Ellensburg Public Library Board members met Tuesday Jan. 10 for their first-ever retreat. From left: David Kaufman, Diane Huckabay, Jeanette Williams (Chair), Jane Nurick, Bob Ota, Linda Diebert, and Nancy Wieking.
Kelli Bragg, Metadata Librarian
I can’t believe it’s been a year since joining the WLA’s Marketing & Communication Committee and writing about Continuing Education opportunities for Washington State library staff. First, you’ll notice that “MLIS Student” has been replaced with “Metadata Librarian” 
. Second, while the past year has seen me provide you with information and links about various educational resources, I would love to hear from readers to find out if they have any suggestions for the CE portion of the newsletter as we head into 2012.
Since we’re beginning a new year, it’s quite fitting to revisit all the opportunities presented in the newsletter over the past issues in one fell swoop as a year-end wrap-up. I’ll then talk about two fantastic Web sites that list educational webinars, upcoming and archived, provided by different CE providers…“CE Clearinghouses,” if you will.
Highlights from 2011:
(Clicking on the title will take you to the article):
Why You MUST Visit WebJunction
Special Notice of WESTPAS Offering: Protecting Cultural Collections
Copyright Law Best Practices: What You Can and Can’t Do with Library Property
Infopeople: A Continuing Education Wonderland!
Library Journal Webcasts: Continually Delivering Excellent Information
What IS a Print Disability? An Answer and Resources
Virtual University: Convenient, Affordable Education!
Two New Continuing Education Resources
Okay, now that last year has been wrapped up in a tidy little package, let’s move on to two great sites that really embody the beginning-of-the-year idea of “A New Year, A New You.”
NORTHWEST CENTRAL
The first resource, Northwest Central, is a Web site for which I’ve just started volunteering, so I’m still finding my way around, but, WOW, is it incredibly, wonderfully comprehensive! As the name implies, Northwest Central is a free, community-driven CE project intended for PNW library. And it’s free to join! Events are listed chronologically with Title, Event Type, and Target Library listed for each offering (academic, public, medical, etc.). At NW Central, which can truthfully be described as a “one-stop education shop” (http://nwcentral.org/) you can:
The comprehensive calendar is here: http://nwcentral.org/calendar, and did I mention it’s free to join? Just click this link: create user account. If you join, you can add your own events, resources, and speakers to the Web site. To learn more about Northwest Central: http://nwcentral.org/about.
NEFLIN’S LIBRARY WEBINARS
The second resource, “Library Webinars” is a great clearinghouse provided by NEFLIN (Northwest Florida Library Information Network). You can see by the name that this resource is focused on Florida library staff. However, most offerings are available online and thus available for staff around the country. Just remember to account for the time difference.
The Web site gives nice explanations of each course/webinar; they keep the site incredibly up-to-date; most postings provide a sign-up link (no traveling to another site to have to locate it – yay!); and they provide a beautiful list of hyperlinked Webinar Providers on the left-hand side of the page.
If you scan the page, in addition to having singular CE notices, you should find a great compendium of Live Webinars for the entire upcoming month, sorted by providers. For example, here are the Live Webinars for January 2012.
You can sign up for their RSS Feed to get notified ASAP – great for those last-minute entries: http://feeds.feedburner.com/LibraryWebinars.
All in all, a great site and, hopefully like many that are passionate about finding CE opportunities, finding this resource made me a very happy camper.
I want to make sure I give you the biggest bang for your buck…or, in this case, the biggest bang for the time you spend reading this column that you could have spent otherwise. If you have any ideas for changing, or adding to, CE content, or if you have a resource you’d like me to cover, please email me at kellibragg@hotmail.com.
Will Stuivenga
“WLA has assisted my professional growth in so many ways: providing continuing education, opportunities for assuming leadership roles, developing professional friendships with colleagues, and so much more.”
