I recently received an e-mail from the librarian responsible for training in a local public library authority saying that although she had booked four places on our Introduction to training skills course she would probably have to change this to 2 places. She explained:
"I'm really sorry but we have a spending embargo in place now and I can only authorise £250 - was £10,000. Anything over £250 now has to be authorised by our Deputy Director - and has to be deemed business critical."
Of course this is not unusual. The cuts are beginning to bite and whatever we think about the cuts we must all agree that if savings are to be made they should be in areas that are not essential. But how does this Deputy Director decide what is "business critical". Is training staff to acquire training skills critical to the core business of a library service today? When the DD makes this decision in a rational and logical manner (which is how all decisions in Local Government are made), what evidence will they use to inform that decision?
A starting point may well be the recent report from the Future Libraries programme - Change, options and how to get there. The clue is in the title. There will be change in libraries and they need to have the ingredients for generating change. One of these ingredients is the internal capacity to support change. As the report states "Human resource support is also vital …" (p21). Obviously, training skills are a central element of this.
Then the DD could look at the Arts Council strategic document Culture, Knowledge and Understanding: great museums and libraries for everyone - paying particular attention to goal 3 Museums and libraries are sustainable, resilient and innovative and goal 4 The leadership and workforce are diverse and highly skilled. They will note the emphasis on change and innovation, and the need of libraries to adapt to this. The DD will almost certainly highlight the sentence "We will encourage skills development, collaborative working and knowledge sharing, seeking to ensure that mainstream funding responds to the training needs of museums and libraries" and may well scribble "Training skills will help achieve this" in the margin.
Finally they may observe that Training Skills are included under Generic and transferable skills in CILIP’s Body of Professional Knowledge (BPK).
Of course, all these documents are external to this local authority and so may not indicate what is "business critical" to the organisation itself. For this the DD may turn to some internal documents. The library's own document on lifelong learning quotes David Blunket as saying
“Learning is the key to prosperity - for each of us as individuals, as well as for the nation as a whole. Investment in human capital will be the foundation of success in the knowledge-based global economy of the twenty-first century.”
It goes on to say:
"Both national and local Government objectives include creating a learning society where everyone is able to learn and improve their skills via lifelong learning. Learning is at the heart of the local community and fundamental to academic, social, economic and cultural development".
The DD will of course recognise that learning is facilitated by training and instruction.
Finally the DD will turn to the vision, mission and values of their own authority displayed prominently on the office wall which proclaims one of the council's goals to be:
"Striving for Continuous Improvement. This will mean the community would receive better care and their quality of life would improve. Employees will focus on efficiency and improvement and have a can-do attitude."
The DD will know that this is not just an aspirational statement! It means that any activity that contributes to continuous improvement - such as developing staff training skills - is business critical. So the application to send four members of staff on a training skills workshop will be approved.
On the other hand the DD might just think that saving £200 is a good idea.
Showing posts with label Workforce development. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Workforce development. Show all posts
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
Speaking up for libraries
I have been listening to the Radio Sheffield interview with Mayor Peter Davies (Items at 0:59:24, 1:05:20 and 1:25:46.) I don't intend to comment on his plans for volunteers to run several branch libraries. What was clear was that Mayor Davies has little appreciation of the value of libraries - he regards them as a cost rather than as a benefit. He also has a very low opinion of the value of professional librarians. He says he can't understand why you need professional staff to stamp out books. His view is that running a library is a simple task that can be performed by volunteers with no training and that "things are made mysterious" by librarians.
Now I think we should all stand still and take a few deep breaths.... is that better?
So, why would the leader of a local authority take this view (and let's face it, he is not unique in his views although the style in which he expresses them is quite special). Most librarians would say that he does not understand - that he has not got the message. So why is this?
If you have studied communication theory you will know that for communication to happen you need a sender who develops and encodes the message, a channel of communication and a receiver who decodes the message. A failure of communication can result from a fault by the sender, a fault by the receiver or problems with the channel (noise). In this case one suspects that the receiver is unable or unwilling to decode and understand the message. Several reasons can be suggested for this - many of which will involve criticism of the receivers intelligence, personality or politics. Listening to the interview it is clear that Mayor Davies feels that he must find savings, has identified the library budget as a source of saving (albeit a very small percentage of the whole) and is not interested in discussing the details.
However, just because we can blame the failure of communication on the receiver does not mean that the sender has no responsibilities. The case for the library service and the role of professional staff has not been made successfully and as professionals we have to ask ourselves why this has happened. Do we have any responsibility ourselves, as the senders of the message, for this failure? Could we have done any better?
This is where advocacy skills come into the picture. Librarians are, I think, generally good at doing what they do but are not good at blowing their own trumpet - at convincing people of the value and impact of what they do. As Mayor Davies pointed out - we tend to 'make things mysterious' instead. All library services need people with advocacy skills to sell the service to their 'power people'.
In a commercial organisation, if you are good at doing what you do then you please your customers and they pay for your service. In a public service like libraries you still have to please your customers but they do not pay directly. The people who do pay are not receiving your service directly. That is why we need advocacy.
SINTO is running two workshops on advocacy. Gaining support and influence: an introduction to advocacy shows how a planned approach to advocacy can put your library in a strong position. This course is for librarians with responsibility for speaking out about the value of their service.
Measuring and communication impact: advanced advocacy takes advocacy a step further. It looks at ways of raising the profile of your organisation by making sure you demonstrate how it already plays a part in the delivery of key policy agendas.
Having advocacy skills does not guarantee success but not having these skills will probably contribute to failure.
Now I think we should all stand still and take a few deep breaths.... is that better?
So, why would the leader of a local authority take this view (and let's face it, he is not unique in his views although the style in which he expresses them is quite special). Most librarians would say that he does not understand - that he has not got the message. So why is this?
If you have studied communication theory you will know that for communication to happen you need a sender who develops and encodes the message, a channel of communication and a receiver who decodes the message. A failure of communication can result from a fault by the sender, a fault by the receiver or problems with the channel (noise). In this case one suspects that the receiver is unable or unwilling to decode and understand the message. Several reasons can be suggested for this - many of which will involve criticism of the receivers intelligence, personality or politics. Listening to the interview it is clear that Mayor Davies feels that he must find savings, has identified the library budget as a source of saving (albeit a very small percentage of the whole) and is not interested in discussing the details.
However, just because we can blame the failure of communication on the receiver does not mean that the sender has no responsibilities. The case for the library service and the role of professional staff has not been made successfully and as professionals we have to ask ourselves why this has happened. Do we have any responsibility ourselves, as the senders of the message, for this failure? Could we have done any better?
