Lifelong Education @ Desktop began as Library Education @ Desktop in 2003 as a joint project between the University of North Texas School of Library and Information Sciences and the Northeast Texas Library System. Funding was provided by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Sciences (IMLS).
A needs assessment of Northeast Texas Library System members, validated by the ten state system coordinators, showed that the first tutorials should be:
Managing Difficult Patrons with Confidence!
Providing Excellent Customer Service in a Multicultural Library Environment
Copyright Basics for Librarians
Reaching Teenagers
Improving Communication Skills
Using Databases
Harnessing the Internet
Nationally-known subject matter experts and instructional designers were hired and the high-quality, interactive courses were completed. When 515 people in the Northeast Texas Library System signed up for the first course, we knew that Library Education @ Desktop was meeting a huge need.
Training benefits. LE@D was originally developed as a way for small, rural libraries to get the continuing education and training they needed without creating a hardship on the community. In many instances, because of inadequate staff, libraries in small communities would have to shut their doors for several days while the library staff went off to attend seminars or conferences. The libraries were faced with choosing between the lesser of two evils - closing the library or leaving the staff untrained.
From the beginning, LE@D presented a solution to the problem for rural libraries. With LE@D courses, the library staff could update their training experience without having to leave the library under-staffed. LE@D tutorials were also extremely affordable. The cost of sending one librarian to a conference was more than the cost of providing LE@D tutorials for the entire staff.
Flexibility and variety. As the LE@D course selection grew, library staff enjoyed a greater flexibility and variety of topics from which to choose.
Using proceeds from the first seven courses, three more were created before the first grant ended:
Improving Co-Worker Relationships
RFID: Are You Ready for It? Is It Ready for You?
Info-Age Etiquette
Additional courses have been developed since the grant:
Grant Writing Basics
Volunteers: Recruiting, Developing, and Supervising
Keeping Your Library Looking Good
Using Microsoft Office: Word and Publisher for Librarians
Retailing Methods and Techniques in Libraries
Saturate Your Knowledge, Not Your Fat Intake
Become an Effective Trustee
Microsoft Excel and Access for Librarians
Microsoft PowerPoint for Librarians
During this past year, another IMLS grant provided six new courses for continuing education for school librarians. Those courses include
Creating Compelling Programming in Your School Library
Copyright Issues in the Classroom and Library
Multicultural Literature for Teens and Young Adults
Reaching Reluctant Readers
Trends in Children’s Literature
Creating and Maintaining an Engaging School Website
More courses are being developed for the school library audience.
Growth of the program. In 2006 LE@D began to look beyond library education and made the decision to apply their successful formula to other areas of continuing education as well. LE@D left the umbrella of UNT SLIS, changed their name to Lifelong Education @ Desktop and became part of the Center for Distance Learning at UNT.
Although LE@D was originally directed at a public library audience, more than 20,000 staff from school, academic, public, and special libraries have taken the courses. They are currently available to individuals for a credit-card registration of $25 or to organizations at a group rate of $15 each.
In 2006, LE@D was named a provider of courses for the Certified Public Library Administrator program of the American Library Association. CPLA courses are each 8 weeks long and are on the topics of Budget and Finance, Fundraising/Grantsmanship, and Planning and Management of Buildings.
Project LE@D was featured in an article in Public Libraries, July-August, 2006.
Future of LE@D. As LE@D approaches its seventh year in service, there are many new opportunities opening up.
Keeping with LE@D's roots in library education, courses are being developed based on the materials of Pat Wagner and Mary Bushing, both well-known lecturers in library circles. Moving into areas of Lifelong Education, we are developing courses for the Volunteer Management Group, the American Association for State and Local History, and others as we expand our focus.
LE@D is developing more materials for use with the Certified Public Library Administrators Program as well as the Library Support Staff Certification Program.
