Developing and Delivering Staff Training in Technical Services

 
Technical services departments are increasingly expected to do more with less, whether because of shrinking budgets, staff turnover, a lack of visibility, or insufficient understanding of their work on the part of administrators. Today’s increasingly complex library service platforms, changing cataloging rules, and diverse formats and delivery models demand that technical services professionals and paraprofessionals keep up with evolving technologies and best practices for the work they do. Finding a balance between meeting service demands and developing staff knowledge and skills is challenging, just as it is challenging to develop training programs and motivate staff to learn new skills. Training, however, is important not just in terms of service quality, but organizational wellbeing as well. Research in fields of organizational psychology and human resource management points to a correlation between satisfaction with workplace training and overall job satisfaction, and between job satisfaction and employee retention. However, successful training cannot rely on the job aids or a set of instructions, it must include elements of assessment to ensure knowledge acquisition. In academic libraries, tools like learning management systems, Springshare suite, quiz software, etc. are already available and can be adapted for technical services training.
This program will offer two different examples of training in technical services: in acquisitions and cataloging. The acquisitions training was intended to prepare staff for implementing ALMA acquisitions and used LibWizard as both a training tool and an assessment tool. The cataloging training used a learning management system to organize existing and freely available cataloging tutorials into cataloging curriculum suitable for basic copy cataloging training. Both approaches used a combination of existing tutorials, hands-on practice and assessment and incorporated local practices and workflows as a part of training.
The training methods and tools discussed in this program can be implemented in different library types and different areas of technical services.