More About the Program

Who: This program is open to ALL VBPL staff regardless of position and status (full and part time). If you are not a member of the VBPL staff, you are welcome to follow along, however the library cannot award you any staff prizes for completion.

What: This is a self-discovery program which encourages staff to take control of their own learning and to utilize their lifelong learning skills through exploration and PLAY. There will be no classes or workshops offered to support this program. Instead, staff are encouraged to work together and share with each other their discoveries, techniques and how-to both in person and through their blogs. There will be "open lab" days so that you can ask questions in person. The open lab days will take place in the Automated Services Training Lab at the Central Library. There are only ten computer seats. Watch the blog for posts about when these days will take place.

The original Learning 2.0 program was designed by Helene Blowers, PLCMC Technology Director, with the support and assistance of several staff and is loosely based upon Stephen Abram's article, 43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year (Information Outlook - Feb 2006) and the website 43Things.The original design of the Learning 2.0 program was completely built on Web 2.0 technologies that are freely available on the Internet. These sites include: Blogger, Flickr, Odeo, YouTube, PBWiki & Bloglines.

Learning 2.0 @ the Beach is based the program created by Helene Blowers at the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County. Some content and style for program has been borrowed and/or duplicated with permission of the author.

When: The program starts on October 29, 2007 following the October LCDT Communication Session--- Web 2.0 Kick-Off on October 9th. The blog posts for the 30 Things officially ends on January 13, 2008. Staff members who complete all 30 Things and record their progress by February 29, 2008 will receive an MP3 player in March 2008. Funding for the MP3 players has been provided by the Virginia Beach Public Library Foundation.

Where: All VBPL staff may participate in the program at work. Please notify your supervisor of your intent to participate in this program. This will assist your agency in providing you with ample work time to complete this program.

How: Read the program overview and review the program schedule on the Learning 2.0 @ the Beach blog. These blog posts will outline the program content and help you decide if you want to participate or not. ALL staff are encouraged to join this fun, learning experience. Additional blog postings will follow each week. These posts provide you with discovery resources and exercises. In week 1, you will find out how to register. Better yet, sign up for the RSS feed. You'll receive the discovery exercises in your email box each week.