Dear George:

I guess it had to happen eventually. After having pain in my arms and wrists for the last few months, I finally went to see my doctor. He told me it looks like I have a moderate case of carpal tunnel syndrome. Like most librarians these days, I spend a lot of time on my computer. I love my work and don’t want to have to quit, but the ideas of having surgery or of wearing those awful wrist braces are equally unappealing. What can I do?

Aching in Atchison

Dear AA:

I feel your pain. Literally: I was diagnosed about 18 months ago with carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) and I’ve had to make a number of changes in my work space, both at home and at work, since then. Please note that what follows is very general information, and should not be used to substitute from the direction you receive from your medical professionals!

Fortunately for both of us, and for the other sufferers out there, there are many resources available to help us reduce the pain and discomfort through better posture and ergonomically sound design of our work spaces.

First, start by reviewing this excellent overview of CTS from the National Institutes of Health. There’s also an excellent article in Wikipedia on CTS. Cornell University has a dazzlingly comprehensive site managed by the University’s Human Factors and Ergonomics Research Group that addresses many issues of CTS, in the library and beyond.

For even more information, check out the typing injuries website here . CTS isn’t the only thing that can happen from spending eight or more hours pounding away at a keyboard: there are numerous repetitive strain injuries, and this site addresses many of them.

Once you’ve taken some time to study the basics, you might want to move on to some of the sites devoted specifically to librarians and CTS. (A friend of mine once said that there was big money to be made in writing a book called Stir Frying for Librarians. Even though stir frying isn’t any different for librarians than it is for, say, certified public accountants, we just like things aimed directly to us!)

Right here on WebJunction, you can find an excellent primer about CTS and repetitive stress injuries, “Introduction to Ergonomics,” by Susan Tenby.

ErgoLib…Safer Library Computing is a comprehensive library-oriented CTS site. The site includes some very good basic tips that cost no or very little money to improve your posture and make your work day less painful. The site also includes links to many other useful sites, such as Michigan State University’s Ergonomics Information Center , and it also includes an extensive bibliography. The ErgoLib site has not been updated in several years but most of the links on the site are still valid.

A word of caution: when I started researching this column, I Googled “carpal tunnel syndrome,” and discovered a lot of quacks out there. Let the patient beware!

Here’s what I’ve been doing to ease my own CTS. I was lucky enough to have the help of Rhonda Burnaugh, who was then working in OCLC’s HR department and had specific education in this area. She helped me reset my work area. I lowered my chair so I could read my screen at the proper angle, and so that my elbows rested at a roughly 90° angle to my body. I added a wrist rest to the edge of my keyboard, and switched from my old fashioned optical mouse to a tracking ball mouse. That last step was probably the hardest to get used to, but it also provided the most improvement. I also moved the trackball closer to my body than I had my mouse, so that I wasn’t reaching so far.

And I sleep in those stupid wrist braces every night, to prevent backsliding during the night.

Compared to the occupational hazards my two grandfathers faced (one was a railroad cop during the Great Depression, and the other scooped highly explosive grain out of the holds of Great Lakes freighters), CTS seems trivial. Unless you’ve had it.

Good luck, AA, and follow your doctor and your physical therapist’s directions!

Dear Curious George:

Will this winter never cease? I am mentally exhausted by the endless gray weather that seems to have been hanging around my community since the Eisenhower administration. I fear that I am starting to take out my frustrations on my library’s guests. Just the other day, I spoke sharply to a child whose only offense was to leave a lollipop in a Dr. Seuss book. What can I do to get back my old fervor?

Seasonally Affected in Decatur

Dear SAD:

I share your pain. I grew up in Buffalo, where, as the saying goes, we had two seasons: winter and six weeks of bad skiing. Now I live in Columbus, where, from October to April, the sun is barely a rumor. As I write this response, the weather out my window looks like the set for a big budget presentation of King Lear, complete with thunder, lightning and floods. The sky is the color of an old mattress cover.

