DUBLIN, Ohio, USA, 27 March 2009—WebJunction, the online learning community for librarians and library staff, is now offering a Custom Course Catalog, a new service that provides a central location to host, promote and track library staff training.
The Custom Course Catalog allows a library organization to build a training catalog to meet the specific needs of its staff. The catalog can combine an organization's own course listings with selections from WebJunction's online course offerings in an easy-to-manage, always-accessible Web environment.
With the Custom Course Catalog, the library staff learner experiences a straight-forward registration process for courses selected and gathered together from multiple suppliers. A standard Web browser is all the learner needs to access the catalog and courses. Each learner can manage his or her own learning progress—taking multiple courses, tracking individual learning history, and printing certificates of completion.
With the Custom Course Catalog, a library organization's training coordinator has a low-cost way to advertise courses and to monitor staff enrollment, usage and completion rates. The coordinators can choose to include webinars, face-to-face training and other live learning events in addition to self-paced courses. The coordinator can also opt to tie in the Competencies Index, which WebJunction is currently rolling out to help library staff assess and build their skills in key areas of library work.
All training offerings are housed in a unique, private online location, so that each library organization can make courses available only to its designated staff. The catalog is hosted by WebJunction on its proven and widely used platform and backed by WebJunction's support and training groups.
WebJunction's course catalog contains nearly 700 courses selected to help library staff build the skills required to meet the needs of rapidly changing libraries. In February, LibraryU courses joined the WebJunction catalog, bringing many topics relevant to today's library workforce: Web-based reference, marketing, library management, shelving, cataloging, readers advisory, children's services and many more. Visit www.webjunction.org/catalog and click on LibraryU for details on the courses and how to enroll.
The Custom Course Catalog is available in several different configurations, depending on an organization's needs. For more information on these options and on pricing, contact info@webjunction.org.
About LibraryU
Since 2003, more than 11,000 registered learners have taken the online, library-specific staff development courses provided by LibraryU. LibraryU started with LSTA funding as a cooperative project between several Illinois Regional Library Systems. Later, the Illinois State Library received additional funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has been used to create new courses, a wide variety of topics relevant to library staff at all levels. The goals of the LibraryU program are to build library staff skills, and ensure that library staff continue to provide quality services to their patrons and communities.
About WebJunction
Since 2003, more than 44,000 library staff have turned to WebJunction as a leader in social learning for libraries. WebJunction works with individuals to build essential skills for their work in libraries, and with organizations to ensure that they're delivering leading-edge and cost-effective staff development or continuing education programs. Contact WebJunction at info@webjunction.org if you’d like to learn more about competencies, customized learning communities, or course catalogs.
WebJunction, a division of OCLC, is supported in part by grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Institute for Museum and Library Services, partners in state library agencies and other library systems and organizations, and by the library community. Launched in 2003, WebJunction is based in Seattle, Washington, and Dublin, Ohio. More information is available at www.webjunction.org.
About OCLC
Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC is a nonprofit library service and research organization that has provided computer-based cataloging, reference, resource sharing, eContent, preservation, library management and Web services to 69,000 libraries in 112 countries and territories. OCLC and its member libraries worldwide have created and maintain WorldCat, the world's richest online resource for finding library materials. Search WorldCat.org on the Web at www.worldcat.org. For more information, visit www.oclc.org.
