DOCERE
The library team sees itself as an open, transparent house and is eager to share all gained experience about business processes, projects and organizing events with interested social groups. The participation in all aspects of operational and strategic library operations is therefore possible for everyone. This approach relates to our circle of colleagues, our primary and other target groups as well as users and visitors of the library, whether young or old. We want to open our library and experiences to other colleagues and institutions so that they receive positive impulses. To inspire others, the team is trying to spread the word regarding their professional field and their cooperation with the iCampus team.
Promotion of key experiences
Target group: elementary school
Individual events such as “Schmökerabend” or “StadtLesen” can be seen as an attempt to create accents even for our youngest offspring with key experiences, as long as they are able to read. Further examples for this approach would be playful events for children like treasure hunts, or contributions to the “Children's University”, where school children can get inside the university and see what it is like to be a student. All that helps to answer the question: “What can libraries offer, that other institutions cannot?” This selfless commitment matches the model of the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau and helps build bridges with the users of tomorrow. Especially children’s enthusiasm for science in general can be improved nowadays.
Pupils at the gates
Our library tries to counteract current phenomena which fuel children’s decreasing motivation to read with further activities. Since the latest regulation to change the current administrative order in Gymnasium (German high or secondary schools) in the school year of 2014/2015, it is now obligatory for these schools to regularly visit the library with groups of school classes for seminar courses. These seminar courses are designed to build up scientific competence, thus school children from all surrounding schools, including Eichwalde, Zeuthen, Königs Wusterhausen,Wittenberge and many more towns, have already become regular users of the university library. Courses for school children regarding topics like library introductions; research exercises and information literacy make up 30 percent of the training courses offered by our library.
Offers of collegiate education and training
Since 2006, the team has regularly carried out training during the local semester for interested colleagues from different information facilities, including topics like statistics, “Makerspace”, ethnological methods, RFID etc. On a yearly basis, approximately 60 colleagues from different sectors and the whole of the German-speaking region participate in these sessions. These courses, which normally take 2 days, are organized by the center for technology transfer and advanced training at the University of Applied Sciences Wildau called “Technologietransfer- und Weiterbildungszentrum” (TWZ e.V.).
Especially strong demand for the workshop series on basics of computer science for librarians brought forth the part-time Master’s Degree program for Library Informatics during the last year. During four semesters 60 credit points can be earned in 10 modules to attain a degree in Master of Science in Library Informatics. The content covers topics such as project management, programming, databases, interfaces, library management systems, IT security, search engines, etcetera. The degree program is now limited to 12 students a year. The first registered group of students consists of 9 students and started in September 2015. At the start of the new winter semester 2016/17 a second group will begin. This globally unique Master’s Degree is in cooperation with the “Wildau Institute of Technology e.V”. (WIT), which is affiliated with the Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau.
Wildau library symposium
Another regular, advanced training on offer for colleagues is the Library Symposium in Wildau, which is organized by our library and held on a yearly basis in September. Every year up to one hundred participants take part in approximately twenty presentations each year. This year will be the 9th annual symposium. It is dedicated to scientific approaches, new technologies, services and event formats, and especially to open perspectives for new paths regarding the library business. A distinctive feature of these meetings is, among other things, that speakers from other branches report about new developments, which gives librarians an added external impetus.
Education of interns and apprentices
The university library has continuously educated specialists for media and information services for 15 years now. This also includes trainees who have already completed another apprenticeship. Overall, sixteen apprentices were or are still working in the library. They are familiarized with all business processes, but also work on different projects on their own. So far, each and every former apprentice has found a new job.
Taking care of interns
Schools are generally in need of institutions which take care of interns for pupils in the 9th grade, giving them the opportunity to have a look into the world of work. Up to 10 interns every year were able to profit from this approach and hopefully came to the realization that, despite the importance of the internet, libraries are still important for our society and even could be a possibility for their own vocational future.
Also, students from the degree program of library science at the University of Potsdam and the Humboldt University in Berlin apply at our library as interns. A special cooperation exists with the State College of Siauliai in Lithuania. Every year, two students are sent as part of the Erasmus program for two to three months to our library. This year we had our fourth pair of Lithuanian interns.
Knowledge management
To share experiences, internal knowledge management is of great importance. Information must be accessible quickly and available to everyone. To reach this goal and to support collaborative work, we use a variety of tools. Due to this, it is possible to coordinate all project participants and provide them with the necessary information.
Internal Wiki documentation: We have an internal Wiki, which was built with the open source software Media Wiki and serves to gather and spread information about work flows or project information. Every colleague is able to edit and update all the information. You can also find protocols and reports of past meetings in this Wiki.
Intranet for spreading current information and announcements: All the news which targets every colleague is spread with the help of an internal blog. That includes, among other things, the introduction of new interns and student assistants, planned events, announcements as well as short reports from meetings and business trips. The blog is used and commented on daily by the library staff. Therefore, information is spread throughout our library on a very high level.
"Trello" as a project management tool:
"Trello" is a browser based project management tool and supports our library by managing current and future projects.
It works like this: you can create cards for different projects. Every card contains the name of the project as well as the persons who are in charge. The cards can be sorted in the following order: To do, doing and done. In this way you can always see who works on which project and also its current status.
Trello Projektmanagementsoftware
Collaborative work: Collaborative work on documents is always part of project work. To make it possible for every participant to work together independent from location, time and institution, we use tools like Google drive or alternatively, Google docs or “Etherpad” which enable collaborative work.
