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Serving the 12 Far Northern
Counties of California
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Free 30-minute webinar series on three Tuesday afternoons in August: 17th, 24th, 31st
Communities across the country are pursuing a burgeoning strategy known as economic gardening, which works to stimulate the development of small business with the goal of growing a healthy, community-scale economy. Libraries can be key players in supporting and facilitating their success. This Libraries and Economic Development webinar series will expand your thinking about the powerful connection. Your host for the series is Shelley Walchak, a mover-and-shaker with the official title of Library Community Programs Senior Consultant at the Colorado State Library.
Webinar 1: How to Make Your Library Entrepreneur-Friendly
Tuesday, Aug 17, 4pm Eastern/1pm Pacific
Christine Hamilton-Pennell literally wrote the book. She is an articulate proponent of libraries’ support for local entrepreneurs. Learn specific steps your library can take to connect with and support its local business community. If you’re at all intrigued by the concept of economic gardening, this webinar is a must-see. Hamilton-Pennell introduces the strategies and lays the groundwork for their practical application, which will be covered in the following two webinars.
Webinar 2: Turning Your Databases into Business for Your Customers
Tuesday, Aug 24, 4pm Eastern/1pm Pacific
Your library may already have the tools at hand (or close by) to help stimulate economic development in your community and you don’t have to be a trained business reference librarian to use them. Presenters Terry Zarsky and Kathleen Rainwater will give a guided tour through the best databases for small business information.
Webinar 3: Going to Your Customer – Outreach and Strategic Partnerships
Tuesday, Aug 31, 4pm Eastern/1pm Pacific
How do you let the business community know that your library is primed and ready to help? Presenters Suzanne Kaller and Colbe Galston will talk about how to get the word out to Chambers of Commerce, small business development centers, community groups and government entities.
Register for each webinar separately from the WebJunction Events Calendar:
http://evanced.info/webjunction/evanced/eventcalendar.asp (go to August)
To help WebJunction members stay better connected around topics of shared interest, we’ve just rolled out some improvements to how Groups function. Those of you who are members or creators of groups on WebJunction should have received an email explaining some of these updates, but here’s the scoop for all.
Email notifications. For any group you join or currently belong to, you can now elect to receive an email alert when
You can choose to receive these alerts hourly, daily, weekly–or not at all.
Group administration: If you have created a group, you have now been designated as Group Admin. This role gives you the power to
Groups directory: This new directory lists all of the groups created on that particular WebJunction site, in alphabetical order and including the description and number of members in the group. If you use a state-specific version of WebJunction, you will want to check out both the directory on that site and the central WebJunction site. When signed into WebJunction, you can join or create a new group right from the directory. The directory also features the most recently created groups and spotlights a particular group to check out. You can still use search to find groups, regardless of where they were created, but we hope you enjoy browsing the directory.
The Groups User Guide has been updated to include the most current instructions for how to create, join, and manage groups. If you encounter any issues with groups, please contact support@webjunction.org.
With these new enhancements, we expect we’ll see even more innovative uses of the groups feature. We look forward to seeing you connect and collaborate using these free tools made available to all in libraryland.
Want to learn more about how to effectively use groups and other WebJunction tools? Come to our free July 29 webinar, How to Make the Most of WebJunction!
This spring we surveyed a random sample of WebJunction members to ask what one topic they would like to see WebJunction focus on in the coming year, based on current needs. This doesn’t mean that we will only concentrate on one topic; but because our member community represents a wide range of libraries, staff roles, and interests, we need to understand where to prioritize our efforts.
In response to this question, 23% said, “More technology, please.” Because “technology” is a very broad topic, we dug further to identify specific subjects that are of highest interest to you. According to your feedback and your activity on WebJunction, the top subjects are:
Another 61% of survey responses were on topics around library management or services. Those subjects that received a notable number of mentions are:
Finally, another 10% of survey respondents simply stated that they wanted to ensure that staff continue to have opportunities to build their skills and see the value of doing so. (Our mission is to do the same, so let’s work together to sustain it!)
