It seems to me that people who provide technology training crave opportunities to talk to other trainers. We love to hear what others are doing, to share ideas, to see examples of activities and training resources. I look at the popularity of the Google group Lori Reed recently created for trainers. I think about the excitement and sense of belonging I felt when I first discovered CLENE. Talking training with other trainers...maybe I'm a geek, but I just think it's fun.

I'm pretty excited about the train-the-trainer webinars we're going to be doing at MPOW. As MaintainIT's Library Training Specialist, I provide training, but I also work to get the word out to other trainers about the project. Check out some of the training resources we've put on our website: a postcard, handouts, flyers, recipe cards.... More things are being added regularly.

I'm also going to be hosting free monthly webinars for trainers. If you're interested in learning more about using MaintainIT resources in the training you provide, please attend the August 6th train-the-trainer MaintainIT webinar. It will be one-hour long and will feature training ideas and examples and discussion.

More information and the registration form are available here: https://cc.readytalk.com/registration/1ou1tvbc10sp0/1kei5rllmsfyu.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008 1:00-2:00 pm

If you play a role in maintaining and supporting your public computers, the MaintainIT Project (http://www.maintainitproject.org) is for you. Do you wish you could ask others how they manage public computers at their library? Do you want to find out how other library staff deal with printing, computer reservations and questions from laptop users? If you have some best practices to showcase and share, this is also an opportunity for you!

The MaintainIT Project brings you webinars and free resources to make a difference in your library. Library Consultant Stephanie Gerding (http://stephaniegerding.com) will be facilitating this webinar for libraries in Arizona.

Stephanie Gerding
http://stephaniegerding.com
http://librarygrants.blogspot.com

We're doing a bunch of webinars at MaintainIT. WebJunction has been hosting them for a while, too. The OCLC regional training groups like SOLINET, Amigos, and BCR provide them. OPAL provides numerous free training opportunities every month. Whenever I see one mentioned that is potentially interesting or useful to me, I jot the details down in my calendar. I then probably attend about 25% of those interesting webinars. Most of them are an hour long and many don't require pre-registration, so I can spur of the moment decide whether or not I have time on a given day to attend.

I have delivered many trainings and presentations in the webinar format and I still feel like I have a lot to learn about how to make the most of the medium. As readers of this blog know, I'm a BIG FAN of interactive learning... and in some online environments that's possible, but in others it's a challenge.

I'd love to hear from others out there providing webinar style presentations and trainings. What are your secrets of success?

A Cookbook for Small and Rural Libraries

Recipes for a 5-Star Library

Mer information om kokböckerna finns på MaintainIT-projektets webbplats.