This is where advocacy skills come into the picture. Librarians are, I think, generally good at doing what they do but are not good at blowing their own trumpet - at convincing people of the value and impact of what they do. As Mayor Davies pointed out - we tend to 'make things mysterious' instead. All library services need people with advocacy skills to sell the service to their 'power people'.
In a commercial organisation, if you are good at doing what you do then you please your customers and they pay for your service. In a public service like libraries you still have to please your customers but they do not pay directly. The people who do pay are not receiving your service directly. That is why we need advocacy.
SINTO is running two workshops on advocacy. Gaining support and influence: an introduction to advocacy shows how a planned approach to advocacy can put your library in a strong position. This course is for librarians with responsibility for speaking out about the value of their service.
Measuring and communication impact: advanced advocacy takes advocacy a step further. It looks at ways of raising the profile of your organisation by making sure you demonstrate how it already plays a part in the delivery of key policy agendas.
Having advocacy skills does not guarantee success but not having these skills will probably contribute to failure.
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
SINTO Training Programme
The recent spell of warm weather may not be an Indian Summer to be pedantic. (Of course, for librarians, pedantry is not an insult but rather a job description). However, it does remind us that the summer is over and winter is on its way - so it is time for the SINTO Winter 2011-2012 training programme.
SINTO was expecting problems in delivering a training programme during 2011 and 2012. We knew that training budgets were likely to be limited. Also we have been emphasising that our training programme relates to workforce development, in other words providing staff with the skills that are needed to achieve the future strategic goals of the library service. But what are those strategic goals? Continuing uncertainty about the level of future funding and the exact impact this will have on the service makes it difficult to plan ahead. Beyond that there are big questions about where library service should be going. For public libraries that is represented by the debate about the Future Libraries project. The outcome of all this is that library leaders (and yes, I am talking to you!) find it difficult to know what their library service will look like in the next few years and therefore what skills they should be providing for library staff.
SINTO's response has been to listen to its members and to provide a lead - identifying future needs and offering a programme that will meet these needs. Our Preparing for the Future programme is an integrated programme of workforce development events and activities. The goal is to strengthen the link between training outcomes and the strategic goals of the library and its parent organisation.
This is what we have to offer over the next 6 months.
Advocacy. It is probably too late to tell your decision makers how good the library service is after cuts have been proposed. Advocacy has to be 24/7 - an integral part of everything we do. Two linked workshops; Gaining support and influence: an introduction to advocacy and Measuring and communicating impact: advanced advocacy; will give staff at all levels the skills to promote the service.
Copyright. Essential for everyone working with published information. This day will be in two parts - in the morning, an introduction to copyright and in the afternoon, an update on recent developments. You can book for either or both parts. The workshop is lead by copyright expert Graham Cornish.
Training skills. The ability to provide training to small groups is a key skill for library staff. Whether it is staff training or providing instruction to library users, staff need the skills and knowledge to be effective. A two day course.
Answering enquiries. A repeat and update of the successful Enquiry desk techniques events that we have run in the past this workshop will cover the essential interaction with the enquirer - whether they are face to face or remote - and the skills needed to find the information. So much is changing in libraries but this remains a core competence for library staff.
Effective communication. No matter how good you are, if you don't communicate well you (and your organisation) will achieve nothing. Is there a secret to being a 'great communicator'? This workshop will explore communication in the work setting from both a theoretical and a practical standpoint.
Perhaps you don't know exactly where your library service will be in 5 years time but this package of skills will help the library workforce respond to the challenges they will face.
SINTO was expecting problems in delivering a training programme during 2011 and 2012. We knew that training budgets were likely to be limited. Also we have been emphasising that our training programme relates to workforce development, in other words providing staff with the skills that are needed to achieve the future strategic goals of the library service. But what are those strategic goals? Continuing uncertainty about the level of future funding and the exact impact this will have on the service makes it difficult to plan ahead. Beyond that there are big questions about where library service should be going. For public libraries that is represented by the debate about the Future Libraries project. The outcome of all this is that library leaders (and yes, I am talking to you!) find it difficult to know what their library service will look like in the next few years and therefore what skills they should be providing for library staff.
SINTO's response has been to listen to its members and to provide a lead - identifying future needs and offering a programme that will meet these needs. Our Preparing for the Future programme is an integrated programme of workforce development events and activities. The goal is to strengthen the link between training outcomes and the strategic goals of the library and its parent organisation.
This is what we have to offer over the next 6 months.
Advocacy. It is probably too late to tell your decision makers how good the library service is after cuts have been proposed. Advocacy has to be 24/7 - an integral part of everything we do. Two linked workshops; Gaining support and influence: an introduction to advocacy and Measuring and communicating impact: advanced advocacy; will give staff at all levels the skills to promote the service.
Copyright. Essential for everyone working with published information. This day will be in two parts - in the morning, an introduction to copyright and in the afternoon, an update on recent developments. You can book for either or both parts. The workshop is lead by copyright expert Graham Cornish.
Training skills. The ability to provide training to small groups is a key skill for library staff. Whether it is staff training or providing instruction to library users, staff need the skills and knowledge to be effective. A two day course.
Answering enquiries. A repeat and update of the successful Enquiry desk techniques events that we have run in the past this workshop will cover the essential interaction with the enquirer - whether they are face to face or remote - and the skills needed to find the information. So much is changing in libraries but this remains a core competence for library staff.
Effective communication. No matter how good you are, if you don't communicate well you (and your organisation) will achieve nothing. Is there a secret to being a 'great communicator'? This workshop will explore communication in the work setting from both a theoretical and a practical standpoint.
Perhaps you don't know exactly where your library service will be in 5 years time but this package of skills will help the library workforce respond to the challenges they will face.
Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Community engagement
I recently blogged about community engagement and a course that SINTO is planning to run on this subject. I pointed out that community engagement is one of the "ingredients for change" that are listed in the recent Future libraries report. Most of the debate on this report has, understandably, focused on the "four models of reform" but the ten ingredients for change were identified as important success factors in developing, planning and implementing change. While politicians, heads of library service and the profession and public at large are debating the pros and cons of the models, it will be job of senior library managers to look at the list of ingredients and consider how they can be embedded within their library services. It doesn't grab the headlines but it is an essential part of delivering a library service.
The response so far to the SINTO course has been 'interesting'. One library authority wants to run the course in-house for their staff as they see it as an important part of what they are trying to achieve and want as many staff as possible to attend. I have been happy to help arrange this.