We have already begun to build the content and programming around the above hot topics. This month we are spotlighting the subject of social networking and web tools; we’ll be talking about staff training in September, and services to teens/YA in November. And save the date for our free online conference on Customer Service in December. We have a lot more up our sleeves, so stay tuned to Crossroads, Twitter, Facebook, and our new homepage for news about what’s happening on WebJunction.
As library staff are finding their access to learning inhibited by rising prices and falling budgets, WebJunction is offering more free learning programs and resources than ever before. Join us for these upcoming events!
And we’ve announced our second Online Conference, Serving the 21st Century Patron, coming December 1 & 2, 2010. Topics will focus on the changing needs, approaches, challenges and opportunities related to customer service in your 21st Century library. Stay tuned for details coming this fall, but in the meantime, mark your calendars for this free 2-day event!
A Six-State Virtual Government Information Conference will be held in August. This is not a WebJunction event, but the organizers are using WebJunction.org to provide information about the conference. Here is what the announcement reads (as published in the Government Information in the 21st Century section):
Join your colleagues from Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming (the Six States) in our first online conference. This conference will take place August 11-13 and 16-17, 2010. It will be a free conference open to all, but we ask that all attendees register.
We’ll kick off the conference with a keynote presentation by Gabriela Schneider, communications director for the Sunlight Foundation, a national organization that promotes transparency and accountability in government focused on digitization of government data and easy info accessibility for all. We’re also planning exciting sessions on using Census data, tracking use of e-resources, maps and GIS, and more. A preliminary schedule is posted on the conference website.
Schedule conflicts? Don’t worry. You can attend any or all of the sessions or view the archived presentations at a later date.
To participate you need an internet connection, OPAL conference software pre-loaded on your computer, speakers and a microphone (optional). Additional information can be found at the conference website.
This sounds like a great (and free!) opportunity!
In a survey to a random sample of WebJunction members this spring, respondents answered a question on how frequently they used online tools, either in or outside of their professional life. We found the results interesting. Nearly half of the respondents (49%) use email “listservs” daily. One-third of the respondents (35%) use professional or social networking sites daily. A quarter or less of the respondents use the following daily: online news or magazines (21%), blogs (14%), RSS feeds (14%), bookmarking sites (10%), wikis (9%), employment sites (6%) and online courses (3%).The chart below shows the full results.
When we separated the responses by library type, we saw some notable differences. Academic library respondents are more likely to use the following online tools daily than public library respondents:
Significant differences were found among locations as well. Urban library respondents (72%) are more likely to use email listservs daily than suburban (57%) and rural (45%) library respondents. Also, urban library respondents (18%) are more likely to use RSS feeds daily than rural library respondents (9%). Suburban library respondents (40%) are more likely to use professional or social networking sites daily than urban (31%) and rural (31%) library respondents. It was also reported that more than one quarter (28%) of respondents use web-based content (on blogs, wikis, social networking sites and more) toward professional development.
Finally, when we compare these results with those to a similar question posed to our members a year ago, we see evidence of some shifts in online tool use. In 2009, 61% of respondents reported using listservs daily, which is 12% higher than this year. Meanwhile, the percent of respondents who report never using social networking sites dropped from 39% to 30%. And online reading seems to have decreased as well, with 11% drops in those who report reading blogs or online news sites daily. The trend away from email toward social networking sites like Facebook and twitter is not exclusive to library staff: this shift has been reported in the media as happening across the globe. So libraries can expect that patrons will be more likely to want to interact with their library via social networking tools and to expect that their library will support their use of these tools on the publicly accessible computers.
If you stop by www.webjunction.org today, you’ll notice a brand new design for our homepage. This makeover was done in response to members’ feedback to us that they can feel overwhelmed by the amount of text and information on the website. Because WebJunction is a constantly expanding universe of content on a broad range of library-related topics, we have a ton of text to try to manage and present–there’s no simple way around that. But, with the help of a good web designer who knows his way around CSS, we can style and position the text in a way that is easier on the eye. You can also check out his work on the refreshed About Us page.
