Webinars and Change

The webinars I attended were all pretty good.  None of the ones I saw had any major problems, and everything seemed to go really smoothly.  The topics of helping a specific patron group in the library and copyright all gave me new information, so I learned a lot, too.

I was impressed with our ability to plan and present a webinar.  It really wasn't quite the struggle I was anticipating.  In fact, the worst part for us happened when we lost our sound several times in the middle of the webinar.  Also, even though we reserved a room in the library to hopefully cut back on the potential of technical problems, we still lost internet a couple of times.  Oh, and our recording did some wacky things.  So all in all, we did figure out how to pace and use the webinar tool Elluminate relatively painlessly, but we had unforseen problems that we couldn't really control.  Grrr.

I can see myself participating in and using webinars through the rest of my career.  Webinars allow you to present useful information to those who are long-distance.  Webinars are convenient to attend, and they can be archived so that if the timing does not work, you can still view one you missed.  Webinars are a great way to keep up with the goings-ons in libraries.  Plus, webinars are a great way to exercise new technology skills.

Keeping up with technology was the focus of the articles we had to read for today.  In all three articles, the importance of change and keeping up with change is important for librarians, especially in their role as teachers.  In the Semadini article, teachers took time out of their contract hours to highlight an area in which they wanted to become better teachers, and then met to discuss how their methods were working.  In the Blowers & Reed and Fontichiaro articles, teachers and librarians trained their peers to use technology effectively and to be able to quickly assist students and patrons should something go wrong.  In today's world, it is especially important to keep up with technology - for technology is now even being used to teach others about technology.  


I especially appreciated the picture in the Blowers & Reed article in which three successful older women held up their mp3 player prizes which they had won after completing the technology program offered through their library. As I grow older in my profession, I can see myself not wanting to keep up with all the new stuff that is certain to arrive.  But, like these women, I know I will have to take the initiative to stay current in my field.