Professional Development Advisory Committee

Friday, May 21, 2010

ARC Professional Development Committee Annual Report 2010

The ARC Professional Development Committee welcomed two new members this year: Holly Howes (Clark University) and Laura O'Neil (College of the Holy Cross). Returning members were: Linda Oldach (MWCC), Lynne Riley (WPI), Janice Wilbur (Assumption), Margaret Cardello (CMRLS) and Debbie Bockus (WPI and Chair of Committee).

The committee met twice at WPI and had many email discussions concerning this year's activities. The first meeting, held in October 2009, was a review of the organizational membership, officers, charges, meetings and communication rules set by ARC. Laura volunteered to be the Vice-Chair of the committee, therefore, she will become the Chair for the upcoming year.

This year's charge from the Executive Board was to organize the annual conference, with a focus on emerging technologies, and investigate potential technologies for providing remote, web-based access to ARC programs. While the first charge was completed, the second was not. The committee plans on continuing that portion of the charge for the new academic year.

Planning for the conference included an email to all ARC SIGs for their input on possible topics. The only SIG that responded was the Archives/Special Collections SIG. The committee was contacted by Mott Linn on their behalf to discuss the assistance of the Professional Development Committee in planning a workshop on disaster planning. It was determined that the Archives SIG would plan and organize the workshop as it was a specialized topic.

A survey was sent out to all ARC list members for input on topics of interest for the annual conference. The results of that survey are as follows:

1 2 3

Blogs: developing and utilizing 17 18 21

Mobile technology: texting,
searching, e-readers, etc. 24 22 10

Outreach and support for
distance students 15 16 25


Shortly after the results of the survey were available, Pingsheng Chen from Worcester Public Library contacted the committee to see if there was an interest in co-presenting with them on a national web conference: "The Handheld Librarian Online Conference II". Ping attended the committee's January meeting to discuss the possibility of co-sponsoring this conference. The topic was an excellent match for our survey results, as was the timing in February. The three keynote speakers were Joan K. Lippincott (Coalition for Networked Information) who spoke on "Mobilizing Libraries for Today's Student's", Joe Murphy (Yale University) who spoke on "This is Now: The Mobile Library" and Tom Peters (TAP Information Services) who spoke on "Morphing with Mobile". The committee sent a proposal to the ARC Executive Board, which was approved. ARC paid the $100 registration fee and supplied drinks. WPL provided the space and equipment. Attendees had the option of pre-ordering a box lunch at a cost of $10.00. The conference was held at WPL on February 17 & 18. Approximately 25 people attended and felt it was a very enjoyable, informative program. Feedback from attendees included:

  • opportunity to learn what other libraries are doing in relation to mobile technologies
  • information on future trends
  • good brainstorming sessions
  • appreciated the chance to be part of a national webinar
  • local event meant reduced travel expenses so that this was an affordable, professional experience.

Respectfully submitted,

Debbie Bockus

Chair, ARC Professional Development Committee

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Meeting Agenda for 10/22/2009

ARC Professional Development Advisory Committee
Agenda for 10/21/2009
9:00 am to 10:30 am
WPI
· Introductions and welcome new members
o Holly Howes, Clark (new)
o Laura O’Neill, Holy Cross (new)
o Linda Oldach, MWCC
o Jan Wilbur, Assumption
o Lynne Riley, WPI
o Margaret Cardello, CMRLS
o Debbie Bockus, WPI (Chair)

· Review of advisory committees’ organization
Advisory Committee Membership:Advisory Committee members are appointed by the ARC Steering Committee. Membership shall be as representative as possible of the ARC membership. One member shall be a member of the Steering Committee and one member shall be from CMRLS. Advisory Committee Officers:Each Advisory Committee will elect a Chairperson and a Vice-Chairperson. Each will serve for one year after which the Vice-Chairperson will become the Chairperson. Advisory Committee Charges:At its first meeting of the academic year, each Advisory Committee will review its charge from the previous year and recommend changes to the Executive Committee. Meetings:A yearly schedule of meetings for each Advisory Committee will be established by the fall of each year and posted to the ARC website. Advisory Committee Communication:Each Advisory Committee shall have an ARC listserv to post notices, agendas and/or minutes of Committee meetings and activities.


