Transcript Document 7163201

TRAINING AND ORIENTATION
FOR LIBRARIANS
Joanne Oud,
Head of Collection Development
Eun-ha Spiteri,
Reference and Collection Librarian
Angela Madden,
Professor
Wilfrid Laurier University
Session: 403
3:45 pm - 5:00 pm
How effective is your orientation and training for new
librarians? Find out what works (and what doesn't), and
what new librarians know (or don't yet know!). Avoid the
most common training problems as you learn to improve
upon the design of training and orientation programs.
Getting to know you
What kind of library are you from?
What type of position do you have?
Getting to know us
How did we get to this point?

observation

the project

interviews/questionnaire

analysis

training issues
Survey Finding # 1
Facts and figures about training
Training received
50
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Informal
(46%) Formal
(41%)
None
(13%)
Training
Length of training
7-12 hrs
26%
1-6 hrs
33%
13+ hrs
41%
Availability of mentor
No Mentor
Formal Mentor
Informal Mentor
0
10
20
30
40
50
Training methods
One on one discussion
95%
Trainee asking questions
87%
Group session
36%
Practice exercises
25%
Training manual
17%
What training methods would have
worked better?
 Structured training
 Hands-on exercises
 Clearer job description
 Training manual
 Scheduled time for questions
Training content
 Job duties
94%
 Library staff introductions
92%
 Informal expectations
57%
 Library politics and culture 33%
 Faculty introductions
30%
Survey Finding # 2
What don’t new librarians know
and what are their barriers to
learning?
Things people knew least
 How to say no to projects
 Faculty - outreach and interaction
 Speaking in meetings
 Expressing disagreement
 Library politics
What was hardest to learn
 Politics/culture
 “how to navigate the bureaucratic jungle”
 How to say “no”
 Dealing with conflict
 Lack of feedback and guidance
 How to deal with resistance to change
What was surprising/different
 Lack of feedback
 Amount of independence
 Flexibility/lack of structure
 Initiative expected
 When and how to make decisions
 Library politics
 Bureaucracy
 Generation gap
Learning barriers
 Lack of feedback
58%
 Feeling you should know
54%
 Assume you know more
39%
 Colleagues too busy
36%
 Inadequate training
35%
 Too much info at once
34%
Survey Finding # 3
What are the most common training
problems?
Summary: Common Problems
 Not enough training
 Too informal
 Too much initiative required of trainee
 No overall goal, plan
 Too much information at once
 Methods too dry
 Not enough practice
 Content does not match knowledge gaps
Suggestions for improvement
Suggestions for Improvement
 Staged /Structured Training plan over long term
 Formally assigned mentor
 Training manual, documentation
 More practical exercises
 Content: library culture and politics
Some real life experiences
Quality of Training: What actually happens?
Staged Training vs. All at once: Does anyone even think
about the options?
Hours of Training: How do you know what is enough?
What other factors make training successful or fail?
Why important?
Understanding Culture/Politics. How do we do that?
Resistance to Change and Generation Gap?
Our Top Ten Training Tips
Formal Education
Comprehensive Training
Time
Questions
Mentor
Feedback
Continuing Education
Manual
Follow-up
Questions?
The URL for our presentation:
http://info.wlu.ca/~wwwbrant/pages/infolit/OLA/index/
Contact Information
Joanne Oud
[email protected]
Eun-ha Spiteri,
[email protected]
Angela Madden
[email protected]