EXCELLENCE IN INSTRUCTION AND TRAINING:

This award recognizes a person or group for excellence in instructing, training, or making presentations to library users, employees, or attendees at local, regional, or national seminars, conferences, or workshops. Delivery of instruction modules, systems, or services and internal on-the-job training may also be considered.

NOMINEES:

10 Weeks to a 2.0 You Group

Testimonial 1

What tech toys are all the cool kids using now? Amy, Jan, Deborah, and Robin, with the help of several instructors, helped Libraries staff learn about new and useful web tools by organizing ten classes and offering a certificate for successful completion of the series. Open to everyone in the Libraries, the classes answered a need not filled by Training & Development or other campus sources, covering specific web tools to be used personally and professionally by Libraries' faculty and staff. The classes were well-attended and helped bring the Libraries' community together in a new way.

Testimonial 2

In lean budget times, we are more dependent than ever on local resources for training and professional development opportunities. The "10 Weeks to a 2.0 You: Social Media and Web 2.0 Skills Training Course" used the talent and facilities already available in the Libraries to provide excellent instruction on the most popular 2.0 technologies. The 2.0 committee (Deborah, Jan, Robin, Amy, and Denise) took the Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library's program "23 Things: 2.0 Learning" and adapted it to our research library environment. They structured the program to be flexible enough that staff could attend the entire ten-class series or just the classes that appealed to them. Instructors were recruited from around the Libraries based on their expertise and instructional abilities. Sessions were hands-on and some even involved homework. Although attendees brought with them a range of abilities and knowledge, the instructors designed the curriculum so that everyone would walk away with at least a basic understanding of 2.0 applications. By the end of the ten weeks, UGA Libraries staff were savvy about blogging and podcasting and tweeting and bookmarking and RSS-ing and Google Doc-ing and Wikifying and Flickr-ing and Picasa-ing and LibraryThing-ing and more! The "10 Weeks to a 2.0 You" group demonstrated creative planning, instructional talent, and technical know-how in organizing this training program, much to the benefit of the Libraries staff.

Testimonial 3

You've heard about Web 2.0 - you may even be using some of these applications in your personal computing time. But do you know...
..how to use Web 2.0 applications to increase your productivity and efficiency at work?
..how the UGA Libraries are already using some of this technology and you can get involved?

So began the Libraries social media training program. This largescale training program included a well developed curriculum with course objectives, hands on exercises, a completion certificate, and yes, even homework! with the end result of ensuring the Libraries' staff are proficient using new technologies, especially, as can be applied to their day to day work.

This program included a variety of course topics from organizational productivity to creating and using multimedia materials, such as movies and images. Many of the classes were completely full, demonstrating the need for this kind of training.

Jenifer Marquardt

We would like to nominate Jenifer Marquardt for the Excellence in Instruction and Training award. Since March 2009, Jenifer has met weekly with a group of six faculty members from varied departments (Cataloging and DLG) to provide NACO training. NACO program participants "contribute authority records for names, uniform titles, and series to the LC/NAF. [Library of Congress Name Authority File] Participants agree to follow a common set of standards and guidelines when creating or changing authority records in order to maintain the integrity of a large shared authority file." The NACO training Jenifer provides allows six additional UGA Libraries faculty members to contribute metadata to this national resource. This is a significant accomplishment not only because of the detailed nature of the rules that govern creation of these records, but because Jenifer has trained us to create a wide variety of types of records including personal names, corporate bodies, geographic places and, currently, series.

The NACO trainees in her program benefit from the depth of knowledge Jenifer has developed through years of working with authority data as well as from her patient and clear instructional style. Jenifer always takes the time to explain concepts thoroughly and incorporates real-life examples into her classes. She also ensures that knowledge is immediately applied to Libraries' materials by assigning "homework" from areas such as the Georgia Room. She then takes the time to review our work in class so that everyone can benefit from each example. She gladly meets one-on-one with participants outside of class to explain concepts in more detail or to explore particularly difficult headings which we encounter in our daily work.

Jenifer's commitment to providing quality training for other faculty members not only ensures excellence in the UGA catalog but also contributes to the integrity of national databases. Her hard work and dedication at both local and national levels deserves recognition in the form of an ASSET award.

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