Welcome to the Lucy’s Librarians Learn Library 2.0 Course!

The way people use the Internet is changing, and it is changing rapidly.  Savvy Internet users are consuming information differently than they did just a few years ago.  Rather than visiting their favorite websites regularly, they are using news aggregators and personalized home pages to let information from their favorite websites come to them.  Web 2.0 is collaborative, participatory, personalized, and social. Internet users are embracing this new media to communicate, connect and share content.  If we choose to ignore these Web 2.0 capabilities, we risk becoming overlooked by many of our patrons, especially our young patrons.

 

So, we invite you to join us in exploring many of these new web technologies.

  

The goals of this course are to

• introduce you to new technology that some of our patrons are using
• give you some time to explore and play with it
•  provide you with the opportunity to brainstorm how the library can use this new social media to connect with and provide services to our patrons online

 

 

This course was adapted from a program which was originally developed and launched by Helene Blowers for the staff of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County in August 2006 with a total of 352 PLCMC participants and many additional guests joining in. Since the program's launch, the exercises have helped other library systems around the world develop programs of their own, the first being the Yarra Plenty Regional Library System in Melbourne, Australia.  There is a nice article about Helene’s ground breaking program in Wired.

This course is an online self-discovery program that encourages the exploration of Web 2.0 tools and new technologies.  It will be an optional, informal, self paced, multimedia course.  We will be using Web 2.0 technologies as resources for each lesson.  All lessons will be posted on this blog and they will include articles, podcasts, screencasts, and videos.  You will need speakers or headphones for parts of each lesson.

You don’t need to be a “geek” to complete the exercises in this course.  There is absolutely no coding or hardware knowledge necessary. We will just be users of some really cool websites.

 

One to three lessons will be posted on Friday mornings. You can visit the blog any time during the week when your schedule allows.  Each lesson will include Discovery Resources (articles, podcasts, videos, and screencasts) and Discovery Exercises which will give you hands-on experience with a new technology.  When you have finished the lesson’s exercises, we ask that you post your thoughts and ideas in a blog that you will create (as one of the exercises) for this course.  Feel free to ask for help or work with a partner.

 

You will be setting up accounts at a number of social networking websites. If a site asks for your email address, use your library email address. username@newingtonct.gov; If a site asks for a user name try to keep the same one for each site and keep the same password for all of your Web 2.0 sites. (Of course you shouldn't use passwords to bank or other private personal information on the web.) This way you won't have a bazillion IDs and passwords to remember.

 

Lucy Robbins Welles Library staff members who complete this course will receive a small gift to thank you for taking the time to learn the technologies that will help us communicate with our patrons whenever, wherever, and however our online patrons want information. There will be extra credit for some lessons. Those who accumulate the most extra credit points will be the first to select from the variety of prizes we are offering for completing the course.

 

Again, we are glad that you are here! Feel free to email us or stop by with any questions and comments.

 

Play, explore, and have fun!

 

Vicky & Sue S.