What’s RUSA and how can it help you?

helping people is what they do!

CMLE Headquarters wants to give you all the tools that you need to be successful in our ever-changing profession! Having support around our system is helpful, and reaching out to professional organizations across Minnesota and across the country can help you to be stronger, better, and more efficient in your daily work. Working in a library is tough!! We want to help you make it as easy as possible.

This is a webinar from RUSA to help you get acquainted with their work. Tune in live if you can; or you can check out the video replay later.

FROM ALA:

You’ve heard of RUSA, but what is it? If you’re in user services, we do what you do!  See how you can find your home in ALA and get involved in the Reference and User Services Association by attending  our RUSA 101 webinar. Here are the details:

RUSA 101

Tuesday, December 20 @ 2 p.m. ET (1 CT/12 MT/11 PT)

URL to join meeting: http://ala.adobeconnect.com/r2yrjiy5hrv/

Use your headset for audio or call 1-888-935-0782, Participant Code: 94018206#.

We will discuss RUSA and its 6 sections (focused on business reference, collection development, emerging technologies, history, reference services, and resource sharing). Cynthia Slater, membership chair of BRASS, RUSA’s Business Reference and Services Section, will be on hand to provide an in-depth look at her section.

If you are unable to make it, we will also make a recording of the session available. Feel free to email me with any questions at amberp@uga.edu!

Please email me if you have any questions.

Amber Prentiss

Chair, Membership Committee, Reference and User Services Association (RUSA)

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Stress-Busting Therapy Dogs!

clearly a hard worker, at being mellow

We have talked about the great work dogs do in libraries to help kids with their reading, and some of you already have these dogs hard at work in your library.

This month, as we look at ways to mange stress in our libraries and workplaces, we wanted to look at dogs again; this time looking at pups who work to help bust stress! An increasingly popular activity in academic libraries, especially as the semester wraps up, therapy dogs provide a tool for libraries to help their communities to be successful in their work.

• University of Houston provides pups in the library as part of their finals offerings
• MIT libraries have Furry Fridays all semester, as well as dogs for final exams
• University of North Texas has some finals week visitors
• UW Parkside students get to enjoy a finals-themed dog session
• University of Buffalo also provides doggies at finals time
• University of Dubuque is having a #RaiseTheWoof celebration (I feel better just looking at these puppers!)

Call for ALA panel participation!

Let’s share some ideas!

We want to be sure you have access to all the library news and events out there, so will periodically pass on things that may be relevant to you. This is a call for people who can share their innovative strategies for good library service when resources are tight! The ALA Annual meeting will be in Chicago – hopefully close enough that some people can attend to take part in a HUGE library event!! If there is enough interest, CMLE will rent a van to drive people there, and back at the end of the conference.

This kind of event can be a valuable part of your professional life (and it’s always fun!); so start thinking of some strategies now for your own attendance! Participation in a panel like this one or others we will pass on as they arise, or creating a poster to share, can be a great way to give back to the profession – as well as good justification for attending!

No matter what you do in the library field, there will be something for you at the ALA Annual Conference. With a general attendance of about 25,000 people, there are people there who like what you like and do what you do! There will also be webinars and materials available for people who are #ALALeftBehind; so you do not need to attend physically to get the benefits!

See call for participation below:

Libraries lending musical instruments

Make some music with your library!

The days of libraries only checking out books have long passed. Libraries serve so many vital functions in their communities, and are open to learning from their patrons what types of services and programs would be most valuable. This has led to libraries checking out neck ties to job searchers (check out CMLE’s post on the subject) and now, to the Vancouver Public Library opening their Sun Life Financial Musical Instrument Lending Library.

This article from Public Libraries Online describes some of the instruments available (they are mainly stringed instruments and hand drums) like acoustic guitars, ukuleles, and bongos. The library hopes to gain more instruments to share with the public during their instrument drive.

The way it works is that a person can borrow one instrument at a time for 21 days, and if no one else has made a request for the instrument, they are able to renew their instrument up to two times. However, that opportunity won’t come for awhile – the article shares how only three days after the Vancouver Public Library launched the Instrument Lending Library, every instrument was checked out, with a wait list of up to 70 patrons for some instruments! Hopefully the instrument drive is successful and the library will be able to acquire more instruments to share with the public.

Looking for more libraries that offer musical instruments? Take a look at the Toronto Public Library, Forbes Library in MA, the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the Ann Arbor District Library which loans out a variety of music-related tools.

 

 

 

Your Peek at the Data: A Few Survey Results

Recently, staff in CMLE member libraries had almost one month to respond to an online CMLE Needs Assessment (survey). We sincerely thank the 152 people (20%) who took the time to share their thoughts, feedback, and dreams for library support services in Central Minnesota. CMLE serves 320 libraries in 12 counties, and one of the biggest challenges is understanding your specific needs while also trying to spot opportunities to convene academic, public, special and school librarians when a topic cuts across library type. In the next few weeks, we will highlight a few questions/responses  in order to provide manageable bites of data.

This week we highlight data about who participated, and
how they engage with various tools including social media!

Makeup of the Needs Assessment Respondents

* Of K-12 respondents, 50% were in elementary schools; no surprise as there are more elementary schools overall.

 

The following chart shows tools that are blocked for use at work. Tip: Sometimes, these tools can be used in the  workplace by requesting special access for the specialized work you do!

 

Social Media Use by Respondents: Professional and Personal Use

Other interesting, notable facts!

• 85% of respondents currently receive the Weekly Review email every Thursday from CMLE
• The Tech Bits and Ideas, and Resources You Can Use categories of weekly blog posts, are the two highest ranked categories in the Weekly Review lineup
• 44/46%  of respondents felt either there would be value, or there might be value in having a place online with others in Central MN for asking questions and getting answers.
• Read the From the Director post to get my commentary on these results!

Do any of these results surprise you? How so? We would love to know….admin@cmle.org

Watch for a new set of Needs Assessment results next week!