Scholarships
SAMMIE offers continuing education scholarships to member libraries for a variety of staff development events. Scholarships are offered for any appropriate training. workshop or seminar. SAMMIE also maintains pools of money for specific yearly events such as MLA, MEMO, Children's Literature conference, etc.
Application is online. easy, and grants up to $350.00 are available throughout the year.
Interested in reading previous scholarship reports? Find them here.
Scholarship Reports
SAMMIE Continuing Education (CE) scholarship recipients offer a brief glimpse into their continuing education experience.
MLA by Lacey Louwagie/Marshall Lyon County Library
Jan 19, 2012
Thanks to funds from a SAMMIE scholarship, I was able to attend the Minnesota Library Association conference in Duluth, Minnesota. I attended sessions on a wide range of subjects, but my favorites were "The History of Copyright in 45 Minutes," "Board @ Your Library? Hot Board Games for Cool Librarians" and "To Boldly Go: Fantastical Journeys through Science Fiction Reader Advisory." The History of Copyright was a good refresher, as I'm constantly hoping to stay "on top of" copyright law when I work with teens who do remixes and video editing using their own material as well as that...
AASL 15th Nation Conference: Turning the Page by Lauri Fox/Tracy Area Schools
Jan 06, 2012
Too many choices . . . not enough time! But I am so thankful that I was able to attend the National Conference of the American Association Of School Librarians.
The conference began with a thought provoking presentation by Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows : What the Internet Is Doing To Our Brains. The neurology of our brains are being impacted by technology - the distractions and interruptions of cell phones, email, tweets, etc, effect our thought processes, and our comprehension and retention - our ability to think deeply.
One of the breakout sessions I attended was a...
Guide to E-Books: A PLA Webinar Series by Tamera Erickson/Jackson County Library
Dec 14, 2011
This webinar featured four weekly webinars (Oct. 25 through Nov. 15) and offered a practical approach to integrating e-books, e-readers and related e-materials into public library collections.
Webinar One: Intro to E-Books
The first webinar in the series introduced participants to the e-book and e-reader market with a look at the devices, including the Kindle, Nook, and iPad. Each device is different and designed around strategies of the company that created them. It was stressed that library staff needs to know how to use the devices and how to download e-...
MLA 2011 at Duluth by Holly Martin Huffman/Marshall-Lyon County Library
Dec 14, 2011
Because of a SAMMIE scholarship , I was able to attend the 2011 MLA Conference in Duluth. It was a wonderful place to meet other librarians, to hear what is happening in Minnesota libraries, and to learn what's new / what's hot for public libraries. I especially enjoyed the book talk sessions and the presentation of Anita Silvey (the Sharon Lerner Lecture). One of the most interesting discussions involved some very thought-provoking comments from the audience in the session "E-books: What's All the EXCITEMENT About?" Issues came up about the delivery of e-books (e.g. affordability for both...
2011 AASL National Conference by Sandra Lee-Muske/Buffalo Lake-Hector-Stewar District Media Centers
Nov 27, 2011
SAMMIE's scholarship funding enabled me to go to the 2011 American Association of School Librarians national conference, held in Minneapolis, October 27-30, 2011. The theme was "Turning the Page" and the keynote speakers who started and ended the conference offered us much food for thought about the ever-increasing role of technology in our lives.
Indeed, technology permeated the conference. I registered, got a hotel, planned my conference schedule, and participated in a book discussion all online, and am still learning from presenter's handouts and recorded sessions, which...