A Teachable Moment

The Mississippi Library Commission recently held Librarianship 101, an extremely comprehensive workshop for library paraprofessionals. This is the fifteenth year that the program has provided in-depth training in library law and ethics, library programming for all ages, collection development, readers advisory, and much more for those who want to better serve their home libraries. Librarianship 101 participants go through a nomination process; class size is limited to fifteen individuals. Nominees are service-oriented librarians who want to enhance and improve their community through their work at the public library. This is one of many continuing education options offered by MLC.

MLC Library Services Director Tracy Carr leads a session at Librarianship 101.

I've always admired people who can command the attention of a room. Keynote speakers at large conferences have always amazed me with their confident body language and their ability to stroll from one side of the stage to the other. I have never possessed that gift. I avoided speech class in college at all costs... no sir, no way, was this girl getting up in front of a room full of folks to talk about anything.

Over the years I have had to take the mic on a few occasions with a great deal of anxiety and stress.  That old statement about picturing the crowd in their underwear never worked for me. When I started at MLC, I was so impressed by the level of ease my colleagues displayed when presenting to groups of librarians. They are always funny, informative, and provide great handouts. I have learned so much from watching these guys.

Welcome by Hulen Bivins, MLC Executive Director

A participant introduces herself to the rest of the Librarianship 101 group.

The first day of 101 began with a welcome from MLC Executive Director Hulen Bivins, followed by introductions of participants. I could tell these folks were excited to learn and were going to be extremely entertaining.

Ice-breaker fun!

The group participated in a fun ice-breaker that involved getting creative! The rest of the day was information-packed with topics covering library structure and social media. They departed on day one with their minds and notebooks full!

On day two, MLC Library Development Director Lacy Ellinwood covered the topic of library programming and I followed up with public relations. The participants were in five groups; each group created a program and had to write a press release appropriate to send to the media. I felt like a proud mama: they all did an outstanding job writing their first press release. We also talked about creating a library newsletter and social media. It was a great day for someone who is terrified of presenting!

I talked about creating a library newsletter.

On the final day, they learned about weeding, statistics, and MLC's Talking Book Services. They went home with a certificate and, hopefully, a better understanding of the overall workings of a library. Congratulations Librarianship 101 graduates of 2018! Get out there and serve your communities!

2018 Librarianship 101 graduates