Technology, Lifelong Learning and I (or We)

Abstract

I am both excited and a little daunted to know that our office will soon have two new tablet computers for use in our work with the library catalog, the library website, and user access to electronic resources. More and more of our users are bringing these with them to campus, and in many ways they work differently from the computers I know. We are also testing Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10. I have had a Twitter account for more than a year but have never used it. One of my 2013 New Year's resolutions is to get started because my colleagues find that Twitter is a great way to learn about new research and new library services. All of these things have led me to think about what kinds of training--particularly, but not limited to, technology training--we who work with the public in libraries need to have to stay current and about how RUSA might help. There was a great deal of discussion a few years ago about the technology training program created by Helene Blowers that began in 2006 at the Public Library of Charlotte-Mecklenburg County in North Carolina (PLCMC). (1) Blowers developed the program to help her colleagues learn about web-based tools. She later wrote a set of tips to help other libraries get started, tips that are a wonderful source of advice for any technology training program. (2) Since then, libraries across the globe have set up such programs, some with fewer than 23 Things and others with more. Indiana University Bloomington where I work, had a successful program a few years ago, but I have always regretted that I did not have time to fully participate. Recently, Christa Burns talked about the Nebraska Learns 2.0 program at the Library 2.012 Worldwide Virtual Conference. (3) One of the important things about the Nebraska program is that it has been given more than one time and has now been updated to both add new information and skills and use a different schedule to be accessible to library staff who do not have a great deal of time. As the Nebraska Learns 2.0 website points out, the first program ran from October 2008 through January 2009. (4) second edition covers additional issues and, instead of 23 Things in a sixteen-week period, offers a new Thing each month. In addition, there will be a BookThing each month beginning in February 2013 with books to read and questions to answer. Participants will receive continuing education credits each month they finish the assigned learning task. fact that technology training programs based on the concept of are successful in libraries has been noted in several places. Stephen Abram talked about these programs in his blog in 2010. He stated that these programs were not irrelevant and expressed his opinion that programs like the program were good ways to address the problem of large scale training for professionals who choose to invest their time in their own development. (5) Such programs, then, provide a workable process that is easy to update as libraries and the environments in which library staff work change. A recent study by Michael Stephens and Warren Cheetham, titled The Impact and Effect of Learning 2.0 Programs in Australian Academic Libraries was published in 2011. same authors also published a study about public libraries in Australia, The Impact and Effect of Learning 2.0 Programs in Australian Public Libraries, in 2012. Stephens and Cheetham conducted national surveys and, for academic librarians, focus groups to learn about the impact of a program on the participating library staff and on their libraries. In both cases, participating staff noted that the changes were more personal than institutional in nature. Academic library participants felt more confident with new technologies and more comfortable exploring new technologies. They understood more about the tools students were using, and some respondents stated that their libraries were implementing these new tools in library services. …