[Baynet] Infopeople's "Book Discussion Groups" online course

Tue Oct 14 10:31:45 PDT 2008

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:  Book Discussion Groups: A New Look  (online learning course)

Dates:  December 2, 2008 – January 12, 2009

This class will take a Christmas break from December 22, 2008 to January 5,
2009. During that period students are free to work on the class but the
Instructor will not be available. 

To register for this workshop:  Use the online registration form at

http://infopeople.org/workshop/405

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

·         Are you thinking about starting a book discussion group? 

·         Looking for ways to improve the one(s) you already have? 

·         Searching for ideas on how to capitalize upon in-person and online
book groups to improve community outreach? 

With so many reading choices, so many book review sources, and so many
different kinds of people drawn to book groups, it is easy to become
overwhelmed. Now, help is on the way! This course, taught by an experienced
library book group leader and literary event coordinator, will provide you
with a wide range of resources and techniques that you can turn to month
after month. The overall goal is to save you time when planning and
promoting the groups so that you can actually enjoy the books and the
discussions either as a leader or as a participant. 

Workshop Description: This four-week online learning course will provide you
with strategies, resources and techniques that you can apply immediately to
your book group. Through individual and group exercises you will learn how
to recruit members and publicize your group, develop a reading list, manage
book group meetings and book group dynamics, and develop community
partnerships. Since all class members will be asked to select a book and
prepare an introduction and discussion questions—the shared results could
provide you with programming ideas for at least a year! The instructor will
provide sample book discussions, links to book review media, templates for
flyers and other publicity materials, sample letters requesting community
and author participation, and links to outstanding public library book group
programs throughout the United States and Canada. 

During the course, you will be doing exercises and taking quizzes and
sharing your ideas with others in online discussion forums. In past classes,
many participants have continued to keep in touch after the class ended—this
is an opportunity to establish a network of book group leaders.

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: Meeting Logistics 

Recruiting members 

Choosing a leader(s) 

Choosing the place, time and format (online, in-person) 

Snacks 

The power of partnerships 

·         Module Two: Choosing the books 

Reader/community demographics 

Reading for all seasons 

Review media 

Book/film programs 

·         Module Three: Talking the talk 

Stimulating questions 

Supporting materials—handouts, websites, multimedia 

Group dynamics 

How to book an author 

·         Module Four: Taking it to the streets
and the pod 

Publicity strategies 

Community-wide reading programs 

Web 2.0

Instructor:  Lauren John.  Lauren is a librarian and book group leader who
has led book groups in public and private libraries, living rooms, senior
centers, and synagogues. She has been leading the monthly Menlo Park Public
Library book group for five years. Her work there, as well as an earlier
book group course for Infopeople, inspired her to write the book Running
Book Discussion Groups: A How to Do It Manual (Neal Schuman 2006). Lauren
also developed and teaches the class, Book Group Therapy for the San
Francisco One Book One City Festival. When she is not leading book groups,
Lauren is the librarian at San Francisco's Town and Country Club—a private
women's club founded in 1893. She is also the in-house librarian for Book
Group Expo—a yearly festival for book group members.

(Optional) Pre-workshop assignment: Please attend a book discussion group
either before the class starts or within the first two weeks. The group can
meet either in a public library, bookstore, community center or living
room—and if you can’t get to an in-person group, try to participate in one
online. It would be great if you could read the book in advance, but if you
don’t have time to read the book in advance, or have not finished the book,
ask if you can observe. (Most groups in public locations will allow you to
do this—private groups may have different rules, but most will allow you to
observe quietly!) Be prepared to share your observations about the group
(title, author, where the group was held, time of day, number of
participants, what worked, what didn’t) You might also want to get a copy of
my book Running Book Discussion Groups: A How To Do It Manual (Neal-Schuman
2006), available at many public libraries in California. 

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: This course is appropriate for anyone in the
library community with an interest in starting, running or maintaining a
book group. In the past, reference and technical service librarians, library
volunteers, elementary school teachers, professors, and community leaders
have participated. 

Prerequisites:

This course is taught over the web. You must: 

·         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: 

Microsoft Windows XP or Microsoft Windows Vista 

Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and above 

Phishing Filter disabled (IE 7) 

·         Macintosh: 

OS X and above (OS 9 will NOT work with our online learning product) 

Mozilla Firefox 2.0 and above, Safari 2.0 and above 

·         General 

High speed Internet connection (dial up not recommended) 

Java enabled (from Sun Microsystems not Microsoft) - test my computer - Java
download latest version 

Pop-up blockers disabled 

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

If you would like to subscribe via RSS and be notified whenever new
Infopeople training events are available, you can use these links:
**For new on-ground or online workshops: http://infopeople.org/workshop/rss
**For new podcasts: http://feeds.feedburner.com/InfopeoplePodcasts

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/workshop

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

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