Workshops Happening This Week

This week's workshops bring something to the table for everyone. On Thursday, we will have the fun and exciting video gaming workshop, offered by our friends at the Ann Arbor District Library. Then on Friday, we will have a "Fun with Funds" workshop offered by the Texas State Library and Archives. Both workshops will prove to be invaluable to librarians as they are trying to find innovative ways to serve the public, while seeking funding at many levels. Come to one or both workshops to find some practical examples of how you might want to include video games on your library's radar screen, or find new ideas for fundraising projects.

Lessons learned at TLA

Attending the Texas Library Association conference in San Antonio last week reminded me that there are so many possibilities for professional development in this fast paced world of information delivery. I stopped in and listened to a handful of the lectures, dealing with podcasting, Web 2.0, issues school and academic librarians are facing, library buildings of the future and Google's latest features. Where to begin? Beyond the information I learned in Google's presentation, most of the other presenters didn't have much of anything new to say. They mainly stated that these services are out there and librarians should be aware. I am planning on doing a Web 2.0 workshop to keep up with momentum. My rationalle behind going to the school and academic library presentations at TLA stems from the fact that AALS has opened up our continuing education program to schools and academics, whether they are attending or not. I hope they will be soon. One of my goals includes reaching out to these professionals, so librarians of all types can network and grow professionally. This way, we are acknowledging that librarians, of all types, are all in it together. What better way than to learn from eachother?

FY07--FY08 Workshops

It's about time for me to add a couple of workshops to the end of FY07's schedule and begin planning for FY08. Please send me feedback re: what kinds of topics you'd like to see in FY08. I have several in mind already, but I'd like to hear more ideas from those of you working in our libraries.