Library Support Staff Certification Program sponsors portfolio training

Contact: Jenifer Grady


jgrady@ala.org

NEWS


For Immediate Release


January 11, 2010

CHICAGO - The Library Support Staff Certification (LSSC) Program will sponsor a training session for librarians interested in becoming evaluators for portfolios submitted by LSSC candidates to achieve Library Support Staff Certification.

The information program will be held at the ALA Midwinter Meeting, from 10:30 – noon on Saturday, Jan. 16, at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, Room 260. The program will be presented by LSSC Project Co-Director, Nancy Bolt, ALA-APA Director Jenifer Grady and Pat Wagner of Pattern Research, Inc. The program will provide a background to LSSC, a description of the portfolio evaluation process and information on how to apply to be a portfolio evaluator.

The Library Support Staff Certification Program will begin accepting applications for candidacy on Jan. 25. To be certified, candidates must achieve six of 10 competency sets. Candidates can achieve these competency sets through participation in an approved course or by submitting a portfolio. The 10 competency sets are: Foundations of Library Service; Communication and Teamwork; Technology; Access Services; Adult Readers’ Advisory Services; Cataloging and Classification; Collection Management; Reference and Information Services; Supervision and Management; and Youth Services.

Portfolios will be evaluated by librarians who meet the following criteria: a master’s degree in library science or in an area related to the competency set; experience in teaching, training or writing in areas related to the competency set; or significant - more than five years - of on-the-job experience in an area related to competency set.

For more information about LSSC, please visit
www.ala-apa.org/lssc.