Technology Training in Libraries: The Tech Set 6

Citation

Secker, J. (2011), "Technology Training in Libraries: The Tech Set 6", Program: electronic library and information systems, Vol. 45 No. 2, pp. 240-242. https://doi.org/10.1108/00330331111129769

I often approach technology books with an air of caution, knowing they date very quickly. However, the editor of this series of books is Ellyssa Kroski, the US Librarian, information consultant and author of a really informative blog I regularly read called the iLibrarian (http://oedb.org/blogs/ilibrarian/), which is always full of up‐to‐date relevant information. Books in the series are designed to be “fast paced guides” that claim they will help you “implement all the essential technologies and tools […] to deliver outstanding new services and remain relevant in the digital age”. Facet has republished this series of American books, originally published by Neal‐Schuman, of which this is book number six. I was impressed to see that in order to address the issue of the “fast pace” of change each book has a wiki available at: http://techset.wetpaint.com. Even if you decide not to buy the book, the wiki is a great source of information to complement the books, and also provide further information such as a nice photo of the author and some extra content. From reading the wiki I realised that Sarah Houghton‐Jan is also the author of a blog I read regularly – The Librarian in Black. The wiki certainly convinced me to read on!

I have been running a digital literacy training programme for around four to five years and wondered if a book on running technology training could really tell me anything new. As it is just over 100 pages long, I felt it was worth spending time finding out, and I was pleased I did. It has a sensible structure, providing some “technology training basics” in the Introduction, then moving on to planning, implementation, marketing, best practice and finishing with “measures of success” or evaluation. The book also has some recommended resources, a bibliography and an index.

The book focuses on what it terms “technology training”, which covers a whole range of IT training that can be offered to library staff, as well as sessions that are run for library users; it does, however, largely focus on library staff development. The Introduction outlines the importance of up‐skilling library staff with a range of appropriate IT skills to help them work more efficiently and deal with queries from users. Technology training for library staff will also reduce pressure on what the author terms the “tech pack mules”. The “mules” are staff who have a high level of IT skills and often end up serving as technical support for their colleagues, which can take them away from their regular work, but also lead to frustration on their part. I knew instantly the people meant – every library has these people. In her first chapter she also clearly outlines how to measure the “return on investment” from technology training, drawing up a skills list for different groups of staff based on the needs of the organization and the different ways of organizing training.

Chapter 2 covers planning training in more detail and is essentially aimed at library managers. It introduces the analyse, design, develop, implement and evaluate (ADDIE) training model and stresses the importance of ensuring that job descriptions accurately reflect the IT skills required by library staff. It also covers how to develop a skills list and then how to develop the list into an organizational technology training plan. All along the way the author provides tips on how to keep staff engaged, such as involving them in brainstorming sessions and getting them to self assess their skills against criteria. She is not keen on terms such as “information literacy” and “competencies” but advocates creating staff learning and innovation plans. She stresses the importance of assessing the current skills of your library staff (either anonymously or on an individual basis) and to ensure that new employees have the skills to do their job effectively. There are some useful tips from experienced trainers throughout the book, which really enliven the text. It also uses lots of bulleted lists that provide a useful summary of a topic.

Chapter 3 focuses on implementing training and is packed full of ideas, including the “23 Things” model of training from Helen Blowers, running lunchtime “brown bag” training, running peer training, and creating a train‐the‐trainer program. Some of the jargon in this book is very American, such as the “technology petting zoo” idea, but I can neither fault the author's enthusiasm, nor the volume of content that is included in this book. The chapter finishes by considering online training and self‐paced tutorials and I really liked the quotes from key library writers. On page 85, for example, she quotes from Stephen Abram, who advocated that all library staff should spend 15 minutes a day learning something new.

Chapter 4 on marketing is fairly brief but encourages you to always consider your audience and to choose an appropriate marketing vehicle. Meanwhile Chapter 5, on best practice, considers different learning styles, dealing with difficult learners, scheduling classes and creating a learning environment. Chapter 6 is entitled “Measures of success” and emphasises the importance of evaluating your training programmes, also using metrics to measure the impact of training. It explores how to measure both individual and group learning outcomes and considers using reassessment to measure the impact of a training course. Many of us circulate questionnaires to evaluate our training and there is a useful list of questions to include in such forms on pages 102‐103.

Finally the book has a list of recommended resources for technology trainers and a bibliography. I found the list of library training blogs on pages 110‐111 particularly useful. The book is a mine of information and I can see myself using it as I plan, implement and evaluate the training on offer at LSE. I would recommend this book for anyone involved in staff‐development activities in libraries. It is also really useful for information literacy co‐ordinators and those who manage training programmes.