As I mentioned during Employee Learning Week 2007, PLCMC is participating in a library exchange program with the Yarra Plenty Regional Library system in Australia. Last Thursday I had the pleasure to host Lynette Lewis and Jane Grace the two staff from YPRL who are spending five weeks with us at PLCMC.

After a delicious lunch at Dean & DeLuca I took Lynette and Jane to South County Regional Library for a quick tour and a chance to observe the Introduction to PLCMC Online Resources class that we offer for staff. Interestingly enough YPRL subscribes to the same database that we teach in this class. Lynette does the technology training for YPRL so it is always interesting to get another trainers point of view and feedback on your classes.

Here is a photo of Lynette and Jane during the class:

And they came bearing gifts!

I am so glad that I had a chance to talk with Lynette and Jane and learn about their library system. One of the fascinating things they’ve done at YPRL is removed the traditional reference desk. The desk is literally gone. Instead staff walk around and offer to help customers similar to the way a bookstore operates. By eliminating huge reference desks they’re able to use that space for the public.

If you would like to follow along with Lynette and Jane’s visit to Charlotte add their Yarra Exchange to PLCMC blog to your feeds.