Librarians and Distance Education: Perspectives of the Digital Environment

Abstract

Since 2002, the Training Center for Continuing Education of Librarians in the Republic of Croatia (CSSU) has been organizing continuing education programs in the physical environment, and since 2018, in order to make education more accessible throughout Croatia, it has introduced webinars. The COVID-19 disease pandemic caused far-reaching changes - the sudden "migration" to the digital environment has encouraged the library community to develop new services and increase their quality. Accordingly, most of the training organized by CSSU took place online. In the context of new circumstances and methods of teaching, from 1 July to 1 September 2021, CSSU conducted a survey on the attitudes and participation of the Croatian library community in continuing professional development during and before the pandemic and expectations for the future. The poster will present part of the research related to the attitudes of the library community on distance learning in terms of its frequency, quality, time management, opportunities to develop competencies for the labor market such as self-discipline, entrepreneurship, initiative etc. Opinions on the advantages and disadvantages of distance education in relation to education in a physical environment (lack of communication and personal contact, easy loss of focus...) will also be taken into account.