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Staff Training

Advocacy, Conferences, Library Services, Staff Training
Announcement to Participate in Legal Resources Training Conference
December 1st, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the National Center for State Courts, the Center-hosted Self-Represented Litigation Network, in cooperation with the Legal Services Corporation, is presenting:
A Training on Public Libraries and Access to Justice
January 11-12, 2010, Austin, Texas

Information on Application Process
With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to the National Center for State Courts, the Center-hosted Self-Represented Litigation Network, in cooperation with the Legal Services Corporation, is presenting a two-day conference that addresses how public libraries can improve access to online legal information at libraries. The conference will be a unique opportunity for participants to meet with public librarians and with legal and court experts to discuss strategies for integrating access to legal information into their programs, including how to locate the best content and tools, how to talk about the content with library patrons, how to work with content partners to make sure that needed content is developed, how to share what they have learned statewide, and how to use successful programs to advocate for the importance of public libraries as gateways to government institutions.

The conference organizers plan to select between 10 and 15 teams of two to three people from across the country to attend the conference. These teams will learn about a broad range of currently available print and online, customer-friendly legal tools developed by courts, bar associations, law libraries, and legal aid programs that support people without access to legal aid or counsel. The participants will learn how to access this information, facilitate sharing among libraries and legal agencies and participate in the enhancement and customization of these tools.

Preference will generally be given to teams that include a person who plays a statewide library staff educational or organizational role; a local librarian with a strong interest in expanding the use of public libraries for access to justice; and one of the following: a legal aid staff member; or a court online information expert or member of a self help center currently not using online tools to provide services. Applicant teams are encouraged to put together a group that will be the most effective in their area of service to spread the word in their states. The decision of the selection group will be final.

Conference participants will receive travel and hotel costs (subject to certain caps described in the application). Participants will also be eligible to apply for post-conference funding to implement some of the tools learned at the conference. Such grants, which will range from $750 to $1,000, might be used for travel to conferences at which training would be shared, development of marketing materials, and so on.

For additional immediate information, contact Richard Zorza, richard@zorza.net.

Application materials can be found on:
SelfHelpSupport: http://www.selfhelpsupport.org/libraries
WebJunction: http://www.webjunction.org/legal-information/-/articles/content/86970844
Online Collaboration, Online Learning, Staff Training, Sustainability
Don’t cut out Learning in hard times: 16 minutes with George and Joan
November 9th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?
Thanks to Lori Reed for pointing out this excellent podcast from Joan Frye Williams and George Needham from their Thinking Out Loud series. I just listened to it for the second time and took some notes:
- What is the social contract…our obligation to keep our skills current.
- Training budgets are seen as an easy mark in cuts to save money (they keep staff, but cut training)
- What does it cost to keep skills current?
- Investment necessary if we’re going to keep up-to-date.
- How can you stay vital and active in your community? If the resources you work with are getting trimmed back, you may need more in your bag of tricks.
- Who’s responsibility is “learning”? The individual’s? The organization’s?
- Your organization may help you keep your skills up to date, but you need to take the responsibility to act upon the knowledge you’ve acquired and apply them to the goals of the organization.
- How can we move toward a state where learning is something we all agreed to do? …to see learning as an opportunity to help each other be more successful, instead of staying in our own little silos.
- Ask yourself: What can I learn or contribute to help others learn to do their job?
- And be willing to go to others with your suggestions AND for them to not take it as a criticism of their work or inability to do the work. Acronym to remember: Q-TIP (quit taking it personally)
- Learn how to transpose what you’re learning in other spaces to your work in the library (eg. customer service you receive when shopping)
- One of the ways to tell if you’re doing a library job right is if you’re learning something.
- Learning has intrinsic awards.
- Learning is not penance.
- Management: your support for learning helps your staff feel engaged.
Bravo, George and Joan!
Library 2.0, Staff Training, Sustainability, Tech, Web 2.0, WebJunction Staff
Library 101 Project debuts
October 30th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

Our fellow staffer Michael Porter (aka Libraryman) has been spending his off hours working slavishly with David Lee King on a project they call Library 101. We know Michael as an unrepentent cheerleader of libraries and librarians who can convince anyone to get up and dance and sing for the cause (and have fun while doing it!). Well, their project debuted just a few days ago, with quite a splash. The project website includes a collection of more than 20 essays from thought leaders in the field, an extensive list of resources (101, actually) on “need to know” technology, and last but not least, a 7-minute song and video featuring Michael, David, and a huge cast of characters from libraries around the globe. Around the office, we all have the chorus “101 our parts make a sum that will be the key to what is to come. 101’s how we get the job done! Evolve and make your Library 101!” totally stuck in our heads.

