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Travel, Change, and Our Brains on Conferences

July 6, 2011 By

Attending a professional conference with colleagues has always struck me as a highly productive and mind-expanding experience—a learning experience that produces positive and long-lasting results far beyond anything I would have expected. And returning from the American Library Association (ALA) 2011 Annual Conference in New Orleans last week, then diving into Norman Doidge’s book The Brain That Changes Itself, may have finally helped me understand the physiology behind that feeling.

Doidge, in exploring the physiological plasticity of brains—the brain’s ability to rewire itself in response to new situations and challenges—documents how much we do to strengthen our brains when we “engage in tasks in which we must focus our attention as closely as we did when we were younger, trying to learn a new vocabulary or master new skills…That’s why learning a new language in old age is so good for improving the maintain the memory generally. Because it requires intense focus, studying a new language turns on the control system for plasticity and keeps it in good shape for laying down sharp memories of all kinds.”

Any of us who have traveled to places where our native tongue is not spoken can attest to the sense of revitalization that comes from immersion in those unfamiliar settings. It’s as if we are, once again, children, with that child’s sense of wonder and curiosity that so often leads to intellectual growth and creative endeavors. Which is exactly what happens for those of us lucky enough to even temporarily be in an unfamiliar setting like New Orleans, or Chicago, or Washington, DC, or any of the other conference sites in which I’ve been immersed over the past few years.

There is that palpable sense of excitement and stimulation that comes from having to be much more aware of everything around us—temporarily learning a new public transit system, quickly learning the layout of some of the immense conference centers we have to learn to navigate in extremely short periods of time, even something as simple as figuring out where we can find a comfortable place to dine and have conversations with our colleagues. It reawakens the sense of plasticity that comes from something as complex as learning a new language or something as simple as finding our way around in unfamiliar settings. And if we spend a little time afterward reflecting on what we have encountered and acquired—particularly by writing about it—we seem to increase the possibility of rewiring our brains in ways that produce changes no classroom or online learning experience can possibly hope to match.

It’s not as if there’s any one thing to which we can point to document this process. My own experiences in New Orleans were tremendously varied, stimulating, and rewarding. The chance encounter with a colleague over lunch that turned into a two-hour exchange of ideas about marketing and training in a way that left us both eager to build upon the thoughts that lovely conversation produced. The opportunity to help orient and work with conference volunteers and paid staff who were providing information to their 20,000 colleagues who were attending the conference. The spur of the moment opportunity to turn a routine book-signing into a memorable event for all involved. The inspiration provided by hearing colleagues discuss how they were matching technology with library users in innovative ways to produce notable results. The chance to explore something as dynamic as social learning centers through a joint presentation with a couple of cherished colleagues and a receptive and enthusiastic audience under the auspices of the ALA Learning Round Table. And the ongoing stimulation provided by reading, absorbing, and reacting to reports that came to my attention while I was onsite in New Orleans and continuing to reflect on the experience a week after returning home.

It doesn’t take a brain scan or a careful reading of Doidge’s book to provide an understanding of  the value of seeing and treating conferences and all that they produce as part of our essential ongoing learning process. As Doidge says toward the end of The Brain That Changes, the brain needs oxygen…and stimulation…and exercise. And full engagement in continual learning certainly goes a long way in filling those needs.

Paul Signorelli

Paul Signorelli is a writer, trainer, presenter, and consultant based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He works with clients to successfully facilitate the introduction of new technology into organizations; prepares and presents webinars and other online and onsite learning opportunities for a variety of clients; is actively involved in ALA and ASTD; continues to prepare articles for "American Libraries," the eLearning Guild's "Learning Solutions Magazine," and other publications; and co-wrote "Workplace Learning & Leadership" with Lori Reed for ALA editions. Paul can be reached at paul@paulsignorelli.com.

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E-learning Through the Alphabet

April 25, 2011 By

E-learning and e-learners, as ALA Learning colleague Mary Beth Faccioli noted in her own article late last week, are taking a variety of interesting directions.

We are seeing new models explored by those providing as well as engaging in what is variously referred to as e-learning, distance learning, online learning, computer-based learning, and other variations that could probably create a blog-length list. When we drill down a bit into specific variations on the theme, we’re also seeing forms of online learning for almost every letter of the alphabet: m-learning (learning via mobile devices) as well as what are only half-jokingly being referred to as t-learning (learning delivered via Twitter) and s-learning (learning delivered via Skype), for example.

