Thing 6: Online Meetings

So, I just attended the archived webinar: Superbooks: How Graphic Novels Can Save Your Library Part 1 (intro) and Part 2 (presentation)  .  It was one of several that I had saved in my e-mails to do sometime.  I have been interested, but time is always an issue.  Frankly, it is too bad that school librarians can't do webinars instead of some of the meetings that we have to attend, both locally and regionally.

It was easy to connect.  The topic was one I was very interested in.  The graphic novels and comics, in general, go out very well in my library.  Babymouse is tremendously popular.  Now, even the boys are reading it!  I have to find some more series that aren't Star Wars or Superheroes for that age range.  I think some of the girls just read the old titles over because they love them so much.  The kids get angry and tell me I must have moved them because there aren't any on the shelves.  Babymouse is as popular as Diary of a Wimpy Kid!

It was a long time to sit in a chair near the computer.  I found myself moving about some and not watching the screen, but simply listening.  I'm glad I was watching an archived one because I could pause when the need arose.

If I were in charge of a library system or a group of libraries (like Albany Public or Schenectady), I could see using webinars to get together without physically having everyone come together.  There is a lot of time lost to travel when we force people to come to one place.  If the meetings happened before (public libraries) or after (school libraries) hours, they wouldn't necessarily even affect our patrons.  I personally have been to a lot of meetings where my physical body was not really required.  I could skip the soda and cookie to not have to leave my library without a librarian.  Also, there are times when people cannot attend the meetings, because they are sick, their kid/parent is sick, their car broke down, etc.  By Archiving the meetings we could keep everyone in the loop.  Frankly, although we may have liaisons who are supposed to report back, it is not the best system.

So, all in all, I think webinars are a hit.  I am not sure how I will fit all of the ones that sound good into my daily work/home life, but, as a school librarian, I will try to catch up over the summer!

Yeah, I am caught up on Learn with CDLC!