Staff Development for Technology


"It is estimated the "half life of knowledge" for an IT professional is eighteen months. Not even medicine has as short a half life. So the need for constant updating of both technical and professional skills is constant." Howard Spivak, Director for Library Systems & Academic IT

Each year Library and Academic IT staff enjoy many professional development opportunities–this document is filled with references to the many conferences, training programs, expos, and so forth in which faculty and staff participated. Our membership in MetroSET www.metroset.org pays dividends many times over, as staff and faculty participate in its excellent local programs. Systems staff also invest a great deal of time in what they think of as "self education"–studying the latest books, technology magazines, and manuals.

Professional development is certainly no luxury for staff whose day-to-day responsibilities include building Web-enabled infrastructures, developing new patron-focused architectures and applications, supporting mobile access to technologies, and implementing security management. Rather, it is essential. These are some of the training opportunities of which staff availed themselves in 2002-2003:

Linux World Conference and Expo Javits Convention Center, NYC - January 30, 2002

MLA Satellite Teleconference "Sync or Swim: Managing the Flood of PDAs in Health Care" New York University - February 6, 2002

Intranets on a Shoestring Metropolitan New York Library Council, NYC - February 20, 2002

Visual Studio Net Product Launch Event Manhattan Center, NYC - March 14, 2002

"What Matters Most" Time Management Workshop Metropolitan New York Library Council, NYC - March 19, 2002

Knowledge Management and Academic Libraries Professional Development Workshop Baruch College, NYC - March 26, 2002

Microsoft Education Solutions Group - Active Directory/Exchange University Microsoft Regional Office, NYC - April 1, 2002

New Media Centers Annual Summer Conference Ohio State University, Columbus, OH - June 19 - 22, 2002 TECHXNY/PC EXPO Conference/Exposition Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, NYC - June 25, 2002

MacWorld Conference/Exposition Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, NYC - July 17, 2002

METRO Digitization Symposium Baruch College, NYC - July 17, 2002

Streaming Media East Conference/Exposition Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, NYC - October 1, 2002

Mac OS Seminar with Apple Systems Engineer City University of New York - October 23, 2002

"Unix inside, MAC outside." Apple presentation Columbia University, NYC - November 20, 2002

Microsoft Lunch 'n' Learn Seminar Series: Wireless Networking and Tablet PC Seminar Microsoft Regional Office, NYC - December 4, 2002

New York Digital Video Show 2003 Conference/Exposition Madison Square Garden, NYC - January 31, 2003

Supervisory Challenges: Dealing with Difficult Employees Support Center at 305 7th Avenue NYC - February 4, 2003

Blackboard Users Conference 2003 Washington, DC - February 25-27, 2003

Photoshop Seminar Tour Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, NYC - March 14, 2003

American Library Association conferences (New Orleans; Atlanta; Philadelphia)