...deploy make accessible these radically different systems, social interactions and library places. Whilst formats have changed, and will continue to change, delivery systems have changed and will continue to change, skill sets and competencies have changed and will continue to change, the users, the citizens who fund and value library services, still need to have their social, cultural and recreational needs met in both the virtual and physical domains in which libraries operate.

Introduction

In setting the context have used Michael Stephens' (the librarian's blogger) three essential duties of librarians:

* Learn to learn

* Adapt to change

* Scan the horizon

These are three things that we at Yarra Plenty Regional Library are spending a great deal of energy doing and it also fits with the theme of this conference, elevations and taking libraries to new levels.

Yarra Plenty Regional Library

Yarra Plenty Regional Library (YPRL) is a regional library service, north east of Melbourne, providing library services for three local governments: Banyule, Whittlesea and Nillumbik. Our region is quite a mixture; we've got lots of green space; as well as industry; leafy established suburbs as well as mushrooming new housing estates.

Regional libraries in Victoria are incorporated under a section of the Victorian Local Government Act, and operate as an independent legal entity with an annual audit by the Auditor General. Our organisation is a partnership between the three participating councils. We provide all our own support services, from IT through to payroll and accounts. It makes us nimble, but it also means we lack the expertise and depth of knowledge that larger organisations enjoy.

We think we are a progressive library service--early adopters of the Internet, ebooks, cataloguing websites, online reference and we have many more public access pcs per capita than other public libraries in Victoria.

We've spent a lot of time over the past year developing frameworks for our services:

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

We provide services for three local governments. We are governed by a Library Board, which comprises two councillors from each of the three councils. The Library Board sets our strategic direction and has developed a rolling four-year Strategic Plan. We also have a four-year resources plan, which outlines our financial planning and the annual budget. We have worked on a number of frameworks, which are five-year plans that look at each of the service delivery areas and describe where we are currently at, where we would like to be and how we are going to get there. This provides a road map for our staff and, because they have been developed in consultation with key stakeholders and the community, they provide us with a reality check and a mandate for change.

The frameworks all highlight the four main activities that we have badged as Library 2.0 activities--i.e. finding information, enabling learning, creating content and celebrating culture. Through these activities we achieve our strategic plan goals of informed, connected, inclusive communities.

Learn to learn

So, to Michael Stephens' first duty--learn to learn

We want to change the way that people think about public libraries, and we are starting where it counts most--with library staff. We have done this by implementing a staff development program that is familiarising and enthusing staff and making them feel confident with Web 2.0 technologies. The program has a number of components:

1 A road show

2 23 Things online learning program

3 Library Worker 2.0 staff development program 2007

4 Unconference

1. Road show

We were looking to see how we could make our regular meetings of the wider management team a bit more interesting, and one of the managers thought it would be a good idea for each of the members of the team to present a new technology and explain how it might impact on our library. Out of this evolved the road show to which we invited all staff, highlighting things like podcasts, music creation, digital stories, downloadable audio books and Google tools. We did one--and it was so enthusiastically received we ended up doing three. Some of the feedback included comments like "now I know how to talk to my children" and "now I feel more confident when people come into the library asking about these things."

2.23 Things

Then we came across the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County (PLCMC) program, 23 Things, and we thought it sounded like a great way to engage our staff with some of the new Web 2.0 technologies. The PLCMC 23 Things program steps staff through various Web 2.0 applications including blogging, RSS news feeds, tagging, wikis, podcasting and video and image hosting sites. The first Thing is to listen to a podcast on the 71/2 habits of effective learning, based on Stephen Covey's 7 habits of highly effective people, and in case you are wondering--the 1/2 is to play. The second Thing is to set up a learning blog that the participants use as a learning journal to chart their progress. The program then goes through a number of different Things; most have a podcast, a presentation or a video to accompany them. There is also a learning blog that guides people through. Each activity takes around 40 minutes or however long people want to engage. The main message is that this isn't about training people, it's about encouraging learning.

PLCMC generously licensed their program under Creative Commons, allowing libraries all around the world to access the learning modules. It has received wide recognition and was featured in a Wired.com article (Hanly 2007). Helene Blowers, who developed the program, has been very supportive of...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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