Volunteer with St. Kate's at the Great Minnesota Get-Together

Photo credit: Alice Seuffert, Dining With Alice. Used with permission

We’re looking for volunteers to help us promote literacy at the Minnesota State Fair for the third year in a row! St. Kate’s will be helping out at the Alphabet Forest, where fair-themed games and activities have been designed to promote alphabet and vocabulary learning. Our past volunteers have had a lot of fun working with kids and their families, plus you get free admission to the fair for the day.

MLIS students (including new students), faculty, staff, and alumni of the program are all invited to help out. Feel free to grab a friend, partner, family member, or any other friendly face to join you as well!

St. Kate's MLIS Day at the Alphabet Forest
Thursday, August 28th
3-hour shifts available between 9 am and 9 pm
Register to volunteer using our sign up form

Curious about the Alphabet Forest? Check out the Alphabet Forest State Fair page.

Other questions? Contact Kaia at knsievert@stkate.edu

Go to the State Fair for free this Thursday--help out at the Alphabet Forest!

This is a final ask for your help this Thursday, August 23rd at the Alphabet Forest at the State Fair! Represent St. Kate's LIS program while having a fun time with kids who are learning literacy skills at the fair--in exchange for 3 hours of volunteer time, you get free admission for the day. We've had a couple of cancellations, so there are open shifts through the afternoon and evening to be flexible to your schedule. Sign up online (http://tinyurl.com/stkate-forest-signup) and I'll send you complete info. Thanks!

Volunteer at the Alphabet Forest this summer at the MN State Fair!

I know you're as busy as I am with the end of the semester, but I wanted to catch your attention for the final activity I will be coordinating as your outgoing ALASC Chair: staffing a St. Kate's Day at the Alphabet Forest at the Minnesota State Fair in August!

Learn about the Alphabet Forest here: http://www.mnstatefair.org/entertainment/fair_alphabet.html

What we're planning to do is have one day (which hasn't yet been set by the State Fair volunteer coordinator) where the Alphabet Forest is staffed entirely by St. Kate's LIS students, and possibly with St. Kate's Education students as well. We'll wear our St. Kate's LIS t-shirts and ALASC buttons (if you're a member). In exchange for your volunteer time (around 2-3 hours, I think), you get free state fair access for the rest of the day!

If you think you MIGHT be interested, please let me know now, and I'll keep you in the loop as this develops. You do not have to be an ALASC member to participate, so invite your LIS friends!

Other things we talked about doing around this, once we have a date, are:

• Making flyers to post around campus
• Writing an article to promote it in the campus newspaper, The Wheel
• Highlighting the day in Kateway
• Releasing a media advisory to local media about our program's involvement
• Promoting the day specifically to student parents at St. Kate's

If you are interested in helping with any of these things, let me know as well. This is a great opportunity to get some promotion experience on your resume!

Thanks, and let me know if you have questions!

Contact Your Legislator re Legacy Funds!

From Elaine Keefe, lobbyist for MLA/MEMO:

As you may have seen in media reports, legislators are considering raiding the Legacy Amendment's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund to pay for a new stadium for the Vikings. 

This is certainly not what the voters were told this money would be used for when they passed the Legacy Amendment in 2008.  

Raiding the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund for a stadium will reduce the funding available for arts and cultural programs throughout Minnesota, including those offered by libraries. 

Please call or e-mail your legislators and tell them that you oppose using Arts Fund money for a stadium. 

Minnesota Citizens for the Arts has an excellent tool on their website for constructing a letter to your legislator using your choice of talking points.  The link is below:

 

http://www.capwiz.com/artsusa/mn/issues/alert/?alertid=12568891&type=ST&show_alert=1

We need your questions! Monday night panel on 11/14

The ALA Student Chapter is sponsoring a panel discussion of librarians from more "traditional" careers--since we know there are still many of us out there who hope to work in a public, school, or academic library. We want your help coming up with questions for the panel!

Imagine: you're facing down librarians who have the jobs you'd love to have some day (soon). Since you're not going to hit them with a shovel, what do you want to know about how they built their careers? Please use the comments section below to brainstorm questions we can give to the panel.

We'd like to get these done in early November so the panelists can see them in advance of the event (Monday, November 14) and have time to think about them.

Storyelling Festival on Monday, 4/18/11

At our last meeting, we decided to have a strong presence at the upcoming Storytelling Festival both to show support for our fellow students and potentially drum up some more business for ourselves. Please come--three of our own will be performing! (It's required for our storytelling class, but that doesn't mean we won't rock it.)

Storytelling Festival
Featuring ALA faculty advisor Sarah Park, ALA student members Sara Z and Deni Buendorf, and the rest of our fabulous LIS storytelling class
Monday, April 18, 2011
6:30-8:00pm with snacks!
Recital Hall, Music Building @ St. Kate's

"Let Your State Officials Know How Important Libraries Are to You!"

A message from the ALA:

April 10–16 is “National Library Week.” This year’s theme is “Create your own story @ your library.” It’s a perfect opportunity for you to let your legislators know how important libraries are to you, telling your story about how important your library is to you, and the difference your library makes in your community. Libraries need your voice!

Libraries continue to be busier than ever helping families survive during these tough economic times, yet public libraries, school libraries, and academic libraries are facing closures and elimination of librarians and library workers—the people who help those with a job application, teach 21st-century skills, and nurture the love of reading in kids that will serve them the rest of their lives.

State governments provide much needed funding for libraries to provide public access to the Internet to everyone, critical databases for individuals and small businesses, and homework help.

Please send an e-mail to your governor and your representatives today, and pass this message on to your friends and colleagues.

Thank you for advocating for libraries and library staff.

Sincerely,
Michael Dowling
Director, Chapter Relations Office
American Library Association

ARLD Day 2011

ARLD Day 2011: The Everywhere Library

"Last year, Academic and Research Libraries (ARLD) Day was all about getting users into the library building. This year, we’ll look at serving our patrons where they are. We know they work from their computers at home and in their offices, but they’re also increasingly accessing our services and information via mobile devices. What do libraries need to be thinking about? What services are successful? What technologies and metadata are required to make access easy and understandable? Join us on April 29 at ARLD Day 2011: The Everywhere Library to find out."

Minnesota Book Awards

Register through TwinCities.com to vote for your favorite local authors in the Minnesota Book Awards Readers Choice category.

You may also want to check out the Minnesota Book Awards website. The Friends of the St. Paul Public Library, host of the event, is one of the most active and successful library friends organizations in the nation.