Tag Archives: News

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

May We Interview You?

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Is it possible that writing is just not your thing, but you love to talk about what you are doing or what you are excited about? If so, let us help you share your exciting news with others in the region!

CMLE staff is willing to interview you, write up the interview, get your review and approval, then publish it to our What’s Happening blog. Then, the completed interview post will be included in our Thursday CMLE Weekly Review email message.

Both our guest bloggers and interview activities support our resource sharing activities in Central Minnesota among academic, public, school, and special librarians. Please don’t be shy….join us in sharing important library news in this region! Contact us here!

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

ALA Midwinter Conference Recap: CMLE Scholarship Recipient!

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The following post was submitted by CMLE scholarship recipient Jake Grussing, Regional Coordinator-Collection Development, Great River Regional Library 

The unquestionable highlight of my ALA Midwinter experience was meeting with Pat Losinski, Chief Executive Officer of Columbus Metropolitan Library (CML). I am grateful to have had the opportunity to initiate an informal mentoring relationship with him. The most striking conversation we had was about how libraries measure success. Pat suggested that if libraries continue to hold up traditional metrics (circulation, holds filled, etc.) as the standards by which they hope to be measured, their hands will be forced to keep those numbers up. More revealing indicators might include kindergarten readiness, 3rd grade reading, ELL/ESL progress, high school graduation, post-secondary enrollment, and unemployment rates. A library cannot measure those outputs without help from other organizations, nor can a library claim to be solely responsible for improvements in those areas; a library is one among many organizations doing meaningful work in the community.

If not the focus of every session I attended, community engagement was at least mentioned in every one. In a session on the future of ebooks in libraries, Jamie LaRue urged libraries to deepen the connections with their communities by becoming the gatherers, curators, and distributors of local content; in a session on library technology an audience member asked if libraries could be platforms for networks around community objectives; and over coffee a colleague said it’s not about the stuff we maintain but the improvements we facilitate. Those ideas get at an unstated theme of ALA Midwinter 2013, one that will inform my work over the coming year: libraries should measure their success not by traditional stats but by the success of their communities.

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

MNLibLeg-Legislative Update!

This update is from Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Library Legislative Lobbyist

State Economic Forecast:  A new state economic forecast was released today, and it contains good news.  The projected budget deficit for the next biennium has shrunk to $627 million.  This is an improvement of $463 million over the $1.1 billion deficit that was projected in December.

The forecast also contains good news for the current biennium.  The state is now projected to end the current biennium with a positive balance of $295 million.  Under current law, $5 million of that will go into the state’s budget reserve and $290 million will go to repay the education funding shift.

Budget Process:  Governor Dayton is expected to issue a revised budget proposal in about two weeks.  Soon after that, legislative leaders will set budget targets.  House rules require a budget resolution to be adopted no later than March 25, but House leaders have said they hope to do it sooner.  Senate leaders will also set budget targets, but the Senate does not adopt a formal budget resolution in public.

Data Privacy:  Our data privacy bill for public libraries, HF 695/SF 745, will be heard on Friday in the House Data Practices Subcommittee and on Tuesday, March 5 in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Minitex/MnLINK:  Our bill providing a funding increase for Minitex and MnLINK will be introduced in the House this afternoon. Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL – Golden Valley) is the chief author.  Co-authors are Rep. Bud Nornes (R – Fergus Falls) and Rep. Kathy Brynaert (DFL – Mankato).

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

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Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Congratulations Paul Beckermann, Dassel-Cokato Schools!

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Paul Beckermann
Media & Digital Learning Specialist

We’ve Learned that CMLE member Dassel-Cokato Schools (ISD#466) is recognizing Paul Beckermann, Media and Digital Learning Specialist, who has been selected as a semifinalist in the 2013 Minnesota Teacher of the Year program!

This annual program honors excellence among Minnesota educators. Now in its 48th year, it is the oldest and most prestigious recognition program for the State. The Minnesota Teacher of the Year represents the profession as an advocate for education and spokesperson for teachers. The program chooses one teacher to represent Minnesota’s thousands of excellent educators. To learn more, go to Education Minnesota‘s website!

Congratulations to Paul!

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Legislative Update

This update is from Elaine Keefe, MLA/MEMO Library Legislative Lobbyist

Data Privacy:  Under current law, records linking public library users to library materials they have searched for or borrowed that are owned by the library are private. HF 695, our bill extending the same protection to electronic data owned by a private vendor and licensed by a public library (e.g., e-books) was introduced last Monday by Rep. Steve Simon (DFL – Hopkins), chair of the House Data Practices Subcommittee.  The companion bill, SF 745, will be introduced on Monday, February 25 by Senator Kari Dzeidzic (DFL – Minneapolis).  Senator Ron Latz (DFL – St. Louis Park), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a co-author.

Homework Help:  Our bill to fund a statewide contract to make a free online homework help service available statewide will be introduced as SF 781 on Monday, February 25.  The chief author is Senator John Hoffman (DFL – Champlin). Co-authors are Sen. Alice Johnson (DFL – Spring Lake Park), Sen. LeRoy Stumpf (DFL – Plummer), Sen. Vicki Jensen (DFL – Owatonna) and Sen. Carla Nelson (R – Rochester).  The House version will be introduced soon.  Rep. Kathy Brynaert (DFL – Mankato) has signed on as the chief author.  If any of these legislators represent you, please write to thank them.

Minitex and MnLINK:  We have secured chief authors in both bodies for our bill to increase funding for Minitex and MnLINK.  Rep. Ryan Winkler (DFL – Golden Valley) will carry our bill in the House and Senator Kent Eken (DFL – Twin Valley) will carry our bill in the Senate.  I am currently recruiting co-authors, with the goal of getting the bills introduced no later than Monday, March 4.

Legacy:  Last Wednesday Mark Ranum made a presentation before the House Legacy Committee about what regional public libraries have done with Legacy funding received to date and about our request for funding for the upcoming biennium (FY 14-15).  It was very well received by the committee, resulting in extended remarks by committee members about the benefits of Legacy programs provided by public libraries and of libraries in general.  Reps. Mary Murphy (DFL – Hermantown), Leon Lillie (DFL – N. St. Paul) and John Ward (DFL – Brainerd) were especially effusive.

State Economic Forecast:  The next forecast will be released on Thursday February 28.  It is widely expected that the forecast will show improvement from the forecast released in December that projected a $1.1 million deficit at the conclusion of the FY 14-15 biennium.  It may also show an increase in the forecasted surplus for the current biennium, which would result in a further repayment of the education funding shift.  Governor Dayton will release his revised budget recommendations about two weeks after the forecast is released.

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