Linking Our Libraries

We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange, a multitype system serving all types of libraries.

This season we are suggesting books you might enjoy for our Goodreads group: Armchair Travel to Minnesota State Parks. We give you a prompt connected to each state park, and you find a book to fulfill the challenge. You can use one of our suggestions, and you should feel free to read any book!

The St. Croix State Park was established in 1943. This park has two rivers: the Saint Croix River, which is a National Scenic Riverway, and the Kettle River, a State Wild and Scenic River. Enjoy the rivers with a book about rivers, streams, or other bodies of water. 

You can find our show notes right here.

We are suggesting books you might enjoy for our Goodreads group: Armchair Travel to Minnesota State Parks. We give you a prompt connected to each state park, and you find a book to fulfill the challenge. You can use one of our suggestions, and you should feel free to read any book!

Split Rock Lighthouse State Park is one of the most iconic views of the Minnesota north coast. To celebrate this amazing view and lovely park, read a book with a lighthouse on the cover or as a plot point. 

We give you links to each of these books on our show notes page, taking you to Amazon.com. If you click on any of them, and buy anything at all - including a nice book - Amazon will send us a small percent of the profits they made on these sales. Thank you for supporting CMLE!

We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange, a multitype system serving all types of libraries. 

We are suggesting books you might enjoy for our Goodreads group: Armchair Travel to Minnesota State Parks. We give you a prompt connected to each state park, and you find a book to fulfill the challenge. You can use one of our suggestions, and you should feel free to read any book!

Myre-Big Island State Park was established in 1947. This is a lovely park, so let's enjoy it by reading a book about an island. 

We give you links to each of these books on our show notes page, taking you to Amazon.com. If you click on any of them, and buy anything at all - including a nice book - Amazon will send us a small percent of the profits they made on these sales. Thank you for supporting CMLE!

We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange, a multitype system serving all types of libraries.

We are suggesting books you might enjoy for our Goodreads group: Armchair Travel to Minnesota State Parks. We give you a prompt connected to each state park, and you find a book to fulfill the challenge. You can use one of our suggestions, and you should feel free to read any book!

William O’Brien State Park was established in 1947. There is a lot to do in this park, year-round. In the winter you can go ski and snowshoeing. Celebrate the winter weather with a book about someone enjoying winter outdoor activities!

We give you links to each of these books on our show notes page, taking you to Amazon.com. If you click on any of them, and buy anything at all - including a nice book - Amazon will send us a small percent of the profits they made on these sales. Thank you for supporting CMLE!

We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange, a multitype system serving all types of libraries.

We are suggesting books you might enjoy for our Goodreads group: Armchair Travel to Minnesota State Parks. We give you a prompt connected to each state park, and you find a book to fulfill the challenge. You can use one of our suggestions, and you should feel free to read any book!

Carley State Park was founded in 1949. This park has a lovely array of wildflowers every spring! Celebrate those features with a book that has flowers on the cover. 

We give you links to each of these books on our show notes page, taking you to Amazon.com. If you click on any of them, and buy anything at all - including a nice book - Amazon will send us a small percent of the profits they made on these sales. Thank you for supporting CMLE!

We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange, a multitype system serving all types of libraries.

We are suggesting books you might enjoy for our Goodreads group: Armchair Travel to Minnesota State Parks. We give you a prompt connected to each state park, and you find a book to fulfill the challenge. You can use one of our suggestions, and you should feel free to read any book!

The Lake Shetek park was also established in 1937. "The word "Shetek" is Ojibwe for "pelican," a bird which visits Lake Shetek during the summer and fall." So let's celebrate these birds by reading a book with a pelican on the cover or in the story OR a book published by Pelican Books. 

We give you links to each of these books on our show notes page, taking you to Amazon.com. If you click on any of them, and buy anything at all - including a nice book - Amazon will send us a small percent of the profits they made on these sales. Thank you for supporting CMLE!

We are suggesting books you might enjoy for our Goodreads group: Armchair Travel to Minnesota State Parks. We give you a prompt connected to each state park, and you find a book to fulfill the challenge. You can use one of our suggestions, and you should feel free to read any book!

The Garden Island State Recreation Area was established in 1998. This is the farthest north area in the Minnesota park system. Celebrate the park area closest to the Arctic Circle by reading a book about life in the Arctic or other extreme cold environment. 

We give you links to each of these books on our show notes page, taking you to Amazon.com. If you click on any of them, and buy anything at all - including a nice book - Amazon will send us a small percent of the profits they made on these sales. Thank you for supporting CMLE!

Welcome back to Season Seven of Linking Our Libraries! Today is the end of our season. We have had a great time looking at a variety of skills to use in libraries, whether you are in the midst of a global pandemic or not. Stay tuned to this feed! We will start dropping short episodes of Browsing Books here on Tuesdays, with about ten minutes of book suggestions just for you.

Today’s episode is part of our series on Library Basics. We are working through some of the skills people need in every library. Not everyone is going to school for a Master’s degree in Library Science, and that’s fine. We want to be sure everyone has the skills to be comfortable in a library and to be successful for the community you are serving.

It does not matter what type of library you are in - we all need to do instruction! Your work might be working with a patron to figure out a specific problem they are having in a moment. It might be a one-shot class, where you just pop into a class and talk about a specific topic. Or it might be a longer part of a class, where you are involved on a longer basis with doing more instruction over the course of days or weeks.

Just remember that our fundamental purpose is to connect information with members of the community. Instruction is the tool we can use to help them to find that information, no matter what topic a patron wants. 

Today’s episode is part of our series on Library Basics. We are working through some of the skills people need in every library. Not everyone is going to school for a Master’s degree in Library Science, and that’s fine. We want to be sure everyone has the skills to be comfortable in a library and to be successful for the community you are serving.

Social media of all sorts can be great for helping you to connect your materials, services, and programs with your community members. You probably get a number of them coming into the library already, and that’s great. But there are probably more people who never make it into your library, and you need a good strategy to connect your great stuff with them. Social media can be that tool for you.

Welcome back to Season Seven of Linking Our Libraries!

We are the Central Minnesota Libraries Exchange, and our members are all types of libraries and their staff.  

You can check out our full show notes page here.

Today’s episode is part of our series on Library Basics. We are working through some of the skills people need in every library. Not everyone is going to school for a Master’s degree in Library Science, and that’s fine. We want to be sure everyone has the skills to be comfortable in a library and to be successful for the community you are serving.

All libraries have three basic things they do: services, materials, and programs. This week we are talking about the third of those fundamental things: services to the community. Libraries are all serving their communities, in all sorts of ways. This is always the heart of our mission: we are there to serve the needs of the community. You might not think the work you are doing every day is special, but for the people you are serving the services you provide are unique and valuable. (Sometimes you have to also remember to tell them about all of it, so they know how cool your stuff is!)