Missouri, North Carolina and Pennsylvania state sites added to WebJunction community

DUBLIN, Ohio, USA, 8 February 2010—WebJunction, the leader in online learning for library staff, is working with the State Library of North Carolina, the Missouri State Library, and HSLC/Access PA to launch three new state sites, WebJunction–North Carolina, WebJunction–Missouri and WebJunction–Pennsylvania. Library staff in these states now have access to courses, articles, discussions and a professional network that will keep their skills up-to-date and help their libraries stay relevant to current user needs.

As part of these online learning communities, members will connect with people from across the library community using social and professional networking tools; create and publish their own content; participate in discussions and form interest groups; take courses on a wide range of technology and library skill subjects; and engage in an online community experience that makes learning fun.

"The State Library of North Carolina is thrilled to have established WebJunction–North Carolina at this critical time," said Mary Boone, State Librarian, State Library of North Carolina. "With training and travel funds essentially frozen for many libraries, WebJunction–North Carolina will enable us to create an online learning community that can improve library work skills and services through online training, while also enhancing communications among libraries and library staff across our state."

"Pennsylvania's Office of Commonwealth Libraries is delighted to open the resources of WebJunction to the library community of Pennsylvania. As libraries everywhere are facing increased use and decreased resources, it is imperative we maximize our skills and share our experiences statewide and beyond," said Mary Clare Zales, Deputy Secretary for Libraries, Pennsylvania.

"The Missouri State Library constantly seeks out new learning opportunities for staff in Missouri's libraries. The training courses offered on WebJunction–Missouri are helping us meet our goal of better informed, better prepared library staff serving the citizens of Missouri," said Margaret Conroy, Missouri State Librarian.

"The WebJunction–Missouri portal enhances our ability to communicate with libraries throughout the state, and offers our first platform for personal, interactive online conversation. Furthermore, the ability to put remote libraries in touch with each other will provide them invaluable networking opportunities not available elsewhere," added Ms. Conroy.

Visit these WebJunction partner sites on the Web: WebJunction–Missouri http://mo.webjunction.org/; WebJunction–North Carolina http://nc.webjunction.org/; and WebJunction–Pennsylvania http://pa.webjunction.org/.

Launched in 2003 with support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, OCLC and partners from across the library community, WebJunction receives 60,000 visits each month through its courses, content and professional networks.

WebJunction–North Carolina, WebJunction–Missouri and WebJunction–Pennsylvania join 17 library organizations that offer custom communities for libraries and staff: Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; WebJunction-British Columbia, a partnership between British Columbia Library Association (BCLA), British Columbia Teacher-Librarians’ Association, and the British Columbia Library Trustees Association; Connecticut State Library; Georgia Public Library Service; the Idaho Commission for Libraries; Illinois State Library; Indiana State Library; State Library of Iowa; State Library of Kansas; Maine State Library; WebJunction–Minnesota, a statewide partnership between Metronet, MINITEX and Minnesota State Library Services; OCLC Global Council; OCLC Research; the State Library of Ohio; Resource Sharing; Rhode Island Office of Library & Information Services and the Washington State Library.

To see a complete list of links to WebJunction partner communities, visit www.webjunction.org/partners.

About WebJunction
WebJunction serves to bridge the barriers to learning by providing open, affordable, online learning communities. Members take courses, attend events, share knowledge, and network with others, all in an environment that fosters collaboration and mutual support. The WebJunction vision is to be the place where the entire library profession gathers to build the knowledge, skills and support needed to power relevant, vibrant libraries. Founded in 2003 and based in Seattle, Washington, and Dublin, Ohio, WebJunction is supported in part by OCLC, grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Institute for Museum and Library Services, partners in state library agencies and other library systems and organizations, and the library community.

About OCLC
Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, OCLC is a nonprofit library service and research organization that has provided computer-based cataloging, reference, resource sharing, eContent, preservation, library management and Web services to 72,000 libraries in 112 countries and territories. OCLC and its member libraries worldwide have created and maintain WorldCat, the world’s richest online resource for finding library materials. Search WorldCat.org on the Web. For more information, visit the OCLC Web site.

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