May Continuing Education Opportunities

With promises of a sunny May, these workshops will brighten your day! The following workshops in Chelmsford, Danvers, Lowell, Marblehead, Merrimac, South Hamilton, and Tewksbury, still have room:

Learn at Lunch: Adobe Acrobat, it's not just a free download! Monday, May 16, 2005 - 12:00 PM to 01:30 PM - Chelmsford Public Library Learn at Lunch: Mozilla Firefox - what's all the buzz!? Tuesday, May 17, 2005 - 12:00 PM to 01:30 PM - Hamilton/Wenham Public Library, South Hamilton Internet Privacy Survival Guide Wednesday, May 18, 2005 - 03:00 PM to 04:30 PM - NMRLS, Danvers More than Basic Excel: Macros and Linking Cells and Spreadsheets Thursday, May 19, 2005 - 01:00 PM to 03:00 PM - Senior Center Branch, Pollard Memorial Library, Lowell Having Fun with Emerging Technologies Friday, May 20, 2005 - 10:00 AM to 04:00 PM - Tewksbury Public Library, Tewksbury When Customers Cross the Line: Harassment in the Library II, Continued Discussions Monday, May 23, 2005 - 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM - NMRLS, Danvers Music on the Web, digital audiobooks, & the digital media scene! Tuesday, May 24, 2005 - 03:00 PM to 05:00 PM - Merrimac Public Library What's on Your Mind? a MLA/NMRLS Paralibrarian Discussion on Communication Wednesday, May 25, 2005 - 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM - Abbot Public Library, Marblehead Learn at Lunch: Wireless in Merrimac! Thursday, May 26, 2005 - 12:00 PM to 01:30 PM - Merrimac Public Library For workshop descriptions go to: www.nmrls.org/ce/amj2005.shtml To Register, go to: www.nmrls.org/ce/ceform.shtml

Changes in the Basic Library Techniques (BLT) schedule

The four Regional Library Systems offering the BLT workshops have agreed upon a new scheme to balance when these important workshops are held. This new schedule will go into effect in 2006 and will allow a participant to complete the BLT within a single year, if s/he wishes. The Northeast Region's annual BLT workshop will move to the Spring in 2006. To transition to this new schedule, NMRLS will be offering a workshop in both the Fall of 2005 (Materials Selection) and the Spring of 2006 (Cataloging). The exact dates for these NMRLS workshops have not yet been set. Notice for the Fall workshop will be sent via the NMRLS discussion list in August, and will be advertised in the NMRLS Newsletter and quarterly Continuing Education Calendar. The BLT schedule is online at: www.wmrls.org/ce/basic.html

Workshop:	Administration	Cataloguing	Materials Selection	Reference
2005	SEMLS Fall	CMRLS Spring	NMRLS Fall	WMRLS Fall
2006	WMRLS Fall	NMRLS Spring	CMRLS Spring	SEMLS Fall
2007	CMRLS Spring	SEMLS Fall	WMRLS Fall	NMRLS Spring
2008	NMRLS Spring	WMRLS Fall	SEMLS Fall	CMRLS Spring
2009	SEMLS Fall	CMRLS Spring	NMRLS Spring	WMRLS Fall
2010	WMRLS Fall	NMRLS Spring	CMRLS Spring	SEMLS Fall
2011	CMRLS Spring	SEMLS Fall	WMRLS Fall	NMRLS Spring
2012	NMRLS Spring	WMRLS Fall	SEMLS Fall	CMRLS Spring

For more information from the Mass. Board of Library Commissioners on the BLT workshops: www.mlin.lib.ma.us/grants/state_aid/certification/blt_information.php

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Distance Education for MLS Study

If you're interested in online MLS programs, the Central Jersey Regional Library Cooperative has comparisons of ALA-accredited programs as part of its "Become a Librarian" campaign. See www.becomealibrarian.org/DistanceEdComparison.htm for locations, costs, and application information.