Are you ready for a Bookapalooza Program collection?

let’s talk about books!

We are passing this on FYI, to help you connect with some library materials. If any member wants to work on the application, but is not sure where to start – we are always here at CMLE Headquarters to help out with ideas, writing, or edits!

From the website announcement:

Creating a better future for all children through libraries is ALSC’s core purpose.  ALSC envisions a future where:
• In every library, children come first.
• All libraries acknowledge the importance of children’s service with adequate materials and resources.
• All libraries recognize ALSC as a leader in promoting high quality service to children.
• Libraries recognize and support the value of all staff serving children.
• Resources, collections, services, and staff reflect the communities they serve.
• The library’s physical space reflects the developmental needs of children.
• Children and their families are being served by a variety of non-traditional programs and activities in off-site locations.

In keeping with this envisioned future, the Bookapalooza Program will offer select libraries a collection of materials that will help transform their collection and provide the opportunity for these materials to be used in their community in creative and innovative ways.

Meeting up with your colleagues!

What works for you?

 

In response to member requests, CMLE is going to set up a regular monthly gathering. This will be an opportunity for members from all types of libraries and from across the system to get together casually, to chat, to have lunch or dinner, and to just get a chance to talk to each other in person. (And if you want to talk about non-library things, that’s fine too! This is your chance to just hang out with library colleagues; so discuss whatever you want!)

Click to tell us what time (lunch/dinner) and day (Monday – Friday) would work best for you. Right now Wednesday dinner time is leading the voting, so be sure to chime in if that is not a good day/time for you! We anticipate these will happen monthly, and will create a schedule for the first six months of 2017 to share with you.

While you can not know your schedule in detail for the next six months, we ask that you make some predictions about days and times that you think you would be most likely to be able to join colleagues for an hour or two. We will move the location around, so people from across the system can all have a chance at a shorter drive!

Pick your day and time. And if you have suggestions on some public places to meet – think coffee, food, possibly adult beverages, and space for us to spread out – leave them below, or email them to us at admin@cmle.org!

If you didn’t already click: here it is again!

Notable Date to Celebrate: December 21st is Crossword Puzzle 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!

Get ready to puzzle!

December 21st is Crossword Puzzle Day!

Crosswords are a great activity for snowy, cold days. If you are feeling festive, try this winter crossword, or this one about Christmas songs. Otherwise, you can’t go wrong with this Harry Potter themed crossword!

If you are feeling creative, make your own crossword puzzle here.

And should all this puzzling cause you to work up an appetite, whip up this crossword puzzle cake!

Finally, check out this intriguing video from Slate on how crossword puzzles are created:

Let’s just take a minute to breathe…

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!

Academic Librarians: What Do You Think About Change??

help your profession – give your opinion!

As you know, at CMLE Headquarters, we want to help you stay connected with not only the community of our system, but also the wider library community. So this is another piece of information we pass on for you!

From the Request:

You are invited to participate in a survey designed to provide insight into academic librarians’ perception of change. You will be asked to express your degree of agreement or disagreement with statements or scenarios related to change.

We ask that only academic librarians participate in this survey. We will use this data as part of our research paper to be presented at the 2017 Association for College & Research Libraries (ACRL) Conference.

The survey will take approximately 5-8 minutes to complete, and you will be able to exit the survey at any time by closing your browser window or tab.

We do not anticipate any risks with this survey and would be grateful for your input. You may access the survey at http://uofmississippi.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_0e0xo51FpcPOg9T

If you have any questions, you may contact either investigator:

Brian Young, bwyoung@olemiss.edu

Ashley Dees, aesorey@olemiss.edu

IRB Approval                     

This study has been reviewed by The University of Mississippi’s Institutional Review Board (IRB).  If you have any questions, concerns, or reports regarding your rights as a participant of research, please contact the IRB at (662) 915-7482 or irb@olemiss.edu.

Thank you for your consideration,

Brian and Ashley

 

—

Brian Young

Engineering Reference Librarian

Assistant Professor

The University of Mississippi

J. D. Williams Library

P.O. Box 1848

1 Library Loop

University, MS 38677

bwyoung@olemiss.edu