The Practical Library Trainer »

Develop a library staff training program that really works!

To stay on top of the lightning-fast changes in the library field and provide your patrons with the best service possible, you need to establish and sustain an effective program for training your staff. The Practical Library Trainer examines the concept of the library as a learning place for patrons and staff, offering a comprehensive view of training from an administrator’s perspective. Bruce E. Massis, author of The Practical Library Manager (Haworth), addresses the essential issues of how to develop a strong program of continuous instruction, including customer service, reporting, recruitment, and retention of staff. The book focuses on the integration of staff training as a blended activity instead of an intervention, quelling the notion of training as an “add-on” to existing staff duties.

The current information-rich environment provides your patrons with an abundance of resources to choose from for their research needs. But they can’t do it alone-they need direction from a knowledgeable librarian who can recognize the pedigree, currency, and validity of licensed resources, particularly those available through electronic means. The Practical Library Trainer uses the goal of long-range customer service as a starting point, emphasizing the return on investment possibilities from blended training methods as a key to meeting your patrons’ high expectations of service. The book also provides examples from outside the library community to demonstrate the importance of training on a non-library setting and looks at future training issues.

The Practical Library Trainer examines:

• types of staff training (formal, informal, employer-provided, qualifying, skill improvement)
  
• strategies for recruiting and retaining a staff
  
• blended learning
  
• e-training
  
• in-house training
  
• how to use professional conferences as continuing education opportunities
  
• how to evaluate your training program
  
• a sample of an “anywhere, anytime” education and training program
  
• and much more!

The Practical Library Trainer is an important resource for making sure your patrons get the most from your library—and your staff.

Doody Review Services

Reviewer:Bruce A. Johnston, MLS(Duquesne University)
Description:This book provides a practical framework for planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating contemporary staff training and development programs in libraries. Emphasis is placed on programs incorporating ROI (Return on Investment) measurements, e-learning, and blended learning styles.
Purpose:The author examines library staff training issues and processes relating to customer service, staff recruitment/retention, and integration of training activities into existing routines and duties. Effective training programs, both "library-specific" as well as general, take on added significance in today's heavily information-driven environment of increasingly rapid technological developments in all areas of the library (from reference and research functions to user interactions to technical services). The author provides a comprehensive analysis of a variety of staff training approaches as well as a case study.
Audience:With librarians and library administrators as the primary audience, the book succeeds in addressing many of the unique training and staff development parameters for library personnel. The author not only has been active in the library profession for more than twenty years, but also has served in numerous official capacities in professional associations including the American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).
Features:Salient features of this book include a discussion of the components of successful staff training and development programs, the role of conferences and seminars in the training process, and the importance of blended learning processes. Measurement of Return on Investment (ROI) and discussion of evaluation methodologies comprise several important chapters. A case study of blended learning applications developed and implemented at the Southeast Florida Library Information Network provides a useful conclusion to the book's analysis. Several appendices, including a detailed Staff Training Outcomes Survey Questionnaire, as well as an extensive corporate training and library-specific bibliography complete this book with practical additional resources.
Assessment:Against the backdrop of continual innovation in the development of library programs, services, and technology, this book successfully addresses the need for comprehensive discussion and analysis in libraries designing and implementing meaningful learning and training opportunities for staff. Resources from diverse training and staff development environments are gathered together, providing library managers and administrators with practical and useful guidelines for planning, developing, implementing, and evaluating their staff training initiatives.

Introduction

Chapter 1 Readying the Library for a Staff Training Program
Chapter 2 Recruitment and Retention: Can These Issues Benefit from a Staff Training Program?
Chapter 3 Suggestions fro an Anywhere Anytime Education and Training Program for Library Staff
Chapter 4 The Workplace as Learning Place
Chapter 5 Train the Trainer: An In-House Training Opportunity
Chapter 6 The Conference as a CE Opportunity
Chapter 7 The ROI Report and E-Training
Chapter 8 Is the Library CE Program Working? Evaluating the Staff Training Program
Chapter 9 Library Training: a Futurist Perspective
Chapter 10 Delivering Blended Learning to Library Staff in Southeast
Florida: A Case Study
Selected Training Bibliography
Appendices
Index
Reference Notes Included