Thing 22: Developing tech skills

I highly recommend the 23 Things program to my coworkers, who also are graduate student assistants at the University of North Texas, Dallas, library.

My coworkers are bright, young people who already use many of the Web 2.0 technologies in their daily lives. I tell my coworkers that I think the program still is a good learning experience because it draws our thoughts to that spot where technology and libraries intersect. We need to focus not just on the new tools, but also on what we are going to build with those tools.

If I were to help implement 23 Things for library staff, I would make it outcome-based training, where the goal for the staff would be to collaboratively develop at least three recommendations on how the library could institute new ways to create patron access to information. I would like to see the 23 Things program repeated by the North Texas Regional Library System every few years, or even more frequently. The pace of change in the information environment is rapid and the need to keep up is important.

Illlustration courtesy of ALA bookmarks, because, after the computer is turned off at night, I still love to read.