Tuesday, December 15, 2020
On the heels of the recent Public Library System Redesign (PLSR) Implementation Update, this post offers an update on PLSR Recommendation 7 - Professional Learning. View a short video version of this update here (6:36).
The DPI team managing this recommendation area includes Cindy Fesemyer, Ben Miller, Gail Murray, Elizabeth Neuman, Shannon Schultz, Monica Treptow, Tessa Michaelson Schmidt (team lead), and Bruce Smith (PLSR coordinator). We are also partnering with the IT team at DPI to create a roadmap for the technical solutions.
A User Advisory Group for PLSR 7 launched in November 2020. This group is comprised of library and system staff from around the state with a range of perspectives and experiences. The group will provide formal feedback through beta testing and other tasks. User Advisory Group members include: Erica Brewster, John Mark Bolthouse, David Kranz, Leah Langby, Vince Mussehl, Brooke Newberry, Ivana Renteria, Viridiana Rocha, Joy Schwarz, Lisa Strohschoen, and Alicia Woodland.
Recommendation 7 includes technical solutions, such a learning management system, as well as the collaborative solutions, such as how we create and connect around continuing education, or more accurately, professional learning. We use the term professional learning to acknowledge that we are all learning, whether at the start of a career or specific to a certain position.
Rather than emphasize one tool, a learning management system, and a particular outcome, library director certification, this recommendation emphasizes a suite of resources for a range of library and system staff. In the coming year, efforts will be made to develop:
- A shared professional learning calendar
- An online library directory, and
- An online platform for public library director certification.
Priorities for the PLSR 7 implementation process have been, and will continue to be, influenced by voices from the library community. Formal feedback sessions, as well as big picture observations from library life during the pandemic, emphasize equitable access to professional learning as a top priority.
Please direct all questions and comments to dpi.plsr@dpi.wi.gov