[Baynet] Infopeople's online course "CORE Reference Fundamentals"

[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:  CORE Reference Fundamentals (online learning course)

Dates:  December 4, 2007 - February 11, 2008

Since this course overlaps with Christmas and New 
Year's Day, the eight modules will be offered 
over ten weeks. You will not be expected to work 
on the course during the weeks that contain Christmas and New Year's Day.

To register for this workshop:  Use the online registration form at
http://infopeople.org/workshop/61

Fee: $150 for those in the California library 
community, $300 for those out-of-state.


--Are you stepping into the role of providing 
reference assistance for the first time in your career at your library?
--Do you find that it’s time to brush up on your 
basic reference skills so you can provide expert 
reference service in the contemporary world?
--Would you like to become more comfortable with 
the practice of excellent reference work?


All kinds of libraries provide reference 
assistance directly to users in person, by 
telephone, through email and online chat. And all 
of these reference services require well trained 
staff who are comfortable with both the methods 
and underlying values of reference work. Whether 
you have been recently promoted to support 
professional reference services, or are returning 
to reference work some years after you completed 
your library degree, you’ll need a clear 
understanding of where to look today for well 
evaluated answers, how to understand accurately 
the information needs users present through their 
questions, and when to utilize which kind of 
resource to uncover pertinent information. This 
course will acquaint you with how and why to 
perform the reference interview, which resources 
are best suited to which types of reference 
questions and user needs, how to use both print 
and Web based resources appropriate to the 
reference need, and how reference work fits into 
the mission of your library. You’ll learn how 
situational factors, such as the layout and 
policies of your library, are a part of providing 
excellent reference service, as well as become 
aware of alternative methods for delivering 
reference help to your users even when the library is closed.


Workshop Description: This eight-week online 
learning course will provide you with the 
opportunity to both explore and practice using 
reference interview methods and a variety of 
print and Web based reference tools. Through 
individual and group exercises, you will become 
acquainted with the diverse needs of different 
types of users, including those with physical 
disabilities and those with whom you do not share 
a common language. You will learn about the basic 
structure of indexes and how indexing promotes 
ready reference opportunities. We will spend time 
examining and using a variety of ready reference 
print and Web-based resources, as well as 
specialized resources for such niche reference 
needs as homework, government research, and 
inquiries about images or sounds. The instructor 
will provide sample policies, templates, 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 
weekly 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: The Reference Interview
--Goals and components of the reference interview
--Helping with sensitive questions
--Phrases to know and practice

Module Two: Library Users’ Rights to Privacy and Open Access
--The Bill of Rights, ALA’s Bill of Rights, and CIPA
--Working across barriers of disability or communication
--Responding to age needs appropriately

Module Three: Your Library as a Reference Tool
--Building layouts
--Special collections
--Your library’s website
--The structure of your library’s catalog

Module Four: Construction and Use of Indexes
--Comparing and contrasting print and online indexing
--Databases and ready reference work

Module Five: Evaluating Reference Tools
--Print tools
--Online resources

Module Six: The Most General—and Powerful—Ready Reference Tools
--Almanacs and encyclopedias
--Search engines

Module Seven: Specialized Reference Tools
--Dictionaries, atlases, and directories
--Online guides to language, geography, and locations

Module Eight: Beyond Ready Reference
--Nontraditional reference sources, like Flickr
--Government publications (online and in print)
--Niche inquiries, including homework, sports, and celebrities


Instructor:  Francisca Goldsmith.  Francisca 
Goldsmith is the Director of Branch Services at 
Halifax Public Libraries. Formerly she was the 
Collection Management Librarian and head of Teen 
Services at Berkeley Public Library, and was a 
reference librarian in both academic and public 
libraries. 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 and public 
library staffs who have needed appropriate 
training to support up to date reference 
assistance and to design local weeding projects. 
Francisca has taught several Infopeople courses 
and also consults as a YALSA trainer for its 
Serving the Underserved Project and other YALSA staff development institutes.

Online Learning Details:
This eight-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 eight weeks.

Who Should Take This Course: Anyone from the 
library community who must respond to users 
seeking reference information. This course is 
especially geared to paraprofessional staff new 
to reference work or librarians who are not 
familiar with contemporary tools and methods that 
support excellent reference service.

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.

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.