Michael and David are hoping that you will help build the project by adding your comments to the essays, to answer the question, What do you think librarians need to know to succeed?
Online Learning, Staff Training, groups
Twelve-year Study Confirms Online Learning Works
September 2nd, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

It’s one thing to experience the effectiveness of learning online with others, but quite another to have a Department of Education study confirm that experience. What foresight (bless ‘em) to start the study back in 1996 and what an exciting time to benefit from the research! As the New York Times post quotes:

“We are at an inflection point in online education,” said Philip R. Regier, the dean of Arizona State University’s Online and Extended Campus program.

The Department of Education’s meta-analysis of studies (see full report) between 1996 and 2008 compare online with in-person learning looking at the tested performance of students. The studies showed that “blended” instruction (combining elements of online and face-to-face instruction) was better than both face to face instruction or instruction conducted wholly online, but additionally that instruction conducted wholly on line was more effective than face to face instruction only.

As a parent of elementary school-aged kids, I’m of course hopeful that this research will impact some of the decisions made by funders and policy makers, especially in light of all the work going into broadband and technology stimulus work. And too, I hope that we can do a better job training our teachers, parents and of course librarians to support the learning needs and methods of all.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how proud I am to see the study confirms some of the findings in research published way back in March 2007 by my WebJunction colleagues in the Blended Learning Guide. And also worthy of WJ gold stars is the forward thinking revealed in the resources posted in the new Group: Social Learning for Staff Development. Here’s to the days ahead, beyond the “inflection point” of online learning!
Online Learning, Staff Training
… Now with Instructor-Led Courses!
August 18th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

We all know that self-paced, anytime, anyplace learning has many advantages, and because they are the best cost effective way to get the most learning to the most people, those courses will always make up the bulk of WebJunction’s course catalog. But we also know that self-paced courses are not the only way to learn, and many of us really miss the social interaction of an instructor and classmates. So we are trying out some new, instructor-led, live-online courses that we hope you will really like.

We are pleased to announce we have just added five such new courses to our catalog. These courses are exclusively offered for WebJunction members by Amigos Library Services – the largest library consortia in the southwest, and one of the top providers of quality continuing education for library staff in the country. They are all on library-specific topics, and our initial focus this fall is on Technical Services.

The first classes start just after labor day, so now is a good time to take a look and sign up. You can see all the course listings together, read the full descriptions and enroll in the Amigos category of our Course Catalog. But as always – if you are a member of any of our State or Provincial Partners, make sure you go to the catalog on that Partner’s site instead to take advantage of some steep discounts.

Here are titles, dates and short descriptions of the courses. You can find more info in the catalog.

MARC 101 – September 8 & 9
A beginner level introduction to MARC format; this course is intended for participants who are new to MARC. Topics covered include a brief history of MARC, organization and structure of a MARC record, definition of common MARC terminology, MARC formats and use of OCLC’s Bibliographic Formats and Standards for help with understanding MARC code.

Tools for the Reference Desk – September 17 & 24
Do you want to learn how to implement Web technologies in your reference desk? This course explores a variety of online tools, from blogs, wikis, to free chat software and web-based platforms from which you can engage your users at the reference desk. Come learn how to utilize several free online tools in your reference activities.

Tech Topics: Library 2.0 – September 28
For some, Library 2.0 is new and uncharted territory. For others, it’s the same thing we’ve been doing for years. Find out where the term originated, what it actually means, and how it intertwines with Web 2.0. You’ll see live demonstrations of Library 2.0-type implementations, discuss its ramifications for your library and the profession.

