The Institute of Museum and Library Services and OCLC's WebJunction recently hosted a convening of fifteen library continuing education influencers in Arlington, Virginia, including representatives of state libraries, library associations, non-profit providers of library continuing education, and schools of library and information science.
They gathered to discuss the state of continuing education for library staff in the US and to seek sustainable solutions for unmet needs within the library community. The goal of the meeting was to identify opportunities - through new partnerships, projects, and action steps - to move libraries forward and grow library leadership.
Meeting participants shared knowledge of CE needs, service gaps, and priority challenges in delivering CE nationally; strategies and planned activities of organizations that influence or offer CE; ideas for developing sustainable CE business models; and best ideas for coordinating and supporting joint efforts to address CE needs, including available IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian funding.
One of the resources for continuing education in the field is the IMLS Laura Bush 21st Century Librarian program, which supports projects to recruit and educate the next generation of librarians, faculty, and library leaders; early career research; and professional development of librarians and library staff. In April, IMLS announced grants totalling $6,100,806 for 21 projects in 14 states.
IMLS will post a report from the convening at imls.gov in the coming months.
