Training

The Technology & Access Services department provides a variety of training opportunities for Nebraska library staff and media specialists.  You can find all our training opportunities listed in the Commission Training and Events Calendar.  You can use a keyword search, a browse option or calendar view to search for all Commission sponsored training opportunities, including Database Roadshows and more.  Use the link above to visit the new search and discover training sessions scheduled across the state.

Online Training On Demand.  Do you have several staff in need of Technology & Access Services training that is not currently scheduled?  Does the topic lend itself to online instruction (e.g., a database demo)?  If so, please email Devra Dragos or call 800-307-2665 or 402-471-4335 to discuss the possibility of scheduling a private live online session for your institution.  For the most effective learning experience, each participant should have access to a computer with a sound card (see technical requirements for more information).

So you want to host a technology workshop?

Thank you for considering being a host for a Nebraska Library Commission technology workshop. Before we can confirm workshops and dates at your location, please take a moment to review our training lab requirements. We do this to ensure a great environment not only for our trainers, but also for all the workshop attendees.

There are the general room requirements followed by requirements for specific classes. If you feel that your lab may not meet some of the requirements, please mention it to the instructor or your contact person ASAP. In many cases we can work around such situations with enough planning time.

Thank you for your understanding,
The NLC Trainers

General Lab Requirements

Student computers

• 8-15 PCs running Microsoft Windows XP (service pack 2) or Vista (any version) with Internet access.
• Internet access can be wired or WiFi. If WiFi, the signal needs to be stable and strong.
• The latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer (7) and/or Firefox (2.x) with all recent patches and updates installed.
• The latest version of the Flash Player for IE and/or Firefox.
• At least one accessible USB outlet.
• The ability to read from and write to personal USB flash drives.
• If there is any security or filters on the computers that cause them to work in a non-standard way, please let us know as far in advance as possible.
• We appreciate all of the lab computers being set up relatively the same. If some computers are running one OS and some another, or if different computers are running different browsers (or browser versions), this can cause problems without advance notice. If your computers fall into this category, please let us know.

Trainer computer

• The same as the student computers, but connected to a projector who's image is easily readable in the back of the room. (The projector should be able to handle a 1024x768 resolution, but 800x600 is acceptable.)
• In some cases our trainers prefer to use their own laptops as the instructor's computer. In these cases, a wired or stable and strong WiFi Internet connection will work. The ability to hook to the room's projector will be needed.

The room

• Set up in a classroom style with all students facing the projection.
• A wall clock that the instructor can see from their station.
• The ability to dim the lights enough to enhance the projection, yet still allow the students to read their keyboards.

Workshop Specific Requirements

Any XHTML or CSS workshops (Instructor: Michael)

• HTML-Kit pre-installed on all lab computers.

The Social Web (Instructor: Michael)

• The ability to access common Social Web sites including but not limited to SlideShare, Flickr, del.icio.us, MySpace, Facebook, and LibraryThing.
• In many cases, these sites rely on cookies and other methods for tracking logged-in users. If your lab is connected to a caching proxy and/or stores cookies on the network instead of on the local machine, this can cause problems. (For example, everyone in the room logs into LibraryThing with their own account yet all see the screen of a single user.) If this may happen in your lab, please let us know ASAP.