WebJunction

Government Information in the 21st Century (Gi21)
IMLS Grant
April 2008 Newsletter
Number 7

Online Subject Modules

There are now 21 Subject Modules in the Gi21 WebJunction site.

New modules include Agriculture, Economy, Education, Recreation & Culture and Science & Technology.

Check out all of our Subject Modules and Training Materials, including the new Kids Stuff, on the Gi21 web site:

http://www.webjunction.org/gi21

WebJunction Migrating to New Platform

WebJunction will be migrating to a new content management platform this Spring and Summer.  The new platform promises to be easier, faster and will include new features.  We will be working closely with WebJunction to insure that all of the Gi21 content is transferred to the new platform.  The transition timeline calls for data migration to begin sometime in May.

A "Content Freeze" is tentatively scheduled for the week of May 12 - May 19.  During that week, no new content can be added to WebJunction.  However, the live site will be fully functional during this time.  Following the "Content Freeze" content administrators will perform dual publishing on the current system as well as the new system.

With 95% of our content currently loaded into WebJunction, the Gi21 project will feel little impact from this system migration.  In addition, the Gi21 project manager will attend a full day of training with other Community of Practice administrators in Seattle on Wednesday, June 4, 2008.  Part of that training will include how to communicate the changes to our constituents, so more information will be forthcoming as the migration progresses.

Gi21 Selected to Participate in WebJunction Case Study

WebJunction has asked the Government Information in the 21st Century project manager to participate in a case study to look at challenges that faced our project, WebJunction as one of the solutions to those problems and the benefits that have come from that partnership.  This executive summary type study just began, will progress through an interactive process and will eventually be published on the main WebJunction page in a PowerPoint format.

Training Session Highlights

Module Training Sessions Completed  -  47                 

Module Training Sessions Scheduled  -  26

Number of Trainees to date   -   349

Locations and Attendance at recent Training Sessions:

• Fremont County Libraries, Riverton, WY  -  9
• Yavapai College, Prescott, AZ  -  21
• Yavapai College, Clarkdale, AZ  -  13
• New Mexico Junior College, Hobbs, NM  -  7
• Maricopa County Libraries, Phoenix, AZ  -  12
• Colorado Library Consortium, Grand Junction, CO  -  12
• Auraria Library, Denver, CO  -  9
• Morgan Library, CSU, Fort Collins, CO  -  12
• Colorado Library Consortium, Greeley, CO  -  15
• Jeffco School Librarians ShareFair, Lakewood, CO  -  18
• NMLA Pre-Conference, Las Cruces, NM  -  23

As you can see the Gi21 trainers are very busy creating 21st Century librarians!

Fort Collins Public Library staff in the computer lab at Colorado State University	New Mexico State Coordinator, Laurie Canepa, with colleagues at NMLA Pre-Conference

Check out all the training photos and the schedule of upcoming training!

Kudos

Congratulations to Gi21 module developer and trainer, Sandy Rizzo from the City of Mesa Library in Arizona.  Her article on the Gi21 project was selected for publication in the April issue of the Arizona Library Association Newsletter.  See Sandy's article on page 7.

Spring 2008 FDLP Conference, Kansas City, Missouri

"Now It's Your Turn: Gi21 Hits the Road" -  an open forum session at the Federal Depository Library Conference on April 2, 2008 - was attended by over 30 regional and selective depository librarians.

A brief presentation on the status of the Gi21 project was presented by Kirstin Clark, former project manager and current regional documents librarian at the University of Minnesota, Jennie Gerke, co-PI for the project and Electronic Government Information Librarian at the University of Colorado, and Debra S. Van Tassel, current project manager.

Following the presentation, attendees formed four breakout groups divided by geographic area.  Led by current trainers in the Gi21 program, they answered questions on how their institutions might participate in a future grant based on the work that Gi21 accomplished.  Discussions were lively and interest was high.

August Education & Evaluation Experience 

The Gi21 Planning Committee, select trainers and our evaluator will meet for an Education & Evaluation Experience on the Boulder campus of the University of Colorado in August.  The one-day conference will include an update on the newly released WebJunction platform, a discussion on the experience of scheduling training sessions, presentation of data from the pre- and post-tests and session evaluations, a focus group with a SWOT analysis, and the final evaluation plan for the project.

Have Questions??

Questions about the grant should be directed to:

Peggy Jobe
Head, Government Publications and Grant Principal Investigator
Margaret.Jobe@colorado.edu
303-492-4682

Jennie Gerke
Electronic Government Information Librarian and Grant Co-Principle Investigator
Jennifer.Gerke@colorado.edu
303-735-6804

Deb Van Tassel
Grant Project Manager
Debra.VanTassel@colorado.edu
303-492-5929