Anytime, Anywhere Answers: Building Skills for Virtual Reference "is a training curriculum that addresses core competencies—the critical skills, abilities and aptitudes—for library staff providing virtual reference services. The curriculum was created for the Statewide Virtual Reference Project by Mary Ross and Daria Cal, Seattle Public Library, assisted by Emily Keller, a student at the University of Washington Information School."
The great thing about this resource is that you don't have to register to see a lot of the terrific material that's been prepared for the course. A few of the several PDF files available include core competencies for virtual reference, tips for using chat, and how to efficiently set up your desktop. Your federal tax dollars (LSTA) at work.
[from the virtual reference blog lbr]
The Mouse Skills tutorial at the Highland Park (IL) library is very nicely done. And, at the end, they refer the user to an old favorite, Mouserobics, from the Central Kansas Library System.
I've been teaching the public basic computer and Internet use two Sundays a month at my local public library since I retired from there (yes, I retire a lot) in 1997. My bar-none favorite mouse tutorial program is the one that came with the Gates grants machines which my library got about three years ago. The worst time in my teaching these volunteer classes was when I came in one Sunday to find the machines reconfigured and the mouse tutorial gone! It took me six months of nagging to get the program back on. It's a great tutorial and available to any library providing public access computers. You can get the most beginning computer user to do it and they come out the other end of the 15 minute tutorial with a much better understanding of how the mouse and how windows work. You, of course, need to install it on a Windows operating system. I've installed it on my personal laptop to show folks when I'm out and about.
Available in English and Spanish at Adding the Mouse Tutorial to Your Other Public Access Computers.
I was using MedlinePlus to check on information on osteoarthritis of the hip. I have it and am closing in on a total hip replacement. This librarian is researching! Anyway, just ran across MedlinePlus' collection of interactive tutorials on health -- understandable English (and in Spanish) and available with sound plus the graphics and words.
Interactive Health Tutorials : MEDLINEplus
"Using animated graphics each tutorial explains a procedure or condition in easy-to-read language." You can also listen to the tutorial. More than 150 interactive tutorials explain specific medical diseases and conditions, specific medical tests and diagnostic procedures, and specific surgery and treatment procedures.
XML.org's XML Beginner's Guide is actually a set of links to tutorials and FAQ's posted elsewhere. There are links to three FAQs, one glossary, three XML specifications, six tutorials, and more. Some sample links:
+ XML for the absolute beginner;
+ 20 Questions on XML;
+ XML Namespaces FAQ;
+ Pros and Cons of XML;
+ XML: 11 Best Practices
from Gary Price's Resource Shelf