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News | Executive Director | Training | Special Offers
MCLS launches strategic planning consulting servicesMCLS has the trained and experienced staff to assist libraries in developing effective, community-driven strategic plans. We start by turning outward to your community. The payoff is the structuring of a strategic plan that is truly aligned with the needs of your community.
Whether you are looking for full-service strategic planning, or assistance with certain phases of the planning process, we can help. Contact us to request a quote, or call Michelle Bradley at (800) 530-9019 ext 125 for more information.
The MCLS office will be closed the following days for the 2017 Holiday Season:
Mon, Dec 25
Tue, Dec 26
Mon, Jan 1
Happy Holidays!
for DecemberWe'll be gathering together in both states in December to discuss community engagement efforts at your libraries. Attendance is free and open to anyone with interest in community engagement, but pre-registration is requested.
Dec 1, Monroe County Public Library, Bloominton, IN
Dec 14, Redford Township District Library, Redford Township, MI
Another set of roundtables will be held in March 2018.
November 2017 Harwood Public Innovators Lab attended by 54 participantsOn Nov. 7-9, 2017, 54 Michigan library staff and partners began a nearly two year undertaking. They attended a Public Innovators Lab taught by certified coaches from the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation. During the Lab, the cohort was organized into two smaller groups, which for the next 18 months will participate in additional training and develop action plans to move their communities forward.
Check out these photos of the 2017 MCLS/Library of Michigan Harwood Cohort!
See you in January on Twitter!We're taking a break from our monthly Twitter chats in December, as it is such a busy month for everyone. We'll see you online again on Jan. 17 for a chat on The Human Library.
Happy Holidays!
Did you miss our November chat on makerspaces? We archived it for you.
I love my job. After more than 20 years, I can say that I still find it challenging, rewarding, and fulfilling. Consortium work, of course, is not the same as library work, but we all have the same end goal in mind. We want a better educated citizenry. We want people to have access to books, video, and audio that entertain and inform them. We want programming for adults and children that is engaging and accessible. And we want to stay ahead of the technology curve. For all of us, that’s a big job. MCLS, like other consortia, exists to help individual libraries cooperate with each other and achieve more together than they can on their own. That’s what keeps me engaged.
My exposure to consortia came quite early in my career. It was in 1984, when I was a newly-minted reference librarian at Grace A. Dow Memorial Library in Midland, Michigan.
Visit our MCLS Store for the full Winter/Spring 2018 semester of training workshop offerings. We have eight brand-new workshops this semester, along with our standard cataloging classes, and much more.
For more information, visit our upcoming workshops and events page. If you have any questions, please contact training@mcls.org.
Celebrate the end of 2017 by exploring a new collection from Ambrose Video Publishing, trialing World Food from World Trade Press, or learning more about your community with ReferenceUSA. For more information about these or any other products available through MCLS, contact Megan Bauerle and Chrystal Babbitt at services@mcls.org or (800) 530-9019 ext 401.
Ambrose Video Publishing is introducing new videos on food science, physical therapy, nursing, Islam, neuroscience, behavioral science, entrepreneurs, and addiction.
All videos include:
AtoZ World Food is the world’s largest and most comprehensive database of food culture and traditional recipes for 174 countries. This resource will give patrons the ability to create their own personal accounts to save and share their favorite recipes. It is a wonderful educational resource for country- and food-related projects for students, not to mention how easy it makes sharing recipes for local cookbook clubs, without the worry of book checkouts.
To trial AtoZ World Food please contact Megan Bauerle at services@mcls.org or (800) 530-9019 ext 401 for login information.
ReferenceUSA, the premier source of business and residential information for reference and research, has been serving the library community since 1992. They provide library patrons access to accurate and complete business and consumer data - all of which are compiled in-house. No other data provider goes to the lengths they do to ensure the data your patrons rely on are relevant, comprehensive, and up-to-date.
