In our first class we discussed the importance of teaching in libraries, and how the place of the librarian has in many cases shifted from behind the reference desk to more mobile, personal interactions. My entire interest in the field hinges on this shift--before I decided to become a librarian, I was planning on being a professor. I love teaching, and I'm starting to think I am going to like teaching as a librarian more than I'd like teaching as a professor. Of course, I'm aiming for a combination of different types of teaching--college-level courses on literature (if I'm as lucky as my old boss at the Fales Library) as well as day-to-day tasks like showing patrons how to find the resources they need.
The text on creating one-shot library workshops seems like a useful one, though it's a bit difficult to gauge from just one chapter. Some of the language rubbed me the wrong way, especially the assertions that certain things will automatically go wrong, and that people won't be able to get along peacefully--I'm sure the author only means to cover worst-case scenarios, but this sort of pessimism always gets to me (being constantly told "you're going to have team conflicts" in 501 while my team got along fantastically didn't work for me either). There seems to be an assumption that the hypothetical team members have never worked together before, which seems unlikely to me. Most libraries don't have a big enough staff for people in the same department to be total strangers to one another.
That said, the ADDIE method seems like a solid guideline for this sort of project, and probably for most other types of project. The emphasis on background analysis is key, since in many cases this sort of workshop would be initiated simply by pinpointing a needed piece of instruction. Analyzing the situation will allow the workshop-creator to see the problem in context, and possibly identify related topics that can be incorporated into the lesson plan. The production of a workshop template that can be modified for future use and shared between different instructors is another excellent point, and justifies the rather extensive amount of time needed to go through the ADDIE process. In the case of the online tutorials mentioned in Johnston, creating a high-quality initial product is essential, as it will be used more or less without oversight by a librarian or other instructor.
Overall, I think the One-Shot reading does a lot to acknowledge the time and budget constraints that librarians attempting to implement these methods, but doesn't necessarily give solutions to these limitations. Perhaps the rest of the book provides strategies for working around a paucity of resources as well as concrete examples of how to implement the very appealing strategies presented in this excerpt.
I really like your comments about identifying topics that relate to your original topic idea. In terms of creating workshops, I feel like it could be very easy to get into a rut: exploring Microsoft Office Suite, Learning Facebook, Learning to Optimize Google (or, really, anything with Learning or Exploring in the title)seem to be the norm. But by identifying and offering related workshops, you are afforded a wealth of opportunities to better understand your community. For example, if a user liked one workshop (and your instruction), s/he is more likely to come to another, related one. At this second one, s/he can build upon his/her learning process, and you, as the librarian, can develop a better understanding of his/her wants and needs. That user may be reflective of the larger community and, as such, interacting more frequently may result in even more understanding of that community. It's a huge cycle that keeps going!
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