[Baynet] Infopeople's online course "Developing a Library Technology Plan"

[Linda Rodenspiel]

Since some people who may be interested in 
participating 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:  Developing a Library Technology Plan (online learning course)

Dates:  November 13 - December 11, 2007

To register for this workshop:  Use the online registration form at
http://infopeople.org/workshop/313

Fee: $75 for those in the California library 
community, $150 for those out-of-state.


Technology is an integral part of every library 
environment. Whether your library is big or 
small, computers are a fact of life. In order to 
effectively and efficiently manage and use 
technology, the library must have an up-to-date 
technology plan. A technology plan is much more 
than a technology inventory. It is a living 
document that helps the library continually 
evaluate their use of technology to ensure that 
technology investments are in line with the library's service goals.

--Does your library have a technology plan? If so, when was it last updated?
--Are you responsible for developing, updating, 
or implementing a technology plan for your library?
--Have you ever wondered whether your technology 
plan includes everything it should?
--Do you wonder why you should bother developing 
a technology plan when technology changes so fast 
that you can't possibly keep up with the changes?

Technology plans help ensure that your library is 
ready to migrate and upgrade technology when 
necessary. Once developed, the annual process of 
reviewing and modifying the technology plan 
provides a basis for long-term planning and strategic decision-making.

This online course will help the student develop 
their library's technology plan and establish a 
work plan for regularly evaluating the use of 
technology in the context of the library's service goals.


Workshop Description: This four-week online 
learning course will provide templates and tools 
for developing a library technology plan. 
Students will be introduced to TechAtlas, a free 
online tool for developing some aspects of the 
technology plan. Students will see other 
library's technology plans and use them as a 
jumping off point for developing a technology plan suited to their own library.

In addition to the course material, students will 
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 online learning site and 
complete the following learning modules:

Module One: Introduction to Technology Planning
--Why it needs to be done and how it is connected to library service goals
--Importance of expressing service goals in terms of user experience
--Identifying gaps in service areas and preparing for the future

Module Two: Technology Infrastructure Issues
--Documenting what the library has and what the library needs in the future
--Planning for upgrades, maintenance and support
--Using TechAtlas
--Evaluating current inventory and level of 
support against the library's service goals.

Module Three: Human Resources
--Importance of training and professional development
--How better support systems for staff and 
customers improves the overall library experience

Module Four: Budgeting and Evaluation
--How to estimate costs of equipment and services
--Annual review to address gaps, change priorities and modify long term plans
--E-Rate and other funding options

Instructor:  Lori Ayre.  Lori is the principal 
consultant with The Galecia Group, a library 
technology consulting and project management firm 
located in the North Bay. Lori has been on 
contract with Infopeople since 2000 doing work on 
various technology topics including reporting on 
Internet filters, teaching, managing projects and 
Infopeople's webcast program. In addition to 
consulting, Lori speaks and writes on numerous 
topics including blogging, filtering and RFID. 
She has her own blog, Mentat, which covers the 
gamut from political griping to tech tips for public libraries.

Online Learning Details:
This four-week course will be taught online using 
the web. When you register, you will receive a 
registration confirmation that 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. Students 
should expect to commit to spending a minimum of 
2 to 2½ 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 with an interest in technology planning.

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

--Have an Internet connection and Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher.
--Be able to save Microsoft Word .doc 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.

To be most successful in this course you should 
be willing to share information with your 
colleagues and be willing to spend time reading 
and participating in the weekly discussion boards.

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://www.infopeople.org/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.