So how do we beat the seasonal blues? Assuming we are not about to fly off for two weeks at an all-inclusive resort in Jamaica, let us consider our options.

First, the Girl Scout cookies were just delivered, so we could break open a bottle of red wine and devour of box of Thin Mints. This is not recommended. The additional tonnage will carry your depression right into bathing suit season.

Or we could get the entire DVD collections of Lost, The X-Files, and 24 Hours, and just have a paranoia-athon. Again, not recommended. This time of year, you don’t need to feel that the government is as vindictive as Mother Nature is.

No, I am going to suggest that the best way to get over your blues is to get involved. There are so many ways to be active in the library community that it is an embarrassment of riches.

WebJunction provides many avenues for you to participate, through taking a course, adding your ideas and comments to the discussion boards, or gaining new insights through one of our webinars.

There are any number of library and computer conferences scheduled around the US this winter and spring. If you are attending the PLA Conference in Minneapolis at the end of March, please attend one or more of the programs WebJunction is offering. (If you can’t attend PLA in person, you might try signing up for the virtual conference.) Your correspondent will also be presenting at PLA on Saturday at 8:45 am, with Joan Frye Williams. Our program is titled “It Ain’t Necessarily So: Challenging the Assumptions of Legacy Librarianship,” and will take place in Room M101 at the Convention Center.

The key is to keep your mind busy even while getting enough exercise to prevent your body from slowly morphing into a pale version of Jabba the Hutt. And if that doesn’t work, where did you hide the Thin Mints?

George

The Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County is encouraging their library staff to Become Champions of Learning this week by participating in ELW. Proposed activities for the week include highlighting learning opportunities and tips for staff in daily email messages, surveying staff on training they would like to have available in the coming year and prizes for participants.

You don’t need to be a member of ASTD to participate in ELW. Even if your library is not taking part in ELW this year, there are plenty of occasions to provide year-round learning opportunities for staff. The following tips and resources can give you some ideas for planning your own ELW and making workplace learning a part of your ongoing staff development initiatives. We look forward to recognizing ELW again next year and sharing some of your stories.

If your library is participating in ELW this week, we encourage you to share your story by commenting to this post or on our Community Discussion Boards.

Resources for Getting Started with Employee Learning Week

• ELW Fact Sheet
• ASTD sponsored events, background and FAQs
• Marketing Materials
• Getting Involved with ELW

Suggested Activities for ELW

• Introduce new learning opportunities during the week
• Communicate learning and development tips to your workforce each day of the week
• Institute an employee development recognition event to recognize individuals
• Host a brown bag lunch where staff can share expertise around a certain topic
• Implement a wiki page for staff to share knowledge and best practices around the workplace
• Plan a Staff Development Day or mini-conference for library staff

Planning for Staff Training Initiatives

• Help employees create individual development plans to increase and enhance their skills departments in your organization
• Creating a Training Program in Your Local Library
• Six Components to Consider When Developing a Staff Training Program
• Plan for Training
• WebJunction’s Blended Learning page offers tips, best practice and case studies from libraries that are blending face-to-face instruction with online training
• Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki - Staff Training

Resources for Year-Round Learning

• WebJunction Webinars & Archives
• Personal Learning Environments for Library Staff
• WebJunction Online Course Catalog
• Weekly Tips
• E-Learning Institute – resources for managers, trainers and learners who are engaging in online learning

If you can ‘copy and paste’ you can easily build your own interactive PLE to help manage and revitalize your learning.

I’m excited to share what’s worked for me personally, but as a public library trainer I’m really thrilled to showcase a concept so simple that helps staff fulfill their individual learning goals on their own terms - in minutes at a time. I’m also looking forward to hearing your ideas on the Personal Learning Environment concept via the chat feature of the webinar and here in comments.

Please join me and the WebJunction Learning Team for Start You Up! The Personal Learning Experience for Library Staff and other Busy Professionals on December 5th, 11 AM - 12 PM PT / 2 - 3 PM ET.

