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The Carpentries Instructor Training for Librarians

This post originally appeared on the Library Carpentry website

By Chris Erdmann, John Chodacki

We are pleased to announce an open Carpentries instructor training course on 30-31 August geared specifically for the Library Carpentry movement supported by a grant to the California Digital Library from the IMLS.

Open call for instructor training

This course will take place in Calgary, Alberta, Canada at the University of Calgary Libraries. The two-day course is open to anyone and the event will focus on preparing members of the library community as Carpentries instructors. The sessions will be led by Carpentries staff and community members, Karen Word, Juliane Schneider, and Chris Erdmann.

What is Library Carpentry?

For those who don’t know, Library Carpentry is a global community of library professionals who are developing Carpentries-style lessons to train the library community in software and data skills.

There are a number of ways to get in touch with us starting with our Twitter account @libcarpentry.

Library Carpentry is actively creating training modules for librarians and holding workshops around the world. It’s a relatively new movement that has received support from two IMLS grants, Shifting to Data Savvy and Expanding Library Carpentry. You can learn more about it by reading: Library Carpentry: software skills training for library professionals.

Why should you get certified as a Carpentries Instructor?

Library Carpentry is a movement tightly coupled with The Carpentries, a project that comprises the Software Carpentry and Data Carpentry lesson projects. Since all are based on a train-the-trainer model, one of our challenges has been how to get more experience as instructors. This issue is handled within The Carpentries by requiring instructor certification. Although certification is not a requirement for involvement in Library Carpentry, doing so will help us refine workshops, teaching modules, and grow the movement. Also, by getting certified, you can start hosting your own Library Carpentry, Software Carpentry, or Data Carpentry events on your own campus or within your own organisation. It’s a great way to engage with your campuses and library community!

Prerequisites

Applicants will learn how to teach people the skills and perspectives required to work more effectively with data and software. The focus will be on evidence-based education techniques and hands-on practice; as a condition of taking part, applicants must agree to:

Abide by The Carpentries Code of Conduct, which can be found at https://docs.carpentries.org/topic_folders/policies/code-of-conduct.html,

  • Agree to teach at a Library Carpentry workshop within 12 months of completing the course, and

  • Complete three short tasks after the course in order to complete the certification.

The tasks take a total of approximately 8-10 hours: see http://carpentries.github.io/instructor-training/checkout/ for details.

Costs

This course will be held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, funded under the IMLS grant RE-85-17-0121-17 and supported by the California Digital Library. No-one will be turned down based on inability to pay and a small number of travel awards will be made available.

Accommodation

Discounts will be available thanks to the University of Calgary Libraries at the on campus Hotel Alma.

How to Apply

We hope to see you there! To apply for this Carpentries Instructor training course for librarians, please submit your application by 15 July, 2018:

https://amy.carpentries.org/forms/request_training/

Under “Group Name” on the application form, it is extremely important to include “2018-08-30-ttt-calgary”, otherwise, your application will not be considered.

More information

If you have any questions about this instructor training course, please contact chris@carpentries.org. And if you have any questions about the Library Carpentry movement, please get in touch with us.