Professional Development Blog

Opportunities in the weekly CCL professional development emails focus on primarily free webinars, courses, workshops. If.LSSC or other certificate of credit is known to be offered that is listed but hasn't been the focus of the opportunities curated for the email.

We would like to add more suggestions to the weekly emails for programs/institutions/individual courses that offer credit (or the chance to apply for credit through a partner institution) that anyone working in the library might pursue while working.  We are particularly interested in credit-bearing that could support further degrees, salary step changes, classification eligibility, etc. A separate guide is being created, as well.  

The kinds of credits we are thinking about include:

• Upper division units
• CEUs (continuing education credits)
• Post-baccalaureate level units
• Professional studies courses
• LSSC (Library Support Staff Certification) 

Here's an example: 

 Navigating the Future: Open Education with Generative AI   CCC Online Network of Educators

Explores the connections between Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), Open Educational Resources (OER), and Open Pedagogy. Gain essential AI literacy and have the opportunity to practice using one or more AI tools as well as review the basics of OER and Open Pedagogy.  Participants in this course can seek (2) optional graduate-level university credits through Fresno Pacific University. A separate fee due to FPU will apply.

• Have you participated in any recent courses or training that was credit-granting for librarians and classified professionals?  
• Are there any institutions that offer courses or programs like these you recommend?
• Do you have suggestions we can include in a guide?  

Would appreciate your input!

Reply to this blog or contact pd@cclibrarians.org, Thanks!

HEARING FROM YOU 

We use (and welcome!) recommendations and feedback on this project throughout the calendar year and evaluate the program. When we asked for your feedback in spring 2025, we got 77 responses, from people working in 58 different colleges across the California community college system (NOTE: Once college names are noted, the survey results are stripped of college name and job title to protect anonymity).

Some highlights from the multiple choice sections:

• 86% of respondents indicated they had attended professional development options because of the emails.
• Respondents are still spending hours monthly on professional development (see right) despite barriers that exist in our CCC sphere which limit or compromise time, travel, and budget.
• Respondents described the emails as informative and/or interesting, often introducing readers to opportunities previously unknown; only 7% of respondents reported “rare” or “never” as an answer about learning about opportunities through the emails.

Narrative comments were full and thoughtful, and they offered: 

• Various and specific ways the project was valuable and useful.
• Specific needs and new interests. Alma and Primo issues identified have been shared with the LSP Program Manager and broader professional development needs were shared with the CCL Leadership and Professional Development Committee which creates programs for north/south workshops and plans the Annual Meeting of CCL.

Nearly all written answers were positive, complimentary, and describing it as a useful service of CCL. Some written answers demonstrate the impact of the emails beyond mere listing of PD opportunities, such as being informed about the range of topics in libraries. One respondent suggested more direct support for CCL members instead of weekly emails. If there are specific needs that CCL is not meeting, don’t hesitate to share with CCL staff: admin@cclibrarians.org.

PLANS:

Weekly emails will continue through the 2025-2026 academic year. With the launch of the new CCL website, we will be exploring new distribution methods, with trackable user engagement.  We will be keeping abreast of any impact of funding changes affecting training and professional development offerings across the U.S. We will also continue to create unique guides, such as Generative AI for CCC Libraries.

Thank you for your comments and be in touch! pd@cclibrarians.org

How do the weekly professional development emails work?

In September of 2023, CCL began distributing weekly emails to all librarians and library staff in CCL libraries.  The objective is to share professional development opportunities—besides the ones that CCL itself offers—so help those interested find and use webinars, courses, training, and conferences.  Searching through sources in California and throughout the nation, and identifying in-person, synchronous and asynchronous options, the emails aim to cover a wide variety of content of interested to those in California community college libraries. Each email is a list with titles, descriptions from providers or creators, in chronological order, in Pacific Time.

Some questions and comments:

• Costs?  Most opportunities listed are free, or cost noted if found; confirm by clicking on link 
• LSSC or other credit offered?  Click a link to get more information or contact presenters 
• Recordings?  Click on link to investigate or contact presenters
• Can I share this email? Yes! share freely and recommend our listserv to those not already joined (the listserv CCLibrarians-All is open to all California Community College librarians, library staff, managers, and deans. To join this list, visit the following URL: https://groups.google.com/a/cclccc.org/forum/#!forum/cclibrarians-all/join
• Your feedback! If you have additions or corrections, email pd@cclibrarians.org. If you have attended workshops that met your needs–or didn’t do so–please be in touch.