Tag Archives: training

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Emotions are contagious: Let's make them good!

stress
spread some relaxation around your library!

You have probably heard, and noticed for yourself, that emotions are contagious. If one person in the library is having an excellent day, everyone else feels a little more smiley. And if someone comes in with the clouds of gloom over their head – you know things are going to be a little more challenging for everyone.

We are stress-busting this month, so let’s concentrate on ways we can help spread positive emotions around our libraries!

The article The More You Energize Your Coworkers, the Better Everyone Performs gives a few suggestions for strategies to energize yourself and those around you.

  • Build High-Quality Connections
  • Create Energizing Events
  • Use Tools that Promote a “Giver” Culture
  • Try Mapping Relational Energy

Continue reading Emotions are contagious: Let's make them good! →

Check this out:, General, Resources, Training

Let's just take a minute to breathe…

stress
breathe….blow out the stress, breathe in the relaxation!

This month we are talking about ways to handle stress in your workplace. While working in a library is wonderful in a lot of ways; we all know that it also brings us some stressful moments.

You need to take less than five minutes, right now, and just have some time to breathe and let your mind wander in happy directions. Take a nice deep breath in, hold for a second, and then breath out with gusto. Do this another time or two, and just let your worries fade to the background for a while. (They will be there later; so you can just forget about them for right now!)

Stress reduction can be enhanced by watching nature. So if you are somewhere you can look at fish, stare out the window at some green space, or pat your dog or cat – do that. And if you want to just relax and let nature come to you, we have a nice video of the Acadia National Park in Maine. Let it inspire you to go out after work or over the weekend and do your own walking around in nature, for the best relaxation!

Check this out:, CMLE, General, Resources, Training

STRESS! Let's listen to podcasts to help!

stress
podcasts of happiness await you!

Stress affects everyone, and end-of-year stress can be particularly difficult. Many of us are struggling to finish up all our work for the end of the semester, or celebrating holidays and all that comes with it, in addition to dealing with every single other thing that was already driving us crazy all year long! Patrons have less patience, money is suddenly tighter, and all kinds of extra programs can just cause even the best-balanced library person to hit a breaking point.

CMLE is here to help you. This month we will provide all kinds of information about stress, to help you learn more about it, and learn some strategies for managing stress. You cannot stop stress from happening, but we can all learn better ways to increase our resilience so stress does not knock us out!

One easy way to help is to listen to podcasts.

Of course, there are all kinds of librarian podcasts out there, and we recommend those as nice way to keep up with interesting things happening in the profession!

And there are podcasts you can listen to that will help you address your stress in a productive way. Continue reading STRESS! Let's listen to podcasts to help! →

Academic, Check this out:, General, Guest Blogger, Public, Resources, School Media Specialist, Services, Special, Tech

Four Resources To Improve Your Library’s Accessibility

accessibility
Accessible is not Optional!

 

CMLE Guest Blogger: Carli Spina

Accessibility for individuals with disabilities is an important topic for any library. Not only is this a legal requirement for virtually all libraries, but it is also important to ensure that our libraries are welcoming and inclusive for all members of the community. This is particularly important when considering the way you offer your online materials. The four resources below make accessibility improvements approachable, no matter the staffing level of your library or the level of technical experience that you have.

  1. ARL’s Web Accessibility Toolkit – Though created and maintained by the Association of Research Libraries, this toolkit has resources that will be useful to those working in any kind of library. The toolkit includes definitions and background information as well as best practices and a step-by-step process for fostering accessibility at your library. In addition, it has a resources section that includes a detailed page on best practices and resources for adding captions to your library’s video content.
  2. WAVE (Web Accessibility Evaluation Tool) – WebAIM offers a wide array of web accessibility tools, information, and resources, but if I had to pick just one to recommend, it would be WAVE. This tool makes it simple to do a quick accessibility test of any website for which you have the URL. The resulting report provides detailed information in a way that is easy to read. While this tool might not catch every single potential problem on your site, it is an excellent way to find particularly troublesome issues.
  3. Contrast Checker – One frequently overlooked aspect of accessibility is color contrast. This is important not only to those who are colorblind, but also for users who have low vision or are reading in low light. But, despite the fact that contrast is important to a large number of users, it is frequently ignored in the name of design aesthetics. This tool will not only allow you to check specific colors to ensure that they meet accessibility standards but will also let you save and share color pairs that work well (or poorly).
  4. The Principles of Universal Design poster by NC State University College of Design – This resource moves a bit beyond basic accessibility to the concept of Universal Design, which is design that is “usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without adaptation or specialized design.” The poster sets forth the seven principles that are central to Universal Design and offers multiple examples for each principle. Implementing these principles will not only help to make your library more accessible, but will also make it welcoming for the widest possible range of users from those who are in a rush or have their hands full to those for whom English is not their first language and beyond. This poster is a great crash course on the topic and will almost certainly spark ideas for ways to make your library more inclusive.

I hope these resources will help you to improve your library’s accessibility and introduce you to new tools that will streamline your processes. If you have any questions, let me know in the comments or contact me on Twitter where I’m @CarliSpina.

 

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

Upcoming Webinar: Engaged Planning – Ask What You Can Do For Your Rural Community

CMLE Headquarters is working to provide everyone in our system with all kinds of training to help you hone your skills in this every-changing profession! We maintain a Continuing Education calendar on our website, we offer regular in-person and online training sessions, and we will direct you toward the many other valuable opportunities available to you.

Many CMLE libraries, of all types, provide services to rural areas. This webinar, from WebJunction, can help you to think through your services in a way that will be beneficial to your community members.

There is no cost to attend, and materials will be available after the webinar. So sign up now, and discover some additional tools for reaching out to your rural community!

Engaged Planning: Ask What You Can Do For Your Rural Community

A webinar presented in collaboration with ARSL outlining the steps of an engaged planning process, to align library capabilities with community needs and aspirations.

Your community needs the library, and planning for the future of your library begins with understanding the community and their aspirations. Once you understand what your rural community wants and needs, you can assess how the library can help them. In this webinar, understand the important steps of this engaged planning process, including internal assessment, data collection and analysis, trustee involvement, and community conversations. Learn what it means for your library to “turn outward” to secure its place at the heart of your community.

This webinar is hosted in collaboration with the Association for Rural and Small Libraries.

Presented by: Cindy Fesemyer, Director, Columbus (WI) Public Library, population 5,000

Tweet: #wjwebinar