My Journey from WebJunction Ohio to WebJuntion Georgia

• To be honest, I was never a big fan of WebJunction, the website touted as the sitefor work-related information needs of library professionals/support staff. It was frustrating to me to try and find what I was looking for. And then when I found something useful, I found it difficult to replicate my search and find the article again later. But since there was no other website like WebJunction, I continued to use it.

  …Fast forward to the fall of 2007… State Librarian Jo Budler attended an OLC board meeting and announced the State Library of Ohio was entering into an agreement with OCLC to become a WebJunction Community Partner. She told us that Ohio would go “live” as a community partner in July 2008 after the completion of WebJunction’s redesigned website. Jo’s enthusiasm was contagious… she told us that the WebJunction staff was promising improved search capabilities, the introduction of social networking tools for library staff, an expanded course catalog with new course vendors, easier ways to contribute content, and even more. As a community partner state, Ohio would get even more benefits including online courses, a comprehensive calendar program to use for state CE events, and licenses to various software packages. Public library staff in Ohio would be able to take courses at no cost through the WebJunction Ohio catalog.  But my eyes really lit up when she announced that an Advisory Committee would be formed to provide input and suggestions for WebJunction Ohio. For those of you who know me, you can guess that I volunteered to be part of this committee.

  Marsha McDevitt-Stredney, State Library of Ohio WebJunction Ohio coordinator, contacted me and I attended my first meeting of the Advisory Committee on January 7, 2008. I remember it being a very informational meeting where the committee heard more about the plans for WebJunction Ohio and how it would differ from the (then) current WebJunction.  We learned that as a community partner state, we would be able to customize the site to suit the needs of library staff in Ohio – how cool is that?

  The next day, I flew from Cleveland to Atlanta, Georgia for my second interview for the Director of Continuing Education position at the Georgia Public Library Service (GPLS - the state library of Georgia). Imagine my surprise when the interview team asked me what I knew about WebJunction and its community partnership program. GPLS had also entered into an agreement to become a WebJunction Community Partner and was going to go “live” in July 2008. They would need someone to take on the role of Administrator/Team Lead for the project. I believe that knowledge of the project was one of the deciding factors in them offering me the position!

  September, 2008 – I’ve been in my new position at GPLS since April 1 and our WebJunction Georgia site has been up and running since August 4. Like Ohio’s site, it is a work-in-progress. It has been quite an experience learning about learning management systems, portals, portlets, web-conferencing software, and WYSIWYGs! Creating a WebJunction Georgia Advisory Committee was an experience, too, since I came here not knowing anyone in the Georgia library community. Luckily I ended up with a fantastic, enthusiastic committee. So far, I’m really pleased with the improvements WebJunction has made to the site. And like other community partners, Georgia’s site is taking on a flavor if its own. The goal is for Georgia library staff to take ownership of the site and begin to explore, create, connect and learn amongst each other.  One example of this is a project being done by one of the participants in Georgia’s inaugural leadership institute. She’s compiling policies from all the Georgia public libraries and is creating an entire section on WebJunction Georgia to serve as a clearinghouse for these policies.

• In conclusion, I could say that WebJunction was indeed the crossroad between the Ohio and Georgia library community for me. My journey from WebJunction Ohio to WebJunction Georgia has certainly been an adventure!