When I was in library school, we constantly heard that it was important to graduate quickly so that the skills we learned early on wouldn’t be out of date by graduation. At a certain point, however, graduation is long past, and you need to brush up on a few things, or to learn about new things that didn’t exist back in school. Where should you turn?
Of course, you can always go back to library school to take a class or two; these days that’s a more convenient proposition than in years past as we have more options than ever for distance learning. Or you can take college credits outside of a library school setting; all kinds of classes lend themselves to library work, given that our profession has so many specialties and serves patrons with so many different needs. Online classes from not-for-profit institutions and other organizations are an option as well, and many are free.
Of current interest are some resources that will help you serve immigrant patrons. Helping new Americans is nothing new for librarians, but it might be on your mind to brush up your skills.
Instruction for Diverse Populations Committee of the ACRL Instruction Section
Multilingual Glossary for Today’s Library Users
Infopeople
Survival Spanish for Library Staff
Urban Librarians Unite
Libraries Serve Refugees
These are just a few of the many, many related items available online; a combination of the various resources out there should be a good start for most populations that come through your doors.
