Sutherland Shire Libraries Staff News

A Message from Lyn about Learning 2.0

In the spirit of Learning 2.0 Lyn asked me to post this message on her behalf here, rather than sending out a broadcast email:

Congratulations to all of you who put in the time, (much of which I know was your own), and the energy, to tackle the challenges of Learning 2.0. The customers of this library service are really fortunate to have so many of you prepared to work hard to keep up with current technologies. You have all left me far behind! I am yet to make a start on my personal Learning 2.0 odyssey but do plan to do it. I will make sure that we cover your efforts with this training in the next quarterly report to Council.

I want to particularly thank Martin too for all the work he has put into designing and setting up the tools for this exercise and to the Ref. Team for the support and encouragement given throughout the process.

Congratulations again - it's wonderful to have such an enthusiastic and dedicated team!! Enjoy your vouchers and the movies!

Lyn Barakat

More Learning 2.0 Good News

In recognition of the effort that staff put into the Learning 2.0 program, the Library Manager and The Branch Services Coordinator have decided to reward those participants who completed 7 or more of the learning 2.0 tasks but who did not receive one of the incentive prizes in the draw.

It was clear that many staff put in a great effort in spite of the restrictions placed on the program by Council's IT department, including working through the tasks on their own time at home. Indeed for some this program took them well out of their comfort zone. So, as a reward, these people will receive two movie tickets. The names have been forwarded to the manager and the tickets will be sent as soon as possible.

If you haven't completed all the tasks don't give up now! Keep going - there is no deadline for learning new things and the tasks will remain there waiting for you. Part of the reasoning behind the Learning 2.0 program is to get people to take control of their own learning and I think that those who took part found learning new things rewarding, even if they didn't enjoy all the tools.

If you have completed the program then don't stop there. The world of web 2.0 is constantly changing and there is always something new to learn. Maybe start at the NSW Public Libraries Learning 2.0 program (they have some tools that we didn't cover) or extend your discovery even further by taking on Learning 2.1 (start at the master list of things).

And the winner is...

OK. The deadline is up and it is time to announce the winners of the 5 incentive prizes ($100 Westfields vouchers) for the Learning 2.0 program.

Just before I announce the winners I would like to congratulate everyone who participated and put in some of their time towards learning new things. Based on the blog posts that I read most of you found at least some of the tasks rewarding and learned something new. For those who didn't get all the tasks completed before the deadline I hope you will complete the remaining tasks and continue your journey of discovery. The Learning 2.0 site will stay where it is so you can get to it when you get a chance.

We aimed to make the process of drawing the winners as random as possible to avoid any accusations of bias! Having said that, senior managers decided to include any staff who had completed 7 or more of the tasks, since it was clear that those people had put significant time and effort into the program.

How did we complete the draw?
First, a list of the participants who completed the required number of tasks was compiled and arranged in no particular order (not alphabetical, not by who finished first, etc). There were 16 in all. Each of those participants was given a number between 1 and 16. Using the Research Randomizer, a set of 5 random numbers between 1 and 16 was generated. The corresponding participants were awarded an incentive prize. The entire process was overseen by representatives from the Auditor General's office and the NSW State Ombudsman and therefore the judges decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into.

So, to the winners. In the spirit of the program I will not name names but rather list the blogs of the winners. You may be able to guess who they are by reading their blog - or maybe not! Drum roll please...


Have a read of what your colleagues think about these new technologies and maybe even leave a comment or 2 on their blogs.

What Reference Training do You Need?

Did everyone see this call for feedback about what sort of training opportunities we (library workers) need in order to provide a reference service to our users? All areas of reference work (branch librarians, local history librarians, large reference departments, etc) are encouraged to respond. I suspect that the repsonses to this call will in some way make it back to something called Ref-ex, a project to build a reference excellence wiki for NSW libraries along the lines of the Ohio Reference Excellence site.

At the last Reference & Information Services Group (RISG) Meeting at Cabramatta the question was raised as to what training and professional development opportunities we need as reference librarians.

As part of this question I would like to ask you all to consider this your wish-list opportunity:

* What training a development do you regard as essential for a reference librarian?
* What training & development do you currently do for reference work?
* What training & development do you regard as essential to your work?
(Please elaborate as to whether you are a Local History Librarian, general Reference, small branch Librarian, etc - what training/etc is important/useful for you to be able to get your work done)
* What training & development would you like to see developed?
* Are there particular areas of training & development that you do well?
* Are there areas of future training & development you would like to have the opportunity to explore?

I am keen for any and all answers to these questions - even suggestions of other questions I could have asked around this topic.

Replies will be condensed for the next RISG meeting at Parramatta in August.

Regards,
Cathy Johnston
Information
Services Librarian
reference@crl.nsw.gov.au
Clarence
Regional Library
110 Spring Street
South Grafton NSW 2460
(02) 6642 7588

So get your thinking caps on and send your views.