News & Views, October 2009 (mp3 file; 5.7 MB; 6:07 min.)In the Works; "The Power of Small;" Halloween Story Kits
We're working on a couple of projects that we hope might be useful to you, to use or to duplicate at your library.
First, I was involved in a 'Tech Bytes" day at the Bayard library a couple of weeks ago, demonstrating WILBOR. The library had an open house that day, and demonstrated various technology services available to patrons: WILBOR, EBSCOhost, the local newspaper online, their DVD cleaning service, and their Wii. Various staff, trustees and volunteers demonstrated the services, and they served snacks related to them: sports drink for the Wii sports, round crackers with spread and an olive slice for the disc cleaner, etc. This is one way to let people know some of those services the library offers that they might not have known about, or had forgotten about.
Secondly, I was asked by a library to teach Twitter and Facebook classes to patrons in the library and, while I'm not in the business of doing that, it did give me some "push" to work on something I've been wanting to do for awhile: classes in a box, which I'm calling "Out of the Box." These kits would include materials to help librarians teach classes on various computer and Internet topics to the public. I have completed Twitter and will be giving the concept a trial run at a library next week, to make sure that it is all in sync with the likely space, computer, and logistical challenges that libraries might face when teaching classes to the public. The kits will contain "To do" lists for class preparation, outline for the class, a script (though librarians may certainly do their own thing!), handouts, a news release, and a flyer. I'll let you know how it goes, and when the Twitter "Out of the Box" is ready to go. Let me know other topics you'll be interested.
Oh, and by the way, Dreama has updated.two of the computer helpsheets--creating a resume in Word, and creating mailing labels--and those will be available soon.
Links from today's podcast:
Register for Career Reading Roundtable in the CE catalog
Story Kits