Apart from that I have had only one booking. Does this mean that the topic is not relevant to most authorities? But in that case why is it relevant to two? Is it that senior library managers want to send people on the course but cannot afford it? Or is it the case that over the summer librarians are focusing on their holidays? To be fair, perhaps they are focusing on keeping the service running with reduced staffing levels as other people are on holiday!
I have talked in the past about workforce development. In theory, libraries decide what it is they want to do (e.g engage with their communities), identify the skills that they will need to achieve this and then identify the training provision that will give their staff those skills. In practice it does not always work out like that! Perhaps the e-mails, flyers, blogs and Tweets I have sent out about this course have got lost in the clutter on people's desk, or in-boxes or brains. It happens! See Current Awareness, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the "Mark All As Read" Button by Woodsiegirl and Phil Bradley on filter failure.
I have to remain relaxed about all this. I put this course in the SINTO programme because I thought it was important for the current workforce development needs of our members. If I am wrong then I will postpone or cancel it. But perhaps, when we get to the end of this long hot summer (as if), people will rediscover the messages under all the clutter and will book places. Let me know soon - I am taking a late break myself!
The response so far to the SINTO course has been 'interesting'. One library authority wants to run the course in-house for their staff as they see it as an important part of what they are trying to achieve and want as many staff as possible to attend. I have been happy to help arrange this.
Apart from that I have had only one booking. Does this mean that the topic is not relevant to most authorities? But in that case why is it relevant to two? Is it that senior library managers want to send people on the course but cannot afford it? Or is it the case that over the summer librarians are focusing on their holidays? To be fair, perhaps they are focusing on keeping the service running with reduced staffing levels as other people are on holiday!
I have talked in the past about workforce development. In theory, libraries decide what it is they want to do (e.g engage with their communities), identify the skills that they will need to achieve this and then identify the training provision that will give their staff those skills. In practice it does not always work out like that! Perhaps the e-mails, flyers, blogs and Tweets I have sent out about this course have got lost in the clutter on people's desk, or in-boxes or brains. It happens! See Current Awareness, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the "Mark All As Read" Button by Woodsiegirl and Phil Bradley on filter failure.
I have to remain relaxed about all this. I put this course in the SINTO programme because I thought it was important for the current workforce development needs of our members. If I am wrong then I will postpone or cancel it. But perhaps, when we get to the end of this long hot summer (as if), people will rediscover the messages under all the clutter and will book places. Let me know soon - I am taking a late break myself!
Wednesday, 18 May 2011
The future of the library
Seth Godin is an author, speaker and marketing guru with an interest in libraries.
Seth Godin's blog The future of the Library: what is a public library for? explores the changing role of libraries. According to Seth the role has changed from "The library as warehouse for books worth sharing" to "The library is a house for the librarian". The future according to Seth is built around e-books and electronic information. He concludes
"There are one thousand things that could be done in a place like this [the library], all built around one mission: take the world of data, combine it with the people in this community and create value".
He also suggests that "Librarians that are arguing and lobbying for clever ebook lending solutions are completely missing the point. They are defending library as warehouse as opposed to fighting for the future, which is librarian as producer, concierge, connector, teacher and impresario".
This resonates with the new SINTO training programme Preparing for the future. We have identified two linked themes. The first "Impact" looks at the fundamental question "What is the library for?" The SINTO Members' Day will look at one aspect of this. The second theme is technology and how that will affect libraries. We are running a course on e-book collections. Incidentally, this course may well look at "clever e-book lending solutions"! I am not convinced that we are missing the point here but it is an interesting issue for debate.
But how concerned are librarians with "The Future"? Inevitably many librarians are focused on the present. The financial year end is the future that we are most concerned with. But we all know in our hearts that there are times when we have to get out of the office and take the longer term view. The SINTO training programme is designed to help you achieve that.
Seth Godin's blog The future of the Library: what is a public library for? explores the changing role of libraries. According to Seth the role has changed from "The library as warehouse for books worth sharing" to "The library is a house for the librarian". The future according to Seth is built around e-books and electronic information. He concludes
"There are one thousand things that could be done in a place like this [the library], all built around one mission: take the world of data, combine it with the people in this community and create value".
He also suggests that "Librarians that are arguing and lobbying for clever ebook lending solutions are completely missing the point. They are defending library as warehouse as opposed to fighting for the future, which is librarian as producer, concierge, connector, teacher and impresario".
This resonates with the new SINTO training programme Preparing for the future. We have identified two linked themes. The first "Impact" looks at the fundamental question "What is the library for?" The SINTO Members' Day will look at one aspect of this. The second theme is technology and how that will affect libraries. We are running a course on e-book collections. Incidentally, this course may well look at "clever e-book lending solutions"! I am not convinced that we are missing the point here but it is an interesting issue for debate.
But how concerned are librarians with "The Future"? Inevitably many librarians are focused on the present. The financial year end is the future that we are most concerned with. But we all know in our hearts that there are times when we have to get out of the office and take the longer term view. The SINTO training programme is designed to help you achieve that.
Friday, 15 April 2011
Closed for training
The Library is closed for
staff training on
Improving Services
to Customers
This is an old joke but is making a serious point. Many library services are facing cuts to training budgets and I covered that in a previous blog. But some library services are also reporting that it is becoming increasingly difficult to release staff to attend training events because reduced staff numbers mean there is less cover. Many colleagues report that it is difficult to juggle the timetable to enable even a single person to be out of the library for a day and that sickness can easily throw these plans into disarray.
So does this mean that some libraries will have to give up on training staff or that the above notice will be seen more frequently? I doubt that many librarians would contemplate closing a service point to release staff for training but we should all be asking ourselves the question "What is more important - opening the library or training staff?" If you think the answer to this is obvious then ask yourself if you would open the library if you didn't have any books? Of course not! The point is that keeping the library open is not an end in itself - it is a means of providing access to the resources and services you provide. An open library is only of use if it provides your users with what they want and part of this has to be a workforce with the skills and knowledge required to provide that service. If your workforce doesn't have those skills and that knowledge then why are you opening the library?
This only makes sense of course if the training you are contemplating is essential - and by that I mean essential to the library services and not just to the individual needs of library staff. Training, in the sense of workforce development, has to relate to the core strategic goals of the library; the goals that explain why the library is there, why it opens its doors every morning, why it employs library staff.
The following statement on Preparing for the Future is being discussed by the SINTO Training Group in an attempt to develop a training programme that delivers these core goals. If your library would like to be a part of this please get in touch.
Preparing for the Future
The biggest challenge recognised by professional librarians is the need to make fundamental changes in the way in which libraries, and library staff, operate. This is not a result of budget cuts but rather an ongoing development responding to environmental changes. SINTO is responding to the challenges facing the sector by launching a new programme: Preparing for the Future.
