Learning About Learning 2.0: Evaluating the New South Wales Public Library Learning 2.0 Program (Report‪)‬

Throughout New South Wales, 2,344 staff are employed in 363 local government public libraries and on board 22 mobile libraries (1). From discussions and anecdotal evidence, it became apparent to Public Library Services staff at the State Library that a significant proportion of public library staff did not possess the knowledge or technical skills required to fully participate in the rapidly changing library service environment. Of particular urgency and importance was their engagement with web 2.0 technologies the use of which is emerging in order to meet changing client expectations in an increasingly interactive online environment. The New South Wales Public Library Learning 2. 0 program (Learning 2.0) (2) is an online self-paced training program to allow public library staff across New South Wales to learn more about emerging technologies on the web. The program was written by Ellen Forsyth and Mylee Joseph of the Public Library Services branch at the State Library of New South Wales. This team is responsible for promotion and development of public library services throughout New South Wales. The course was based on Learning 2.0 programs from Orange County Library System in Florida (3) and King County Library System in Washington, (4) which in turn grew out of the original program designed by Helene Blowers for the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County (5). The training program is completely built on web 2.0 technologies freely available on the Internet. These sites include: Blogger, Flickr, YouTube, PBWiki, and Bloglines.