Is Your Library a Learning Organization?
A learning organization... - creates a culture that encourages and supports continuous learning, critical and innovative thinking;
- allows mistakes and values employee contributions;
- learns from experience and experiment; and
- disseminates new knowledge throughout the organization for incorporation into day-to-day activities.
On May 26, a free webinar co-sponsored by CLENERT will feature libraries at different stages of becoming a learning organization. Join panelists Sandra Smith, Denver (CO) Public Library; Michele Leininger and Elizabeth Iaukea, Pierce County (WA) Library; and Julia Lanham, Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (NC), as they share challenges, strategies, and successes about the benefits of a learning culture, building the environment, being a learning champion, and achieving sustainability. Learn how to incorporate technology to create a positive performance environment. Even if your library is not yet moving in this direction, you will take away ideas that you can use immediately with individuals or the entire team.
| Use Competencies to Plan Staff Training
 A staff training program includes creating the learn- ing environment, careful planning, applying learning strategies, and evaluating the results. Use the Staff Training & Development section of the Library Management Competencies to review the specific skills, knowledge, abilities that are recommended for successful training management. In addition, there are 17 courses in the WebJunction Catalog that will help you fill any identified gaps.
If you are affiliated with a WebJunction Partner, be sure to enroll in courses via your affiliation's course catalog to take full advantage of many free and reduced-priced courses. The User Guide has more information about affiliations. | Training & Development Resources
We have been remodeling the Training & Development section of the website so that you can more easily find resources and discussions around online learning, creating and delivering training, managing training, and being an effective learner. We've also added some new pages to host resources on certification and CE requirements and building a learning organization. As we complete this work, we hope you will find this content useful and be inspired to share your own knowledge. For instance, we are looking to fill out the CE requirements for all 50 U.S. states and any other non-U.S. regions that apply. Add your information to this document that was initiated by the Montana State Library. You are also welcome to publish to this section your region's strategy for meeting continuing education requirements.
| A Note from Our Executive Director
 Since we launched the new WebJunction platform in August 2008, we've grown to more than 40,000 members and added four new partner sites, including our first outside the U.S. This spring we introduced our new competencies and a Custom Course Catalog that gives library organizations new opportunities to manage staff learning. As our learning community grows and evolves, WebJunction’s mission and vision needs to keep apace. So, we've made some updates.
Our new mission is: "WebJunction bridges the barriers to learning by providing open, affordable, online learning communities. Our members take courses, attend events, share knowledge, and network with others – all in an environment that fosters collaboration and mutual support."
And our vision: "WebJunction will be the place where the worldwide library profession gathers to build the knowledge, skills, and support we need to power relevant, vibrant libraries."
Comments? Send them to me at woodc@oclc.org
| Montana Libraries: Spanish Language Outreach Success Stories
Join three Montana librarians on May 13 for a free webinar on real-world examples of successful Spanish Language Outreach. Amy Ling (North Valley Public Library), Marie Habener (Dillon Public Library) and Molly Ledermann (Missoula Public Library) will describe how they haved sustained the momentum of WebJunction's Spanish Language Outreach project, and discuss how they assess community needs, make their libraries welcoming, develop programming, and foster connections with Spanish-speaking communities.
| A Note About the Competencies Evaluation
Wow! Many hundreds of you completed the Library Management and the Technology Competencies assessments that we have been broadcasting over the past month. Thank you very much for your participation and for providing us with feedback about the evaluation process. Betha Gutsche summed up some the early learning we got out of this initiative in a post to BlogJunction. There is helpful information for those who took the assessment and who are considering doing so, so we hope you will take a moment to read it.
| | | | A New Service to Library Organizations Debuts
WebJunction now offers a Custom Course Catalog, which provides a central location for organizations to host, promote and track staff training. More information »
|  | | | Save on Training Costs with Bulk Purchase
Select from nearly 700 online courses across dozens of subjects relevant to your library, for as low as $25 per unit. Learn more »
| | | | How May We Help You?
Sign up for an upcoming "First Wednesday" presentation, where you'll learn how we provide cost-effective customized solutions to libraries to ensure that staff are well prepared to meet the challenges of today.
Register for June event »
| | | | Keep Current on WJ Content and Groups
We update the Hot Topics page monthly to highlight new and popular courses, documents, discussions, groups and events. And our new WJ Groups page is where you will get some updates about activity happening in member groups. | | | | Tech Tips Winner
Ross Riker of Goshen (IN) Public Library posted numerous Tech Success Tips last month and is the winner of a new WebJunction thumb drive. Thank you, Ross, for your many contributions to the WebJunction community. | | | | | Quick Link to Events
To see what live events are happening this month, visit our Events Calendar. To attend a webinar, simply complete the brief registration and we'll send you the login information. | | | | | | | Crossroads is a free publication produced by WebJunction, distributed monthly in an electronic format. Past issues are archived at webjunction.org/crossroads.
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