[Publib] Infopeople's "Free, Fast, and Factual" online course

[Linda Rodenspiel]

Since some people who may be interested in this workshop might not receive 
this notice directly, we would appreciate it if you would print and post or 
route this announcement to staff and colleagues. Thanks!

Title:  Free, Fast, and Factual: Top Online Reference Sources for 2006 and 
Beyond (Online Learning Course)

Dates:  February 7, 2006 - March 6, 2006

To register for this workshop:  Use the online registration form at
http://infopeople.org/WS/workshop/Workshop/241

Fee:  Because of grant funding, California residents can take this course 
for the subsidized fee of $75.00. The out-of-state fee is $275.00.


In this era of disappearing budgets and increasing workload it can be 
difficult to keep up with all the new web sources that can supplement your 
library's reference collection. This course will update you on free 
websites you can use to find the answers to many reference questions. 
You'll learn where to find information quickly on topics such as:

--Public domain photos of the 2003 California fires;
--County and city public records available free online;
--Sample business plans and market research resources for small businesses;
--Readers advisory recommendations for someone who likes David Sedaris books;
--Online videos about libraries; and
--All the bands who have ever recorded a version of Donna Summer's "I Feel 
Love."

Completing this course will help you save time and frustration, and will 
enable you to serve your users much more quickly and efficiently.

Workshop Description: This four-week online learning course will teach you 
how to mine the web for quick answers to reference questions. Through 
exercises, quizzes, and threaded discussions, you will update your 
knowledge of the best, free, online websites for finding factual answers to 
questions you used to have to refer elsewhere. You will also explore 
gateways and portals designed to lead you to the best information on 
specific topics and will learn new uses for old ready reference standbys. 
Instructor Sarah Houghton, LibrarianInBlack and online reference librarian, 
will provide cheat sheets, guided discussions, as well as an extensive 
annotated webliography.

Preliminary Course Outline: Using your web browser and your Internet 
connection, you will log in to the Infopeople online learning site and 
complete the following learning modules:

Module One: Gateways and Ready Reference
--Library gateways
--Ready reference tools

Module Two: Subject Resources Part I
--Health
--Law
--Religion
--Government and history
--Statistics
--News

Module Three: Subject Resources Part II
--Art
--Music
--Books
--Multimedia

Module Four: Subject Resources Part III
--Business
--Directories
--Consumer resources
--Additional techniques for finding and using online reference tools

Workshop Instructor: Sarah Houghton.  Sarah is the e-Services Librarian for 
Marin County Free Library. She designs and maintains MCFL's website, heads 
up electronic resources development, their 3 virtual reference teams 
(AskNow, e-mail, and Instant Messaging) and trains staff on everything from 
basic computer skills to security & privacy online. Sarah is also the 
President of the California Library Association's Information Technology 
Section, and has been published in Public Libraries, California Libraries, 
Computers in Libraries, Knowledge Quest, and ONLINE Magazine.

Online Learning Details: This four-week course will be taught online using 
the web. When you register, you will receive a registration confirmation, 
which will include the URL to get to the course, as well as a username and 
password.

Every student proceeds through the online learning modules at his or her 
own pace. However, students should expect to commit to spending a minimum 
of 2 to 2½ hours per week on this course in order to be successful. You can 
work on each module at your own pace, at any hour of the day or night. 
However, you will be expected to log in to the course each week to do that 
week’s assignment. We ask that you log in sometime during the first week of 
the course to begin the course work.

Your instructor will be available for limited consultation support for two 
weeks after the official end date of a course, and the course material will 
stay up for an additional two weeks after that, to give those who have 
fallen behind time to work independently on the course. However, you will 
be expected to accomplish the majority of the course in synchronization 
with your peers during the first four weeks.

Who Should Take This Course: Anyone from the California library community 
with an interest in using free web resources to answer questions reliably. 
This workshop is appropriate for reference and other public service staff.

Prerequisites: This course is taught over the web. You must:

Have an Internet connection and Internet Explorer 5 or higher.

Be able to save Microsoft Word .docs or Adobe .pdf files to your computer 
and print them out. (For .doc files, a free Word Viewer is available at 
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/search.aspx?displaylang=en. Search for 
"Word Viewer." For .pdf files, a free Adobe Acrobat Reader is available at 
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/main.html).

Be comfortable navigating on the web and navigating back and forward on a 
website that uses frames.

If you are not comfortable with any of the above, please consider taking 
this course with a colleague who does meet these requirements.

To view a complete list of Infopeople workshops and for general information 
about Infopeople training opportunities, go to the main Infopeople 
Workshops page at http://infopeople.org/WS/workshop

If you have questions about registration or scheduling of workshops, please 
contact Linda Rodenspiel, the Infopeople Project Assistant, at 
assist at infopeople.org or by phone at 650-578-9685.