• Managed the staff training and development program at the Seattle Public library for eight years.
• Coordinated five all staff in-service days for SPL.
• Developed and taught four classes on Web search strategies for the University of Washington Continuing Education program in library science.
• Created the Internet Information Services Training (IIST) program for reference services staff at the Seattle Public Library.
• Adapted the IIST program for presentation to a wider audience. Presented in ten locations throughout the state of Washington, “Expanding Your Resources: Using the Web in Library Reference Services” was funded by the Washington State Library.
• Gave presentations on effective Web searching strategies at WLA, PNLA, WALE, ASIST and WMLA conferences.

A founding member of the Washington Library Trainers (WALT), she developed and coordinated a WALT-sponsored panel discussion called "Real-Time Reference: Are We Ready for 24/7?"  She has served on the Board of Directors for CLENE, the ALA round table on continuing education, and has written several articles for the CLENExchange.

She created Anytime, Anywhere Answers: Building Skills for Virtual Reference, a training curriculum used in Washington State by the Statewide Virtual Reference Project.  With Buff Hirko, she wrote Virtual Reference Training: The Complete Guide to Providing Anytime, Anywhere Answers (ALA Editions, 2004).  This nationally acclaimed training program was featured in presentations at the 2002 and 2003 Virtual Reference Desk Conferences.

Mary collaborated with Daria Cal on two workshops: Going Virtual and Virtual Reference 101. These workshops have been presented throughout Washington State and in Puerto Rico to library staff interested in the basics of planning and implementing virtual reference services.

She designed Ensuring Access, a training curriculum on intellectual freedom, and Ready for Reference: Effective Reference Interview Skills, for Seattle Public Library.  The Ensuring Access training curriculum has been featured in programs at the Public Library Association Conference (2004), the Illinois Library Association Conference (2004), the Arizona Library Association Conference (2005), the New Jersey Library Association (2006) and in an article in ILA Reporter.

An online course, adapted from the Ensuring Access curriculum, was provided through LibraryU in May 2006.

She received a graduate certificate in Distance Learning Design and Development from the University of Washington in June 2003.

Mary and Daria also designed an online course, SEARCH Strategies & STARTing Points: Effective Use of the Internet in Library Reference, for Washington WebJunction. Their most recent project is a self-paced tutorial on virtual reference called the Virtual Reference Adventure: Choose Your Own Experience.
 
 

Updated February 8, 2007.