Gale Presents: Udemy Answers the Call with Updated EDI Courses

| By Gale Staff | Unconscious bias is all around us, though we don’t often realize it. Gail Tolstoi-Miller, CEO of Consultnetworx and Udemy instructor, writes, “An unconscious bias is when incorrect and often biased judgments about people occur due to stereotyping. These types of biases are so ingrained in our culture and society they often … Read more

International Collection Courses Now Available in Gale Presents: Udemy

| By Gale Staff | The International Collection brings courses taught by subject matter experts in their native language to learners throughout the United States and Canada, going beyond traditional content dubbing and video captions. Give library patrons an authentic learning experience with Gale Presents: Udemy With nearly 2,000 courses to choose from, learners can … Read more

Gale Presents: Udemy—A “Robust and Valuable” Library Addition

| By Gale Staff | Gale has partnered with Udemy, the leading marketplace for online learning, to offer public libraries Gale Presents: Udemy. This online learning platform provides instruction for adults who want to upskill for a new job, advance in their current profession, or deepen a personal interest. Patrons can explore more than 4,000 on-demand video courses … Read more

What Public Libraries Have Been Looking For: New On-Demand Video Courses Coming Soon!

| By Angela Doolin, Gale Product Manager | As the need to learn new technologies grows, companies are realizing the urgency to bridge skill gaps in the workforce. According to a 2018 global survey conducted by PwC, 38 percent of CEOs are extremely concerned that the lack of key skills will be a threat to … Read more

Arlington Heights Memorial Library Offers Residents 360+ Instructor-Led Classes

| By Gale Staff | Gale Courses offers a wide range of highly interactive, instructor-led courses that patrons can take entirely online. These in-depth, 6-week classes cover subjects such as technology, health-care training, business/accounting, personal development, law, test prep, and more. Elli Wills, an editorial coordinator at WJ Weiser, completed the E to Z Grant … Read more

Rossland Public Library Encourages Access to Gale Courses

| By Gale Staff | Whether you’re looking for college-level, professional development, or personal enrichment courses, Rossland Public Library now offers hundreds of online courses through Gale Courses. Gale Courses, a 24/7 learning solution featuring more than 360 instructor-led online courses, focuses on personal growth and professional development. Six-week courses in language learning, accounting, computer … Read more

Keeping Pace in Your Career (and Life) with Gale Courses

| By Mary Kelly and Holly Hibner |

Personal and professional development is one of the least-served but most important aspects of anyone’s job. This is especially true in the world of libraries. Serving library patrons depends on library staff being up-to-date in a variety of subjects. Ask any librarian out there on the front lines of service and all will agree that keeping up to date in everything from technology to the latest best seller is essential!

Read moreKeeping Pace in Your Career (and Life) with Gale Courses

Roanoke Public Library Empowers Lifelong Learning with Gale Courses

| By Gale Staff | Gale Courses supports libraries as educational institutions and gives community members easy access to lifelong learning opportunities including professional development, technology, and personal enrichment courses. Tied to the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ fastest-growing occupations, Gale Courses covers a variety of career topics, positioning the library to drive local economic development and meet demand for … Read more

Dodge County Libraries Now Offer Gale Courses

| Originally published on Watertown Daily Times | Monarch Library System, which serves Dodge County libraries, has recently acquired Gale Courses. Through this program, patrons can access hundreds of instructor-led online courses through their local library’s website with a current library card at no cost. Courses cover topics such as health and wellness, education, business, … Read more

Stepping Up Career Development at Your Library

| By Mary Kelly |

Just recently I had an age crisis at work. A young teen girl asked to borrow the phone on my desk. I pushed the desk phone toward her and said “sure, help yourself, dial 8 to get an outside line.” She stared at me and asked for a “real phone” since she didn’t know how to work those desk phones. I actually had to teach someone how to use a regular desktop phone. This was a first for me, as a librarian. This young teen had never used a traditional phone. In her world, the only kind of phone is a smartphone.

As I am chewing on this little fact, I realize that in my library career of nearly 20 years, I have seen an insane amount of change in technology. It really doesn’t seem all that long ago that computers were a “new” tool in libraries. I remember teaching my first computer class for library patrons and we had standing room only. Without a doubt, computers were an integral part of our daily practice as librarians.

Even as late as 2009 and 2010, my partner and I were regularly presenting a program to other librarians called “Tech Support is Reference” through conferences and other library training. The message of this program was that librarians had a duty to assist patrons regardless of what kind of questions they asked. At the time, there was significant resistance in the profession to assist patrons who asked “tech support” type questions. More than one library professional thought computers would ruin library reference service. (Part of me wants to be petty and say “I told you so” to those librarians who all but accused me of ruining the profession. Luckily, this is published on a website and since they hated computers so much, they will probably not notice my remark.)

The modern library professional isn’t going to last long in a library setting if they don’t embrace change in a very real way. Not only must librarians be knowledgeable, but we also must be able to communicate that knowledge through a variety of mediums. The implication is huge.  It is expected that a modern librarian will be knowledgeable about technology and that we be able to fashion that knowledge into usable content for a variety of learning styles. Regular and consistent training on new technologies, emerging topics and other subjects need to be ingrained as a regular part of the job. Combined with limited budgets and time for professional development means that most of us will have to do this without support.

Read moreStepping Up Career Development at Your Library