The more we explore best practices and innovations in e-learning, the more we realize how much we still have to learn and absorb. And yet there is something basic that connects all of these various and varied options: delivery of learning at the moment of need combined with learners’ willingness to drive the learning process. Through synchronous and asynchronous offerings. In the form of blog pieces—like those published here at ALA Learning and imbedded with enough links to provide the equivalent of an entire well-planned lesson. Through online bibliographies which in themselves lead learners to a variety of resources on e-learning itself so they can explore those resources when they are ready to explore, not when someone else tells them they should. Through the formal online courses and workshops such as those provided through ALA TechSource and many other ecourse publishers and providers, as well as through podcasts such as Maurice Coleman’s continuing T is for Training series—the sort of offerings that can be enjoyed when they are first offered or revisited by individuals and groups accessing those lessons through online archives.

I’m not among those who believes e-learning will or even should replace face-to-face learning; I’m far more sympathetic to the many great trainer-teacher-learners who insist that e-learning is simply part of the much larger field in which we play—learning—and that the sort of either-or options foisted upon us by those who insist that any one sort of learning will replace all others are creating rather than removing barriers to our ability to offer and engage in effective learning options.

Much has been written about Personal Learning Environments—we’ve seen great pieces here on ALA Learning, and I still return to Michele Martin’s pieces on The Bamboo Project blog when I’m in need of a refresher course on the topic—and I believe the recognition of the importance of these personal learning environments is an important part of our e-learning toolkit.

For those who are trying to wrap their hands and minds around the entire concept, there’s a lot of comfort in the idea that e-learning is an expansive and fairly flexible learning medium. And it’s even more comforting to discover that through our colleagues, the postings at ALA Learning, and the numerous other resources we and our colleagues discover and share on an almost daily basis, we will never be short of resources. As long as we are willing to explore.

Paul Signorelli

Paul Signorelli is a writer, trainer, presenter, and consultant based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He works with clients to successfully facilitate the introduction of new technology into organizations; prepares and presents webinars and other online and onsite learning opportunities for a variety of clients; is actively involved in ALA and ASTD; continues to prepare articles for "American Libraries," the eLearning Guild's "Learning Solutions Magazine," and other publications; and co-wrote "Workplace Learning & Leadership" with Lori Reed for ALA editions. Paul can be reached at paul@paulsignorelli.com.

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Learning 2010: The Continuing Power of Collaboration

December 31, 2010 By

Looking back at what we learned this year produces some interesting conclusions—not the least of which is that it wasn’t so much a year of trying to create something entirely new, but, rather, a time to step back long enough to survey what surrounded us and learn more effectively how to use the collaborative resources we’ve been given: wikis. Shared document tools including Google Docs and Dropbox that are helping us incorporate cloud computing into our training-teaching-learning efforts. Web-conferencing tools ranging from WebEx, Dimdim, and TalkShoe to Google Talk and Skype for the delivery of just-in-time learning. And LinkedIn discussion groups and Twitter as a way of seeking and exchanging information that contributed to more effective learning for everyone involved rather than as a way to simply tell others where we were sitting and drinking coffee or waiting for a bus to arrive.

What remains at the heart of this learning process is the power of collaboration face to face as well as online, and what made 2010 so fruitful for so many of us was the way we managed to work together in a variety of often overlapping settings to the benefit of learners and our learning colleagues. If you haven’t yet hopped on the train, let’s take a ride together to see how these tools and how collaboration have been serving us and may well end up serving us even more effectively in the months and years to come.

The ALA Learning Round Table provides a natural starting point. In addition to providing an ongoing collaborative forum for face-to-face exchanges at American Library Association conferences to promote and support effective learning opportunities for members and prospective members, it has been developing a wiki where trainers can post as well as seek resources developed by their colleagues. The Round Table’s monthly online meetings further advance its mission of helping trainer-teacher-learners collaborate to produce resources and results that we would otherwise not enjoy. And ALA Learning—the blog where this piece is being posted—not only provides us impetus to collaborate through sharing articles but also contributes to the larger goal of drawing together trainers who are working within or working side by side with libraries rather than leaving all those one-person training offices and libraries without formal training programs in a frustrated state of isolation.

Another productive community of learners where collaboration is the order of the day is Maurice Coleman’s biweekly online T is for Training discussions. Interested regulars—the “usual suspects”—and guests frequently interact during these online hour-long free-ranging conversations via Talkshoe on a variety of topics of interest and importance to those involved in workplace learning and performance, and those discussions helped open doors this year to routes of exploration such as the possibility of helping promote the development of libraries as social learning centers. They also led to additional collaborations including the webinar Maurice and I designed and delivered in October 2010 to more than 400 participants for WebJunction—another great collaborative forum for trainer-teacher-learners in libraries. All of these tools and resources are easy to access and/or use, and they are well worth considering for workplace learning and performance programs.

The American Society for Training & Development (ASTD) remains yet another gathering place at the local, regional, and national levels face to face as well as online for many of us. Opportunities for productive collaborations abound at many levels: through membership on Chapter boards and collaboration at national conferences, through learning opportunities provided via webinars, through postings on LinkedIn discussion groups, and through groups including the National Advisors for Chapters which meet face to face and use a variety of online tools and posted online documents to do business throughout the year.

