Meredith Farkas led off this two part session with great information about her Five Weeks to a Social Library program. This was the first, free, grass roots, completely online program designed to teach Librarians about social software. It was almost completely done with open source, free software tools such as Drupal, Mediawiki and BlipTV. Her tips to help you (and me) steal this idea:
- tools can not be a barrier
- be flexible
- provide ways for people to have many different conversations
- perpetual beta
Helene Blowers presented the second half of the session. I’d talked to her the day before, but it was just wonderful to hear her speak. I’ve been following her for over a year and coping her Learning 2.0 program is what led to my new positions and fancy title 🙂
Most importantly dont worry about being an expert, we need to think of ourselves as players. It’s great to hear someone like her say this!
To become a knowledge player:
- Take 15 mins a day
- Read 5 blogs a day
- create a play box – use del.icio.us
- give yourself and other permission to play
Become a discovery guide:
- its about learning, not training
- removed the classroom
- remember exposure is the first step towards learning
- learners have as much right to share as guides
- focus on fun
You can see her slides here.
Librarian by Day 