ACRL News Issue (B) of College & Research Libraries 304 C on tin u in g E d u c a tio n O p p o rtu n ities T he following continuing education activities have been listed with ACRL’s Continuing Educa­ tion Clearinghouse. If your organization is spon­ soring an activity that you think may be of in te r­ est to ACRL m em bers, please send the pe rtin en t details to th e ACRL Office, 50 E. H uro n St., Chicago, IL 60611. November 2 9 -3 0 — M ic ro c o m p u te rs: “ M ic ro co m p u ters in E ducation, Harvard G raduate School of E d u ­ cation, Cam bridge, Massachusetts. Contact: Malcolm Ham ilton, Monroe C. G ut­ man L ibrary, Appian W ay, C am bridge, MA 02138; (617) 495-4225. December 3 -5 — Indexing: “Indexing in Perspective,” sem i­ nar, National F ederation of Abstracting and In ­ dexing Services, D rexel U niversity School of L ibrary and Inform ation Science, U niversity City Holiday Inn, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. C ontact: N ational F e d e ra tio n of A b stracting a n d I n d e x in g S e rv ic e s , 112 S. 16th S t., Philadelphia, PA 19102; (215) 563-2406. 6 -7 — N etw orking: “ In te rn a tio n a l L ib ra ry N e t­ w o r k in g ,” c o llo q u iu m , C o u n c il for C o m ­ p u te riz e d L ibrary N etworks, Im perial H ouse N orth, C olum bus, Ohio. Fee: $150 (includes lunches and dinner). C ontact: B arbara R obinson, D ire c to r, M e t­ ropolitan W ashington L ibrary C ouncil, 1875 E y e S t., N W , S u ite 200, W as h in g to n , D C 20006. ■■ C on tin u in g E d u c a tio n — X V III H uman beings engage in a rem arkable am ount of h ig h ly d e l ib e r a te le a rn in g . L ib r a r ia n s — particularly those who work in college and re ­ search libraries— m ight be in terested in the fresh picture that has recently em erged about d eliber­ ate learning. A b out 90 p e r c e n t o f a ll a d u lts a n d y o u n g people conduct at least one major learning effort each year. Indeed, the typical learn er conducts five q u ite d istin c t lea rn in g p ro jects in a year, focusing on five distinct areas of knowledge and skill (Tough, 1979). T he typical learner spends an average of 100 hours p e r learning effort—a total of 500 hours per year. Almost 10 hours per week! In whose hands is the day-to-day planning of what and how to learn? Only about 20 pe rce n t of all le a r n in g p ro je c ts a re p la n n e d by a professional— som eone trained, paid, or in stitu ­ tio n a lly d e s ig n a te d to fa c ilita te th e le a rn in g . A bout 73 p e rc e n t are p la n n e d by th e le a rn e r him self or herself, and th e o th e r 7 p e rc e n t by some other “am ateur” (Tough, 1979). T hese figures point out the enorm ous im p o r­ tance of librarians, both now and potentially in the future. W ithin continuing education, th ere is some evidence of a shift of focus. The traditional focus has been to provide education or instruc­ tion, usually in a group. The em erging focus is to facilitate re le v an t learning, th ro u g h books and o ther materials as well as in groups. This fresh picture of hum an learning suggests th ree implications for librarians. 1. Librarians should becom e com m itted to fos­ tering the e ntire range of m ajor learning ef­ forts and feel a kinship with the total help­ ing e n te rp ris e d e v o te d to facilitating th e person’s efforts to learn and change. 2. Librarians should experim ent with providing p rin te d m aterials and possibly individual c o u n s e lin g to h e lp p e o p le th o u g h tfu lly c hoose th e ir le a rn in g goals a n d b e co m e aware of the vast panorama of opportunities and m ethods available. 3. L ibrarians should try to improve as lea rn ­ ing c o n sultants a nd h e lp e rs; for exam ple, they can read about learning projects, study their own learning, read about being an ef­ fective helper, and seek constructive feed­ back. Self-planned learning is an area and an activity th a t lib ra rian s should c o n sid er w hen th in k in g about continuing education.—Allen Tough. E d ito rs Note: Allen Tough is an associate profes­ sor o f adult education at the Ontario Institute f o r Studies in E ducation a nd at the U niversity o f Toronto. ■■