Preparing for the Future is an integrated programme of workforce development events and activities. The goal is to strengthen the link between training outcomes and the strategic goals of the library and the organisation it services. The programme has the following aims:
• Events will be affordable and sustainable.
• They will meet the strategic goals of the organisation.
• They will form an integrated package of value to libraries from all sectors.
• There will be long term support and opportunities for networking.
• Local libraries will contribute to the planning and development of courses.
• Libraries will be confident that releasing staff to attend events will outweigh any temporary reduction in frontline services.
• There will be measurable outcomes.
Preparing for the Future has begun with discussions with the SINTO Training Group to identify training needs linked to the strategic goals of libraries. So far the following areas have been identified:
• Impact of library services and advocacy. Hoe we identify and measure the impact of libraries and use this information to gain support and influence in our organisations.
• Income generation. Re-thinking our approach to raising funds from both our own organisation and external sources.
• Marketing library services to users and non-users.
• Community engagement. Building and maintaining partnerships with your community.
• Behavioural competences. Soft skills of value to both front line and managerial staff.
• IT developments. Electronic books, mobile devices etc aimed at both professional and front-line staff.
Many of these are cross sectoral and benefits will accrue from sharing experiences between different libraries. Some activities will focus on individual sectors (e.g. feedback from the Future Libraries project).
In summary, Preparing for the Future is about workforce development. It is not about sending staff out of the library to meet their individual professional development needs; it is about bringing skills and knowledge into the library to achieve the objectives of your organisation.
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Training budgets are so 2010
There has been a great deal of speculation about what effect cuts to library services will have on training budgets. Many people think that it will range from bad to catastrophic - but I see no point in being so optimistic.
The point is that training budgets are so last year darling! The idea that there is a certain sum of money set aside by libraries to provide for the training needs of staff is not only outmoded it is positively dangerous.
For too many librarians, training is seen as part of something called Continuing Professional Development. The idea is that each year you have an appraisal interview with your staff so see how they are doing. As part of this you ask them to identify their training needs - hat they would like to do to develop their skills and knowledge. You then make a list of these needs and see how much can be covered from the training budget. You then go shopping to see which of these needs can be met from the programmes offered by training providers.
The trouble now is that library budgets are being slashed and anything left in a "training budget" is likely to be minute. However, this misses the point. Training budgets are a waste of time. They should be abolished and the money moved to a central library budget. CPD is dead.
What libraries need to do is to ask themselves what their core role is. They need to decide what it is they should be doing and how they can deliver this. In many cases this will involve doing different things, doing them in different ways and doing them with different people.
To achieve this libraries must ensure that they have in place staff with the skills that are needed to deliver these new things. Replacing old staff who don't have the required skills with new staff who do have these skills is one option - but not a very cost effective one. A better approach is workforce development - ensuring that your staff are given the skills and knowledge that you as a library service need. This is not about providing training from a separate training budget it is about providing core skills from the core library budget. After all there is no point in spending any money at all on books, buildings or equipment if your workforce does not have the skills to deliver the service.
Of course, the skills you want to provide your workforce with might be exactly the skills that they want to gain as part of their own CPD - but that is beside the point.
A final point is that you can no longer afford to go shopping for courses that are being offered by training providers. You have to work with providers to deliver exactly the skills that you need. Its a buyer's market by the way. Squeeze them on price as much as you like but remember if they starve to death then you won't have a provider at all.
The point is that training budgets are so last year darling! The idea that there is a certain sum of money set aside by libraries to provide for the training needs of staff is not only outmoded it is positively dangerous.
For too many librarians, training is seen as part of something called Continuing Professional Development. The idea is that each year you have an appraisal interview with your staff so see how they are doing. As part of this you ask them to identify their training needs - hat they would like to do to develop their skills and knowledge. You then make a list of these needs and see how much can be covered from the training budget. You then go shopping to see which of these needs can be met from the programmes offered by training providers.
The trouble now is that library budgets are being slashed and anything left in a "training budget" is likely to be minute. However, this misses the point. Training budgets are a waste of time. They should be abolished and the money moved to a central library budget. CPD is dead.
What libraries need to do is to ask themselves what their core role is. They need to decide what it is they should be doing and how they can deliver this. In many cases this will involve doing different things, doing them in different ways and doing them with different people.
To achieve this libraries must ensure that they have in place staff with the skills that are needed to deliver these new things. Replacing old staff who don't have the required skills with new staff who do have these skills is one option - but not a very cost effective one. A better approach is workforce development - ensuring that your staff are given the skills and knowledge that you as a library service need. This is not about providing training from a separate training budget it is about providing core skills from the core library budget. After all there is no point in spending any money at all on books, buildings or equipment if your workforce does not have the skills to deliver the service.
Of course, the skills you want to provide your workforce with might be exactly the skills that they want to gain as part of their own CPD - but that is beside the point.
A final point is that you can no longer afford to go shopping for courses that are being offered by training providers. You have to work with providers to deliver exactly the skills that you need. Its a buyer's market by the way. Squeeze them on price as much as you like but remember if they starve to death then you won't have a provider at all.
Wednesday, 5 May 2010
Leadership development
Leadership development into practice - the Apprentice for librarians!
Do you have staff who have the potential to be the senior managers and leaders of tomorrow?
Do you want to develop their skills and confidence to prepare them for this role in the future?
Would you like to develop a framework to improve customer service?
Elenore Fisher (Rotherham Library Museums & Arts) and I have developed an innovative proposal to help library services achieve these goals. Using elements of "The Apprentice" (but without Sir Allen), this project will develop planning, team working and leadership skills through participation in a practical project.
Libraries would be invited to nominate staff members to take part in a cross-SINTO project group. The group would be set the task of producing a workable "mystery shopper" programme for libraries. This could incorporate a number of elements, from setting the remit/outcomes of the project, to working on specifications for mystery shopping templates, training of staff to take part, organising and evaluating the "visits" and coming up with proposals for actions.
Project members would attend a series of meetings and set up on-line facilities for communication and project development. They would be given a deadline to produce a final report.
This is a development exercise and project members would be encouraged to use self-evaluation and reflective learning techniques. At the same time their work would be monitored by an external observer. Feedback and mentoring would be provided during and after the exercise.
This project is currently in development but I am inviting expressions of interest from SINTO member organisations. Let me know if:
a) You are interested in the project as described
b) You are not interested in mystery shopping but would like to use this format for another project.
Depending on the feedback we will work this proposal up into a project that could be run early next year.
Do you have staff who have the potential to be the senior managers and leaders of tomorrow?
Do you want to develop their skills and confidence to prepare them for this role in the future?
