Techies and Non-techies: We know we need each other!

I have to admit, after listening to the Aug. 13th 30-Minute MaintainIT Webinar, the Gershwin song "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" kept going through my mind. No, not because I wanted to break up with MaintainIT (we have such a great relationship!), but because of the title, "I say tomayto, you say tomahto: Communicating with techies and non-techies: Can’t we all just get along?"

The great Ross Callender, Northwest Regional Consultant from the Colorado Consortium of Libraries (CLiC), opened his magic bag and shared his experiences working with techies and non-techies alike. He gave examples of lessons he's learned from communicating with both groups and provided some great tips, including:

• Finding out how to capture those elusive error message codes;
• Tips for Non-techies: Be specific, Learn as much as you can, Don’t assume tech people know Libraryland; and
• Tips for Techies: Avoid technical terms, Repetition is important, Know your library, and Discuss librarian’s needs.

If you missed the webinar, not to worry - you can still listen to the archive. All archives of the 30-Minute Webinars can be found on WebJunction's archive page.

But wait, there's more!

• There's a sneak peek of the new Cookbook Chapter,"Communicating with Techies and Non-Techies". It includes one of the resources that Ross mentioned, a great website for looking up techie terminology, Webopedia, as well as another resource, Geekipedia, if you are ready to really get "Wired".
• You can also read and listen to the Library Spotlight on Loren McRory, Libraries and IT: A Win-Win Situation and find out how one librarian turned a county IT department into a shared asset.