How to keep up-to-date in library technical services

 In the past 10 years, we have seen massive changes in library technical services.  Old processes and practices are gradually becoming obsolete.   Technical services workers often find themselves scrambling to update their knowledge and skills.  

A particular challenge comes along when library leaders need to make a choice about what new services or practices to adopt.  Because of the rate of change, it is simply difficult to keep up to date.  With a shrinking workforce and increasing workloads, there often is little time to spend learning about what is new and upcoming in the field.  How can these leaders feel confident in their choices when they simply don't feel that they have the information they need?  

Those who are new to the field face another challenge.  Employers often look to "new graduates" to have the latest skills and knowledge.  These new employees may be relied upon to have expertise in the new practices and processes.  The reality is that many of our schools simply can't be as agile as employers might like them to be.  

COVID has brought new challenges to libraries.  The recent story about COVID-related cuts to the Birmingham Public Library (see:  https://abc3340.com/news/local/birmingham-budget-approved-by-city-council) is likely a common situation in cities and towns across North America and across the globe.  COVID is costly and library budgets are taking a hit.  Not only is the number of library staff being reduced, but training budgets are also currently non-existent.  This is all occurring in a context where citizens, students, and workers still rely on their libraries and expect and need service.  So, COVID has made it that much harder to keep up with the workload let alone do professional development.

I've worked in the library field since the 1980s and have seen a lot of change since then.  There was a time when library employees expected to be trained in new technology and new practices.  For a number of years, I was a trainer at a public library providing such training.  There was a training budget that covered training for all staff and professional development money was available to librarians.  Now, all of that seems like a luxury that many libraries can no longer enjoy.  Yet, how do we do our jobs well?  How do we not get all stressed-out by this?

My hope is that in this blog I can share some of the free and efficient resources that library workers can use to update their knowledge and skills and keep up to date about emerging trends in the field.

The recorded ALCTS webinars are a good source for this purpose:  http://www.ala.org/alcts/confevents/past/webinar

While there is a charge to attend the webinars when they are first made available, they become free after 6 months.  

I will try to publish at least one blog post per week that contains more resources that can help us keep up to date in the field or learn the new skills we need to do our jobs.  If you are interested in a particular topic, let me know and I will see what I can find and include it in the blog.  Contact me at d67frederick@gmail.com