Busy technical services managers looking for reliable, theoretically-sound methods to incorporate formal and informal staff development into the everyday work of their employees will find them in this practical guide from Core: Leadership, Infrastructure, Futures.
Technical services departments are increasingly expected to do more with less, which means that finding a balance between meeting service demands and developing staff knowledge and skills is more challenging than ever. Today's next gen catalogs, changing cataloging rules, and diverse formats and delivery models demand that technical services professionals and paraprofessionals keep up with evolving best practices for the work they do. Fortunately, libraries can adopt methods such as Training Within Industry (TWI), lean management, and instructional design methodologies to develop a learning culture that continuously improves service delivery. Using case studies, this collection showcases a variety of creative and practical training development and organizational strategies that libraries and consortia have used to tackle issues related to skills gaps, remote work, student worker turnover, reorganizations, technology migrations, and more. You will learn about
- techniques for establishing a positive training and learning culture;
- project management tools and business methodologies such as a Deming approach and just-in-time training for continuous improvement and staff skill development;
- reactive and proactive approaches in the training program for the University of Nevada, Las Vegas Acquisitions Unit;
- how the University of Toronto Libraries (UTL) harnessed the power of remote work to undertake a library services platform migration during the pandemic;
- applying concepts from information literacy instruction to e-resources training;
- reinventing student worker training;
- collaborative initiatives such as cross-organizational learning through Community of Practice (CoP);
- assessing metadata competencies by transforming records for a multi-system migration in an academic library at a R1 research university; and
- how staff training and documentation eased a library system's transition from Voyager to Alma.
Industry Reviews
"Presents several training methodologies, examples, and case studies from academic and public libraries ... The underpinning principles and concepts presented throughout the book are applicable to any library area. In fact, the re-envisioning of libraries as learning organizations where change is expected and anticipated demands a supportive framework for training librarywide. Creating a culture of continuous learning enables staff to adapt and make changes quickly, in technical services and every other area of the library."
-- Journal of Electronic Resources Librarianship
"The authors concisely and clearly provide both practical case studies and philosophical arguments illustrating the many ways in which training can be successfully planned and implemented. Topics include student training, project management, just-in-time training and continued staff development, information literacy instruction, eresources training, and more. Although the majority of the 13 brief chapters are written by academic librarians, the problems and solutions discussed are applicable in any technical services setting ... Well-researched and written."
-- Library Journal
"The strength of this collection is in the diversity of methods and experiences shared by the authors. While all of the chapters represent the perspective of academic libraries or consortia, the organizational structures and staffing concerns are unique to each institution, resulting in a wide variety of approaches to technical services staff training ... There is something in this book to interest almost any technical services manager or administrator."
-- Technicalities
