Library Summer School - Take an online course for FREE!

Greetings Colleagues,
One of the many benefits of WMRLS membership is free admission to WebJunction's online library continuing education workshops. The WebJunction course catalog covers a wide range of topics and is continually updated. Consult the WebJunction Online Course Catalog and complete our WMRLS Online CE Registration Form to receive a WMRLS code that will enable you to take the course for free. On June 15, WMRLS will issue the confidential coupon code to all staff of member libraries who complete our online registration form. This coupon code must be redeemed by August 31. You will have access to the course that you select for one full year.

Below is a selection of the topics covered by the WebJunction online courses. On June 15, WMRLS will issue a confidential coupon code to all staff of member libraries who complete our online registration form:


Application Software
Adobe Acrobat (8)
Crystal Reports (2)
Databases (19)
Desktop Publishing (12)
Excel (25)
Flash (3)
Graphics (13)
Microsoft Office (general) (4)
Outlook (23)
PowerPoint (13)
Project (16)
Visio (6)
Word (29)

Customer Service & Interpersonal Skills
Communication (11)
Customer Service (14)
Ethics & Values (6)
Interpersonal (41)
Learning (personal) (15)

Library Management
Advocacy & Outreach (1)
Budget & Finance (13)
Facilities Management (6)
Friends & Trustees (1)
Funding (1)
Marketing (12)
Policies & Procedures (3)
Library Services
Children (7)
Readers Advisory (1)
Reference & Information Resources (4)
Technical Services (8)
Young Adults & Teens (2)

Networking & Security
Email Systems (9)
General Networking (9)
General Security (17)
Servers (20)
Telecommunications (3)
Wireless (5)

Operating & Automation Systems
Linux (23)
Windows (17)

Organizational Management
Leading Organizations (28)
Legal Responsibilities (8)
Project Management (21)
Strategic Planning (12)

Personnel Management
Hiring (6)
Staff Training & Development (17)
Supervision (18)
Workplace Safety & Compliance (18)

Technology (general)
Basic Computer Support (4)
Hardware (4)
Technology Planning (16)
Video (5)

Web Design & Development
Web Design (33)
Web Development (19)

~ Sincerely, Janet Eckert, Western Massachusetts Regional Library System

25 Technologies to Watch and How

This one hour teleconference, presented by SirsiDynix, is available free-of-charge in video and podcast formats. Posted below is the course description posted by SirsiDynix:

"Can our libraries be more open? Can we be more open to our users, our communities, to new technologies? Can we be more open to change? How? Are there technologies that we should be trying and piloting to see if they improve the library's mandate? Which ones are worth investigating? What are the emerging learning technologies? Are there different ways to build community or to attract new community segments? What about books, book clubs and recommending recreational reading? What about some of our other entertainment missions such as video and gaming? Stephen Abram is an inveterate library watcher and strategic technology reviewer. in this session he shares the top 25 technologies that we should think about 'playing' with and finding a way to make our libraries more open to our learning communities and neighborhoods. He'll end with five suggestions to have fun with change and technology adoption."

Happy New Year!

Recommended Reading:

The January 1 edition of U.S. News & World Report features a fascinating article titled 50 Ways to Improve Your Life. Under the category of "Improving Your Mind" are directions on how the reader can "Get an MIT or Yale Education Free". Reporter Kim Clark states "You can finally get that MIT, Yale, or University of Tokyo education you've always wanted without spending a cent. All it takes is an Internet-connected computer and a little familiarity with skills like downloading programs and unzipping files."

Complete information online at
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/50-ways-to-improve-your-life/2007/12/20/get-an-mit-or-yale-education-free.html