Use the discussion questions for the following Lessons from Change Management and Leadership to assist you in your learning experience:

• Welcome and Introduction
• The Big Picture
• What is Your Role

Discussion questions for the final chapters will be posted later in the month.

After completing Change Management and Leadership…

1. You will know how to learn the specifics when someone uses the word “change”, and everyone else looks puzzled.

2. You will be able to assess both the benefits and the costs of change in your job, department, branch, library, institution, and community.

3. You will understand how change impacts people in your library differently and have more empathy for their points of view.

4. You will know what mistakes are likely and how to lower their impact on you and the rest of the staff.

5. You will feel more calm and confident, even when the world is unraveling.

6. You will better maintain a benevolent sense of humor, and be less likely to wound others with negative gossip and mean-spirited sarcasm.

7. You will be able to be more influential during times of change, whether from the leadership role or as one of the people asked to do their work differently. 

8. You will be able to use simple methods to communicate information that could seem ambiguous and even contradictory.

9. You will be able to better make change work for you, rather than feel overwhelmed.

10. You might even look forward to change in your library. (Extra credit!) 

Technical: Creating and Maintaining an Engaging School Website

• This tutorial is a basic introduction to designing a web page for your school library or media center. The idea of building a website can be somewhat daunting with so many considerations that often we get stuck before we get out of first gear.  It is the intent of this tutorial to clear a path to the finish line by offering you the tools to make sense of the clutter and to assist you in taking your first steps in designing your own web page.

Library Management: Change Management and Leadership

• Change is a given in 21st century libraries: intrusive, exhilarating, and growing in strength and frequency. Being an effective change agent and coping with change partly depends on your sense of perspective.  We cannot promise that this course will either turn back the clock or guarantee that everyone in your library will unquestioningly accept change. However, there are benefits from studying other people’s experiences and some of the effective principles and practices of change management.

Fill out the webform on the Course of the Month group page and let us know which course you’ll be enrolling in, then click on the Discussion tab to join in or add your own comments.

Use these questions to spark discussion online, or in your library or learning cohort. Discussion questions for the first lesson in Implementing and Evaluating Self-Directed Learning are now posted for your use.

• If you’re not an audio learner, you can turn off the audio in the Skillsoft player by clicking on the speaker at the bottom of the window.
• Remember that 2 windows (Player Applet and Skillsoft Course) will launch when you launch your Skillsoft course, keep both windows open to ensure that your course tracks properly. If you don’t see the 2 windows when you try to launch, check that pop-ups are not blocked, and look in your System tray. To Exit the course, always click on the “Exit” at the top of the Course to ensure that your progress will be tracked accurately.
• Note that on some pages the content is controlled by the user – you have to click the “More” to add the content bullet points to the page. This helps to keep you actively involved in the content.
• Even though it’s easy to want to skip these, use the self-evaluation pages to not only rate yourself, but read the feedback to get additional information.
• The tests in the Skillsoft course are taken when you choose to take them and accessed from the Course Menu. If you are using the “Next”  and “Back” buttons in the course, you will not necessarily be prompted to take the test, but it will tell you if you have completed the test for that section. You want to wait until you have completed all of the topics under any lesson before you take the test. You are given the chance to re-take any test and can then see your First Score and Highest Score on the Status page.
• To keep track of where you are in the course, note that the Lesson name is in the upper left hand corner of the player with the Topic in the upper right hand.

It’s not too late to join with your colleagues in taking one of these two selected courses for the February Course of the Month:

Technical: Dreamweaver CS3: Setting up a Site and Adding Content in Dreamweaver CS3
Library Management:  Implementing and Evaluating Self-directed Learning