My own familiarity and comfort with collaboration via wikis took a quantum leap this fall when I was accepted onto the New Media Consortium’s 2011 Horizon Report Advisory Board; all 40 of us from countries all over the world did all our work asynchronously, online, via the wiki which leads to completion of the report; among the pleasant surprises, given the small number of people involved in this worldwide project, was the discovery that ALA Learning colleague Lauren Pressley was part of the group.

If anyone remains unsold on the powerful benefits provided by collaboration and the use of the social networking tools we’ve been exploring, Tony Bingham and Marcia Conner’s new release, The New Social Learning: A Guide to Transforming Organizations Through Social Media, may prove to be the tipping point. As James Surowiecki notes in The Wisdom of Crowds, those who engage in collaborations are often the most prolific and successful at what they do (pp. 162-163). And that, of course, remains a lesson well worth absorbing anytime—not solely in the year just ending.
N.B.: Those interested in exploring the theme of collaboration through a variety of tools and other resources will find plenty of options in “Community and Collaboration in an Onsite-Online World: An Annotated Bibliography.”

Paul Signorelli

Paul Signorelli is a writer, trainer, presenter, and consultant based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He works with clients to successfully facilitate the introduction of new technology into organizations; prepares and presents webinars and other online and onsite learning opportunities for a variety of clients; is actively involved in ALA and ASTD; continues to prepare articles for "American Libraries," the eLearning Guild's "Learning Solutions Magazine," and other publications; and co-wrote "Workplace Learning & Leadership" with Lori Reed for ALA editions. Paul can be reached at paul@paulsignorelli.com.

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Libraries, Trainers, and Communities of Learning: When Fourth Place Is a Winner

September 8, 2010 By

Fourth place may be a lousy position in a marathon, but looks to be a winning place for trainers, libraries, and all they serve.

Let’s recap the initial places, as defined by Ray Oldenburg in his influential book, The Great Good Place: our first place is our home; our second place is where we work, and our third place is the treasured community meeting place where we, our friends, and colleagues come and go.

In listening to the comments made by a student who loves libraries, a group of us participating in one of Maurice Coleman’s recent biweekly T is for Training podcasts realized that libraries are poised to help define, create, and nurture a new concept for a fourth place: a community gathering place for social learning—a place onsite and online where communities of learning are developed and nurtured.

It makes so much sense, and speaks so well of the present and future of libraries, that a couple of us (including Jill Hurst-Wahl) immediately described the idea on two separate blogs within a few days of each other. And it didn’t stop there: after all, we’re trainers—we’re supposed to know how to get an idea across when we’re excited about it.

We have continued to think of all that this sort of fourth place means and could mean to libraries and library users. It builds off the existing pattern of library as third place—a community meeting place that is at the heart of communities and community. It acknowledges the library as a center of learning at a time when those who do not engage in learning are quickly left behind. It combines the wonderful information and entertainment resources libraries continue to provide with the growing dedication all members of library staff have to helping others learn to utilize the resources available to them. And best of all, it gives libraries a chance to be at the head of the pack in meeting onsite and online community members’ needs for first-rate lifelong learning rather than making the mistake we made years ago in not taking the leadership role which Google, bookstores, and others took while we were asleep at the wheel.

The idea of fourth places as gathering places for social learning seems to appeal to everyone who hears the concept. A colleague who runs a learning center here in the San Francisco Bay Area, for example, immediately expressed a great deal of enthusiasm for the concept and plans to write about it for the thousands of colleagues she has across the country. Which is both a tribute to the idea and a warning to those of us who hope that libraries will remain at the center of the concept. If we don’t grab and run with this concept which sprang out of a conversation among a small group of workplace learning and performance practitioners who happen to be affiliated with libraries across the country, we’ll only have ourselves to blame when the Google of social learning centers basks in the success of the vision we helped create.

Our choice here remains obvious: use it or lose it. I’m betting we can use it to help build community partnerships in ways we’re only starting to imagine.

Paul Signorelli

Paul Signorelli is a writer, trainer, presenter, and consultant based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He works with clients to successfully facilitate the introduction of new technology into organizations; prepares and presents webinars and other online and onsite learning opportunities for a variety of clients; is actively involved in ALA and ASTD; continues to prepare articles for "American Libraries," the eLearning Guild's "Learning Solutions Magazine," and other publications; and co-wrote "Workplace Learning & Leadership" with Lori Reed for ALA editions. Paul can be reached at paul@paulsignorelli.com.

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Learn how technology can transform your training sessions!

September 2, 2010 By

Using Technology in Library Training with Paul Signorelli

In these two ALA TechSource online workshops, Paul Signorelli provides hands-on, interactive instruction in using current web technology to enhance in-person training sessions or conduct remote training sessions for employees in multiple locations.

