Winter e-Learning from ACRL on management, research and publishing, communication skills and more

CHICAGO - The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) is offering a wide variety of online learning opportunities in winter 2012 to meet the demands of your schedule and budget. Full details and registration information are available on the ACRL website at www.ala.org/acrl/onlinelearning/elearning.

Registration for all online seminars and webcasts qualifies for the ACRL Frequent Learner Program. Register for three ACRL e-Learning events and receive one free registration. Visit www.ala.org/acrl/onlinelearning/elearning/freqlearner for more information on the Frequent Learner Program.

ACRL online seminars are asynchronous, multi-week courses delivered through Moodle. Online seminars scheduled for winter 2012 include:

Developing a Comprehensive Critical Thinking Curriculum: From Goal-Setting to Assessment (Feb. 6 - March 2, 2012): Even professional educators have a tough time designing learning experiences that help students develop authentic critical thinking skills. Learn to do more than just pay lip service to critical thinking by planning, developing, implementing and assessing a library instructional unit that fosters higher-order thinking.

Deciding with Data (Feb. 13 - March 9, 2012): Learn about the life cycle of library data from setting up its collection to making decisions using this information. Topics covered include plotting commonly-gathered statistics over time and on the same chart in order to visualize trends; an introduction to e-resources use statistics; an introduction to using Google Analytics in libraries; and an introduction to the analysis of library collections using ILS data.

Fundamentals of Management: Practical Approaches for Successful Managers (March 5-23, 2012): This course provides a practical approach to becoming a successful library manager, including strategies for planning, organizing, staffing and evaluating library departments and programs. Through a series of readings, discussions and exercises, gain real-world tools for improving your management skills and develop confidence in your ability to supervise and manage.

Humanities on the Map: Discovering Spatial Humanities (March 12 - 30, 2012): Because Humanities librarians are beginning to encounter students and faculty who want to include such geographic components to their papers and research they need to be aware of the different approaches to introducing geography and the study of space into other disciplines. Through a variety of readings, resource assignments and project evaluations this course will provide an overview/awareness of, discussions on the role of the librarian in and useful resources for assisting students and faculty in the Spatial Humanities

ACRL also offers a variety of timely live webcasts addressing hot topics in academic librarianship. Webcasts last from an hour and a half to two hours and take place in an interactive online classroom. Group discounts are available for all ACRL e-Learning Webcasts. Winter 2012 Webcasts include:

Say What You Mean: Professional Communication Skills for Librarians (Jan. 31, 2012): Learn how to use different communication styles to interact effectively with people across several library settings.

From Idea to Publication Part One: Understanding the Research Question (Feb. 7, 2012): Learn to formulate and define good research questions, select appropriate research methodologies and design the research study. Specific topics will include developing useful questionnaires, techniques used in conducting telephone interviews, working with focus groups and constructing surveys to get the information you need.

From Idea to Publication Part Two: Analysis and Writing (March 7, 2012): Quantitative methods necessitate certain kinds of analyses, while qualitative methods operate on different assumptions and different kinds of data. It is essential to have an understanding of the appropriate forms of analyses (along with their possibilities and limitations). Learn to express research in publishable form in the second part of this three part series.

The Library's Role in Ensuring the Success of International Efforts on Campus (March 13, 2012): Libraries can play a critical role in connecting these foreign students, not only to our universities and colleges, but also to the information literacy skills they will need to succeed. This webcast will explore: who are international students and what makes them unique learners; best practices for outreach, orientation and information literacy instruction to all international students and specifically to graduate students; and how can the library get international students themselves involved as partners in services, resources and peer mentors?

Shifting Sands: How Small Changes in Policy, Culture and Technology are Determining the Future of Libraries (March 27, 2012): Discover how changes in national and international policy, the growth of the free culture movement and the rapid evolution of technology are having big impacts on libraries, and what you can do to help turn the tide.

Complete details and registration information for all winter 2012 e-Learning opportunities are available online at www.ala.org/acrl/onlinelearning/elearning. Contact Margot Conahan at mconahan@ala.org or (312) 280-2522 for more information.

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ACRL is a division of the American Library Association (ALA), representing more than 12,000 academic and research librarians and interested individuals. ACRL is the only individual membership organization in North America that develops programs, products and services to meet the unique needs of academic and research librarians. Its initiatives enable the higher education community to understand the role that academic libraries play in the teaching, learning and research environments. ACRL is on the Web at http://www.acrl.org/, Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/ala.acrl and Twitter at @ala_acrl.