Next Steps:
Continuing Your Education and
Pursuing Certification
John J. Burke, MSLS
Ohio Library Support Staff Institute
July 25, 2006
Next steps
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 library’s investment in you
5. Understand support staff certification
The naming of the parts
• Continuing education (CE)
– Professional development
– “Continuous learning”
– Beyond on-the-job learning
• Certification
– A recognition of achievement
– A measurement to shoot for
Why do we pursue continuing education?
• We have to
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Your job is changing
Your role is changing
Your library is changing
The world is changing
• Because we want to:
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Fight complacency
Hone skills
Add abilities
Refresh yourself
Share ideas with colleagues
What is your educational goal?
• 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
Where are you starting from?
• 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
• What’s your experience picture?
Learning styles
• How do you learn best?
• Various ways to categorize/analyze:
– Visual learners
– Auditory learners
– Kinesthetic/tactile learners
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Identify your style
Find ways to strengthen your abilities
No learning method pigeonholing!
Take the test!
Learning styles & learning situations
• Face to face (F2F)
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Lecture
Group work/discussions
Hands-on
Combination of the above (active learning)
• Distance learning
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Synchronous vs. asynchronous
Live videoconferencing
Web-based (various styles)
Video/correspondence courses
Learning durations
• One-shot workshop or meeting
• Multiple sessions over days or weeks
• Formal credit course
• Self-directed learning
• Learning communities
How committed are you?
Where do you want to go?
• Master of Library and Information Science
• Bachelor’s degree or degree-completion
• Associate degrees and certificates
• Credit courses
• CE grab-bag (workshops, conferences, etc.)
• Informal CE options
MLS/MLIS/MSIS, etc.
• 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
Bachelor’s degree/degree completion
• 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?
Associate degrees and certificates
• 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?
Credit courses
• 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?
CE grab-bag
• 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
Informal CE opportunities
• 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?
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 you’re asked
to or not!)
• See it as freedom from day to day pressures
– not its own pressure
A plan comes together
• Your CE strategy:
1. Identify your preferred learning styles and
learning situations
2. Name your goal
3. Choose opportunities to meet that goal
4. Make your case
5. Persevere
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Write it down! Track your progress
Bring the breadth of your experiences into
the library
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?
Building a case
• 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
The certification story
• Recognition of ability and accomplishments
• Typically voluntary
• Existing certification programs:
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Michigan
Minnesota
New York
Utah
• Librarian certification programs
• May exist elsewhere in larger organizations
• Impact
What can you do about certification?
• 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
How’s the job market?
• 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?
Questions, Queries, or Quizzical
Quotations?
John J. Burke, MSLS
Director, Gardner-Harvey Library
Miami University Middletown
burkejj@muohio.edu
513-727-3293
AIM: infomanjjb