I am working on 23 things that the Public Libraries of Charlotte Mecklenberg (Charlotte, NC) has established as a tool for reference services for "library 2.0", or the library of the electronic future. PLCMC has won a national award for library service, so they have some good ideas worth looking into, and besides, it's part of our Reference Services Class this semester.
The first of the 23 things is a podcast describing the program. For someone who didn't know what a podcast was a year ago, these little audio documents are really cool. They are also, in this case, really informative.
The second of the 23, is a little thing that deals with the "7 1/2 Habits of Life Long Learners", which I personally think is a very important concept, and it has also been adopted in the mission statements of both the local school district and the local public library. We are asked to think about which of the habits are the easiest for us and which the hardest. Here they are:
7 ½ Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners
Habit 1: Begin with the end in mind
Habit 2: Accept responsibility for your own learning
Habit 3: View problems as challenges
Habit 4: Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner
Habit 5: Create your own learning toolbox
Habit 6: Use technology to your advantage
Habit 7: Teach/mentor others
Habit 7 ½: Play
Habit 1: Begin with the end in mind
Habit 2: Accept responsibility for your own learning
Habit 3: View problems as challenges
Habit 4: Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner
Habit 5: Create your own learning toolbox
Habit 6: Use technology to your advantage
Habit 7: Teach/mentor others
Habit 7 ½: Play
Personally, I find many of these habits really easy to adopt, some a little harder. The easiest of these, of course, if you have some of the others, is to play. The hardest part of playing is making time for it, but it is also perhaps the most rewarding, because you find out something new. One of my favorite sayings is "That's so cool!" with regard to technology, even though one has to step out of a comfort zone in some cases to play with it. I also find it very challenging to have a goal in mind with most of my learning experiences, but not all (case in point, going to library school, big goal there) I value serendipity very highly, but I think that's why I like play so much, you always find something you weren't looking for.
In any case, these are great pointers to help focus yourself on lifelong learning. One of the next things on the "23" list is to learn how to blog and create one. Guess I've got that one covered right here!
