Clearinghouse of Professional Information

Training Resources for Library Staff

SOLS training events and networking meetings are found on the Calendar of Events, which lists the schedules of Library Committee Meetings and Clinics, Trustee Councils, First Nations Gathering, and our offerings of Workshops and Webinars. Information on the distance education programs EXCEL and Advanced EXCEL and the Advancing Public Library Leadership program (APLL) are all accessible from the SOLS Training Page. A special page of links to SOLS Workshops Support Materials is also maintained.

OLS-North area workshops and conferences information can be found on the OLS-North website. Scheduled events are included in the online calendar of OLS-North

Topics include

Canadian Information and Library Studies Programs | Distance Learning | SOLS Workshops Support Materials | Stack Maintenance 101 | Training Topics

	indicates an item written by SOLS staff		indicates an item written by OLS-North staff
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Canadian Library and Information Studies Programs

• University of Alberta School of Library and Information Studies, Edmonton
• University of British Columbia School of Library, Archival and Information Studies, Vancouver
• Dalhousie University School Information Management, Halifax, N.S.
• McGill University Graduate School of Library and Information Studies, Montreal, Quebec
• Université de Montréal École de bibliothéconomie et des sciences de l'information, Montréal, Québec.
• University of Toronto Faculty of Information Science
• University of Western Ontario Faculty of Information and Media Studies, London, Ontario
• Lakehead University: Library and Information Studies
• Mohawk College Distance Education
• Seneca College: Library and Information Technician Diploma Program (LIT)

Distance Learning

• ALA Distance Learning  Registration page for online courses
  • Library Leadership and Management Association (ALA) Executive-level webinars for library directors, deans and top managers
  • Young Adult Library Service Association (ALA)  online continuing education opportunities using Moodle and contracting with specialists in the field of library service to young adults.   
• Centre for Cultural Management (CCM) (University of Waterloo). While not all are relevant to the public library sector, several are, including those on employment law, understanding labour relations, board development, and media relations.  At a cost of $125 per course, and an estimated investment of ten hours each, CCM’s courses represent a modest investment, but one that can offer assistance in the ongoing work of professional development.
• Customer Service 123 (Houston Area Library System) A free, three module, online tutorial
• Dynix Institute Web Seminar Archive. Past presentations of the Dynix Institute are always available free of charge in the Dynix Institute Web Seminar Archive
• Idaho State Library. Alternative Basic Library Education. Like our own programme EXCEL, the on-line courses offered by the Idaho State Library are for library staff who have no formal education in library science except that they do not focus on library management. The three categories of courses are: Collection Development, technical services and Public Services. There are additional courses on youth services, services to school aged children, and young adult services, are available through Idaho's Supplemental Alternative Library Education Program
• Infopeople Online Courses. (California State Library’s Infopeople Project) Online learning courses are structured in a modular fashion and require students to log on at least once a week to complete the coursework. Each module should take approximately two and 1/2 to four hours to complete. Most courses consist of four modules.
  • Infopeople Archived Webcasts.  Attend one of Infopeople's free hour-long webcasts on topics of vital interest to library staff. Archived Webcasts are recordings of the live webcasts and can be viewed at any time.
  • Infopeople Podcasts. Provides an archive of previous podcasts on various library issues from book reviews and collection development to the philosophy of library service and library change. New Podcasts are available through RSS feed subscription
  • Infopeople Training Materials from Past Workshops.  This page provides useful resources material for libraries developing in-house training.
• Librarian Live Podcast Episodes. North Texas Partners.  A series of podcasts covering a wide range of topics of interest to the library community.
• Library of Congress Webcasts for Librarians and Archivists
• Library on-line tutorial (Monash University, Queensland, Australia) Six module Australian tutorial that includes information on deciding what you are looking for, deciding where to look for information, knowing how to find
• LYRASIS Training sessions are open to non members.
• On-line programming for All Libraries (OPAL)  OPAL is an international collaborative effort by libraries and other organizations to provide web-based programs and training for library users and library staff members. Examples of OPAL public online programs include book discussion programs, interviews, special events, library training, memoir writing workshops, and virtual tours of special digital library collections. Link toOPLA library training events
• The Partnership - Education Institute Course Calendar. Program partnership created by the Executive Directors of the British Columbia Library Association, the Library Association of Alberta, the Ontario Library Association and the Saskatchewan Library Association to support the professional development of librarians and information professionals. The Education Institute continues to offer programs, workshops and events in various locations throughout the year. Virtual programs and courses are accessible on-line or by teleconference from the member's workplace or home.
• Professional Learning Center (FIS, UofT) Wide range of practical workshops for information professionals and others interested in information issues or in learning new information technologies. The PLC is the largest continuing education program for the information field in the country and one of the largest in the world, offering certificate programs, web-based distance education courses, and a series of short courses on subjects of interest to the profession.
• Techsoup  Learning and resources for libraries.
• The University of Wisconsin Madison – School of Library & Information Studies – Current Continuing Education Courses   Courses run over a period of several months and can be completed on-line at your own pace. Prices vary from $100 to $400+. 
• Webjunction. Learning Center. Is a source for library staff training: online courses, downloadable lessons, training tips, and other tools to enhance your technical and policy knowledge and skills. You can also use the LC resources to develop and conduct technology courses for library patrons. Also offers free and for fee-based courses in areas of Basic Computing and Applications ( Access, Excel, Office, PowerPoint etc) Managing Public Access Computing, Networking, web Development and Using the Internet.
• WebJunction Rural Webinars. Provides access to archived webinars.