Session 1: Using Technology to Enhance In-Person Training

  • Incorporating YouTube, Google Docs, and SlideShare into onsite learning
  • Making PowerPoint effective and interesting
  • Using technology as a tool while focusing on learners

Session 2: Using Technology for Remote Training Sessions

  • Using Skype, Google Talk/Yahoo! Messenger, LinkedIn discussion groups, and other tools for learning
  • Adapting your onsite skills to provide effective online learning
  • Building online communities of learning

And much more!

Sign up today and engage in 90 minutes of discussion and interactive learning that you can’t get anywhere else!

About the Instructor
Paul Signorelli is a writer, trainer, and consultant who explores, uses, writes about, and helps others become familiar with Web 2.0 and smartphone technology to creatively facilitate positive change within organizations. He has participated in the ALA Learning Round Table, and written for ALA Learning blog, American Libraries magazine, and ALA Editions.

About ALA TechSource Workshops
ALA TechSource Workshops are focused, small-group online discussions that give you the opportunity to learn from experts who offer authoritative answers to your questions, as well as to interact with colleagues who have similar concerns. Workshops are recorded and, along with other materials, are made available to attendees for future reference.

Read more and register at ALA Tech Source.

Lori Reed

Lori Reed, Managing Editor of ALA Learning, has more than 15 years experience in training and is the Learning & Development Coordinator for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library where she oversees the learning & development of a diverse group of staff at twenty libraries. Lori’s passions are performance consulting, learning strategies, and e-learning. Lori is coauthor, with Paul Signorelli, of Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers. Lori also blogs at LoriReed.com and can be reached at lori[at]lorireed.com.

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ALA Conference 2010: Trainers Talking and Acting as Leaders

July 7, 2010 By

You can’t, as a few of us suggested during a presentation on trainers as leaders sponsored by the American Library Association (ALA) Learning Round Table at the Association’s 2010 Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. last week, be in that city without thinking about leadership. The monuments, the government buildings, the sense of history that surrounds you makes it an undeniable presence—something that permeates your entire being as deeply as the hot and humid weather which greeted us.

So it was natural that a few of us—Maurice Coleman, Technical Trainer for Harford County (MD) Public Library and host of the biweekly T is for Training podcasts; Sandra Smith, Learning and Development Manager at the Denver Public Library system; and Louise Whitaker, Training Coordinator from Oklahoma’s Pioneer Library System—chose leadership as the topic for a 90-minute conference session that was part formal presentation, part panel discussion, and lots of interaction with approximately 50 colleagues who joined us for that Sunday morning gathering.

Drawing from interviews Lori Reed and I have been doing with Maurice, Sandra, Louise, and several others for Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers (to be published by ALA Editions in May 2011) to document the leadership roles that workplace learning and performance professionals are assuming in libraries and other organizations across the country, we began with the idea that leadership is positively explosive. When it is effective, it lights up skies. Draws people together. Creates collaborative opportunities and results which are not achieved in any other way.

Leadership, for most of us, doesn’t mean we have to be bombastic. It’s the day to day incremental efforts we make that lead to long-term and sustainable changes within our organizations. And that’s what our colleagues seem to appreciate most from us.

Lori and I, in our interviews and our own experiences, are not finding a one-size-fits-all model of leadership, nor is that what we expected.  Interviewing colleagues from the ALA Learning Roundtable and from other organizations throughout the United States, we are, instead, finding a group of very passionate, creative, and dedicated people doing what they believe is right. And even though Lori couldn’t be with us in Washington, D.C. last week, we were lucky to have a few of the people who have been guiding us so they could share a little of what we’ll be dealing with in the book.

Maurice, for example, discussed how the T is for Training podcasts draw colleagues from a geographical cross section of the country together every other week to discuss workplace learning and performance issues and solutions. Those live shows provide a first-rate forum for the exchange of ideas and have been instrumental in further developing a community of learners among those responsible for fostering organization-wide communities of learning.

Shifting gears a bit, Louise talked about how she revamped the entire way in which evaluations were conducted at Pioneer to determine whether the learning opportunities she was designing and offering to staff were actually producing results of benefit to the library, its staff, and its users.

During the final segment of our discussion, we moved to the heart of library trainers as leaders within their own organizations: Sandra provided examples of how she works from a position at the library management table to help shape and implement workplace learning and performance programs. By consistently working to be part of the decision-making process in terms of designing and offering learning opportunities for staff at Denver Public, she shapes as much as implements what her colleagues need and appreciate in a workplace learning and performance program.

Exchanges between presenters and audience members were as lively and creative as the topic we addressed; in briefly discussing ways to create something sustainable from our initial 90 minutes together rather than having that session be an isolated learning experience, one member of the Learning Round Table offered to collect business cards and set up an online discussion group for those who wanted to continue the conversation.

