Webinars

A WEBINAR IS defined as a talk on a subject which takes place online, allowing a group of people in different places to watch, listen and sometimes respond simultaneously (Macmillan Dictionary, 2015). Webinars are an economical and efficient way to provide staff education (AWHONN News and Views, 2010), offering a great alternative to traditional courses, which usually involve taking time out of work (including preparation, travel time and overnight stays) and often require funding. Attendance at all-day workshops can leave staff thinly stretched, thus creating hardship for those left staffing the building in their absence.

Webinars (especially archival webinars, which allow staff to watch them at their convenience) address this problem, as they are often not very long and mean that staff do not have to leave their desks or the physical building in order to participate in the learning (Matteson, Schlueter and Hidy, 2013). Furthermore, with ever-decreasing staff development budgets, webinars provide an excellent way to keep up to date with developments without the expense or time commitment required from a course or conference.

There are many webinars covering a multitude of topics, including copyright, MOOCs, discovery services amongst many others. The very nature of the internet means that it is not location-driven, therefore you can take part in webinars broadcast from other parts of the world. However, it is important to be aware of the time zone that it is occurring in so that you do not miss it. It is also important to be aware of any cost implications and to advise staff to check these with their line managers. They may be able to arrange funding as part of personal development and it is worth checking whether the organization is affiliated with the provider, as this can entitle participants to free access.

Webinar providers

Examples of webinar providers include organizations such as the National Information Standards Organization (NISO, 2016) which tend to cover topics such as responsive web design, MOOCs or text mining. Membership is needed to join these webinars, so check whether your organization is a member. Other providers include associations such as the United Kingdom Serial Group (UKSG), which focuses on developments in the serials world such as altmetrics or Creative Commons, and publishers, which focus their webinars on providing training or information about their products, such as ProQuest (see Further Reading).