Professional Development & Training

"by transforming virtual reference (VR) service encounters into relationship-building opportunities, librarians can better leverage the positive feelings people have for libraries"
- OCLC news release

Many libraries, including those at Royal Roads University, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver Island University and University of British Columbia, have added Summon to their websites. Here is a brief overview of Summon, based on notes from UBC’s Sheryl Adam. Her complete notes can be accessed here (PDF).

This could be an interesting and possibly more helpful way to discuss research sources with patrons.  Via Stephen Francoeur's Digital Reference blog:

AskWA, the Washington State virtual reference service, offers Ref22 online sessions on a variety of topics of interest to virtual reference librarians.  The latest session was on Mastering The Reference Interview.

From the AskWA coordinator:

Thanks to everyone who attended our awesome Ref22 session this morning on mastering the reference interview.  Christa Werle from Sno-Isle Libraries handled the session very well, and we had a fun and interactive group of participants.

The following up-coming online learning opportunity on the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews will be of interest to AskAwayers.

All AskAway libraries have access to this resource via the eHLbc subscription to Evidence-Based Medicine Reviews (EBMR), so it is a great resource for AskAwayers to be familiar with.

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Cochrane & Systematic Reviews - Librarians' Round Table Online

AURORA, Colo., January 20, 2010
*A Reference Renaissance 2010: Inventing the Future*, co-chaired by Marie Radford and Rivkah Sass, will be held August 8-10, 2010, in Denver, Colorado. This exciting event will feature numerous presentations showcasing the latest reference trends and techniques that will give you new ideas and tools to better serve your customers. Also included are vendor exhibits, presentations specifically focused on products and services of interest to reference and information staff and plenty of opportunities for networking and sharing with colleagues.

The online tutorial about UBC's new federated search tool Primo is now available for viewing on the Staff Portal:
http://www.eln.bc.ca/askaway/index.php?page=recordings#primo
Thanks so much to Trish and Sally for providing this very popular session for AskAwayers!
Something new at your library that other AskAwayers should know about? Let Sunni help you set up and record an online session - it's easy, fun and will ultimately benefit your patrons!

UBC Library's Primo for AskAwayers
Trish Rosseel will present an online session about UBC Library's new search tool Primo on Monday, January 11th, 1:30-2:30pm.
UBC has a spiffy new federated search tool - Primo. Users can perform one search and get integrated results from the library's catalogue, e-book collections, digital collections, and institutional repository.
Come to this session to:
- see a demo of Primo
- learn how to search it and discern what you find
- try some searches yourself
- ask questions and provide feedback

Ref22 is pleased to present Jaclyn McKewan on December 8th 2009, from 8:30 – 9:30 a.m.
Jaclyn is the Virtual Services & Training Librarian for the Western New York Library Resources Council. For this month’s Ref22 session she will present on how and why to use online bookmarking tools, specifically Delicious bookmarks and the Firefox Delicious plug-in, to improve the services you provide via online reference. Virtual and physical reference librarians and any library staff that use the internet to regularly answer questions will find this session of interest.

Virtual Reference Competencies (Multi-week Online Course: June 22 - July 31, 2009)
In this six-week seminar, participants will engage in learning activities, supported by readings as well as lecture and discussion, to acquire and improve the technical competencies required by effective virtual reference librarians. During this course, engage in learning activities supported by readings as well as lecture and discussion, to practice and expand the communications competencies required by effective virtual reference librarians.