PLA Blog

10 Ways to Make Your Library Great in 2008—via Web 2.0
1/16/08 11 AM-12 PM PT / 2-3 PM ET (registration is optional)
Excellent note: WebJunction’s webinars are now closed captioned in real time as well as in the recorded archive.

As you think about your resolutions for the New Year, why not resolve to make your library a great educational asset within your community? This webinar will show you how to leverage social networking tools such as del.icio.us and Librarything to enable knowledge sharing and create collections of information around professional development. Ten key themes are presented to empower library staff as well as to increase a library’s value within the community. Presented by guest speaker Ed Rossman, adult services librarian at Shaker Heights Public Library and author of Castles Against Ignorance: How to Make Libraries Great Educational Environments.

Be Safe, Not Sorry: Protecting Your Data
PC Magazine Learning Center self-paced course, four 30-minute webcasts

Are you doing everything you can to protect your data? Malware—from viruses to spyware—continues to plague many businesses, not to mention internal security threats. Does your small business have a holistic security strategy in place?

Don’t have a plan to secure your business data? Let the expert editorial staff of PC Magazine teach you everything you need to know. Attend this course of four dynamic online webcast lessons each of which includes practical downloadable coursework.

Even though we aren’t “businesses” per se, libraries are large organizations dealing with computers — public and staff — and their issues. This course, which you can do at your own pace, offers something a bit deeper than your average article about vanilla virus protection, and will give you excellent fodder for your next coffee with the tech folks.

This webinar, presented live this afternoon by WebJunction, is free for all and requires no advance registration. You really can just show up.

Be sure to follow the instructions for making sure your computer is ready for the webinar, and arrive 10 minutes early.

In Focus Webinar: Joy of Computing with practical techniques for supporting public computing

Each month the Rural Library Sustainability Project presents an hour-long webinar related to the work of sustaining rural and small libraries. This month join us on August 23, 11:00 am PT/ 2:00 pm ET for You can do it! Practical techniques for supporting public computing. How are your peers meeting the challenges of providing access to public computers? Pooling resources, developing technology plans, and staff training are three things that can help. In this webinar, we will take a look at The Joy of Computing Cookbook for small and rural libraries at www.maintainitproject.org. Join a lively discussion around best practices that will include some of the libraries who contributed to the cookbook. Bring your success stories as well as your nightmares, and let’s find solutions together!

Also, the archive for the recently presented Core Competencies for Library Staff webinar is also available, complete with close captioning, and it’s definitely worth the watch. While you’re there, you should check out the WebJunction Core Competencies as a companion document to the webinar archive.