Library people: We all know our patrons use Wikipedia. We use Wikipedia. It’s a pretty awesome tool! But it can be better!! We are passing on some information about strategies you can use to help Wikipedia to be better and more accurate.
Try it for yourself! Set up a Wikipedia event in your library! Use this as a starting point to make our of our frequently-used resources to be stronger!
Continue reading Libraries improving Wikipedia: Are you in??
Thank you to everyone who participated in our needs assessment survey! The winners of the $25 Amazon gift cards have been notified.
As with all surveys, we wanted to learn more about the needs of our community. In our case, our community is our member libraries; and our need is figuring out what you guys need so we can better serve you. In any organization with a new director, it is valuable to spend this time asking around about things people want so we can keep building on successful partnerships from the past, as well as helping with the new needs a rapidly-changing profession like ours creates. Combining the information we learned here with the information learned in visiting our member libraries gives us a better picture of the things we can do to help support our libraries!
This will be a quick overview of the highlights of the results from the information received. We will be working on this for a while, and using this information to build services and materials we can offer to you. In any sort of partnership, things will keep changing and the work we do today will change too. We will be sending out another needs assessment survey in about a year and a half, to see where we are then, and what other kinds of things we can be doing.
The results here are not necessarily representative of all members, but they are giving us a basis to start thinking about things. People who are really interested in statistical testing and analysis should contact me, because I love to talk about that stuff! But this is designed as an overview, a place to start, and to have other information filled in from visits, discussions, and other sources around the system. So it may not be perfect, but every plan needs a starting point!
Continue reading Quick overview of the Needs Assessment survey
We’ve Learned… is designed to keep our readers informed about news concerning personnel in CMLE libraries/media centers. Please keep us informed of any “happenings” regarding staff members in your area so that we can include them in the next write-up! Happenings can include: changes in staffing, awards, honors… you get the idea!
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Three years ago Jeffrey Schnapp, a faculty member at Harvard, began a library test kitchen engaging students in the School of Design to, “create a hybrid [library] space where analog and digital coexist.” Striving to identify new ways to interact with books and the “material soul” to blend into one library voice through design for both print and digital materials.
The “test kitchen” was set-up in the location of a former bookstore. Student projects were displayed using pop-up galleries in satellite locations, sharing with the campus community their projects, findings and design suggestions. Click here to read the full article published by Boston Globe, The Library Test Kitchen at Harvard written by Anne Gray Fischer (July 2013.)
Note: The Director of CMLE, Patricia Post, often writes under a subcategory called “Food for Thought” where she identifies articles that pertain to all librarians and library types. This week she highlights a lecture on libraries by Neil Gaiman. Consider these posts throughout the year to help feed the soul of your library.
A recent post on the Education Week blog caught my eye, and captured the true dilemma many librarians and media specialists face as they ponder the future of libraries. The post is most specific to K-12, yet there are parallels for other library types too. Author Matthew Lynch proposes that to keep up with student needs, school libraries need to embrace a blend of traditional and contemporary philosophical needs (then takes the time to list them out). It is not hard to understand that remote access to the school catalog is a huge deal to students, yet so many schools in our region do not provide such access. In some districts, individual schools cannot even see each other’s catalogs. Why is that? Is it only a money thing, or do some believe our power remains in forcing people to physically visit the library or in asking the media person to do a search for them? Students want instant, remote access to school catalogs for books and other objects too. The post concluded with a rousing conclusion about Libraries of the Future and our own Minnesota school media leader Doug Johnson provided a great quote in this section. Johnson says “that all libraries have three primary responsibilities in the coming decade: providing high touch environments in a high tech world; offering virtual services; and standing ground as uber information hubs.” If decision makers are willing to break out of the traditional rut, school libraries (all libraries) will remain relevant and viable. Take five minutes to read the complete post, including quotes from other thought leaders on this subject!
Patricia Post, Director
Central MN Libraries Exchange (CMLE)
A Minnesota Multitype Library System
St. Cloud State University, Miller Center 130-D
720 4th Ave. So.
St. Cloud, MN 56301-4498
Phone: 320-308-4779 Fax: 320-308-5131
E-mail: papost@stcloudstate.edu
Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange 