News

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Video Production Has Begun!

Some rights reserved by M4D GROUP
Some rights reserved by M4D GROUP

A small group of high school media specialists and college librarians continue to work with CMLE  on our attempts to Bridge Information Literacy Efforts Across Libraries. Recently, we crafted and implemented a college-student survey that basically asked college students: Based on your experience, if you could tell a high-school student three things to help them prepare for college-level research, what would it be?

We received over 400 responses from students at four local colleges and  69 respondents indicated a willingness to appear in a video. Hard choices were made to arrive at whom to film and we have begun  production of a short video capturing some of the responses. We hope to make the video available widely through YouTube. The video will be used for various purposes, and we hope to use it as a conversation starter at an upcoming event that is open to all types of libraries in late spring as a springboard to new “bridging”activities next Fall. Are you curious about the work of the three media specialists and three college librarians to date? Go to http://tinyurl.com/bjsugro to read the executive summary of the group’s work. Watch for further updates on this exciting work!

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

CMLE Announcements

Please review a couple of important updates from our office:

  • Monday, February 18th, the CMLE office will be closed in observance of President’s Day. Normal office hours will resume on Tuesday.
  • Due to the short week and a number of other competing service areas, the CMLE Weekly Review will skip a week and be back in your in-box on Thursday, February 28th
  • Please feel free to send us your stories about what is cool in your library,  or your other ideas for blog posts. Send all to cmle@stcloudstate.edu and use Subject Line: Possible Blog Post
Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

CMLE is Looking for Fundraising Stories

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dollarsCMLE staff are anxious to interview both school media specialists and librarians alike! We are looking for stories about how you have successfully raised funds to support your library or media center. For instance, we know that Mackin and Follett offer an online fundraising alternative to the usual book fair that many of you have been engaging in for quite some time now. Book fairs can serve tangible needs too like team building with your PTA/PTO, but the media center often gets little or none of the proceeds. With the online fundraising options, the media center often gets 100% of the raised dollars, and this option makes it very easy to solicit donations from any location. For instance, if Grandpa and Grandma are snowbirds when you are fundraising, they can still engage in the health and care of their grandchild’s school media center by making their donation online. In the case of Mackin, I also remember that their donation can even be reflected in the bookplate of the book! If you have a story to share (none too big or too small), either leave a comment below, or send email to cmle@stcloudstate.edu with Subject Line: Fundraising Story. Thank you in advance for sharing your story with your colleagues in Central Minnesota!

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

New on Staff!

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Hello my name is Michelle. I am the new face around the CMLE office, serving as the temporary Information Specialist.

As an alumna from St. Cloud State University, I am returning to campus with a solid background in strategic planning, marketing, and event logistics; having partnered with K-12 schools, libraries, community outreach groups and nonprofits.

I am excited to work with Patricia, Danielle and our valued members to help launch the new, innovative strategic plan initiatives!

Michelle Kiley, Information Specialist
Michelle Kiley, Information Specialist
Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Legislative Update

The following information is provided by Elaine Keefe, our MLA/MEMO legislative lobbyist….

politicsGovernor’s Budget:  Governor Dayton released his budget proposal on Tuesday.  There were no changes in library-specific appropriations.  However, the Governor did recommend some increases in broader appropriations that may ultimately have an impact on libraries. They are:

1) An increase of $80 million per year in aid to cities and an increase of $40 million per year in aid to counties.  This could impact public library funding at the local level.

2) An increase of $80 million over the biennium for the University of Minnesota and $80 million over the biennium for the University of Minnesota.  This could impact academic libraries in those two systems.

3) An increase of $118 million over the biennium in the general education formula for K-12 schools and an increase of $125 million over the biennium for special education (thereby freeing up general education dollars that are currently used by school districts to pay for special education).  This could impact the funding available to school library media centers.

Testimony:  On Thursday the Senate E-12 Education Budget Division held a hearing where education organizations were invited to present their platforms.  I presented the portions of the MLA/MEMO Platform that are under the jurisdiction of that committee.

State of the State:  Governor Dayton will deliver his State of the State Address before a joint session of the Legislature on February 6 at 7pm.

Committee Deadlines:  Legislative leaders have announced that committee deadlines are as follows:

The first committee deadline is Friday March 15.  To meet this deadline, a bill must have passed through all of the policy committees it needs to go to and have been referred to a finance committee or to the floor in either the House or the Senate.

The second committee deadline is Friday, March 22.  To meet this deadline, a bill must meet the standard for the first committee deadline in both the House and the Senate.

The third committee deadline is April 19.  This is the deadline for omnibus budget bills to be passed out committee.

Elaine Keefe
Capitol Hill Associates
525 Park Street, Suite 310
St. Paul, MN 55103
office 651-293-0229
fax 651-293-1709
cell 612-590-1244
elaine@capitolhillassoc.com