Training Training Training
When thinking of technology planning,there is often a tendency to focus on the hardware aspects of planning and to ignore the human aspects of automation – specifically, staff and user training. Without these, the most carefully designed system may not be accepted by library staff or library users. To ensure the success of your hard planning work, a training plan should be part of any technology project.
How do you train – and retrain – staff?
It is important to remember that when we automate, we are not just learning how to use an integrated system; we are in most instances also learning new jobs. This is true even if your library is currently automated and migrating a different system. Fortunately, educating the staff and orienting them to technology can begin long before the selected system is installed. By involving staff at all levels in the analysis of operations, the identification of needs, the setting of priorities, the development of specifications, and the evaluation of systems, staff will gain much of the general knowledge they need as the planning progresses. When developing the operational requirement (OR), pay particular
SECRETS OF SUCCESSFUL TRAINING
To ensure that your training efforts are as possible, the following tips should be kept in mind:
1. Designate an individual or group of individuals who will work closely with vendor representatives and will have responsibility for ongoing training.
2. Focus on those skills most relevant to day-to-day operations.
3. Work with small groups and provide hands-on experience.
4. Do practice training on a small test group first
5. Make sure that trainees can go back and actually use the system immediately after receiving training.
6. Always check your equipment, software, and database prior to beginning training.
7. Ask trainees to evaluate training sessions and make changes accordingly.
8. Offer refresher training on a regular basis.
Attention to the section on training
- Identify and plan your training needs.
- Describe in detail what you expect to receive from the vendors training programme.
- State objectives clearly and ask for a detailed outline of the training offered, including the curriculum, the amount of time spent on each segment, the number of people to be trained at once, and the cost.
- Ask what training aids the vendor provides, such as once, and web-based tutorials, workbooks, indexed and well-organized documentation, computer-aided instruction, instruction, instructional videos, and web-based tutorials. Ask if these can be downloaded or copied for future internal use.
- Request cost information on telephone support and follow-up, on-site training.
- Inquire about videotaping training classes for review and for training of new staff.
- Require output measures that insure satisfactory proficiency levels.
Evaluate and analyse vendor responses to training questions as critically as you would the responses to hardware and software specifications. Finalize all aspects of the training program as part of the contract negotiations. This is particularly important in system migrations, when staff is being retrained. Determine when and where training sessions will be held, how many will attend each class, what the level and content of each session will be, and what documentation and training aids – including test databases and audiovisual aids – will be provided.
Remember that resistance to change, unlcarning old skills acquired from previous manual or automated systems, and longer learning curves are characteristic of many staff trainees. Do not schedule sessions too far in advance of when the trainees wall actually begin to use the beginning, and create a non - threatening environment.
For initial training, scenarios are particularly useful – A user is trying to borrow a book but has forgotten her library card – and staff can enjoy developing them in order to explore system functionality. Encourage crcativity on the part of trainers, and remember that staff will learn better – and longer – if theyre having fun!
Particularly when retraining staff, ensure that training sessions
geared to the participants' levels of expertise. For staff already skilled in using an automated system, an emphasis on training in the basic aspects of the system may be unnecessary. However this may not be true when migrating from a text-based legacy system to one with graphical capabilities in which dexterity using a mouse assumes greater importance. Staff used to the keyboard/scanner configuration of a text-based system may feel that adding the mouse into the configuration slows them down and causes them to work less efficiently particularly in circulation-based functions such as issue and discharge and fine collection. In fact the mouse/ keyboard/ scanner configuration may actually be dower and more cumbersome in these circumstances. Often there are keyboard combinations that can take the place of the mouse, and part of the training class should focus on these fastcr mouse-alternative sequences. Provide an introductory overview of the entire system. Encourag procedural and methodological comparisons with the previous system.
In most instances, systems are sufficiently complex that it will be necessary to have certain staff members receive training in specific components of the system. For each such component. Identify a staff member who will work closely with vendor and will in turn provide ongoing training for other staff members as required.
This person should not be the system administrator. In choosing an in-house training coordinator, enthusiasm and interest should be the primary consideration, rather than just computer expertise.
The training coordinator should:
- assess the knowledge and experience of the vendor trainer(s) –-- assess in advance the quality and timeliness of the training aids and documentation, rewriting where necessary
- select an appropriate training area
-select staff to be trained and grouped in classes based on criteria such as level of expertise and curriculum to be covered
-identify trainees with an aptitude to become in-house trainers
-communicate with vendor trainer(s) to discuss the level of training needed for each group and the amount of support that will be provided to subsequent in-house training, including follow-up training.
Specialized staff training The impact of the internet and the world wide web on automated library systems has resulted in the need to train staff in the development and use of tools needed for the creation of a virtual' library. The creation and design of web pages requires significant training in the use of electronic authoring tools and data encoding schemes such as HTML and SGML(respectively, HyperText Markup Language and Standard Generalized Markup Language see Chapter 17). Cataloguers must learn to create the MARC 856 field for Electronic Location and Access and link the contents of its subfields. particularly the URL(Uniform Resource Locator), into a web browser environment for instant user access to the location specified. Training in these specialized areas may be done in house but may also require an investment in vendor-run training classes either on - or of-site.
In all cases, though, it is important to determine what skills your staff currently skills they need to attain to effectively work with the new system. Once these have been established, the challenge will be
to combine vendor training programs with in-house efforts to design and implement a strategy that will meet the needs of your staff.
Training and retraining the public
public relations is not the first vehicle that comes to mind when we think of training the public, but public acceptance and enthusiasm for your new automated system is an important ingredient in a successful planning effort. Remember that the public, more than ever before, is much more likely to be using technology to provide access to entertainment and information from home, work and school. Your users will want to know how your system fits into and interacts with the electronic resources and activities that they are already familiar with. Public relations can accomplish three things:
-It can make users aware of your new system and services.
-it can motivate them to use the system
-It can train them in using the new system and services effectively.
In developing a training plan, all three of these should be consciously addressed. and each may suggest a different approach, public training methodologies will vary with the type of library. They may include:
-developing handouts. flyers, and tip sheets geared to the library's clientele
-formal class instruction, particularly in school and academic libraries
-short, focused mini-courses on topics such as system overview. searching strategies. understanding a web browser, and developing. using, and removing individual user preferences
-use of volunteers, as well as staff, to provide individualized one-on- one help.
Remember, not all training has to occur in the library. Outreach efforts that take place where users live and work can be just as effective - if not more so - than efforts undertaken on-site. These might include
workshops in establishing remote connections to your system from home computers and web-based tutorials. which can be used from home, school, or work on particular aspects of the system that ir dividual users or groups of users will be interested in.
Whenever possible. try to identify specific user groups for whom customized training can be provided, particularly if training can be tailored to the known needs of the group. Such groups might include academic staff, friends, community organizations, or groups within your parent organization.
You may also want to explore online tutorials, designed to introduce patrons to basic system features and advanced research techniques. These