Críticas Magazine

This year, as part of the 2008 Emerging Leaders Institute, six internationally-minded librarians worked on an ALA International Relations Round Table initiative to add value to the ALA membership for international librarians. Over the first six months of 2008, this EL group (and IRRT mentor) developed a format to present free tutorials and free downloads in the professional development area of technology. The final product turned out to be 500 links organized on a wiki using del.icio.us bundles. The subjects range from tutorials on how to use office productivity tools to video software downloads. 

The  IRRT Free Links Project wiki includes two main sections, Free Technology Links and a Glossary of Terms. Many librarians will agree: the links are superb. These include technology tutorials, free technology downloads, cataloguing resources, Web 2.0 tools, professional tools, a section for special users, and another section with links in other languages such as Dutch, French, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish.

The comprehensive glossary helps to stay current with today’s technology - and- if  the term you are looking for is not listed, you can use a Technology Terms Custom Search included on the same page!

Robin Kear, one of the Emerging Leaders in the project, says that she is very proud of the work that her group did and thinks that the result is very useful for other librarians. She will continue to work on the project through IRRT to develop other content areas.

 
ALA launched its Emerging Leaders program in January 2007 at the Midwinter Conference in Seattle. Each year, 100 new librarians are trained for six months to prepare them for leadership opportunities within the Association, its divisions, and state chapters.

The emerging leaders are distributed into groups to develop a number of projects for ALA divisions and units. In June, at the annual conference the emerging leaders held a poster session to share results from their work.

Visit the IRRT Free Links Project and spread the word. It is free for all librarians to use. http://irrt.ala.org/wiki/index.php?title=IRRT_Free_Links_Project