If that’s not creative leadership in action, I need to go out and do more interviews.

N.B. – For a different view of leadership on display at the 2010 ALA Annual conference, please see Paul’s Leaders Emerging article.

Paul Signorelli

Paul Signorelli is a writer, trainer, presenter, and consultant based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He works with clients to successfully facilitate the introduction of new technology into organizations; prepares and presents webinars and other online and onsite learning opportunities for a variety of clients; is actively involved in ALA and ASTD; continues to prepare articles for "American Libraries," the eLearning Guild's "Learning Solutions Magazine," and other publications; and co-wrote "Workplace Learning & Leadership" with Lori Reed for ALA editions. Paul can be reached at paul@paulsignorelli.com.

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Learning Round Table Programs, Events, Battledecks at ALA Annual

June 9, 2010 By

The Learning Round Table has something for everyone at the ALA Annual Conference this year. The following is a list of programs, meetings, and events.

Also note the icons next to each event. These icons have links that will download the program as an appointment to your calendar. If the icon does not work, try right clicking and saving the .ics file before opening it. We also have a flyer that you can print and bring with you (click the image below to download).

Friday, June 25

Beyond Face to Face: New Methods for Staff Training
8:30am-12pm
Renaissance Hotel Congressional Hall C

Limited time and busted budgets make it increasingly difficult for library staff to leave their buildings to attend training events. Maverick library trainer Jay Turner along with T is for Training host Maurice Coleman and instructional designer Mary Beth Faccioli will demonstrate how to engage learners with effective and innovative uses of e-learning. Walk away from this pre-conference knowing how to: Identify free and cost-effective resources for presenting e-learning; Apply best practices in instructional design to e-learning; Recognize technical constraints in publishing e-content. Tickets Onsite: $150. Event Code: LEA1.

Saturday, June 26

Open Board Meeting I
8am-12pm
WCC-159 A/B

Our Board meetings are open to anyone interested in the activities, mission and work of the Learning Round Table. We discuss both old and new business, review goals, strategize and plan for the future, plot out committee work and have fun, too. Join us for all or part of our two meetings. We’d love to meet you!

Building with Competencies
1:30-3:30pm
Grand Hyatt Constitution A

Once you’ve determined the competencies needed by your staff, what next? Competencies are building blocks—there are a variety of constructions to be built with them for guiding staff training, recruitment, and other personnel strategies. Join us as we explore strategies and case studies of competency based staff development efforts. Presented by Betha Gutsche and Sandra Smith.

Sunday, June 27

Library Trainers as Leaders
10:30 am-12pm
WCC-201

Library staff development programs are in a state of flux. It is no longer enough for administrators to tell staff what training to offer. Workplace learning and performance professionals need to be part of the strategic planning of the organization. This interactive session will include audience participation and sharing of best practices as to how library trainers can step up their leadership skills and get a place at the library strategic planning table. Facilitated by Paul Signorelli with panelists Maurice Coleman, Sandra Smith and Louise Whitaker.

Training Showcase: Best Practices in Training, Staff Development & Library Continuing Education
1:30-3:30pm
WCC-Ballroom

The training showcase is a poster session type of program celebrating innovative continuing education, staff development, and training initiatives in all types of libraries and library organizations. Participants present best practices from their organization or institution.

Membership Pavilion Learning Round Table Lightning Talk
3:30-3:45pm
Exhibit Hall

Monday, June 28

Open Board Meeting II
10:30 am-12pm
WCC-156

Our Board meetings are open to anyone interested in the activities, mission and work of the Learning Round Table. We discuss both old and new business, review goals, strategize and plan for the future, plot out committee work and have fun, too. Join us for all or part of our two meetings. We’d love to meet you!

Staff Development Discussion
1:30-3:30pm
WCC-143A

This discussion is a great energizer for those new to staff development as well as for those who’ve been doing it for years. Come early and stay for the raffle at the end of the program.

Battledecks: The ALA Rumble Royale
5:30-7pm
WCC-103A

Battledecks represent the ultimate challenge for public speakers as they are challenged to give a coherent presentation based on hand-selected, seemingly unrelated slides that they see for the very first time live on stage. This competition, often referred to as “PowerPoint Karaoke,” will see our brave and willing participants compete for the glory of being crowned ALA’s reigning Battledecks champion. The participants will face judgment from a panel of four judges, with the winner to be determined based on a variety of criteria and general overall awesomeness. Hilarity, along with some learning, is guaranteed for all!

