[Baynet] Infopeople's "Reader's Advisory 101" online course

[Linda Rodenspiel]

Since some people who may be interested in this course might not receive 
this notice directly, we would appreciate it if you would print and post or 
route this announcement to staff and colleagues. Thanks!

Title:  Reader's Advisory 101 (online learning course)

Dates:  August 29 - September 25, 2006

To register for this workshop:  Use the online registration form at
http://infopeople.org/WS/workshop/Workshop/288

Fee: Because of grant funding, California residents can take this course 
for the subsidized fee of $75.00. The out-of-state fee is $275.00


People are reading more than ever - are you prepared to advise them?

--Do you feel confident when someone about whom you know nothing asks for 
help finding a book s/he will enjoy?
--Do you wonder how to reach potential library supporters who are looking 
for reading advice online instead of in the library?
--Do you know how to keep up with all the new books being published, 
including genres that don't even much interest you, so that you can offer 
advice to all kinds of readers?
--Do you know what to recommend to children, busy commuters, or readers 
with apparently narrow but loyal genre tastes?
--Do you know where to go to find out what people will want to read next 
week, next month, and even next year, so that you'll be ready with the 
collection to support their emerging interests?

Outstanding reader's advisory services can be the key to increased support 
for your library. This course will help you improve and update traditional 
advisory skills and gain a better understanding of the influences that 
pique readers' interests as well as the print and online resources that can 
help you respond to readers on the prowl for "something good."

Workshop Description: This four-week online learning course includes 
instruction in basic advisory methods, including appropriate use of the 
reference interview and local tools-from bookmarks to Web pages-to reach 
those readers who don't actually present themselves at a library service 
desk with their questions about reading. Each week's module includes 
individual and group exercises, as well as a focused topical discussion. 
You will complete a survey of your existing reader's advisory service and 
compose an experiential-based plan to address reader's advisory needs in 
your own library. The instructor will provide sample plans, cheat sheets, 
and a webliography, as well as practical, useful tips that can be applied 
immediately.

During the course you will be doing exercises and taking quizzes. You will 
also participate in online discussion forums as part of the online learning 
process.

Preliminary Course Outline: Using your web browser and your Internet 
connection, you will log in to the Infopeople Angel online learning site 
and complete the following learning modules:

Module One: Recognizing the Reader's Advisory Question
--helping readers to articulate their tastes
--learning about tastes and reading interest generators
--fitting the effective reference interview to the reader

Module Two: What You Need to Know and How to Keep Yourself in the Know
--genre fiction
--popular nonfiction
--multimedia drivers of reader interest
--Special populations

Module Three: Evaluating RA Resources
--what you need to know about your users
--what's on your reference shelves
--what you have online for free and for a fee

Module Four: Designing an RA Service for Your Library
--passive service that rewards users
--active outreach that brings new users
--planning specific next steps for local readers

Workshop Instructor: Francisca Goldsmith.  Francisca is the Collection 
Management and Promotion Librarian at Berkeley Public Library. She has 
planned and implemented weeding projects related to ongoing maintenance as 
well as to library relocation, space issues, and collection neglect, in 
both public and school libraries. She has worked with school administrators 
and with public library staffs who have needed appropriate training to 
support local weeding projects. Francisca has taught several Infopeople 
courses and also consults as a YALSA trainer for its Serving the 
Underserved project and Power Up with Print! institute.

Online Learning Details: This four-week course will be taught online using 
the web. When you register, you will receive a registration confirmation, 
which will include the URL to get to the course, as well as a username and 
password. Every student proceeds through the online learning modules at his 
or her own pace. However, students should expect to commit to spending a 
minimum of 2 to 2 1/2 hours per week on this course in order to be 
successful. You can work on each module at your own pace, at any hour
of the day or night. However, you will be expected to log in to the course 
each week to do that week's assignment. We ask that you log in sometime 
during the first week of the course to begin the course work.

Your instructor will be available for limited consultation support for two 
weeks after the official end date of a course, and the course material will 
stay up for an additional two weeks after that, to give those who have 
fallen behind time to work independently on the course. However, you will 
be expected to accomplish the majority of the course in synchronization 
with your peers during the first four weeks.

Who Should Take This Course: Anyone from the library community who must 
respond to requests for guidance in finding a good book to read, or who 
wants to extend library outreach to potential library users who now rely on 
other resources for reading guidance.

Prerequisites: This course is taught over the web. You must:

--Have an Internet connection and Internet Explorer 5 or higher (some of 
the quiz functions do not work properly in Netscape).
--Be able to save Microsoft Word .docs or Adobe .pdf files to your computer 
and print them out. (For .doc files, a free Word Viewer is available at 
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en. Search for 
"Word Viewer." For .pdf files, a free Adobe Acrobat Reader is available at 
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html).
--Be comfortable navigating on the web and navigating back and forward on a 
website that uses frames.

System Requirements: The online learning product that Infopeople uses is 
called Angel. The following are minimum system requirements for using 
Angel. You will need access to a computer that has at least these 
specifications to participate in an online course:

Windows:
--Internet Explorer 6.0 and above, Netscape 7.1 and above, or Firefox 1.5 
and above

Macintosh:
--Mozilla 1.4 and above (which is the same engine as Netscape 7.1), Safari 
2.0 and above, or Firefox 1.5 and above
--OS X and above (OS 9 will NOT work with our online learning product)

If you are not comfortable with any of the above, please consider taking 
this course with a colleague who does meet these requirements.

To view a complete list of Infopeople workshops and for general information 
about Infopeople training opportunities, go to the main Infopeople 
Workshops page at http://infopeople.org/WS/workshop

If you have questions about registration or scheduling of workshops, please 
contact Linda Rodenspiel, the Infopeople Project Assistant, at 
assist at infopeople.org or by phone at 650-578-9685.