Number 7 of 23: Email is a god-send. It has made it much easier to connect with my staff members with news of new books, scheduled events and general media information. I post a staff media newletter by attaching through email. That way, I never hear "I didn't get one." It also lets me correspond with staff members when I have time. They know that can email me and they will get an answer. If they walk into the media center, I might be with a class and the are not even able to ask me the questions. It is an essential tool of my job.
I wish we could use an online reference tool. As most of the questions would come after school hours, we do not have the funds to offer this service. As for during school hours, I am seldom at my desk, so it would not be a "live" conversation. I beleive this should be an essential tool for the college research libray or the help desk at the public library, but at this time, I cannot see it being used in my school site.
I have started a new service for my students. They can put holds on materials that are not available. As soon as they material is returned, my system notifies me of the hold. I then let the students know either through email or text messaging. I give the students the choice as some do not have access to one form of equipment or another.
I did not attend any of the webinars as I am quite familiar with them. I have done training on them in several venues. When we installed our new library system, a majority of the training was through webinar sessions. I have also participated in webinars through United Streaming. These helped me become familiar with the resources on United Streaming and I have used them to help train other staff members. I enjoy Webinars because they can be set up at convenient times that work into the schedule of the participants. Also, like the ones offered through Minitex, you as a user can decide what you want to partiicpate in and go for it.