A couple of weeks ago I attended the online 23 Things Summit organised by WebJunction, MaintainIT, the State Library of Kansas, and the Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library. It was held in America so the timezone difference worked out well for me as it meant I was at home in the evening.

For those not aware of 23 Things, it is also sometimes called Learning 2.0 and is a staff development programme designed for library staff. It uses blogging as the main tool for reflective learning and introduces staff to new web tools (the “things”) each week, which they then comment on in their blog. I previously wrote about the programme a while ago, and have been wanting to run a similar programme ever since, which I am now currently planning (more to come on this).

The event was hosted by WebJunction using Wimba classroom and it really was excellent. I could hear (most of) the speakers clearly, the presentation slides were clear to see, and it was great to be able to get involved by using the chat tools. I also tweeted the event (to the annoyance of my Facebook friends so I have now broken the link between Facebook and Twitter!); you can see all tweets tagged with #23smt. There were a number of us tweeting the event and it even became a top trend – at one point I received a message from @twinfo telling me I was the top trendsetter for #23smt. It was a good test of multi-tasking skills but it was made a lot easier by the great software used by WebJunction.

The actual summit was incredibly useful, it started out with Helene Blowers who initially devised the 23 Things programme. She was interviewed by David Lee King, and it was fascinating to hear from her about the problems she encountered and how she would possibly change things if she were to do it again.

We also heard from a number of people across USA who have adapted the programme for their own use. It was interesting to hear how different people have run the programme in different ways and what seems to work (as well as what doesn’t). One of the main plus points of the programme seems to be the sense of achievement the participants feel as well as a sense of community from those doing the same programme at the same time. As the programme is online, this is not limited geographically which is a huge bonus for smaller libraries or single librarians who can connect with others online.

At the end of the presentations there was a question and answer session which addressed many of the questions we had been adding to the chat throughout the presentations. The main questions/concerns seem to be around the amount of time needed to administer the programme (which seemed to vary massively) and how to get management support for the programme. The advice seems to be to ensure that management fully understand the programme and its benefits (mainly that a large number of staff can receive training simultaneously for a very small cost, just staff time).

You can see the documents from the session on WebJunction’s website including the presentation slides, the chatlog, and an audio recording of the event. One of the participants also grouped all web resources mentioned (e.g. different 23 Things programmes and useful websites) on Delicious.

It was a really useful event and came at just the right time; I am currently in the early planning stages of a 23 Things style programme for my place of work and feel much more prepared after the session.

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Found via The Other Librarian: Halifax Public Libraries have recently launched an initiative called the Learning 2.0 Challenge to encourage staff to become more engaged in Web 2.0/Library 2.0 tools. It includes blogging (one of the tasks is to create your own blog), RSS feeds, wikis, podcasts, social software and online instant messaging. It’s a voluntary thing but seems to have sparked interest already which is great news. I think having an incentive to join in probably helps (there is a prize draw for those who complete the course), but it also demonstrates that people really are interested in giving this stuff a go when they’re given the chance and actively encouraged to do so.

Lee County Library also has a new initiative to encourage staff to have a go with these Web 2.0 tools, aptly titled Play to Learn. They even have signs to use whilst staff are “playing” such as this great Bond themed License to Play poster.

I think it’s absolutely fantastic that these sort of initiatives are happening and I hope to see more of this sort of thing encouraged at other libraries. Who knows, maybe we could get something sorted for the staff here, definitely something to think about.

Does anyone have anything like this at their library or know of other similar initiatives?

Edit: It appears I am very late to this, the initial programme was devised by Helene Blowers for Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County back in August 2006. I have been reading her LibraryBytes blog for a while but hadn’t realised the Learning 2.0 programme originated there! It seems there are a lot of US public libraries recreating the programme which is great news, hopefully some in the UK will follow suit. Due to the success of the initial scheme, Helene has now also developed Learning 2.1 as a follow up. Helene’s been named a 2007 Mover and Shaker and I can certainly see why!

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