Defenders of a title:
Michael Porter(Battledecks champion from Internet Librarian 2009)
Andromeda Yelton (Battledecks co-champion from ALA MW 2010)
JP Procaro (Battledecks Champ from Pres4Lib)
Bobbi Newman (Battledecks co-champion from ALA MW 2010)

Contenders for the title:
Jason Griffey
Buffy Hamilton
Lisa Carlucci Thomas
John Chrastka
George Needham

Judges:
Peter Bromberg
Julie Strange
Maurice Coleman
David Lee King
Jenny Levine

Emcee: Janie Hermann
Timekeeper/Vanna White: Patrick Sweeney
Slidemakers: Alice Yucht, Patrick Sweeney, Janie Hermann, Jaime Corris Hammond, Andy Woodworth and anyone else who volunteers.

Event and Prizes sponsored by American Libraries and The Learning Round Table.

Lori Reed

Lori Reed, Managing Editor of ALA Learning, has more than 15 years experience in training and is the Learning & Development Coordinator for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library where she oversees the learning & development of a diverse group of staff at twenty libraries. Lori’s passions are performance consulting, learning strategies, and e-learning. Lori is coauthor, with Paul Signorelli, of Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers. Lori also blogs at LoriReed.com and can be reached at lori[at]lorireed.com.

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ALA Annual: Library Trainers as Leaders

April 3, 2010 By

Library Trainers as Leaders
ALA LEARNRT
Track: Human Resources and Staff Development

Library staff development programs are in a state of flux. It is no longer enough for administrators to tell staff what training to offer. Workplace learning and performance professionals need to be part of the strategic planning of the organization. This interactive session will include audience participation and sharing of best practices as to how library trainers can step up their leadership skills and get a place at the library strategic planning table.

Speakers: Paul Signorelli and Lori Reed

Sunday, June 27, 2010 10:30am-12:00pm

Lori Reed

Lori Reed, Managing Editor of ALA Learning, has more than 15 years experience in training and is the Learning & Development Coordinator for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library where she oversees the learning & development of a diverse group of staff at twenty libraries. Lori’s passions are performance consulting, learning strategies, and e-learning. Lori is coauthor, with Paul Signorelli, of Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers. Lori also blogs at LoriReed.com and can be reached at lori[at]lorireed.com.

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27 Questions with Lori Reed

January 28, 2010 By

1. Your One Sentence Bio

  • Lori Reed, mom, library enthusiast, lifelong learner, passionate about helping people, team Edward!

2. Do you blog? If yes, how did you come up with your blog name?

  • I moved my blog from LibraryTrainer.com to LoriReed.com yesterday. I chose my name because it will remain constant. I want the freedom to change directions with my blog as needed.

3. What is your professional background?

  • I worked for several years as a firefighter/EMT and discovered that I love training. I conducted training for firefighters and EMTs for a while then moved to computer training (better hours and pay). I worked for a few for-profits and found that I really missed the environment of public service. A job came open at the library in Charlotte for someone to do computer support and training and it seemed like the perfect fit. 10-years and three jobs later and it’s still a great fit!

4. What training do you do? staff? patrons? types of classes?

  • I coordinate the staff development at my library. This means that I don’t get to do as much training anymore. Instead I do more strategic planning. I look at the mission and vision and goals of the library and translate those back into competencies that staff need to achieve the library’s goals. I work with managers and staff to see what skills our staff need to accomplish the library’s goals and to get their jobs done well. I rely on a core group of staff trainers to facilitate most training sessions. I also serve as an internal consultant to help staff trainers develop their courses and materials.

5. What training do you think is most important to libraries right now?

  • I think the most important thing is that we be strategic with our training. If you align your training with your library’s vision, mission, and goals then you are right on track.

6. Where do you get your training?

  • Wherever I can! North Carolina State Library’s Master Trainer Program, Mecklenburg County, InSync Training, Learning Round Table, ASTD, ISPI, conferences, blogs, Twitter, friends…maybe the question should be where don’t I get my training.

7. How do you keep up?

  • The first rule of … wait … wrong question. I follow other people who keep up with subjects I’m interested in. It saves me a lot of time! I live by GTD principles and use my Outlook calendar and tasklist religiously. It also helps to have a clear personal definition of keeping up. For me keeping up means keeping my inbox at or near 0 and having some idea of what is going on in the world. For other people keeping up may mean knowing about every new idea or gadget that is coming out.

8. What do you think are the biggest challenges libraries are facing right now?

  • I think traditionally libraries have been slow to adapt and change. The world around us is changing at a faster and faster pace. To remain relevant and cherished by everyone in our communities we need to adapt faster. We need to take risks and be willing to try new things that might fail. We need to look at failure as a success and staying the same as a failure. We need to reduce the digital divide that exists among libraries. We need to continue to market our services. We’re being asked to do more with less–maybe it’s time to get more creative with funding and partnerships. We desperately need a new universal brand that reflects 21st century libraries!

