Finding resources when you need them most
Tuesday, March 31st, 2009Blog posting from a new librarian
Last month I talked about the importance of conferences in the professional development of new librarians. This month I would like to continue on this track, focusing on educational opportunities.
As new librarians we are often asked to participate in projects which require the quick development of knowledge and/or skills in unfamiliar areas. Luckily, there are a number of sources available to us. The most obvious, of course, is the Partnership’s Education Institute http://www.thepartnership.ca/partnership/bins/index.asp. This institute is a collaboration of the provincial and territorial library associations. The courses offered year-round, range from one hour webcasts and teleconferencing to extended six-to-eight week online courses. The most recent offering was on the Peer Review process. I, for one, signed up.
Another good source of information is the ARL Spec Kit site: http://www.arl.org/resources/pubs/spec/.
Your library may hold a good print collection of these kits, however, the executive summaries can also be freely downloaded from the website. These kits are invaluable as a starting point for any new project you may be involved in. They include great concrete examples. There are hundreds to choose from and I defy you to find some area of librarianship which has not been covered at some point in time. Individual titles can be purchased. ARL also sponsors 2-4 day leadership workshops for those wishing to gain management skills. Your library will normally advertise these special sessions when they are in close geographic range.
The Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL) http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/proftools/elearning.cfm also hosts numerous online learning opportunities ranging from one hour sessions to multi-week courses on a variety of topics related to academic librarianship.
The Canadian Library Association website offers a Resource section, http://www.cla.ca/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Resources, which includes a number of free toolkits for download.
The sites I have mentioned represent a small sampling of practical resources available to us as professional librarians. I can personally attest to the fact that these kits and courses can prove invaluable in providing you with the information you need when you need it most.
Carol Perry
“Communicating Professionally: a how-to-do it manual for