Lifelong learning

Lifelong learning is particularly important for me since I have been retired from the workforce for nearly a year and a half.  I'm now returning on a permanent part-time basis. Hence my need to both reacquaint and update my knowledge and skills around the latest 2.0 web technologies. Since I am a librarian these technologies will assume an ever-growing importance in the life of libraries and their staff. Professional lifelong learning is important for people of all ages and given that the government wants its citizens to keep on working and not to retire too early on,  then keeping abreast of technological change together with the latest developments and discipline-knowledge within one's profession is an ongoing skill essential to the performance outcomes of mature-aged workers.

Thsi Web 2.0 program affords me the opportunity to keep abreast of technological change and to see how I  can apply them to enhancing the delivery of both content and services to our public library patrons; thereby enhancing both their overall level of satisfaction with library services and the relevant information they require delivered more seamlessly to their desktops.

I think a New Book discussion blog would be ideal for the library I work in since it would afford the patrons the opportunity to exchange ideas on the books they are reading, promote the library's collection amongst patrons and by patrons and give feedback on collection development to library staff.

At a previous university library where I worked several years ago, we used an internal staff blog to elicit comment from staff on library restructures and library organisational models as a way of both obtaining feedback to the managment library restructure committee of which I was a member and a means to communicate committee members ideas to staff on their postings. It considerably increased staff participation in the restructuring process and as well as their awareness of issues involved with organisational restructuring. It also disseminated ideas around various library models for future consideration.