9. What are biggest challenges for trainers?

  • Training is not always the solution. Training does not solve problems that stem from poor management or software that’s not intuitive. These are bigger issues at an organizational level. Traditionally trainers have not been in a role to contribute to organizations at that higher level. That needs to change. Trainers need to be part of the strategic planning of libraries and need to have the flexibility to implement complete performance solutions. When training is called for, developing quality training takes time. It’s more than happy butts in seats. Like everyone else, trainers are being asked to do more with less or worse to deploy bandages that will not solve long term performance or organizational issues.

10. What exciting things are you doing training wise?

  • We recently implemented a curriculum for staff training. We also received a generous donation of Lumenix (a learning content management system) from Handshaw, Inc. I’m working with my staff trainers to convert existing face-to-face training into self-paced, online training. It’s a very slow process because it takes exponentially more time to create self-paced modules that replace what we were doing face-to-face. I’m hoping to implement live, online training this fall. Fellow ALA Learning blogger Paul Signorelli and I are co-authoring a book on leadership for trainers that should be available this summer.

11. What do you wish were you doing?

  • I’m doing everything that I want to be doing, I just wish there were more hours in the day to do more and to sleep more.

12. What would you do with a badger?

13. What’s your favorite food?

  • Anything that is shared with good conversation and good company.

14. If you were stranded on an island, what one thing would you want to have with you?

  • A lifetime supply of insect repellent.

15. Do you know what happens when a grasshopper kicks all the seeds out of a pickle?

16. Post it notes or the back of your hand?

  • Post in notes are a GTD nightmare! I use my Outlook/Blackberry tasklist to action items. I use eWallet on my PCs and Blackberry for random information that I need to remember like passwords, printer IP addresses, security codes, etc. eWallet is well worth the small cost!

17. Windows or Mac?

  • Doesn’t matter just give me a browser.

18. Talk about one training moment you’d like to forget?

  • Potty training!

19. What’s your take on handshakes?

  • Ackward early in my career, but now I’m comfortable with them. If I know you though, watchout, I’m more likely to hug you than shake your hand!

20. Global warming: yes or no?

21. How did you get into this line of work?

  • See question 3.

22. What is the best part of your job?

  • Just about everything! Seeing the ripple effect that occurs as a result of good planning and strategy. Seeing staff whom I’ve worked with get promoted to new jobs. It’s all good!

23. Why should someone else follow in your shoes?

  • Everyone else has a good point of wearing your own shoes, but if you have a passion for learning, love helping people, don’t mind public speaking, and have good problem solving skills then you might want to consider a career in training workplace learning and performance.

24. Sushi or hamburger?

  • Hamburger.

25. LSW or ALA?

  • I belong to both, and they both have pros and cons.

26. What one person in the world do you want to have lunch with and why?

  • Only one? I’m going to break the rules and say the ALA Learning bloggers. I think it would be amazing to get these 12 people all in the same place at the same time. I can’t imagine what the energy would be like!

27. What cell phone do you have and why?

  • A pink Blackberry Curve. I really wanted an iPhone but I can’t get a signal in my house using the Blackberry Storm or the iPhone. Verizon gives library employees a 19% discount which is substantial off a bill with two phones and two data plans. I also must have a phone that syncs directly to Outlook (See questions 7 and 16).

Lori Reed

Lori Reed, Managing Editor of ALA Learning, has more than 15 years experience in training and is the Learning & Development Coordinator for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library where she oversees the learning & development of a diverse group of staff at twenty libraries. Lori’s passions are performance consulting, learning strategies, and e-learning. Lori is coauthor, with Paul Signorelli, of Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers. Lori also blogs at LoriReed.com and can be reached at lori[at]lorireed.com.

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Paul Signorelli’s “Getting To Know Me” Post

January 19, 2010 By

1.   Your One Sentence Bio
I was born; have been deeply immersed in writing, training-teaching-learning, and working with libraries and nonprofit organizations for many years; am honored to sometimes be mistaken for ALA Learning colleague Peter Bromberg when the two of us are lucky enough to be on Maurice Coleman’s T is for Training podcasts at the same; and plan to die someday—which, I believe, covers all bases.

2.   Do you blog? If yes, how did you come up with your blog name?
You’ll find me blogging here at ALA Learning and at Building Creative Bridges. I came up with the name because “Librarian In Black,” “Library Trainer,” and “(almost) Bald Trainer” were already taken by writers better than I’ll ever be, and Building Creative Bridges seemed like a good way to describe what I hoped to accomplish through the blog and everything else I’m doing.

3.   What is your professional background?
As far as I can tell, I’ve worked for newspapers, magazines, a couple of schools in Japan, the Monterey Peninsula Museum of Art, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the San Francisco Public Library system, and with a variety of other groups and organizations, but if you’ve heard differently, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

4.   What training do you do? staff? patrons? types of classes?
My position as Director, Volunteer Services & Staff Training for the San Francisco Public Library system had me providing orientations, software introductions and updates, and other learning opportunities for staff and volunteers; current training-teaching-learning efforts include writing e-learning courses for Infopeople and LE@D (Lifelong Education @ Desktop)–http://www.leadonline.info/–and conducting workshops at professional conferences.
 