Training Topics

• Archival Collection Management. Training Manual. State Library of Queensland.
  This training manual integrates information from various national agencies to teach the fundamentals of Archival Collection Management
• Collection Development Training (Arizona Department of Library, Archives and Public Records) provides practical training in how to perform collection development activities especially in small and rural public libraries.
• Five Weeks to a Social Library. A free online course devoted to teaching librarians about social software and how to use it in their libraries. Course content is available as are the Webcasts from the original on-line course.
• Getting to Success with NetLibrary: Live Web Sessions (OCLC) While SOLS has conducted a number of webinars on e-books and eAudiobooks from NetLibrary, more are available directly from OCLC. You simply to go to this site and register for the sessions. They include sessions on eAudiobooks, set-up and administration, and promotion and marketing.
• Introduction to MARC tagging: An OCLC tutorial. (OCLC) This tutorial introduces you to the basics of bibliographic records, specifically MARC (Machine Readable Cataloging) format records, what they are, how and why they are used, and how to read them
• Library Marketing (Ohio Library Council) Web-based training for public libraries. Six self-paced library marketing training modules, resources, examples, quizzes and exercises. create market plans.
• Ohio Reference Excellence on the Web. (Ohio Library Council) The six self-paced modules emphasize the reference process, enhanced with Ohio library photos, stories, Web links and exercises. Suitable for new library staff in any library
• Orientation! (Ohio Library Council) Web-based training for new public library employees. An introduction to basis library organizations, mission, and services. First day, week, or month of working in the library? What will you need to know?
• Plan. Target. Market. 123 (Houston Area Library System)  A free tutorial comprised of three modules on the library’s long-range planning process, using the plan to target special user groups, and developing a marketing plan for targeted user groups.
• Reference. 123 (Houston Area Library System)  A free, three module tutorial on basic reference service.

Stack Maintenance 101

• How to shelve a book (University of Florida Libraries)
• Page Training Manual (Aurora Public Library)  (Word file)
• Shelf reading and blocking ((University of Florida Libraries)
• Resources for public and K-12 libraries (OCLC) If you work in a public or K–12 library—or use one—you may need information about the Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC) system rather than from it. These resources can help. (Note: Powerpoint presentations are slow to load)
• Shelving and Shelf Reading.(.pdf) Instruction for Shelvers from the Ottawa Public Library

Formation professionnelle pour le personnel de bibliothèques publiques

• Association pour l'avancement des sciences et techniques de la documentation (ASTED) Formation continue
• Association pour l'avancement des sciences et techniques de la documentation (ASTED). Congrès et colloques
• Corporation des bibliothécaires professionnelles du Québec. (CBPQ) Congrès annuel
• Corporation des bibliothécaires professionnelles du Québec. (CBPQ) Formation continue.  Un programme annuel de formation professionnelle et de mise à jour des connaissances est offert aux membres (à tarif préférentiel) et à l’ensemble de la communauté bibliothéconomique et d’information documentaire. En plus du programme annuel de formation, la Corporation conçoit des activités de perfectionnement sur mesure, adaptées aux besoins de groupes de professionnels qui en font la demande
• Ricochet-jeunes.org Sites web de bibliothèques à visiter.