Shhh!

Continuing Education for Librarians: The Need for Technological Growth

By S. Smith

(Part 1 of 2)

The need for continuing education in the field of librarianship, particularly in technological areas, is an absolute imperative. As library professionals, we must be prepared to assist our patrons in every way possible, which frequently encompasses expanding areas of library technology. Computerized catalogs, electronic databases, and the computers and peripherals in use for library staff as well as patrons need to be learned, implemented, and updated as part of today's modern library technology needs. Keeping up with social networking requirements (addressed in F. DiPietro's blog) will increase as more and more sites become available for use. E-books, podcasting, and other somewhat recent developments take time to learn. "If you want staff to come up with innovative ideas for improving the patron experience or decreasing costs, they will need time to do research and play with new technology." (Farkas, 2010). We talk frequently about teachable moments in a library setting and they are increasingly spent on technology. 

Increasing numbers of patrons are accessing job information including resume construction and employment applications on the internet. Knowing how to instruct patrons in basic and advanced computer usage is now crucial for librarians in public libraries. From an introduction about how to log onto a computer for the first time, to printing, to saving to a disc or flash drive, we will continually be teaching new skills and spending large amounts of time doing so. With our current economy, we must be prepared to spend time with patrons at computers that used to be devoted to other areas of work. 

Time has to be carefully organized to ensure that we have that necessary time to enable us to become proficient when our library systems purchase new hardware and software. The costs of purchasing and maintaining patron and staff computers, including whatever continuing education is necessary is a significant percentage of modern library budgets and must be factored in as a matter of course. 

"In regard to reference training, it is no longer possible to train librarians once and then expect them to provide ongoing satisfactory service to users. Instead, librarians must be trained and retrained, again and again as technologies change…." (Kovacs, 2007). What Ms. Kovacs does not address is just how this training will occur (or from whence the expenditures and sources are derived). Maintaining personal and professional standards of excellence are required in an economy of increasingly decreasing library budgets. Continuing education is an integral part of the profession of a librarian. While we may have requirements at work as to the specific numbers of hours each employee must have per year, we also have a personal commitment to enhance our skills. 

My point is not that we must become experts at those areas of technology that impact libraries and librarians, it is that due to the technological demands of our work we must continually work to improve our skills in those areas. The website for the Special Library Association (http://www.sla.org/) has links to webinars, which are just one way of continuing our education. When we increase our knowledge we increase our marketability in an already competitive environment at the same time as we increase our ability to help our patrons. If our places of employment do not offer significant opportunities for advancement, in the area of continuing education, it is our personal and professional duty to seek out and find it. 

References 

Farkas, M. (2010, Oct). Nurturing innovation. American Libraries: The Magazine of the American Library Association. 36. 

Kovacs, D. (2007). The virtual reference handbook. p 34. New York, New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers. 

Special Libraries Association. (2010). http://www.sla.org/content/SLA/index.cfm Retrieved November 6, 2010.