Catching up and Staying ahead

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Librarians can stay on top of tech trends in order to better serve their patrons and provide the most accurate info possible.
Creating training programs that can be embraced and adopted as part of the culture is a challenge. But that is a primary key to success- making continued skill building a part of the work place culture.
Some training initiatives that have had marked success for Library Professionals are:

WebJunction- provides member states with learning programs and online training modules specifically geared to library staff. Also, WebJunction is a portal through which individuals can purchase access to Le@d and LibraryU courses.

Le@d- An initiative of the University of North Texas offers technical and soft skill online training courses to member organizations.

TechSoup provides technology education for non-profits.I am impressed with the attention given to various levels of expertise. An equal amount of resources are offered to tech heads and digital immigrants. There is even an exclusive area built  for libraries. Generally the libraries section offers anecdotes and printable material of ideas for success in library staff  IT training and maintaining public access computers.

Not all training programs need to be provided on such a large scale.


23 things- A few years ago, Helene Blowers of PLCMC crafted a fun way for library staff to become engaged with emerging Web 2.0 technologies. She came up with a list of 23 things for participants to do. I believe one of the reasons this program has been so successful and adopted far and wide is
A) It is relatively inexpensive and
B) It allows the participants to play
This second item is a primary tenet of training and the title of a rather good resource book - "Telling Ain't Training." Participants nearly always absorb more information when they can actually perform rather than observe.

Ohio Library Council's Library Marketing Program- is an expanded and localized version of 23 Things. This is an example of one of the many ways 23 Things has been adapted and it can be a helpful template for other libraries wanting to build a uniform training plan. The Ohio Council built in marketing and advocacy skills as part of the training.