Habits of Long Term Learners

This blog is "Thing Three" in the Learning 2.0 Project at the Nebraska Library Commission, in which we will all learn 23 new things. During Thing Two, we read about the habits of successful learners, but I believe I have formed my own learning habits over a lifetime of being intensely curious. Before the Web existed, before hyper linking was invented, I used my own form of following links by letting my curious nature lead me on a trail from one new concept to another. I am one of those people who will actually look up footnotes and bibliographic entries to see where they lead. A story about building shelters for refugees could lead to a reference to building a yurt, to an article in Architectural Record about designing a new type of temporary shelter using cardboard, to a book about building your own geodesic dome, and so on.

In the library I worked before joining NLC, we made an effort to become a Learning Organization. Many meetings began with a learning activity where we took turns teaching the group something new. We started scheduling an annual in-service training day that involved the entire staff. This commitment to learning as an organization made a huge difference in our ability to keep up with
emerging trends and the needs of our users.

So, it appears I have joined another Learning Organization and I couldn't be happier about it.