FRBR – What it is and how it can help you prepare for RDA - October 13 & 15
FRBR (Functional Requirements for Bibliographic Records) was created in 1998 and is the basis for the new RDA (Resource Description and Access). RDA is slated to replace AACR2 and be released in early 2010. Come and explore the new vocabulary and the bones of FRBR. By identifying FRBR, you are ready to recognize RDA when it is completed. Lively discussion is encouraged.

Basic Digitization: Everyday Imaging – November 11 & 12
This online workshop provides a solid introduction to library staff who want to start using digital imaging technology for ILL, web pages and other basic applications.
ALA2009, Online Collaboration, Online Learning, Staff Training, groups
Tweeting the way to staff learning
July 14th, 2009 | Permalink | 1 Comment

Michael Porter and I gave a presentation on Social Learning for Staff Development where we explored the concepts of serendipitous, targeted serendipity and designed learning using social networking tools.

Humans are social animals and are most engaged in learning when there is social interaction. So how could we present on a topic like this without expanding the presentation environment to allow for social learning about social learning? Even though we had the constraints of a linear lecture-type setup, we asked the participants to break up into groups, take up pen and post-it and start brainstorming challenges and ideas about how they could integrate social networking tools into their staff development programs.

I had intended to bring the groups back together to share what they had each come up with, but the room was so abuzz with social learning energy that I didn’t want to interrupt. So, I started a group on WebJunction to keep the ideas flowing. The notes from the ALA brainstorm are incorporated there as a launch pad for carrying on the conversation.
Staff Training, WebJunction Staff, Webinar
Talentpalooza 2009
July 9th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

Next week, Kathryn Perkins, WebJunction’s director of Partner Services, will be presenting at Talentpalooza 2009, a live online webinar series that is held annually to discuss the latest trends in talent management.

Take a look at the lineup for this free July 15 event on the Talentpalooza website, and register if you are interested in attending any presentations.

You can read about what the guest speakers will be presenting on the site’s blog. Here is what Kathryn wrote:

Leveraging Customer Communities to Meet Top Talent Challenges

Are you fully engaging the social learning aspect of your customer communities as a critical talent management resource to build high-potential staff, improve productivity, and enhance recruiting and learning efforts more efficiently and at a lower cost?

At WebJunction, we provide online learning community services to a wide variety of library organizations. Our customers (whom we call our partners) range from state libraries that develop custom learning communities, to library organizations that use our competency index and online courses for staff training. As a central hub of the community’s activity, we see talent and learning trends in our industry and the important role communities play in communication, networking, referrals and skill development.

With a number of states’ legislature budgets delayed or sharply decreased, along with record numbers of people flocking to the libraries, library staff are reaching out to their colleagues across the library field to assist in mentoring and collaborating on talent management initiatives. Online social networks are fostering connections, helping staff share information quickly and effectively across geographically diverse libraries and helping to establish broad recruiting circles.

Why are recruiting circles so important at a time of diminishing budgets and staff reductions? Libraries have faced significant retirements this year and expect this to continue into 2014. Filling these roles with experienced staff has become difficult, especially in states that have been hit particularly hard by the decrease in housing values. The lack of mobility within these states has pushed libraries to recruit from outside of their traditional geographic regions. The use of customer communities provides a cost-effective means of reaching out as well as serving as a positive asset to attract young prospective recruits.

Libraries are also reporting training positions being reduced or training staff taking on additional organizational responsibilities. In response, communities are helping by aggregating content and resources so that individual libraries can make the best use of limited time and not “reinvent the wheel.” Another promising activity that we see developing is cohort learning on rapid elearning development tools. Guru groups are forming around building expertise with the tools by sharing members’ best practices and enlightened failures.