For members who use their state library’s customized version of WebJunction, you will see changes to your homepage roll out throughout the month of July.
We’d love to hear what you think about the new look. Drop a comment here or in the WebJunction Feedback discussion forum.
Here’s to Maurice Coleman for providing a virtual update from ALA, especially precious to those of us watching from afar…who knows how he found time to upload the more than 20 videos he captured at the WebJunction-sponsored Learning RoundTable Training Showcase, but thank you Maurice!
Here are some highlights in the video showcase:
If you’re not a member of ALA’s Learning Roundtable, this set of videos will surely inspire you to get involved!
And we were pleased to hear that Betha’s session with Sandra Smith went well, all about Building with Competencies. Their slides and resource handout are now available on WebJunction.
Safe travels to all who will be traveling this week!
WebJunction’s Calendar is filling up with webinars! Join us in the coming months to explore everything from the Federal Workforce System to digitization & preservation, and from trustees to orienting new staff virtually.
Next Thursday’s webinar, Expanding Your World Through Web Conferencing, will showcase success stories of library staff who are using web conferencing tools to host virtual conferences, produce e-learning activities, collaborate with remote staff, and host virtual meetings. As budgets tighten and as technologies improve, more and more staff are gathering together both online and blended with face2face settings to learn from each other and to get work done. Come hear about the benefits of meeting virtually and learn how a variety of web conferencing tools are being integrated with other technologies and in other settings to overcome both cost and distance. Join panelists Karen Burns, Cindi Hickey and Jennifer Peterson on Thursday, July 1 at 1:00 pm Eastern, for a session filled with experience and expertise in online engagement!
And speaking of online conferencing, mark your calendars for WebJunction’s second online conference coming December 1 & 2 focused on Serving the 21st Century Patron. See you online!
WebJunction is honored to be a sponsor of the 7th Annual Learning Round Table Showcase on Sunday, June 27, 1:30-3:30pm in the WCC-Ballroom. You won’t want to miss this event! It provides an efficient and informal way to connect with and learn from all the brightest and best trainers in Libraryland, showcasing innovative continuing education, staff development, and training initiatives in all types of libraries and library organizations.
For more Learning RT events at ALA, check out this handy one-pager with all the details. It’s not too late to attend Friday’s preconference, Beyond Face to Face:
New Methods for Staff Training; registration will be taken at the door, complete with member discounts. WebJunction’s own Competencies expert, Betha Gutsche will be presenting on Saturday and you won’t want to miss Monday evening’s ALA Battledecks session featuring WebJunction’s Michael Porter, defending his title. Battledecks is the best in powerpoint improv: Each participant is given 4 minutes to present (unrehearsed) a 12-slide presentation created by someone else. Based on the list of defenders, contenders, judges and all the rest, this event is guaranteed to entertain!
We’re providing additional details for other WebJunction related events at ALA here on BlogJunction. Safe travels to those heading to DC!
While we’re working on booking more summer webinars, I wanted to be sure you know about these two free events being hosted this week by our friends at Infopeople and TechSoup for Libraries:
Creating Inviting Low Cost Teen Spaces
Hosted by Infopeople and presented by Linda Demmers
Wednesday, June 16, 9:00 Eastern
Flip-in’ Out @ the Library
Hosted by TechSoup for Libraries
Thursday, June 17, 2:00 Eastern
TechSoup’s product donation program includes easy-to-use Flip video cameras that allow you to share your library and community stories. Find out how public libraries are using this technology as a tool for making connections, recording library events, and sharing knowledge.
And check out these related resources on WebJunction:
And stay tuned to WebJunction Events for more to come this summer!
Apologies to those who received multiple group update emails from WebJunction this week. Some development work on automated email notifications that we are doing mistakenly got into the wild. Unfortunately, this happened at the end of the workday on Thursday and thus went unchecked until Support began hearing about it this morning. Our development team went to work right away on the issue and got it under control as quickly as possible. We regret any clogged mailboxes and the inconvenience this may have caused.
