september catch-up: top ten ways to keep learning
it’s september again: that month perpetually associated with learning. my own skeptical views of schooling aside, i love learning and am keen to capitalise on the general theme of september. my ‘top ten’ below will be appearing soon in the oalt/abo newsletter (nouvelles), but i anticipate that the editors won’t mind if i steal a bit of my own thunder by posting here my top ten list of ways to keep learning…
Ten Ways To Keep Learning
Professional development and continuing education are two of the most often repeated terms I hear on the lips of library technicians. Regardless of the type of library or information centre in which we work, sharp skills and fresh knowledge are the coin of our profession. Our careers require that we continue learning – and it is a passion for learning that brought many of us to the jobs we now work.
I am a huge fan of self-led learning, and I think that ultimately all learning we engage in is by necessity self-led. So I have compiled a list of 10 things (tools, resources and strategies) that have been meaningful and useful to me as I continue to learn beyond my technician’s diploma. I’m sure some of them will be familiar to you, but hopefully some of them will be useful also. Explore them at your own leisure.
I love Twitter. It’s a marriage of Facebook’s status updates with the abbreviated news feature of RSS feeds. Here I get my most interesting library news links alongside hilarious personal updates from friends and colleagues. If you are looking for a library-related foothold to get a grip on Twitter, Bobbi Newman (aka @librarianbyday) runs the Library Day in the Life project twice annually. Read up on it at the library day in the life wiki and check out the Twitter profiles of past participants.
CBC’s Spark Podcast
Spark is the finest technology and culture podcast online. It’s also Canadian! If you haven’t already tuned in then now is the time: cbc.ca/spark/ . If you want a starting point, check out The Future of Public Library Design featuring Gerry Meek of the Calgary Public Library. Over the summer they run full-length interviews from the previous year, so try loading up the mp3 player with some of the shows and their complimentary full-length interviews.
Inbox Zero
You wouldn’t leave your fridge full of expired food, so stop littering your inbox with little email corpses. Consider how much time and mental energy go into wading through an inbox with 534 emails. Go check out Merlin Mann over at 43 folders, where you will be illuminated you on why and how you need to clear your inbox. Productivity? It starts right here.
Blogging
We take in an alarming amount of new information daily. Newspapers, RSS feeds, articles our colleagues send us, email newsletters, 20 new tweets a minute… and most of us take in far more than we put out. Writing is a great way to filter all this new input. You don’t have to sum up the internet – just pick a thread you are interested in and write about it. The best way to deepen your own understanding is by explaining to others, and what better way to make sense of all this new input? Start a blog and take back the internet!
TechSoup for Libraries
TechSoup for Libraries is a wonderful little portal to self-guided learning and professional development: Profiles of libraries, projects, and the people who make it all happen, and access to webinars and online courses. A lot of the webinars are links to others’ content (e.g., ALA webinars), but it is immensely helpful to have a go-to place to help with the reminders. They are also FREE! Follow TechSoup for Libraries on Twitter for even more convenient delivery.
Continuing Education for Library Technicians
My alma mater, the University of the Fraser Valley, is offering a series of short credit courses that build towards a post-diploma certificate for library technicians. Ongoing professional development is on the top of the wish list for most of the techs I know, and this is a great opportunity to learn with other Canadian library techs in a structured setting. Regardless which province you call home, you can find out more about the classes at the website.
TED Talks
The TED Talks website is a great conference-away-from-conference tool which brings together three great joys for me: Intelligent commentary, audio delivery, and professional speakers. The intelligent commentary piece is something I get also from blogs, periodicals, and books, but TED Talks gives it to me in audio. I love audio narration – it frees up my hands for cooking dinner or filing papers, and I’m then able to take in some professional development time while getting real world stuff done. The third bonus is watching competent and professional speakers do their thing: Learning what works, what doesn’t, and various presentation tricks. It’s a good study in public speaking – a skill we all need sooner or later.
Newsletters
There are not enough opportunities to step away from the computer, and my local library association’s newsletter grants a beautiful respite from the fast pace of the internet. I think most of us in libraries and information intuitively understand the value of print. To quote McLuhan, the medium is the message, and the comparatively slower pace of print’s delivery gives our brains and bodies a rest from all the electronics. Print can still go places with us we would never take our ereaders and iPhones, and the newsletter lets you connect with your colleagues and association without wireless.
Play
My favourite way to keep current with new sites, software and technologies is to make or fake a project. Projects are how I play with technology – finding some excuse to use the technology so I can navigate my way around in a low-stakes circumstance. When I first heard about wikis I kept watch for any project or collaboration I could justify wikifying until something came along. Make an account on LibraryThing, or a profile on LinkedIn and see how you like it. Remember, you don’t have to show anyone until you want to.
Be Willing To Say Goodbye
Not every new technology is worth the effort. Some of my library mentors value tools I can’t be bothered with. Remember that learning is not one-size-fits-all, and you get to throw away the junk that doesn’t work for you. This list is my list, and it works for me. Maybe you will find a passion instead for Second Life library services. Whatever it is, enjoy it.
And Tara, if you’re out there: I’m sorry I never liked Zotoro.
