Course Description

Increasingly, libraries have become the “go-to” place for help with all kinds of things. Because you are the librarian, people expect you to either have all the answers, or to at least know where to find them.

This course will provide you with some of the tools to help you do this and do it well. You will learn how to use search engines effectively, so that the results are both relevant and reliable. You will learn how to identify what is and what isn’t a reliable source of information.

The tips and techniques shared in this course will make you an even more effective librarian, better able to respond to patron requests for help.

Learning Objectives

In this course, you will:

• Learn how to prepare yourself and your library resources to better respond to questions posed to staff members every day.
• Create lists of reliable online resources to use with frequently asked questions.
• Learn how to evaluate online information sources, and to decide which Web sites you can trust as authoritative and reliable sources of information.
• Learn skills to pass along to your patrons, in either formal or informal workshops offered at your library.
• Get an overview of copyright issues, and understand why you need to be aware of this.
• Hear about ways to continue to improve your own skills, to keep up-to-date on the ever-evolving online world of research and learning.

To enroll in the course, visit WebJunction Illinois, click on the IL Course Catalog tab and then explore the “Reference and Information Resources” link under the “Library Services” topic. You must be a registered user of WJIL to enroll in this course for free.

Post notification reprinted from nsls.info Newsletter, 8/8/08

Among the key findings:

• Less than one-third of 13-year-olds are daily readers, a 14 percent decline from 20 years earlier. Among 17-year-olds, the percentage of nonreaders doubled over a 20-year period, from 9 percent in 1984 to 19 percent in 2004.
• Reading scores for American adults of almost all education levels have deteriorated, notably among the best-educated groups. From 1992 to 2003, the percentage of adults with graduate school experience who were rated proficient in prose reading dropped by 10 points, a 20 percent rate of decline.
• Nearly two-thirds of employers ranked reading comprehension “very important” for high school graduates. Yet 38 percent consider most high school graduates deficient in this basic skill.
• Literary readers are more likely than nonreaders to engage in positive civic and individual activities—such as volunteering, attending sports or cultural events, and exercising. 

(Original post from the LTLS Quick Connections)

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation continues their efforts to bring high quality technology services to all communities. Many public libraries do not have enough funding to keep pace in our fast paced technology world. In turn, libraries have outdated computers and slow, if any, Internet access. The goal of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is to obtain enough stable funding to ensure they are able to meet library patrons’ needs for high-quality services and access to information.

In the fall of 2006, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded a grant to the American Library Association’s Office of Research and Statistics (ALA) to work with Florida State University’s Information Institute (FSU) to track library funding and technology trends on an annual basis to better understand how to improve support in those areas. These findings are compiled in the Public Library Funding & Technology Access Study. This year’s survey has been in the field since September 2, 2007, and will be closing on November 25, 2007.

This survey is vital to all of us! Upon completion of this survey we will have a better understanding of our library’s roles in providing access to the Internet and digital information. The survey data also gives national and state policymakers, library practitioners, and private funding organizations a better understanding of the issues libraries face, along with essential issues that need to be addressed in our communities. Data from past FSU and ALA studies has been used on behalf of public libraries in Congressional testimony, by the U.S. Census Bureau, and even by the U.S. Supreme Court. Finally, this information will inform the foundations’ grant making through our U.S. Libraries Initiative.

The Illinois State Library needs you to be a part of this ‘one of a kind’ national study by completing this survey as soon as possible. In order to have an accurate measurement of the status of funding and technology needs in the U.S. public libraries they must have a maximum number of responses, from us.

Please complete this online survey by November 25, 2007. The survey takes about 40 minutes to complete and the data you provide about your library will be instrumental for us and other library professional across the county, now and in the years to come.

Thank you for your continued support and your desire to help make our libraries all they can be!  Anne Craig, Director, Illinois State Library