You have to look at bit behind the scene to appreciate the triple winning lineup of this Thursday’s webinar Building An Online Learning Community In Your State. It is a production of the dynamic Group N of ALA Emerging Leaders in collaboration with the ALA Learning Round Table and WebJunction.
Sponsored by LearnRT, the Emerging Leader Group N is summiting the learning curve of planning and producing a series of webinars of interest to the training community. Since January, they have surveyed the field for topics of interest, identified a few key topics, selected presenters, received production and technical training on webEx, and are ready to roll it out to you—the library learning audience. Show your support for the efforts of Angela, Jennifer, Natalie and Sonnet by attending this Thursday.
Or just come to find out how the combined creative forces of Maurice Coleman and Nini Beegan created a collaborative, online space where Maryland library staff can participate and contribute ideas, information, and content.
It’s not too late to register at:
http://evanced.info/webjunction/evanced/eventsignup.asp?ID=1651
A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting some colleagues at the International City/County Management Association (ICMA). They have a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation US Libraries Program to manage Public Library Innovation Grants. I also learned that they recently launched a new “knowledge network” on their website, very similar to what WebJunction offers to library staff. As part of the Library Innovation program, they’ve set up a Libraries interest page where city/county managers and other leaders to gather around issues relevant to libraries.
Check out their knowledge network and their youtube video series on library innovation
Cool! I look forward to working with this group to find new ways to connect library and city leaders for thoughtful conversations about the value of public libraries in their communities. Thanks ICMA for the work you’re doing in this area.
Going to the ALA conference in Washington D.C. next month? WebJunction will be there with you and we want to see you there! Not going to ALA Annual this year? No worries, we’re planning to help spread the “conferency goodness” as we gather and then share stories, ideas and content we will be collecting during our visit.
If you’ll be there in person though, we’ll be hosting “WebJunction’s Library Learning Receptions” on Sunday, June 27th in the OCLC “Blue Suite” at the Hyatt (happily just right around the corner from the conference). We would love to see you there! The receptions are back to back but we’re asking folks to come to either the 6:00-7:00pm reception or the 7:00-8:00pm reception. We’re in a more intimate reception space this time so we are asking folks to please register for the time you’ll come. We’ve split it into two slots to make sure we get to talk and visit well with everyone. We’ll have tasty munchies, beverages and free goodies there for you related to competencies, library services to the unemployed, learning and continuing education for libraries and librarians. Come meet your fellow WebJunction members, recharge your batteries a bit and get some valuable resources all at the same time.
WebJunction is also one of the sponsors of the ALA Learning Roundtable’s “7th Annual Training Showcase”. We’ll have a table there and are looking forward to meeting lots of folks, sharing and talking about resources and tools related to library training and learning. That event is on Sunday, June 27, 2010 from1:30 – 3:30pm in the WCC Ballroom.
Betha and Michael are also doing several different sessions and presentations throughout the week and would love to say hi if you happen to attend one of those. We’ll be keeping a keen eye out for our WebJunction community all week so be sure to come to one of the above events and say hi as we join with you in filling the nation’s capital with Libraryland goodness.
PS- If you would like to meet in person and talk, share ideas and collaboration opportunities please drop us a line!
Knowing how to find and use e-government resources is critical for patrons who need access to information related to unemployment, food stamps, Medicaid, tax forms, health and housing; and many are asking their public library to help them navigate this information. To meet these new and increased demands on frontline staff, libraries in Florida are collaborating with government agencies and social service organizations to provide the best service possible to patrons. Join us for this webinar on Thursday, June 3, at 1 pm Eastern with representatives of Florida libraries, who will share their strategies used to educate both the public and frontline staff on how to access this information and their experiences building partnerships with other agencies in their communities to respond to workforce development needs. Presenters include Nancy Fredericks, E-Government Librarian, Pasco County Public Library Cooperative; Karen Clinton Brown, Library Program Specialist, State Library and Archives of Florida; Sol M. Hirsch, Library Director and Otto C. Pleil, Reference Librarian from the Alachua County Library District.
