Audio stress management tools

 

soothing sounds provide solace

This month we are working through a variety of strategies  to help build your resilience to stress, and to manage your workplace stress levels. Your sense of sound is a powerful one; and with some thoughtful strategies, you can use that to help reduce the stress you feel at work.

We have looked at using ambient noise as a strategy for helping you to be more focused and effective at work. Building on that now gives you some tools to specifically feel more relaxed as you listen. Everyone has different preferences, so what makes you feel calm might irritate other people in your office. So use headphones if you need to keep things quiet, but try to build in some time to listen to soothing sounds when things start to build up at work

One tool you might enjoy is the website Noisli. “Noisli is here to make you more focused and boost your productivity. A background noise generator that helps you drown out annoying noises and that lets you create your perfect environment for working and relaxing. You can mix different sounds and create your perfect sound environment tailored to your personal need and taste.” I enjoy mixing in ocean waves, crackling fire, and just a hint of wind. Noisli can be used on your computer, or with an app on your phone. You can also enjoy the changing colors on the background, if you are watching the site.

Biking while working – at the library!

Read the article here – these look so fun!

In this article from American Libraries, Troy University in Alabama is featured because of their awesome new additions – six exercise bikes with tables for laptops that were purchased for student use!
Three bikes are available in the library’s student space at the main campus in Troy, and three are available at the university’s extension campus in Dothan, AL. The additions have been so popular and well-received that the university has ordered three more bikes and six elliptical machines that can be used under tables while students are seated!

AASL Recommended App: Content Creation: Spark Page

In June 2016, the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) announced their 25 Best Apps for Teaching and Learning. The apps encourage qualities such as innovation and active participation, and are user-friendly.

The app Spark Page is a web publishing tool that allows users to create digital magazines with motion. The app offers a variety of fonts and design templates, and allows users to use their own images from their camera or Dropbox, or choose from Creative Commons licensed images. Users can create newsletters, reports, projects, portfolios, invitations, and more. The app also includes active buttons, which make it a good choice for fundraisers or registration. Sharing is possible through social media, embedding, texting, or emailing. Take a look at their blog for more fun and practical ideas for ways to use the app.

The app has gotten lots of positive feedback online. This article from Free Tech for Teachers includes a video and several specific examples of ways teachers can incorporate the app in the classroom. Class Tech Tips features this article, which describes ways to use Adobe Spark to create “school stories” or share the events happening in classroom and across the school district.

Cost: Free!
Level: Middle and High School
Platforms: iOS

CMLE’s web redesign week is Dec. 14th – 20th, stop in and say hello!

Snowmen and Sound of Music candles at CMLE HQ!

Here at CMLE Headquarters, we have eagerly been awaiting the chance to dive in and make some changes and improvements to our website. Mid-December would be the perfect time to do that! During the week of Dec. 14th – 20th, we will be here at HQ devoting our focus to website redesign. We are sharing this information with you in case you have some suggestions for the updated website! Is there anything you’d like to see more of, certain features that would make the site more accessible, or templates that you find especially useful? Let us know! Email us or feel free to stop in during our week of web redesign.

Since we love the holiday season, if you do stop in, we will show you around our decorated space and share some yummy treats – maybe even some hot chocolate! You can feel free to chat with us about libraries, websites, or your holiday plans.

Hope to see you then!

Updates on the CMLE travel bugs!

the Cheesehead Public Library cache!

As library people, we are dedicated to providing information in all sorts of formats, and on all kinds of topics. One strategy for finding information is geocaching! To participate in this, we have set up five travel bugs we hope will be traveling around to libraries and library caches.

Library Visitor drops into the cache, waiting to be taken to a library!

Our latest travel bug to head out into the world is Library Visitor. This travel bug was dropped in the Cheesehead Public Library geocache. This is a great cache, with a selection of books in plastic bags to keep them safe and dry.

One of our other adventurous travel bugs, Libraries Rock, has been retrieved! An experienced cacher located it, and left a note that she will be moving it on to a library cache.

Where might our travel bugs go?? What library-related adventures might they have? We have to stay tuned to find out! You can click at the top of the page to follow any of our travel bugs, to see where they travel.

Many adventures in information finding are ahead!