· Review of committee’s charge by ARC Executive Board
Develop and promote effective continuing education opportunities, in consultation with the CMRLS Continuing Education Coordinator. The Professional Development Advisory Committee will solicit ideas from the ARC Interest Groups and work with CMRLS and the Executive and Steering Committees to identify sources of funding. BLOG and WIKI.
During academic year 2009-2010, the Professional Development Advisory Committee is charged with:
planning, promoting and holding an annual conference on emerging technologies,
o investigating potential technologies for providing remote, web-based access to ARC programs
· Reminders of ARC Professional wiki and blog
o http://arcpd.pbworks.com/
o http://professionaldevac.blogspot.com/

· Brainstorming ideas for annual conference and/or other continuing education ideas
· Meetings schedule
· Adjournment

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

ARC Professional Development Committee Annual Report 2009

This year’s Professional Development Committee members are:
· Debbie Bockus (Chair), Worcester Polytechnic Institute
· Margaret Cardello, Central Mass Regional Library Systems
· Linda Oldach, Mount Wachusett Community College
· Elizabeth Pope, American Antiquarian Society
· Lynne Riley, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
· Janice Wilbur, Assumption College
The committee met three times this year. In the fall, we created a wiki that lists websites that may be useful for professional development purposes. The categories are:
· Central MA Library Associations
· State Library Associations
· Regional Library Associations
· National Library Associations
· International Library Associations
· Special Associations
· Blogs, Wikis and more
· E-journals
· Listservs
· Websites
We also plan to add handouts from our spring workshops. Members of ARC may log in at https://arcpd.pbworks.com and request access. Once approved, they will be able to view and edit the wiki.
In January, the committee sent a survey using Zoomerang to query the members on topics for a spring workshop and preferred days and times. We received 50 responses. Based on their input, a half day combination of presentation and workshop was planned for May on wikis and del.icio.us. On May 13, 2009, WPI hosted “Getting Organized: Using Del.icio.us and Wikis to Organize Library Content.” Presenters were Pingsheng Chen, Electronic Reference Supervisor at Worcester Public Library, and Betsy Like, Educational Services Librarian at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine.
Both presenters gave background information for approximately 45 minutes on Del.icio.us (Ping) and Wikis (Betsy) and then an additional 45 minutes to an hour of hands on activities. Thirteen people attended and the program received high praise by all. The introductory session gave good examples of how libraries are using del.icio.us and wikis in their libraries from staff manuals to reference assistance. Participants enjoyed the chance to create their own accounts and practice with experts on hand to assist.
The committee enjoyed a very successful year!
Respectfully submitted,
Debbie Bockus
Chair

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Getting Organized: Using Del.icio.us and Wikis to Organize Library Content

May 2009 at WPI
9:00 - 9:30 Registration and Refreshments
9:30 - 11:00 Del.icio.us
Pingsheng Chen is the Electronic Reference Supervisor at Worcester Public Library. She manages electronic resources and distance reference, including QuestionPoint chat reference, email reference, and telephone reference services. Previously, she was Reference Librarian and Webmaster at Worcester Public Library beginning in 1994. She manages multiple blogs, wikis and twitters and uses Web 2.0 applications to innovate services. She teaches the use of these tools as well.
11:00 - 11:15 Break
11:15 - 12:45 Wikis
Betsy Like is the Educational Services Librarian at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. She coordinates educational services for TCSVM students, faculty and staff, provides reference services, and manages day to day library operations. Betsy has been at Tufts since 2003. Prior to coming to Tufts, Betsy worked at NELINET, Countway Library of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Itek Optical Systems.

Thursday, June 05, 2008

ARC Professional Development Annual Report 2008

ARC Professional Development Committee Annual Report

June 2008

Chair: Debbie Bockus, WPI

Committee: Lynne Riley, WPI

Peg Lesinski, AAS

Margaret Cardello, CMRLS

Jan Wilbur, Assumption

Linda Oldach, MWCC

The committee met approximately 3 times this year. A survey was created by Margaret via Zoomerang to determine the type of spring program we would offer. Questions were:

