Tag Archives: Resources

Communication, General

Notable Date to Celebrate: March 16th is Freedom of Information Day

You probably already know that at CMLE, we offer a service called “Notable Dates for your Noggin” which feature special holidays and birthdays of authors, as well as publications of well-known books. In an effort to help you get more from this service, we’ve decided to select one “Notable Date” each month to feature. We will include a few fun programming and activity ideas too, all for you to use!

Thursday, March 16th is Freedom of Information Day!

“Freedom of Information (FOI) Day is an annual event on or near March 16, the birthday of James Madison, who is widely regarded as the Father of the Constitution and as the foremost advocate for openness in government.”

Make sure to check out all the resources from ALA about this important day. You can sign up for ALA’s Office of Intellectual Freedom newsletter here, which contains a ton of information including censorship, privacy, academic freedom, and First Amendment issues.

Learn more about the history of Freedom of Information Day and find lessons plans and activities here.

Policies, Resources

Coding info for libraries serving teens!

Coding da Vinci - Der Kultur-Hackathon (14120891062)

Providing tech information and resources for your patrons can be a continuing challenge in libraries! There are several discussions floating around the library world right now about different areas in this topic; so we are sharing one here to see what kind of resources might be available for your own work.

The question:

I am wanting to give my teen homeschooling community access to easy and fun access to beginner’s coding courses here in the teen department of my library. Where would you suggest I start? (I have absolutely NO knowledge on how to code or where to begin!)

Answers:

Continue reading Coding info for libraries serving teens! →

Communication, Resources

Free coloring books for you and your patrons!

Manatee page from coloring book

Free coloring books! What could be more fun??

You already know that many libraries are offering coloring programs, and sales of coloring books are skyrocketing. This can be a great way to relieve stress and to just enjoy some creative time working with colors and coloring. For those of us who lack artistic skill in drawing, it can be fun to color in some of the really interesting forms available! (Yes: I’m a coloring fan!!)

If you have priced out the coloring books, you know they can be pretty expensive. And if you want to have an educational or artistic experience for patrons, that would be even more expensive! Fortunately we have a huge list of all kinds of free coloring books, from all types of educational and artistic organizations!

You will find things to start a variety of different programs in your library. And if you find a few to color yourself on your lunch break – we support you in that!!

General, Resources, Services

Free online training for your patrons!

https://www.agitraining.com/library-partner-program

Would you like to give your patrons free access to Photoshop training? Would helping them learn about video and animation at no cost to you or to them be good? How about your patrons who need to learn to use Microsoft Office – would you like some free training??

I’m sure the answer to all of that is yes!

The American Graphics Institute has established a Library Partner Program, that gives you access to self-paced online classes and digital books your patrons can use in your library. Read on, for all the details! Continue reading Free online training for your patrons! →

CMLE, General, Resources, Services

Wrapping up January Monthly Topic: Grants

This month we have talked about a few different strategies for grant writing, and shared some ideas on places to go for grants. All of this will be collected on our website, under Monthly Topics. We will also have material available in our Grants and Fundraising section.

And what are a few things we can take away from this month of grant learning? Continue reading Wrapping up January Monthly Topic: Grants →