From August to November last year, the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) ran Learning 2.0, a 23-step online self-discovery programme that encouraged the exploration of web 2.0 tools and new technologies.
It was a terrific success in the sense that, of the 362 library staff who embarked on the programme, 222 saw it through to the end. Furthermore, at least seventeen other libraries have taken up the idea for themselves.
Helene Blowers, PLCMC's Public Services Technology Director, masterminded the activities and has blogged extensively about them. If you need to get up to speed or would like your staff to understand what's going on in the new web world, this could be a terrific starting point.
Read some of the feedback too. It's not all complementary but it will help you understand people's attitudes before you have to deal with them in real life. Some people persevered merely because of the free MP3 player or a slight chance of winning a Toshiba laptop. (Clearly, they didn't put much value on their time.) If you're interested in knowing what's going on in the Web 2.0 world, even if you think it's nonsense, it's better to get involved than to snipe from the sidelines. Who knows, you might find yourself changing your mind.
Here are the things you'll actually work with during the 23 steps: blogging, photo & image manipulation, mashups, RSS & newsreaders, LibraryThing (a booklovers' community), Roll your own search, tagging & folksonomies, web 2.0, library 2.0, wikis, online applications & tools, podcasts, video & downloadable audio and NetLibrary (eBooks). I guess there wasn't time for instant messaging, VoIP and virtual reality.
If you or your staff are strangers to this stuff, it's a great way to get going.
Perhaps Easter is a great time to start? If not, enjoy the break.
Update 6 April: Helene Blowers tells me that technical
restrictions among the staff were the principal reasons for not
including IM, VoIP and virtual reality. Thanks Helene. I should have realised.
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