Would you like to develop a framework to improve customer service?
Elenore Fisher (Rotherham Library Museums & Arts) and I have developed an innovative proposal to help library services achieve these goals. Using elements of "The Apprentice" (but without Sir Allen), this project will develop planning, team working and leadership skills through participation in a practical project.
Libraries would be invited to nominate staff members to take part in a cross-SINTO project group. The group would be set the task of producing a workable "mystery shopper" programme for libraries. This could incorporate a number of elements, from setting the remit/outcomes of the project, to working on specifications for mystery shopping templates, training of staff to take part, organising and evaluating the "visits" and coming up with proposals for actions.
Project members would attend a series of meetings and set up on-line facilities for communication and project development. They would be given a deadline to produce a final report.
This is a development exercise and project members would be encouraged to use self-evaluation and reflective learning techniques. At the same time their work would be monitored by an external observer. Feedback and mentoring would be provided during and after the exercise.
This project is currently in development but I am inviting expressions of interest from SINTO member organisations. Let me know if:
a) You are interested in the project as described
b) You are not interested in mystery shopping but would like to use this format for another project.
Depending on the feedback we will work this proposal up into a project that could be run early next year.
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Career progression for library assistants
I received an interesting and I suspect typical query this week. A library assistant in a local college wanted some advice on how to progress their career in librarianship. Steve has several years experience in various libraries and last year he obtained an NVQ3 in Information & Library Services. He was now wondering about his next step. Should he take a distance learning degree in librarianship with Northumbria or Aberystwyth Universities, or should he go for CILIP Certification (ACLIP) followed by Chartered membership (MCLIP)? Anyone with two years experience of library and information work can submit a portfolio for ACLIP and then with a further two years experience you can apply for Chartered status.
I issued a health warning that I was in no way qualified to give career advice but was happy to share some ideas with him. I pointed out that the ACLIP route was designed with people like him in mind and provided a logical route to accredit the knowledge and skills he had built up and provide a pathway to gaining professional qualifications. A distance learning degree was a step up to another level but would teach him a body of professional knowledge and give him a degree level qualification which could help when seeking jobs in the future.
I suspect that the key factors in his decision will be cost, time and the amount of commitment to formal study he is able to give. It may also depend on whether Steve sees his career as a steady progression through different levels of the profession or if he wants to jump to a new career path. In either case I wish him well.
One strong piece of advice I did give was to consider CILIP membership. CILIP provides a wide range of information, advice and support to anyone who wants to progress their career in librarianship. It a 'chicken and egg' situation - if you don't see yourself as having a library career then you are unlikely to think about the 'professional association', but you then miss out on the support that CILIP can provide (at a price, but nothing is for nothing!) There is a perception among some people that CILIP is a club for the established members of the profession and does not support 'new professionals'. This came out recently when CILIP advertised for librarians to join the project board to run a major consultation exercise. CILIP said it was looking for people with considerable experience of running projects and some people objected that this meant that younger members of the profession were excluded. CILIP President Biddy Fisher (who until recently ran the learning centres at Sheffield Hallam University) defended this, saying that the consultation exercise would welcome input from everyone but the project board must consist of people who could show that they could run projects. (SINTO is planning to get Biddy to give a talk to SINTO in which she will explore the contribution of new and old professionals).
What do other SINTO members think? Would you have given Steve the same advice? Are there any other routes Steve could follow? Have you had a similar experience? Let me know and I will share them with him.
I issued a health warning that I was in no way qualified to give career advice but was happy to share some ideas with him. I pointed out that the ACLIP route was designed with people like him in mind and provided a logical route to accredit the knowledge and skills he had built up and provide a pathway to gaining professional qualifications. A distance learning degree was a step up to another level but would teach him a body of professional knowledge and give him a degree level qualification which could help when seeking jobs in the future.
I suspect that the key factors in his decision will be cost, time and the amount of commitment to formal study he is able to give. It may also depend on whether Steve sees his career as a steady progression through different levels of the profession or if he wants to jump to a new career path. In either case I wish him well.
One strong piece of advice I did give was to consider CILIP membership. CILIP provides a wide range of information, advice and support to anyone who wants to progress their career in librarianship. It a 'chicken and egg' situation - if you don't see yourself as having a library career then you are unlikely to think about the 'professional association', but you then miss out on the support that CILIP can provide (at a price, but nothing is for nothing!) There is a perception among some people that CILIP is a club for the established members of the profession and does not support 'new professionals'. This came out recently when CILIP advertised for librarians to join the project board to run a major consultation exercise. CILIP said it was looking for people with considerable experience of running projects and some people objected that this meant that younger members of the profession were excluded. CILIP President Biddy Fisher (who until recently ran the learning centres at Sheffield Hallam University) defended this, saying that the consultation exercise would welcome input from everyone but the project board must consist of people who could show that they could run projects. (SINTO is planning to get Biddy to give a talk to SINTO in which she will explore the contribution of new and old professionals).
What do other SINTO members think? Would you have given Steve the same advice? Are there any other routes Steve could follow? Have you had a similar experience? Let me know and I will share them with him.
Tuesday, 22 September 2009
Training for librry and information services. Part 2
The message from this survey is simple. Training is important but budgets are limited and are likely to be cut. Organisations therefore need value for money. The "value" comes from events that meet the workforce development needs of the organisation. The "money" element is that events must be low cost and provided locally.
It seems obvious that the best way of achieving this is through local consortia of libraries working together to commission and provide training events. A consortium can decide on what training is needed and by working together and sharing resources can achieve cost savings. It is improbable that the "free market" could deliver the sort of specialist and tailored training that we need. It follows from this that library and information services should not just see themselves as consumers of training; they need to work together in partnership to ensure that appropriate low cost training can be provided in their area. Libraries need to set up and support local consortia both financially and by being involved in planning and organisation. Most libraries will have a training plan or policy of some sort and this should include a commitment to supporting local consortia.
I do of course have a vested interest. SINTO is a local not-for-profit consortium of library services that provides training activities. We provide a very successful training programme for our local area but I am concerned that cuts in training budgets will make it more difficult to provide a full range of events. I am not asking for support for SINTO as an act of charity but I am saying that if local library services want local low cost provision of training events to continue they need to see this as something they have responsibility for and should be prepared to become involved. They need to help SINTO identify what training is needed by their organisation and then send staff on these events.
SINTO has traditionally operated in the South Yorkshire and north Derbyshire area. We are keen to attract staff and organisations from a wider region to our events but we are also keen to provide events across the whole of the Yorkshire and East Midlands region. Again, this can only be done in partnership with libraries in this region. SINTO would very much like to hear from local consortia of libraries that are keen to develop local provision of training. Any individual library service that would like to join SINTO or take part in our events should also contact me.