I would like to hear if you are seeing some of the same talent and training trends. How is your organization leveraging your customer communities?
Library Management, Library Services, News, Online Learning, Staff Training, Tech
Library competency seedlings are sprouting
June 22nd, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?
I feel like I’ve spent much of the winter and spring planting competency seeds and I’m finally seeing the seedlings push up the soil and greet the light of day. So here’s what’s growing in the WebJunction competency garden …

♣ The Competency Index

Competency Index for the Library Field is a compilation of competency statements that address a broad spectrum of library practice and service. We aggregated and de-duped twelve leading competency sets from the field and then subjected them to a vigorous review by subject matter expert practitioners. We invite you to download the resulting publication and remix and reinvent it in whatever way best serves your library’s size, structure, and personnel development needs.

♣ Competency-course-content connections

We have integrated a fourth set of competencies from the Index with the WebJunction catalog—The Personal/Interpersonal competencies. Also referred to as soft skills, foundational or behavioral competencies, they apply to most job roles and form the underpinning of effective and stellar practice and service. Start on the Competencies tab of the WebJunction Courses page and discover connections to courses and resources aligned with specific skills and knowledge statements. You can also explore learning opportunities related to library management, core technology, and systems & IT.

♣ Competency evaluations

The results are in from the two competency evaluations WebJunction conducted in March and April. We asked respondents from across the field to evaluate themselves on a selection of skills and knowledge statements for library management and technology. Read the summaries and look for the detailed results in the PDF attached to each summary.
- Library Management Competency Evaluation Results
- Technology Competency Evaluation Results
Library Management, Online Learning, Staff Training
How do organizations partner with WebJunction?
June 1st, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

At WebJunction we talk a lot about partnerships because we truly believe in them as a way to leverage limited resources for the library community. And while we make a lot of individual partnerships with our members, we also partner with organizations. On the first Wednesday of every month, WebJunction hosts a conversation that addresses how we work with library organizations to provide customized, cost-effective resources to keep staff skills up-to-date and libraries relevant to current patron needs. This Wednesday, Michael Shapiro and me, Zola Maddison, will provide an overview of our tools, talk about our service options, and follow up with an open Q&A. We’ll also reflect on how our current partners are successfully employing WebJunction tools to save time and money while meeting the needs of their library staff. If you’re thinking about staff training and want to learn more about partnering with WebJunction, register for one of the upcoming WebJunction for Organizations sessions, online or at ALA. We hope to see you there!
Library Management, Staff Training, Webinar
Mileposts on the learning road
May 19th, 2009 | Permalink | 2 Comments

One week from today is the day you return to work after the 3-day Memorial Day weekend AND it’s the day of our Libraries as Learning Organizations webinar. Mark your calendars and set your reminders because this is going to be a lively discussion about reframing the approach to library staff training and learning.

Our panelists, representing libraries at different mileposts on the road to becoming learning organizations, will share challenges, strategies, and successes from their own experience.

Read more about the event and register here:
http://evanced.info/webjunction/evanced/eventsignup.asp?ID=1592

See you online next Tuesday!
Staff Training, Tech
Clarity is a competency
April 24th, 2009 | Permalink | 2 Comments
Clear communication is one of the competencies defined in the Personal/Interpersonal set (coming in May) of the WebJunction Competency Index. In the interests of improving my own level of competence, I’d like to add some clarity to the information about the current Technology Competencies Evaluation announced in my Monday post.

Now that over 700 people have taken the evaluation (wow!), I’ve had a chance to peek at some of the comments. There is some confusion to address.
1. This is a self-evaluation. It is intended to help you determine where your skills and knowledge are strong and where there’s a need for improvement. It is beyond the scope of our efforts to design and implement an objective, diagnostic technology test based on field-wide standards.
2. The Core technologies are intentionally very basic. These are the minimum set that everyone working in the library, including the parking attendants, are likely to need in order to do their jobs.
3. You are welcome to take the evaluation again and choose the other of the two paths. At the latest count, people have chosen the Core path by a margin of 3:1. If you felt it was too basic, choose the Systems & IT path.
  Go to: http://tinyurl.com/cfex6u
And thanks for your enthusiastic participation!
Staff Training, Tech
Technology in the library: evaluate yourself
April 20th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?
The Competency Index on WebJunction is growing. We just added two new sets for technology applicable to libraries:
- Core Technology competencies address skills that all staff need in order to work in today’s “wired” library.
- System & IT competencies address the various complex technology systems that drive library operations.
New competencies warrant a new opportunity to assess your level of skill in key library technology areas. No matter whether you’re at the beginner or the advanced end of the technology spectrum, the Technology Competencies Evaluation will help you measure your skills and will help WebJunction determine where to focus courses and resources to move you and libraries forward.

