Two Free OPAL Programs of Interest in May

Hi again all at AskUsNow!

This announcement on the OPAL listserv may be of interest. There are two free programs (May 8 and May 15) presented by librarian Sarah Houghton-Jan, who blogs as the "Librarian in Black."

Of course we'd ideally want to see you in Ocean City on May 15 at the Maryland AskUsNow! Providers Meeting (2:00-3:45), which will be held during the Maryland Library Association Annual Conference. But, if you absolutely can't be there on May 15, the OPAL program sounds very worthwhile. :)

-Joe

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Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:40:25 -0700 (PDT)
From: Tom Peters
Reply-To: OPALannounce-owner@yahoogroups.com
To: opalannounce@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [OPALannounce] Announcement: Two Free Online Presentations by
Sarah Houghton-Jan


Greetings!

In May Sarah Houghton-Jan will present two free online sessions in OPAL (www.opal-online.org), the collaborative web conferencing service for libraries and library users worldwide. See below for details. There is no need to register. Everyone is welcome. For links to these and other upcoming OPAL online programs, please visit

http://www.opal-online.org/progschrono.htm


Thursday, May 8, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 1:00 Central, noon Mountain, 11:00 a.m. Pacific, and 6:00 p.m. GMT/UTC/Zulu:
"Online Marketing for Libraries" Presented by Sarah Houghton-Jan

Host: TAP Information Services

Online Location: OPAL Online Auditorium
Join Sarah Houghton-Jan, the Librarian in Black blogger, in exploring how libraries can market their collections and services online. In the Web 2.0 environment, libray staff need to think about outreach differently. Users spend more time online in both solitary and social endeavors. This session will cover how to find potential users online and reach out to them with the services and resources they need. Attendees will go away with a lengthy checklist of ideas to take back to their libraries to successfully create an ongoing online marketing plan. Please note: This program will last approximately 90 minutes.

• Thursday, May 15, 2008 at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time, 3:00 Central, 2:00 Mountain, 1:00 Pacific, and 9:00 p.m. GMT/UTC/Zulu:
"Technology Training and Competencies for Libraries" Presented by Sarah Houghton-Jan

Host: TAP Information Services

Online Location: OPAL Online Auditorium
Join Sarah Houghton-Jan, the Librarian in Black blogger, in exploring how libraries can provide tech training for staff. Every library on the planet struggles with technology training for staff. In this session, learn how to create a set of useful technology competencies, catered to your individual library and its technologies. Also learn how to use these competencies, and the staff's assessments, to build a self-sustaining staff technology training program. You will hear about the purpose and benefits of competencies and technology training, get a review of the process of creating competencies lists, and the implementation process, including assessment. Please note: This program will last approximately 90 minutes.

Tom Peters