Join us for this webinar presented on Wednesday May 26, at 1:00 Eastern in collaboration with REFORMA. Now more than ever, programs for Spanish speakers at libraries around the country are seeing record attendance and positive feedback from participants. Find out how your outreach efforts and your community can help position the library as critical in the eyes of stakeholders and decision makers. Come hear practical, successful examples of library services targeted to new immigrants, including English Language Learning (ELL), computer instruction, children’s concurrent programming, job search workshops and resources, GED workshops, family literacy programming, and how to successfully communicate with library decision makers, staff, community leaders and officials. Presenters for this webinar include Emily A. Klopstein, Senior Librarian, Hampden Branch of the Denver Public Library; Loida Garcia-Febo, REFORMA President 2009-2010, and assistant coordinator for the New Americans Program and special services at the Queens Library; and Carol Brey-Casiano, Director of Libraries, El Paso Public Library, Past-President of ALA, and Chair of ALA/ Committee on Library Advocacy.
We’re pleased to announce that another state has joined the WebJunction partner community. The WebJunction-Florida catalog was launched earlier this month, and a press release announcing our partnership with the State Library and Archives of Florida was issued today. From the press release:
This partnership takes advantage of WebJunction’s Custom Catalog service, designed to maximize the customization and reach of training through a centralized training catalog with streamlined registration for all users. All WebJunction-Florida participants will be able to access courses, regardless of geographic location or library size. Additionally, as a part of the Custom Catalog, WebJunction-Florida will be able to add unique, Florida-specific courses to the extensive course offerings from WebJunction that form the foundation of the catalog.
“The State Library and Archives of Florida is thrilled to offer the online learning resources of WebJunction to libraries throughout Florida,” said Judith Ring, State Librarian of Florida. “WebJunction-Florida will provide convenient, valuable professional training for library staff to better serve the citizens of this state.”
The WebJunction-Florida site is available now at http://fl.webjunction.org. So, if you work in a library in Florida, don’t delay! Update your WebJunction account today and request to be affiliated with the Florida community. You’ll find this option on the “My Affiliations” tab when you edit your account.
We’ve been talking about this research, now we invite you come hear from the researchers in a free webinar, May 18 at 1:00 Eastern.
Opportunity for All: The American Public Benefits from Library Internet Access
The University of Washington recently completed a nationwide study (funded by IMLS and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) of public access computing in public libraries across the United States. The results of this study are available to all libraries, and can provide a powerful supplement to locally collected data to show community impact from these services. One of the outcomes from the study are a set of indicators that libraries can use to track their own impact from public access technology and also to evaluate policy changes overtime and as part of systematic evaluation of public access technology services.
This webinar will explore some of the ways that data collected about public access computer use can demonstrate the value of your services in the community and provide valuable information about the needs of your constituents. We will also examine approaches that have worked in using the data to influence funding and support for public access computing. Every public library has something to say about this, no matter how small; using the increasingly rich sources of data to support your public access efforts is especially critical in times of short budgets to ensure continued funding and support by the local community.
A new group was created today on WebJunction related to Workstation Protection for Public Access Computers. Thanks to David Sullivan for launching a group, the Windows 7 Public Access Computer Project in an effort to address the need for an alternative to Windows SteadyState.
In his introduction post, David shares:
I’ve have been working on a process to secure windows 7 (enterprise or ultimate editions) public access computers using Microsoft virtual hard drives, group policy. I made significant head way with the process but the decision was made to utilize a commercial product for locking down our organizations PAC’s. So, I’m left with a body of work that has great potential but is incomplete. I would like to propose a group project to complete work on the process collaboratively. Then open up the resulting process for the community as a way around the “Windows 7 Steady State” quandary.
I’m thrilled to see WebJunction used like this, as a collaboration tool, and encourage all who have an interest in exploring the topic to help create a solution to the “quandary”, whether it’s to ask more questions or to provide your own insights. Thank you, David, for starting the group and I look forward to supporting your efforts!