LTLS - Quick Connections

Customer service training kit now available

 “Customer Service: Balancing Rights and Responsibilities,” a training kit by Sandra Nelson, is now available for purchase from the Public Library Association.  The second in PLA’s new Train the Trainer series, this kit contains everything needed to hold a one-day (4-4.5 hours) customer service workshop.  Content focuses on creating effective customer service policies in your library by defining the rights and responsibilities of both customers and staff members.

Spring 2010 Graduate Credit Courses

Are your looking to expand your knowledge and skills on current LIS topics or perhaps interested in updating what you learned in library school? If so, consider registering for a credit course as a non-degree student at the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

Synergy: The Illinois Library Leadership Initiative 2010

Synergy: The Illinois Library Leadership Initiative 2010 is the statewide library community's proactive movement to recruit and nurture future Illinois library leaders. Objectives include self-assessment; discovering and developing personal values; identifying the local, state and global environment; fostering and expanding skills and tools for personal, professional and positional leadership; creating a cohort group; establishing mentoring relationships; and developing a vision of and beyond the field of librarianship.

April 20-22, 2010, Starved Rock Lodge and Conference Center, Utica
August 3-5, 2010, Pere Marquette Lodge, Grafton
October 26-28, 2010, Hickory Ridge Marriott Conference Hotel, Lisle

Distance masters degree option from UW-Madison School of Library and Information Studies

Since 2005, the University of Wisconsin-Madison has offered a distance option for the ALA-accredited master's degree in Library and Information Studies. Beginning in the summer of 2010, the distance degree option will no longer be geographically limited to northern Illinois and eastern Iowa, but will be available to anyone living more than 55 miles from Madison. The program is open to residents of any state, at a tuition rate similar to that paid by Wisconsin residents.

Fall offering of RUSA’s Reference Interview online course open for registration

Registration is now open for the fall session “The Reference Interview,” one of the Reference and User Services Association’s (RUSA) online courses.

This popular introductory course, which will be offered Nov. 2 – Dec. 18, is a comprehensive overview focused on the methods of evaluating reference service, behavioral aspects of reference service and the different types of questions that can be used to help patrons identify what they need. Using multi-media tools, the course content covers everything from the approachability of the librarian to how to follow up with a patron. Scheduled chat sessions will model interviewing techniques using sample dialogues. It’s a perfect professional development opportunity for support staff, library technicians, newly hired reference librarians and those librarians who want to brush up on their interview skills.

Planning and Management of Library Buildings

A non-credit Continuing Education course offered by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  Approved by ALA-APA for CPLA candidates. Open to other librarians and information professionals needing training in the planning and management of library buildings.

Scholarly Writing for the LIS Profession

The Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois, is pleased to offer the following online, non-credit continuing education course open to anyone interested in the topic.

Scholarly Writing for the LIS Profession
Dates: October 13-Dec 8 2009 (No class Tuesday, November 24)
Times: Online synchronous sessions Tuesdays 2:00 - 3:00 PM central time.
NOTE: The first session on October 13 will be held from 2:00 - 4:00 PM.
Instructor: Robert H. Burger, Ph.D., CPA, Professor Emeritus, GSLIS
Cost: $200

Purpose of the course: To introduce the student to the major genres of scholarly writing primarily through actual writing and editing assignments and discussion of essential elements and approaches to scholarly writing. An underlying assumption of the course is that writing is a social act, a way of knowing, and a way of thinking creatively and critically. Successful writing demands that the writer understand how readers respond to writing. Topics included are general introduction to scholarly writing and editing, practice with writing abstracts, reviews, editorials, columns and other opinion pieces, reporting the results of case studies, best practices, surveys and focus group research, and writing discipline focused scholarly articles. The book length work will not be covered.

Each assignment will consist of reading an example of the genre in question, critiquing it, and writing in that genre. Upon completion of the course the candidate is expected to be able confidently to compose abstracts, reviews, and other types of scholarly writing.

For additional information and to register: http://www.lis.illinois.edu/programs/cpd/sw.html

ACRL offers e-Learning scholarships

The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) announces new e-Learning scholarships to help librarians, library staff and library school students stretch their professional development dollars. Twenty scholarships, each covering the registration cost of one ACRL e-Learning Webcast, will be awarded. Complete details are available on the ACRL e-Learning Web site at http://www.acrl.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/events/elearning/escholarships.cfm. 

Final offering of Second Life workshops

Offered by the Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois and the Illinois Alliance Library System.

We invite you to register for the final sessions of the following Second Life workshops.  After September we will no longer be conducting Second Life continuing education classes.

PLA Advocacy Toolkit now available

“Libraries Prosper: A Guide to Using the PLA Advocacy Toolkit,” by Sandra Nelson, is now available for purchase from the Public Library Association (PLA).  The first in PLA’s new ‘Train the Trainer series,’ this electronic publication supports “Libraries Prosper with Passion, Purpose, and Persuasion: A PLA Toolkit for Success.”