Will Stuivenga acts as editor for the WLA Connect Member Profile articles, and this month he’s profiling himself, since no one else has volunteered. If you’d be willing to submit your profile for a future newsletter, you’ll find instructions here. Meet Will:
Q. How do you like your job as Cooperative Projects Manager at the Washington State Library?
A. It’s deeply rewarding to be able to assist libraries statewide in providing various types of eResources to their patrons at a reasonable cost.
Q. How long have you been a member of WLA?
A. Almost 8 years.
Q. How have you been personally involved in WLA?
A. I’ve been newsletter editor for two Interest Groups, the now defunct Grassroots IG, and currently for WLFFTA, which absorbed Grassroots, and now stands for Washington Library Friends, Foundations, Trustees, and Advocates.
In addition, I’m a member of both the WLA Membership Services Committee (former chair), and the WLA Marketing & Communications Committee, which produces this WLA Connect eNewsletter.
In this last role, I serve as editor of these member profiles, and I felt that it wasn’t fair to ask others to be profiled, if I weren’t willing to do it myself! I’m also a semi-active member of the WLA SRRT and TRIP IGs.
Q. How have you benefited from being a member of WLA?
A. WLA has assisted my professional growth in so many ways: providing continuing education, opportunities for assuming leadership roles, developing professional friendships with colleagues, and so much more.
Q. What is your favorite thing about libraries?
A. The free books, of course!
Q. What are you reading right now?
A. An inveterate bookworm, I’m always reading several books at any one time. Right now I’ve finally gotten around to reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (I’m almost to the end, and it’s everything it’s cracked up to be!), Bel Canto by Ann Patchett (a marvelous book!), and John le Carré’s Single & Single.
For nonfiction, I’m reading the Best Music Writing 2011 compilation, and Simon Garfield’s Just My Type: A Book about Fonts (which looks to be absolutely fascinating and revealing).
All but two are checked out from my local library; one is borrowed from a colleague, and the le Carré I picked up at Goodwill for a dollar or so. Reading is definitely a low-cost form of entertainment! You can follow my reading on Goodreads if you’re so inclined.
Q. What area of the library stacks do you like to browse in for your own enjoyment?
A. Science Fiction and/or Fantasy are my favorite escapist genres, except that you’re actually more likely to find me browsing the new arrivals shelves, both fiction and nonfiction. There’s rarely anything on the Sci-Fi shelf of any interest that I haven’t already read.
Q. Where did you go to library school?
A. The University of North Texas, in Denton. It’s the only city in the U.S. with TWO library schools! My wife got her MLS first at Texas Woman’s University, also in Denton, and then I got mine at UNT.
Q. Do you have any children? Any pets?
A. None of either.
Q. What is your favorite spectator sport?
A. Golf, because I can read the newspaper at the same time I’m watching (on TV).
Q. What is your favorite travel destination?
A. Probably the Oregon coast, although there are lots of other places I’d LIKE to go!
Q. What are your favorite foods?
A. I’m vegetarian. When I go out to eat, I like ethnic foods: Indian, Thai, Middle Eastern, etc. Italian and Mexican cuisines provide great comfort foods.
Q. What is your favorite leisure-time activity, or what do you do to relax?
A. Read, naturally! I also enjoy walking with my wife on weekends or summer evenings, and with co-workers on break at work (rain or shine). My wife and I enjoy playing board games, especially Upwords and Qwirkle.
Q. What is your favorite music?
A. Classical, especially chamber music, Renaissance & Baroque music, organ music. Next comes jazz. I moonlight as a church musician, playing organ & piano, singing in (and sometimes directing) choirs. My undergraduate degree and first master’s degree are both in music.
Q. What are some words to live by?
A. My favorite quotation is “Woe be to him that reads but one book.” George Herbert, English clergyman & metaphysical poet (1593-1633).
I also like this Alexander Pope couplet from his “Essay on Criticism,” “Some to church repair, Not for the doctrine, but the music there.”
As eBooks and online resources increase in popularity, digitizing special collections should be considered.
This photo of Cle Elum in 1889 is from a digital database project undertaken by Ellensburg Public Library staff.
