Continuing Education Opportunity

My friend Larry Cooperman is teaching a month-long course, Managing the One-Person Library, at Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts in July. It is only US$250 ($200 for Simmons library school alumni), which is a great price for this much continuing education. I am very happy that Larry is taking up the OPL workshop mantle from me, now that I’ve retired.

Larry is the library director at the Orlando, Florida campus of Everglades University, a four-year college providing baccalaureate degrees in construction management, aviation management, alternative medicine, and business administration. He is a 2002 graduate of Simmons and was library director at ITT Technical Institute (Jacksonville, FL) and media specialist at Seminole High School, Sanford, FL. He has presented a half-day workshop, IT Resources on the Internet for Librarians, at various locations; he also writes book reviews for School Library Journal, Reference & User Services Quarterly, and College & Research Libraries News.

Here is the course description from the Simmons Continuing Education website.

“Solo librarians will learn how to effectively and efficiently manage a one-person library of numerous types (e.g., academic, public, school) by learning operational, organizational, and marketing skills to ensure that their library grows, thrives and becomes an integral part of their school and their community. Solo library managers will also learn networking and professional development skills to enhance their experience and maintain their connections to the library community. Format will be weekly modules of reading assignments and written projects, with instructor assessment and student-instructor feedback and class participation. Students will be expected to actively participate in online discussions as an important complement to their written class work.

"Not all librarians work in groups; many work as a manager or director of one library, whether it be a small public library, rural library, or academic library. The work is challenging, yet very rewarding. These libraries may serve different patrons and have different operational and organizational methods, but there are many methods and operations that are similar to these libraries. This four week course will cover how to successfully manage a one-person library to serve patrons effectively and efficiently. Through discussion and exercises, attendees will learn and understand how to improve their library management."

URL:
http://www.simmons.edu/gslis/continuinged/workshops/online.shtml#onepersonlibrary