Finally, I have been talking about training events in a traditional way but on-line provision of training will be of increasing importance. I am already in discussions with a local training organisation about on-line training packages covering for example the use of Twitter for libraries.
The current recession and spending cuts makes things difficult for our sector but it should make us focus on what we want and how we can achieve it. Library managers need to think about what is in the best interest of their organisation and take steps to achieve this. Local training consortia are part of the solution and should be developed
It seems obvious that the best way of achieving this is through local consortia of libraries working together to commission and provide training events. A consortium can decide on what training is needed and by working together and sharing resources can achieve cost savings. It is improbable that the "free market" could deliver the sort of specialist and tailored training that we need. It follows from this that library and information services should not just see themselves as consumers of training; they need to work together in partnership to ensure that appropriate low cost training can be provided in their area. Libraries need to set up and support local consortia both financially and by being involved in planning and organisation. Most libraries will have a training plan or policy of some sort and this should include a commitment to supporting local consortia.
I do of course have a vested interest. SINTO is a local not-for-profit consortium of library services that provides training activities. We provide a very successful training programme for our local area but I am concerned that cuts in training budgets will make it more difficult to provide a full range of events. I am not asking for support for SINTO as an act of charity but I am saying that if local library services want local low cost provision of training events to continue they need to see this as something they have responsibility for and should be prepared to become involved. They need to help SINTO identify what training is needed by their organisation and then send staff on these events.
SINTO has traditionally operated in the South Yorkshire and north Derbyshire area. We are keen to attract staff and organisations from a wider region to our events but we are also keen to provide events across the whole of the Yorkshire and East Midlands region. Again, this can only be done in partnership with libraries in this region. SINTO would very much like to hear from local consortia of libraries that are keen to develop local provision of training. Any individual library service that would like to join SINTO or take part in our events should also contact me.
Finally, I have been talking about training events in a traditional way but on-line provision of training will be of increasing importance. I am already in discussions with a local training organisation about on-line training packages covering for example the use of Twitter for libraries.
The current recession and spending cuts makes things difficult for our sector but it should make us focus on what we want and how we can achieve it. Library managers need to think about what is in the best interest of their organisation and take steps to achieve this. Local training consortia are part of the solution and should be developed
Training for library and information services
Earlier this year I carried out a survey of Continuing Professional Development and Workforce Development for the library and information services sector in Yorkshire. This originated in a round table meeting that SINTO hosted to discuss the implication of the closure of MLA Yorkshire at the end of 2009. This meeting agreed that the regional provision of LIS training was important and that SINTO could have an expanded role in providing training. It was suggested that SINTO should carry out a mapping exercise to provide some background information.
Financial support for the survey was received from the Yorkshire and Humberside Branch of CILIP but unfortunately Yorkshire Libraries & Information (YLI), the only other regional body in a position to support this, declined to make a contribution. This did limit the time that I was able to devote to this survey and as a result I did not get a response from all of the services I would have liked. However I do feel that the survey has produced significant findings.
I deliberately used the terms Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Workforce Development (WD) as well as the more general Training. CPD and WD cover the same activities but while CPD focuses on the development needs of individuals WD focuses on the needs of the organisation. When piloting the survey it appeared that although people were aware of the distinction they did not regard it as significant.
The overall purpose of the survey was:
- To help LIS services and co-operative bodies understand the overall pattern of provision of training in the region and consider if this meets their needs.
- To help LIS services and individual staff identify providers of training in the region
- To aid providers of training to co-ordinate their provision
- To identify any gaps in provision
I interviewed or received survey forms from eleven librarians with responsibility for training in their organisations.
I began by asking respondents about their training budgets. This is more complicated that it might seem! Libraries often have to bid for training funds from a larger institutional budget so there is no set figure. On average people were working within a budget of about £100 per member of staff but there was wide variation. Given that a typical CILIP course in London can cost around £200 or more this obviously does not go very far! Most respondents agreed that funding placed at least some constraint on training provision. The majority said that their budgets had either increased slightly or remained static over the past few years. They reported that training was important to their organisations and were not anticipating significant cuts in budget in the short term. However the survey took place before the recent widespread debate about public spending cuts and I suspect that people are less optimistic now.
As might be expected, all libraries have a similar model for establishing training needs. This consists of appraisals or professional development reviews which establish what staff want and a service development plan which states what the needs of the service are. Senior managers make the final decision based on a balance of these needs and available resources. There was some evidence that the emphasis is shifting away from the needs of individual staff towards the needs of the organisation, but it was stressed that the two were not necessarily in conflict.
There was widespread agreement on the broad priorities for CPD/WD. The top three topics were leadership & management, customer care and IT developments (particularly Web 2.0).
When it came to sourcing training a great deal of generic training e.g. in management skills, was provided by the parent organisation (university or local authority) of the library. However there was a need for training specifically aimed at library staff. The following organisations were used for this training (ranked in order of importance):
- Regional and local library consortia. SINTO was mentioned by most of the respondents.
- CILIP National Groups. CILIP subject groups run seminars and conferences including the annual Umbrella event. These cover specialist subjects and are very relevant to LIS staff.
- Training companies and individual trainers. Libraries bring in trainers to meet specific WD needs
- National training organisations e.g. Aslib
- Local colleges and universities. Local departments of information studies make some courses open to local library staff. FE colleges support NVQs and other training.
- On-line and print training materials. This includes material such as the Intute Virtual Training Suite.
- CILIP Training & development at CILIP HQ. Most respondents said that these events were highly valued but that take-up was severely limited because of the costs of the seminars and the associated travel costs.
- Local professional groups such as CILIP Yorkshire & Humberside Branch. The CILIP Branch would be used more but did not provide an active programme of events.
Respondents were asked to identify gaps in provision. The most common issue was the lack of events in the region compared to London. It was felt that events in London were not only expensive in themselves but that travel costs greatly added to the cost. Other gaps identified were courses for para-professional staff, briefings on new topics or technologies and general professional awareness updating.
I will discuss these results in my next blog.
Wednesday, 26 September 2007
Workforce development
Workforce development is not an exciting topic and as far as I can see no other library bloggers are spending much time on this . It can be defined as the process by which organisations recruit and develop the workforce that they will need to deliver services to their users/customers. I attempted to provide an introduction to this topic back in February.
The problem is that it is a long term and strategic process of concern to the directors of organisations and not seemingly relevant to the day-to-day concerns of staff at the coal-face. However I feel that the decisions that are being made now could have a fundamental effect on the whole nature of librarianship in the future and at the very least we should be aware of what is happening.
Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK) is developing a Sector Skills Agreement and as part of this process has produced a discussion document - Developing Solutions which contains 10 proposed solutions to the skills needs of the lifelong learning workforce.
The first thing to note is that the libraries. archives and information services workforce (LAIS) has been grouped with community learning and development, further education, higher education and work based learning into a Lifelong Learning Sector Skills Council. So are librarians part of a lifelong learning profession? The concept sits easily enough with HE and FE librarians. Information professionals in business may not initially see themselves as being involved in lifelong learning but it does fit in with the idea of a 'learning organisation' and alongside work based learning practitioners. Public librarians can also see themselves as being involved with lifelong learning and public libraries as 'street corner universities'. However in most local authorities, libraries are grouped with cultural services and staff from other cultural services will come under the Creative Culture Sector Skills Council. Is this split helpful?
When we look at some of the proposed solutions a pattern emerges:
The problem is that it is a long term and strategic process of concern to the directors of organisations and not seemingly relevant to the day-to-day concerns of staff at the coal-face. However I feel that the decisions that are being made now could have a fundamental effect on the whole nature of librarianship in the future and at the very least we should be aware of what is happening.
Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK) is developing a Sector Skills Agreement and as part of this process has produced a discussion document - Developing Solutions which contains 10 proposed solutions to the skills needs of the lifelong learning workforce.
The first thing to note is that the libraries. archives and information services workforce (LAIS) has been grouped with community learning and development, further education, higher education and work based learning into a Lifelong Learning Sector Skills Council. So are librarians part of a lifelong learning profession? The concept sits easily enough with HE and FE librarians. Information professionals in business may not initially see themselves as being involved in lifelong learning but it does fit in with the idea of a 'learning organisation' and alongside work based learning practitioners. Public librarians can also see themselves as being involved with lifelong learning and public libraries as 'street corner universities'. However in most local authorities, libraries are grouped with cultural services and staff from other cultural services will come under the Creative Culture Sector Skills Council. Is this split helpful?
When we look at some of the proposed solutions a pattern emerges:
- 1 Explore the options for 'professionalising' all parts of the lifelong learning workforce
- 2 Development of an integrated CPD framework and model for the lifelong learning sector where appropriate
- 3 Develop a 'skills for learning professionals' qualification framework
- 6 Develop sector wide career pathways
This could suggest that in the future new entrants will not be librarians but lifelong learning professionals and that their careers might span teaching and librarianship. The report does begin by pointing out that "Although these 10 solutions are proposed for the whole sector and are UK-wide, their implementation will vary according to the nation and/or constituency group". However, as Angela Abell points out in the current CILIP Update (October p9) "While some organisations are obvious employers of the LAIS workforce, many members of that workforce are employed by organisations where they form a minority. The employer representative would not automatically consider their needs when engaging in 'demand-led' activities." In other words the future of the LAIS workforce is being decided by people with little interest in or understanding of our profession.
Other solutions proposed do reflect the needs of the library profession:
- 7 Develop a knowledge bank for IAG professionals [career advisers]
- 8 Recruitment programmes to address specific shortages in the lifelong learning sector
- 9 develop a UK wide Leadership and management strategy
- 10 Develop the business case and resources to support the use of technology in the sector, particularly relating to information learning technology (ILT).
Another piece in Update reported that library sector employers had expressed concern about current shortcomings in the customer service competencies of some staff with traditional academic training and that the demand for staff with these skills might have to be met from outside the core LAIS workforce. In other words, library staff are just not nice enough to their customers! Perhaps the LLUK aproach will not only develop better customer service skills but will also shift the emphasis away from a service centered approach (we are librarians and this is what we can do for you) to a customer centered approach (you are a lifelong learner, what can we do for you?). See my previous post.
Friday, 1 June 2007
SINTO Members' Day
Today's picture is of the Learning Centre at Sheffield Hallam University Collegiate campus.
On the 19th June we are holding the third SINTO members' day and AGM. We are obliged to hold an annual general meeting and they are inevitably rather dry affairs - although it does mean that SINTO is accountable to its member organisations. The idea of holding a members' day as well is to involve all library staff in SINTO libraries and to develop the concept of a community of librarians in our area.
The theme of this year's event is "Skills for the Future". How will the practice of librarianship change in the next few years? What new skills will we need in order to cope with this change? How can we ensure that we gain these new skills?
The day will start with refreshments from 12 noon and the opportunity to network with colleagues from the region. At 12.45 we have the AGM and just after 1pm we will introduce our keynote speaker Professor John Tarrant. John was vice-chancellor of Huddersfield University and is Chair of Museums, Libraries and Archives (MLA) Yorkshire. In his presentation on skills for the future John will refer to the Demos report Knowledge & Inspiration: the democratic face of culture produced in August 2006 for the MLA.
This will be followed by four short presentations by practitioners. Biddy Fisher, Head of Information Services at Sheffield Hallam University will talk on research on the future of library and information services. Sally Gibbs of Lifelong Learning UK will outline the work of LLUK in workforce development for the sector. Stephanie Taylor who has run courses for SINTO will look at mentoring and networking as essential soft skills and finally I will give a brief account of the new social computing tools provided by SINTO - including this blog. At the end of these sessions there will be a discussion forum led by Bob Usherwood.
Librarians on the whole are very good at doing things right - we take great pride in our professionalism - but we do not always pay enough attention to whether we are doing the right things. The world changes and what we need to do to meet the demands of our users has to change with it. This event gives us the opportunity to sit back and think about what is changing.
Tuesday, 1 May 2007
SINTO Objectives
As I have said before, this is not a personal blog, but I don't want it to be a blog "about" SINTO either. I don't think that you want to know how I run SINTO - you want to know about the benefits you or your library can get from SINTO.
Last week we had meetings of the SINTO Executive Board and the Members' Forum. The Executive Board manages SINTO and so is very important in directing exactly what we do but I don't think that most people want to know the details. However, in the spirit of freedom of information, I will be putting up notes on the SINTO wiki.
The Members' Forum exists so that the views of SINTO members can be heard and matters of general professional interest can be debated. This ensures that SINTO is responding to the needs of its members (assuming that they articulate their needs). All SINTO member organisations can send a representative along to the meetings. At the last meeting we discussed a marketing strategy for SINTO. The results of this discussion are on the wiki. One outcome was to come up with a revised statement of the objectives of SINTO:
Last week we had meetings of the SINTO Executive Board and the Members' Forum. The Executive Board manages SINTO and so is very important in directing exactly what we do but I don't think that most people want to know the details. However, in the spirit of freedom of information, I will be putting up notes on the SINTO wiki.