5. What training do you think is most important to libraries right now?
We need to be combining sessions on practical matters (software upgrades, customer service, leadership and collaboration skills, conflict resolution, health and safety issues) with inspirational/visionary/long-term matters (how to continue serving library members and guests on site and online, maintaining libraries as on-site and online community centers, becoming collaborators with members of the communities we serve rather than one-way providers of information and services).
 
6.   Where do you get your training?
For training-learning, I try everything I can think of, including conversations with colleagues; on-site and online workshops and courses; blogs/RSS feeds; books; journals, magazines, and newspapers; webinars; conferences; speakers at ASTD (American Society for Training & Development) and ALA (American Library Association) meetings and conferences—and I’m sure that’s only about half the list.

7.   How do you keep up?
Keep up?

8.  What do you think are the biggest challenges libraries are facing
right now?
One of the many large challenges is to recognize and respond to their increasingly huge role in being learning centers for their local and online communities while not abandoning any of the important and life-changing roles their members and guests still expect them to fulfill. 

9.   What are biggest challenges for trainers?
All too often, we have training-teaching-learning as part of our job rather than as the entire focus of our job, which leads to lots of half-finished projects, lots of stress for everyone, and less than optimum learning opportunities; focusing on our own continuing education and our primary roles as workplace learning and performance providers might be the best lesson-by-example that we can provide to colleagues whose workplace focus is equally divided to their own detriment and the detriment of those they serve. 

10.   What exciting things are you doing training wise?
Trying to be creative face-to-face and online in the way I respond to learners’ needs: delivering a synchronous online learning opportunity through live Google Chat, for example, was a fun distance-learning experiment with a University of Nevada, Las Vegas colleague and his class in October 2009.

11.   What do you wish you were doing?
Writing; oh, wait, I am writing.

12.   What would you do with a badger?
Teach it to use Google Chat so it could more effectively participate in synchronous online learning opportunities.

13.   What’s your favorite food?
Pizza.  Purchased somewhere in NY, NJ or the Philly area.  If you’re not buying pizza in one of these geographic areas it’s not really pizza.  Sorry, it’s not.  (OK, an exception for Chicago deep-dish.  As long as you qualify it.)

14.   If you were stranded on an island, what one thing would you want
to have with you?
A confirmed flight back to the mainland.

15.   Do you know what happens when a grasshopper kicks all the seeds
out of a pickle?
I live in San Francisco; can someone tell me what a grasshopper is?

16.   Post it notes or the back of your hand?
No, thanks.

17.    Windows or Mac?
OK, but definitely not on the first date.

18.   Talk about one training moment you’d like to forget?
Can’t remember; must be an occupational hazzard since at least one other ALA Learning colleague has responded similarly.

19.   What’s your take on handshakes?
A handshake is certainly a pleasant way to avoid open warfare in a learning environment.

20.   Global warming: yes or no?
Best response I’ve seen is Jill Sobule’s “happy song about global warming”; who am I to argue?

21.   How did you get into this line of work?
My supervisor at the time told me I had to take over the organization’s staff training program if I was going to keep my job; I found that to be tremendously motivating.

22.   What is the best part of your job?
Being part of what ASTD refers to as the effort to “create a world that works better.”

23.   Why should someone else follow in your shoes?
This question reminds me of a story from Martin Buber’s Tales of the Hasidism, which I will now paraphrase to the best of my recollection. The gist of it: Samuel, a very devout man who is struggling to be good in the eyes of the Lord, approaches the Rabbi and asks, “Rabbi, should I try to be more like Moses or more like Abraham?”  The Rabbi replies, “Rather than trying to be more like Moses, or more like Abraham, the Lord would be pleased if you tried to be more like Samuel.” And that’s all I have to say about that.

24.   Sushi or hamburger?
Depends on who is asking.

N.B.: Special thanks to Peter Bromberg for allowing me to insert, verbatim, his answers to questions #13 and #23 here. I figured if I couldn’t match his responses for cleverness, I might as well just outright steal them and see if I could further confuse colleagues about which of us is speaking (please see response to question #1, above).

Paul Signorelli

Paul Signorelli is a writer, trainer, presenter, and consultant based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He works with clients to successfully facilitate the introduction of new technology into organizations; prepares and presents webinars and other online and onsite learning opportunities for a variety of clients; is actively involved in ALA and ASTD; continues to prepare articles for "American Libraries," the eLearning Guild's "Learning Solutions Magazine," and other publications; and co-wrote "Workplace Learning & Leadership" with Lori Reed for ALA editions. Paul can be reached at paul@paulsignorelli.com.

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