Please take 10-15 minutes to complete the evaluation and then start pursuing your path to higher achievement with technologies.
ACRL 2009, Staff Training
Going to ACRL? Explore Staff Training & Continuing Ed.
March 4th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?

WebJunction staff members Kit Greening and Michael Shapiro will lead a Roundtable Discussion at ACRL in Seattle on Saturday March 14th from 11:45 – 12:45, Ballroom 6E, Table 39, to explore online staff training and Continuing Education. How is your library balancing limited budgets, travel and conference participation, and in-house training? What training subject areas are most needed? How do we keep our library skills current?

Join us to exchange thoughts and solutions! Questions? Contact Michael Shapiro directly at shapirom@oclc.org

We hope to see you there!
Online Collaboration, Online Learning, Staff Training
Learn better together
March 3rd, 2009 | Permalink | 2 Comments

Are you feeling experimental? Join us for a WebJunction adventure into social learning to find out what happens when we wrap a social network around a self-paced, online course. Are we more engaged with the topic? More motivated? Do we learn better?

Take part in the March Learn Together Project. Let’s get together to take this month’s featured (and discounted) course—The Customer’s Voice. We’ve created a group, which will be our virtual classroom. We’ll be able to see our “classmates” in the Group Member’s box, get the lowdown on the Overview page, read the syllabus and guidelines, and discuss the course content as we go. In the end, we’ll all hope to be able to provide better customer service.

So join the group and enroll in the course. We’ll kick off and wrap up the project with live, online meet-ups.
News, Online Learning, Staff Training
LibraryU courses live on
February 4th, 2009 | Permalink | Comment?
Have you been wondering where in the world is LibraryU?

Well, LibraryU has been given new life on WebJunction in the form of 14 refreshed and reformatted online modules on topics tailored to the needs of libraries. Begun as an Illinois cooperative grant project over five years ago, LibraryU was launched to create and deliver online learning for library staff. During that time, they registered over 11,000 users. WebJunction is proud to be able to provide an ongoing, sustainable home so these valuable courses would not end up lost in cyberspace.

Visit the LibraryU section of the course catalog to see details and to enroll in any of these courses:
- Directors ASK! (Administrator-Secret-Knowledge!): this course is offered at a 50% discount for the month of February
- Keep It Simple: Developing a Marketing Plan for Your Library
- Motivating Messages for Your Library
- Merchandising that Works
- Introduction to Cataloging for Non-Catalogers
- Shelving with Library of Congress (LC) Classification
- Shelving with Dewey
- Readers Advisory Services
- Weeding the Library Collection
- Planning Story Time for Children
- Dealing with Angry Patrons
- Basic Web-based Reference
- Accompanying the Young Reader: Helping the Read Choose Appropriate Books
- You Can Do It: A Recipe for Designing Web-based Instruction
- Master of Disaster: Developing a Disaster Plan

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Staff Training

Advocacy, Conferences, Library Services, Staff Training

Online Collaboration, Online Learning, Staff Training, Sustainability

Library 2.0, Staff Training, Sustainability, Tech, Web 2.0, WebJunction Staff

Online Learning, Staff Training, groups

Online Learning, Staff Training

ALA2009, Online Collaboration, Online Learning, Staff Training, groups

Staff Training, WebJunction Staff, Webinar

Library Management, Library Services, News, Online Learning, Staff Training, Tech

♣ The Competency Index

♣ Competency-course-content connections

♣ Competency evaluations

Library Management, Online Learning, Staff Training

Library Management, Staff Training, Webinar

Staff Training, Tech

Staff Training, Tech

ACRL 2009, Staff Training

Online Collaboration, Online Learning, Staff Training

News, Online Learning, Staff Training