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When I was in library school, we constantly heard that it was important to graduate quickly so that the skills we learned early on wouldn’t be out of date by graduation. At a certain point, however, graduation is long past and you need a brush-up on a few things, or to learn about new things that didn’t exist back in school. Where should you turn?
Of course, you can always go back to library school to take a class or two; these days that’s a more convenient proposition than in years past as we have more options than ever for distance learning. Or you can undertake college credits outside of a library-school setting; all kinds of classes lend themselves to library work, given that our profession has so many specialties and serves patrons with so many different needs. Online classes from not-for-profit institutions and other organizations are an option as well, and many are free.
Of current interest are some resources that will help you serve immigrant patrons. Helping new Americans is nothing new for librarians, but since this group is in the news, it might be on your mind to brush up your skills.
- Instruction for Diverse Populations Committee of the ACRL Instruction Section: Multilingual Glossary for Today’s Library Users
- Infopeople: Survival Spanish for Library Staff
- Urban Librarians Unite: Libraries Serve Refugees
These are just a few of the many, many related items available online; a combination of the various resources out there should be a good start for most populations that come through your doors. If not, Credo’s Learning Community is a great place to bounce ideas off your peer IL librarians or ask questions about how they’re managing situations that might be similar to ones your library is facing. Please join the conversation in the Credo InfoLit Learning Community! Sign up here to get started!
