By Sarah Russel
Techie librarians have lots of great resources available to them online, and open courses are some of the best tools for your professional development. You can learn about research, open source, technology, and much more. Here we’ll take a look at 50 of the best courses for librarians interested in technology.
Open Source
These courses will teach you about open source in education and more.
- What Is Open Access Anyhow?: Check out this course, and you’ll learn about open access material in libraries and more. [UC Berkeley]
- The Open Movement and Libraries: In this course, you’ll get a look into the philosophy of free and open access to information. [San Jose State University]
- The Impact of Open Source Software on Education: In this course, you’ll learn about open source programs in universities around the world. [Connexions]
Information & Research
Check out these courses to learn about finding information and research materials.
- Information Skills Mini-Course: Build your information science skills by taking this course. [University of Florida at Gainesville]
- Research Techniques & Scholarship in the Digital Environment: Learn about information and research with the help of this course. [University of Virginia]
- Key Skill Assessment Unit: Information Literacy: Find out how you can help support information literacy by taking this course. [MIT]
- Virtual Continuity: In this lecture, you’ll learn about the future of libraries and storage of information. [Harvard]
- History of Information: This course offers an exploration of the history of information and associated technologies. [UC Berkeley]
- Information in Cyberspace: This course discusses the history, infrastructure, and societal aspects of the Internet. [University of Texas]
- Information Organization: Learn about classification, indexing, thesauri construction, and retrieval. [University of Albany]
- Information Processing: With this course, you’ll learn about information processing and bibliographic control. [State University of New York at Albany]
- Research for the Classroom Teacher: Help teachers better understand how to research by building your skills with this course. [Utah State University]
- Information Exploration: Becoming a Savvy Scholar: With this course, you’ll learn how to make the best use of information for your students. [MIT]
- Information Literacy: Find out how to locate, evaluate, and apply information with the help of this course. [New Mexico State University]
- Internet and Information Access: This course covers the Internet and its resources. [State University of New York at Albany]
Engagement
These courses will teach you about better engaging library users.
- Connecting People with Online Resources: Using this course, you’ll find out how to best get people connected with the online resources they need. [Utah State University]
- Creating Meaningful Online Discussions: This course will teach you about building effective forums for online discussion. [Connexions]
- Encouraging Book Talk in the School Library: This course will teach you how to make talking about books more prominent in your library. [Open University]
Technology
These courses offer loads of technology education.
- Introduction to Computer Science and Programming: Whether you’re updating the library blog, troubleshooting computers, or building the library’s website, this course will help you build the skills you need. [MIT]
- New Media Literacies: In this course, you’ll learn about media literacies throughout history. [MIT]
- An Introduction to Information Security: With information and technology comes the need for information security-learn the essentials in this course. [Open University]
- Blogs, Wikis and New Media for Learning: This course offers information on using blogs, wikis, and new media in your library. [Utah State University]
- Information Technology: A New Era?: This course covers the debate about innovation in information and communication technologies. [Open University]
- Fundamentals of Information Technology: In this course, you’ll explore a variety of digital and Internet technologies for information. [State University of New York at Albany]
- Fundamentals of Information Technology: With this course, you’ll learn about applications of information technology. [State University of New York at Albany]
- Intro to Instructional Design: This course will help you find out how to design for instruction. [Utah State University]
- Effective Ways of Displaying Information: Learn about the value of graphics and more to express information clearly. [Open University]
- Information on the Web: Using this course, you can learn more about finding the information you need online. [Open University]
- Planning, Communications, and Digital Media: Learn how to use digital media for planning and communications from this course. [MIT]
- Becoming Digital: Writing About Media Change: This course explains how media has changed in the digital era. [MIT]
- From Print to Digital: Technologies of the Word: 1450-Present: Explore word technologies throughout history in this course. [MIT]/li>
Books & Writing
As a librarian, you will be expected to understand and speak intelligently about books, so follow these courses to build your knowledge.
- Forms of Western Narrative: Explore western narrative stories through this course. [MIT]
- Literary Interpretation: Literature and Photography: This course will help you learn about the intersection of literature and photography. [MIT]
- Intermediate Writing: Research Writing in a Persuasive Mode: With this course, you’ll be able to implement critical reading and thinking skills in order to improve your research writing. [Utah State University]
- Technology and Literary Imagination: Find out how technology effects literary imagination by taking this course. [MIT]
- Introduction to Literary Theory: Take this course, and you’ll get an essential overview of literary theory. [MIT]
- Film as Visual and Literary Mythmaking: Find out how film creates literary myths by taking this course. [MIT]
- Introduction to Fiction: Get an overview of fiction from this introductory course. [MIT]
Law
These courses cover laws that are of special interest to librarians.
- Introduction to Copyright Law: Get an overview of copyright law by taking this course. [MIT]
- Copyright for Librarians: Get a look at copyright with librarians specifically in mind from this course. [Connexions]
Education
These courses are of special interest to school librarians.
- Language as a Medium for Teaching and Learning: Find out about teaching methods using language from this course. [Open University]
- Involving the Family in Supporting Pupils’ Literacy Learning: With this course, you’ll learn about programs that can help you build students’ love of reading. [Open University]
- Research for the Classroom Teacher: Offer guidance for teachers doing research by taking this course. [Utah State University]
Communication
Improve your communication with these useful courses.
- Advanced Speaking and Critical Listening Skills: This course will teach you how to best practice critical listening and impromptu speaking. [MIT]
- Communicating in Cyberspace: This course will help you learn about digital communication in cyberspace. [MIT]
- Creating Interactive Media: In this course, you’ll learn about creating multimedia that will engage students and patrons. [University of Southern Queensland]
- Listening to the Customer: Follow this course, and you’ll better understand how to relate and communicate with your customer. [MIT]
- Communicating in Technical Organizations: Experiment with technical communication with the help of this course. [MIT]
Operations
These courses will teach you how to manage employees and day to day operations.
- Managerial Psychology: Learn about behavioral science and how you can apply this science to your work and daily operations in your library. [MIT]
- Marketing Management: Get an introduction to marketing that can be applied to your library with the help of this course. [MIT]
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