Training

We don’t have to look very far to see that leadership is an issue which is much discussed and often promoted within libraries and the communities they serve—possibly because so many of us sense a leadership void in so many of the organizations and political entities we encounter.

One of the best two-for-one deals for current and prospective library leaders is Pat Wagner’s “Building Leadership Skills: Developing and Leading Projects” workshop. Part of the Infopeople Eureka!

If you work with children in libraries and have the sense that you are missing a significant part of your audience, you may be right, Infopeople instructor Adrienne Furness maintains.

Inspired by conversations during the California Library Association conference in San Jose earlier this week and by online coursework through the University of North Texas, I’ve been completely immersed in discussions, articles, and examples of how onsite and online reference services are developing.

Deputy State Librarian Stacey Aldrich and Metropolitan Cooperative Library System Executive Director Rosario Garza were not the only people talking about the future of reference when they offered a “Statewide Reference for Tomorrow” session during the California Library Association conference in San Jose a few days ago.

Daniel Pink, best-selling author of A Whole New Mind, takes us on a tour through the world of innovation, competition, and the changing nature of work while entertaining and challenging us. Charting the rise of right-brain thinking in modern economies, he outlines six abilities individuals and organizations must master in an outsourced and automated world.

John Ward, familiar to longtime Infoblog readers from previous postings about his work, wants to leave us with a vision.

To talk with Infopeople instructor Pat Wagner is to realize that all the world is a project. And if you are not yet convinced, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to experience this for yourself when Wagner offers multiple sessions of “Building Leadership Skills: Developing and Leading Projects” throughout California in December 2008.

For anyone still in doubt as to how quickly online communities of learning are developing, today’s Infopeople webinar featuring Brenda Hough and Stephanie Gerding from the MaintainIT Project provides a wonderful example of how far we have come.