Hope to see you then!

Marianne Lenox
Staff Training and Development Coordinator
Huntsville - Madison County Public Library

Any recommendations for maximum class size for teaching technology?

It depends on the topic, the space, and also on the number of computers you have available. I’ve seen some classes work well with two people per computer, but I wouldn’t try to squeeze in more than that. Generally, in a computer lab, I’d say not more than 20 people at the very, very most!

How to determine what info is best for beginners, intermediate, or advanced needs?

I try to outline what the basic skills or competencies are for each software program. Then from there you can break down which are beginning skill sets and which require more knowledge and would be more advanced. It will also depend on how long your workshops are. If you have an hour or you have a day or a week that will change what you can cover. Learning objectives are the best way I’ve found to make sure I don’t try to cover too much. For each 15 minute segment, you want to cover only one objective.

The focus of today seemed to be on technology training. We didn’t really focus on training for technology so much as the basics of training. Are there particular “take a ways” we should think about with technology in particular?

Since this webinar was part of WJ’s Learning series, we were especially focused on fostering learning in relation to technology training. With technology in particular, it is very important that the class be conducted hands-on if at all possible. Build their confidence. Give participants time to explore and let them work independently and in small groups. Let them do it. Rely less on step-by-step instructions than on helping them learn to try things out on their own. Otherwise, when they leave the workshop, or don’t have your instruction sheet with them, they might be at a loss. With how fast technology is changing and with all the emerging social technologies, I think we have to encourage adults to get used to exploring on their own, and not waiting until someone shows them. Of course, with a beginning Word or Internet class, you will need to really orient beginners by using a lot of analogies to help them understand how the software mirrors other things they can relate to. For example, how files and folders on the computer are similar to physical files and folders or how a URL is similar to a street address. It has been very interesting to me to learn how the foundation of good training techniques apply universally to technology training though!

Is there a good resource for computer classes that have already been designed?

Yes! I’ve found the following websites. Also, notice that WebJunction has a lot of lesson plans already. I think it would be wonderful if every library trainer were to contribute one of their lesson plans to WJ. Then we’d have an even richer resource! These are also available on my website.

Akron-Summit County Public Library, Ohio
Very thorough handouts for library workshops on everything from Introduction to Computers to eBay and Blogging.

Hennepin County Library’s Extranet
Includes trainer outlines, PowerPoint presentations and handouts for workshops for the public.

InfoPeople
Archived webcasts, podcasts, training materials such as handouts and PowerPoints, as well as resources for training. InfoPeople is a statewide LSTA project that functions as the training arm of the California State Library.

MERLOT: Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching
Created by The California State University in 1997 and free to all users, MERLOT is supported by a variety of schools, systems, and organizations. Individual membership also is free, and any member can submit a learning object to MERLOT. Materials are submitted by faculty members who are experts in their content areas, and a peer review system is in place to make sure that the materials are of high quality.

Milwaukee Public Library
Outlines and Handouts on various popular workshops.

Oregon Library Instruction Wiki
Oregon Library Association’s Library Instruction Roundtable’s collaboratively developed resource for librarians involved with or interested in instruction. Includes handouts, tutorials, and teaching techniques.

PRIMO: Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online Database
PRIMO is hosted by ALA’s Association of College and Research Libraries to share peer-reviewed instructional materials created by librarians to teach people about discovering, accessing and evaluating information in networked environments. Currently includes over 145 projects.

TechAtlas
Free online technology assessment and inventory tool, including staff skills surveys.

WebJunction

• Materials for Working with Computers and Spanish Speakers
• Internet Resources for Patrons
• Training Materials
• Creating lesson plans for teaching the public, an article by the Hibbing Public Library, includes links to lesson plans

Any ideas for academics who have students who may not want to be there?

