Next Steps: Continuing Your Education and Pursuing Certification

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Next StepsContinuing Your Education and
Pursuing Certification
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• John J. Burke, MSLS
• Ohio Library Support Staff Institute
• July 25, 2006

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Next steps
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1. Fit training to your goal(s) and learning
   style(s)
2. Identify your opportunities for continuing
   education
3. Analyze your needs and create a plan
4. Justify your librarys investment in you
5. Understand support staff certification

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The naming of the parts
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• Continuing education (CE)
• Professional development
• Continuous learning
• Beyond on-the-job learning
• Certification
• A recognition of achievement
• A measurement to shoot for

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Why do we pursue continuing education?
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• We have to
• Your job is changing
• Your role is changing
• Your library is changing
• The world is changing
• Because we want to
• Fight complacency
• Hone skills
• Add abilities
• Refresh yourself
• Share ideas with colleagues

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What is your educational goal?
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• Adding a specific skill(s)
• Keeping up with new developments
• Taking on new responsibilities
• Moving into a new role/location/library type
  future employability
• Seeking promotion/reclassification/raises
• Personal satisfaction

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Where are you starting from?
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• Measures of knowledge and ability
• Formal degrees (H.S., AA/AS, BA/BS, MA/MS, PhD)
• Past ( ongoing) CE
• On-the-job training
• Day to day library experience
• Non-library experiences
• Whats your experience picture?

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Learning styles
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• How do you learn best?
• Various ways to categorize/analyze
• Visual learners
• Auditory learners
• Kinesthetic/tactile learners
• Identify your style
• Find ways to strengthen your abilities
• No learning method pigeonholing!
• Take the test!

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Learning styles learning situations
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• Face to face (F2F)
• Lecture
• Group work/discussions
• Hands-on
• Combination of the above (active learning)
• Distance learning
• Synchronous vs. asynchronous
• Live videoconferencing
• Web-based (various styles)
• Video/correspondence courses

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Learning durations
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• One-shot workshop or meeting
• Multiple sessions over days or weeks
• Formal credit course
• Self-directed learning
• Learning communities

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How committed are you?
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Where do you want to go?
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• Master of Library and Information Science
• Bachelors degree or degree-completion
• Associate degrees and certificates
• Credit courses
• CE grab-bag (workshops, conferences, etc.)
• Informal CE options

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MLS/MLIS/MSIS, etc.
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• Kent State School of Library and Information
  Science
• F2F Kent or Columbus
• Online 12-12-12 Distance MLIS
• Several other accredited schools (online)
• Positives recognized credential, promotion/job
  development
• Unknowns job openings, the job you want?,
  opportunities in current library

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Bachelors degree/degree completion
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• F2F your local institution
• Online University of Maine at Augusta BS in
  Library Information Services
• Online Bowling Green State University BS in
  Advanced Technological Education AAS transfer
• Positives offered in convenient formats, could
  add needed specialty to library, new career?,
  needed step prior to MLS
• Unknowns cost?, time?, value to library?

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Associate degrees and certificates
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• F2F your local institution
• Online Belmont Technical College AAS in
  Information Services Library Paraprofessional
• Online University of Maine at Augusta AS or
  Certificate in Library Information Services
• Positives preparation/extension of library
  knowledge, offered in convenient formats, could
  add needed specialty to library, new career?
• Unknowns cost?, time?, worth it?

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Credit courses
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• F2F your local institution
• Online Ohio Learning Network OhioLearns
• F2F or Online Kent State SLIS
• Positives definable outcome, solid grasp of
  topic, feedback, focused period
• Unknowns specific enough to need?, too much
  theory?, cost?, time?

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CE grab-bag
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• F2F and online Workshops and conferences (many
  choices, including OLSSI check organization
  sites)
• Ohio Library Continuing Education automated
  statewide calendar system
• OHIONET
• State Library of Ohio F2F and eLearning
• LibraryU web-based training modules
• OPAL (Online Programming for All Libraries)
• Positives just what you need, small investment,
  offered often or regularly
• Unknowns not enough information, unknown
  quality

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Informal CE opportunities
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• Participation in electronic discussion groups,
  local/regional/state professional organizations,
  networking of all kinds
• Having a regular source for updates, new
  concepts, sharing of successes and failures
• Choosing ways to stay in touch with the wider
  world
• Positives no or low cost, ongoing, builds
  relationships, constantly spotting trends and
  developments, way to pick opportunities for
  deeper learning
• Unknowns too informal to keep you focused?, too
  much information?, too disconnected from daily
  work?

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How to get more out of CE opportunities
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• Plan ahead have a goal!
• Ask questions!
• Networking strike up conversations!
• Exhibits are not just for pens!
• Take good notes and review them!
• Follow up on suggested resources
• Look for the connection to your job
• Share your story after (whether youre asked to
  or not!)
• See it as freedom from day to day pressures not
  its own pressure

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A plan comes together
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• Your CE strategy
• Identify your preferred learning styles and
  learning situations
• Name your goal
• Choose opportunities to meet that goal
• Make your case
• Persevere
• Write it down! Track your progress
• Bring the breadth of your experiences into the
  library

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How is CE supported in your library?
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• Encouragement
• Time off to attend
• Flexibility in scheduling
• Paid/reimbursed opportunities
• Know your options and benefits
• How is CE funded/allocated at your library?
• Does your larger organization offer funds or
  scholarships?

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Building a case
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• ROI what is the library getting for its
  investment?
• Measure the impact of CE
• Agree on long-term impacts
• Look for case examples elsewhere
• The 1.6 solution - James Casey
• Regular maintenance of a larger investment
• How is your desired activity relevant?
• Going beyond in-house training

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The certification story
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• Recognition of ability and accomplishments
• Typically voluntary
• Existing certification programs
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• New York
• Utah
• Librarian certification programs
• May exist elsewhere in larger organizations
• Impact

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What can you do about certification?
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• Work with statewide library groups to establish
  an Ohio program
• Work with ALA LSSIRT or COLT to institute a
  national certification program
• Build a certification program within your own
  library

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Hows the job market?
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• Nationally 260,000 support staff, 136,000
  librarians (ALA)
• Ohio Labor Market Information change from
  2002 to 2012 ( number of annual jobs)
• Library assistants, clerical up 16.2 (528)
• Library technicians up 10 (281)
• Librarians up 5 (186)
• Regular growth changing nature of jobs new
  expectations?

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Questions, Queries, or Quizzical Quotations?
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• John J. Burke, MSLS
• Director, Gardner-Harvey Library
• Miami University Middletown
• burkejj_at_muohio.edu
• 513-727-3293
• AIM infomanjjb