1. What type of presentation would you be most interested in?

2. Would you prefer a half day or full day program?

3. If a half day, what time of day is better for you, morning or afternoon?

4. What day of the week is best?

5. What topics would you like to see covered in this workshop?

6. What professional development websites do you find useful?

7. What is one tool that you find most useful in your library? You may assume everyone else uses it, too, but maybe not!

8. Are there any other comments you’d like to share with the committee?

A total of 20 people responded to the survey. Based on the responses, we offered a spring program on May 1, 2008, at WPI. Linda Braun spoke on “Emerging Technologies”. This was a hands-on half day workshop where participants were able to create accounts and use freely available products online such as: Twitter, Animoto, iGoogle, and Pageflakes. These products allow participants to create podcasts, vodcasts, tagging and streaming. A copy of the program is attached to this report. Seventeen people attended and 14 filled out evaluation forms. Of the 14, 11 felt the session was “very useful” and 3 felt it was “moderately useful”. The cost for the program was $800. WPI provided the refreshments.

The committee also has been creating a list of professional development sites of interest and will post them on the ARC website in the future. The current list is attached to this report.

Respectfully submitted,

Debbie Bockus

Chair

Emerging Technologies Evaluation Form 2008

Emerging Technologies with Linda Braun
May 1, 2008
WPI
Emerging Technologies Evaluations

Number of Attendees: 17
(not everyone filled out a form)

Type of Library:

  • Private Academic 8
  • Public Academic 3
  • Public School 2
  • Special 1

General impression of workshop:
  • Very useful 11
  • Moderately useful 3
  • Not useful 0

General impression of content:

  • Too general 0
  • Just about right 14
  • Too specific 0

What did you find most helpful about this workshop?

  • covered many topics, hands-on, very exciting
  • Linda!
  • hands-on using some amazing sites
  • learning about Flip Video camera
  • great ideas & info on new tech apps
  • awareness of apps; not saying will use them but I know more about them now.
  • Flip Video and Animoto
  • New things
  • Lots of using existing things (like Twitter) in different ways
  • keeps me informed about the latest & the best technologies & applications for libraries.
  • exposure to newer internet technologies

What could have been improved and how?

  • perhaps less time on Twitter
  • come back soon!
  • more time - so much, so little time
  • workshop should be longer, hold workshop after all classes and finals are over
  • more time
  • slower pace
  • some more basic terminology - I was often lost
  • less general, focus on maybe 2

Other questions, comments or suggestions, including future workshops you'd like to see.

  • It was great to learn about these products
  • Would like to see this topic each year - always helpful
  • Just great to converse with someone/people who are in the same boat as me!
  • Great content, but maybe a little too much at once.
  • no water for tea, only coffee. Please ask permission before taping people.

Committee Minutes of January 4, 2008

ARC Professional Development Committee Meeting Minutes
January 4, 2008
WPI
Present: Debbie Bockus (WPI), Linda Oldach (MWCC), Lynne Riley (WPI), Peg Lesinski (AAS)

Linda reported that the ARC Executive Board has asked if we could put together a list of professional development opportunities to be placed on the ARC website. We could include links to ALA, ACRL, etc. The group will put together a list for submission to ARC.

There was a discussion on how to draw new members into the committee. Lynne suggested that perhaps each of us contact someone personally whom we feel might be interested and invite them to join.

Most of the discussion was on a spring program. We decided to send out a survey again with the following proposed questions:

The ARC Professional Development Committee would like to take this opportunity to thank you for participating in last year's survey regarding what topics interest you for upcoming programs. You gave us suggestions and we listened! Last year, we held a "Cool Tools" program where Camtasia, SnagIt and Second Life were demonstrated. We invite you to give us your thoughts again on a progam for this spring.

  1. What type of program would interest you most: presentation or hands-on workshop?
  2. Would you prefer a half day or a full day program?
  3. If a half day, what time of day is better: morning or afternoon?
  4. What day of the week is better for you?
  5. Do you have any suggested topics you would like to see covered?
  6. What Professional Development sites do you find useful?
  7. What is one tool that you find most useful in your library? You may assume everyone else uses it, too, but maybe not!

We discussed whether Linda Braun might be available to present again or have some ideas of "hot topics" for us. Perhaps : How libraries are using FaceBook, IGoogle, Libx.

Respectfully submitted,

Debbie Bockus

Chair

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Welcome to the Professional Dev. Advisory Committee Blog!

Hi everyone--
Here is the new blog for the Professional Development Advisory Committee. Please use this space to communicate with one another, to post your committee minutes and to otherwise share information.
Thanks for your work on behalf of ARC.
Dawn