This might also apply to staff training. The best things you can do are letting them pick topics and projects that they have personal (or academic) interest in. Depending on the class you are teaching, you can let them be involved in independent exercises, small group projects (often best done in class), and sharing. For example, if you have a database class, let the students pick the topics for the sample searches, show them resources that will be of interest to them academically and personally. For example, free access to Cosmo, the New York Times, or other magazines related to their academic pursuits.

Let them make choices as to what will be covered. Give them time to share their interests and experiences. The more personal a training experience, the more memorable it will be as well. Show them immediate benefits. Try to find out what they want to know more about. Also try to build in fun activities. Look to TV game shows to develop a summary exercise, such as Jeopardy, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, or other question based games. They can play as teams or independently. Make it interactive and fun! I’ve seen participants turn from grumpy and mad that they have to attend the class to positively thrilled by the resources “they’ve” found.

Can you share a story from one of your first training events, and what you learned from the experience?

I have definitely evolved as a trainer. Sometimes I’m told that training seems so natural for me, but I’ve really worked at it. In library school, I was actually terrible at public speaking. I set a goal that I would improve by graduation, and just kept throwing myself into situations where I would have to practice. My first real professional training job was at SIRSI, and I was so nervous before the first time I trained that that my co-worker almost didn’t know if I would make it! Training is more art than science. There is not one right way, and no two workshops are ever exactly the same. It wasn’t until my third job (at the Gates Foundation) that I had real train-the-trainer instruction.

Without referring to one specific situation, the things I learned at the beginning of my training career centered on marketing (due to a catastrophic unattended event), gaining confidence, and what I call organized flexibility. By organized flexibility I mean learning to go with the flow and responding to the participants’ needs rather than being tied to an exact agenda. Trying to always be more of a facilitator and learning coach than a lecturer. And some of what I know is most effective about my training, I don’t think I implemented really well until the last five years!

How do you approach training colleagues, in-house?

With staff training you have the advantage of being able to find out more about their learning needs before the actual workshop. Find out what they really want to know about the technology or what they will be using it for. Since they are more likely to know each other, encourage camaraderie by letting them do “show and tell” and small group projects. You can even let them work on their own objectives. I think the Learning 2.0 movement is a great one for staff training, empowering staff to explore and learn on their own. Plus, I really find librarians to be a great group for training, they are usually lifelong learners and interested in adding to their knowledge. Make sure you make them comfortable, create a learning community and let them know they can do this, so they aren’t afraid of making mistakes in front of their colleagues. Try using a theme to add to the fun and create a more relaxed environment. I really believe staff training to be such an important investment for a library to make. Try to make sure ALL staff are trained as well, and not just managers and MLS staff.

Thanks for the great questions and participating in the webinar! Feel free to leave a comment if you have your own opinions on this topic or if you have other questions, I’d be happy to answer them!

–Stephanie Gerding

No matter what type of library you work in or what kind of training you do, join our learning community to share tips and advice.

Compliments of the publisher, InfoToday, we will give away 5 copies of the book during the webinar. You just need to pre-register and then join the webinar to be included in the drawing. Over 100! people have registered, some who are new trainers and some with lots of experience, and I look forward to sharing and learning with everyone.

The Accidental Technology Trainer
October 17, 11 AM – 12 PM PT / 2 – 3 PM ET
Free via WebJunction’s Live Space
Register here (optional)

I’ll be back with more posts to keep the conversation going. Feel free to leave your comments and question here, before or after the session!

More soon,

Stephanie Gerding
Photo outside her home in sunny Phoenix where everything is in bloom

While registration for this free webinar is not required, we invite you to enter a drawing to receive a copy of Stephanie’s new book, The Accidental Technology Trainer: A Guide for Libraries, by registering through the WebJunction Calendar of Events. We are looking forward to hosting a fun and informative presentation and hope to *see* you there!

The Accidental Technology Trainer
October 17, 11 AM – 12 PM PT / 2 – 3 PM ET
Free via WebJunction’s Live Space
Register here (optional)