WJ's Technology Competencies for Public Access Computing

WebJunction recently published a very thorough and detailed set of technology competencies that will be useful to libraries of all types and sizes. I have been meaning to post about this for a few weeks, but conferences and a bit of vacation time got in the way.

This is a project that I and several others have been working on with WebJunction for a few years and it is so wonderful to see it finally published and available for free download!

Congratulations to Betha Gutsche for her ability to see this project through to completion after many changes, debates, iterations and struggles. The final layout is extremely easy to read and hopefully this document will be the jumping point for many libraries to start assessing the skill levels of the staff who work with the public and need to assist patrons with computers (which should be just about everybody who works at a public desk).

On a side note, my involvement on this project was also my introduction to using a wiki for a collaborative project. The work of the original "MPAC Technology Competencies Expert Group" was done primarily through a wiki that was hosted at WebJunction. We had occasional conference calls, but most of the editing of the first drafts of this was done via the wiki and also on a discussion forum.

As I was writing this post I got curious as I was unsure about how long this project has been brewing at WJ , so I just double-checked our super-secret forum for this project and it was November 2005 that we began the discussions... wow, nearly 18 months in the making, but oh so worth the wait! Download the complete Technology Competencies for Public Access Computing in PDF and start assessing!

Speaking of technology competencies, I am still patiently awaiting the arrival of Sarah Houghton-Jan's recently published Library Technology Report, Technology Competencies and Training for Libraries -- I think it will be the perfect companion to the work done by WJ.