The Members' Forum exists so that the views of SINTO members can be heard and matters of general professional interest can be debated. This ensures that SINTO is responding to the needs of its members (assuming that they articulate their needs). All SINTO member organisations can send a representative along to the meetings. At the last meeting we discussed a marketing strategy for SINTO. The results of this discussion are on the wiki. One outcome was to come up with a revised statement of the objectives of SINTO:
SINTO exists to develop library and information services in our
region through co-operation, workforce development and planning; and to promote
information fluency and investment in information.
We wanted to mention information literacy as a goal because of Sheila Corrall's presentation at the Library and Information Show. Someone suggested that "information fluency" was a better term for what we had in mind (e.g. see the leaflet from St Martin's College).
This statement may need some more work but I think it does indicate what we are all about and the benefits that you can expect from joining in.
Wednesday, 28 March 2007
A Mixed bag
Devastating news in the Guardian yesterday that several of my fellow bloggers such as Gillian Anderson, Barbra Streisland and Mariah Carey are not keeping their blogs up-to-date and may be loosing interest altogether. So if you have migrated to this Sintoblog looking for consistency I can assure you that I am in for the long haul! And following my earlier musings about whether anyone was reading this I had lots of comments (well three to be exact) encouraging me to continue and not worry too much if no one responded.
A celebrity blog that is staying the course is that of incoming CILIP President Ian Snowley Ian has been keeping a blog for some time - his 100th posting was in January 2006 - and as the new President of our professional association there should be some interesting professional postings. Ian's blog is more personal than my SINTO blog but I am working on that. (Toast and LIME marmalade for breakfast this morning). His latest posting begins "I hadn't planned to post from China, but I'm here in Beijing with an internet connection in the room, so I thought I would!" Now that is just showing off Ian! My readers in Beijing might like to know that it was quite foggy this morning in Sheffield.
The plagiarism for librarians course which was due to run yesterday was cancelled because of lack of demand but the Plagiarism Information Service did run a course in the morning for FE colleges and one librarian did attend that. I will be putting up a copy of the presentation and other information on the SINTO wiki.
I attended a meeting of the MLA Yorkshire Workforce Development Group on Monday. The purpose of the group is to “act as a strategic body focused on addressing the challenge of the sector which is to enable museums, libraries and archives to be learning organisations which develop a motivated appropriately skilled, diverse and outward-looking workforce capable of delivering high-quality services to all users.” I plan to put some information about workforce development on the wiki (and see my previous blog postings).
I have for some time been producing a Business Information Newsletter which I circulate to SINTO members on a regular basis. The latest issue is due out soon but you might like to note the following item from Sue Sayles of Sheffield Libraries.
I would be glad if you would put details of the next Sheffield Inventors'
Group meeting in your e-newsletters.
Its a joint meeting for April/May.
Monday 23 April 2007, at the Central Library,Sheffield, 6pm-7.45pm. Meet in the entrance foyer Speakers will be David Thomas and Aldo de Leonibus of Inventya on "Product to the Marketplace"
There is also the opportunity to network with other inventors and talk with business and patent information providers.
To book a free place at the meeting, email businessandtech.library@sheffield.gov.uk or telephone 0114 274 4743
From June the meetings of the Sheffield Inventors' Group will revert back to the first Monday in each month.
A celebrity blog that is staying the course is that of incoming CILIP President Ian Snowley Ian has been keeping a blog for some time - his 100th posting was in January 2006 - and as the new President of our professional association there should be some interesting professional postings. Ian's blog is more personal than my SINTO blog but I am working on that. (Toast and LIME marmalade for breakfast this morning). His latest posting begins "I hadn't planned to post from China, but I'm here in Beijing with an internet connection in the room, so I thought I would!" Now that is just showing off Ian! My readers in Beijing might like to know that it was quite foggy this morning in Sheffield.
The plagiarism for librarians course which was due to run yesterday was cancelled because of lack of demand but the Plagiarism Information Service did run a course in the morning for FE colleges and one librarian did attend that. I will be putting up a copy of the presentation and other information on the SINTO wiki.
I attended a meeting of the MLA Yorkshire Workforce Development Group on Monday. The purpose of the group is to “act as a strategic body focused on addressing the challenge of the sector which is to enable museums, libraries and archives to be learning organisations which develop a motivated appropriately skilled, diverse and outward-looking workforce capable of delivering high-quality services to all users.” I plan to put some information about workforce development on the wiki (and see my previous blog postings).
I have for some time been producing a Business Information Newsletter which I circulate to SINTO members on a regular basis. The latest issue is due out soon but you might like to note the following item from Sue Sayles of Sheffield Libraries.
I would be glad if you would put details of the next Sheffield Inventors'
Group meeting in your e-newsletters.
Its a joint meeting for April/May.
Monday 23 April 2007, at the Central Library,Sheffield, 6pm-7.45pm. Meet in the entrance foyer Speakers will be David Thomas and Aldo de Leonibus of Inventya on "Product to the Marketplace"
There is also the opportunity to network with other inventors and talk with business and patent information providers.
To book a free place at the meeting, email businessandtech.library@sheffield.gov.uk or telephone 0114 274 4743
From June the meetings of the Sheffield Inventors' Group will revert back to the first Monday in each month.
Thursday, 1 March 2007
Students & more on NOS
I have just changed the settings for this blog which means that anyone should be able to send in a comment without registering.
Today I gave a presentation about SINTO to students at the Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield. Hello to any of you who followed up my invitation to look at the SINTO blog and wiki.
As students you are very welcome to read my postings and to comment on any of the issues I raise. And if you want to start of a new topic let me know.
Students sometimes feel that they are remote from the "real" world of working librarians and this site might give you a better understanding of the practical issues we face. On the other hand students sometimes fear that when they leave library school with fresh ideas and enthusiasm these will be resisted by the established professionals. In return, librarians sometimes accuse library schools of sending them new professional who are not prepared for the realities of working in libraries. Do you have any views on this?
To follow up my last postings - I have received an e-mail from LLUK about two focus groups to discuss national Occupational Standards for our sector. These are in London on the 15th & 21st March. The e-mail is addressed to those responsible for the strategic direction and development of your libraries, archives or information services workforce? This does raise the question of who has this strategic responsibility. In many libraries training and development is delegated to a senior member of staff but do they have a strategic role? If the Head of Service has delegated responsibility will they be aware of these developments? And in many organisations overall strategic responsibility for workforce development will lie outside the library - but do these people know enough about the needs of the LAIS workforce? Who in your organisation will attend these meetings? And if the answer is "no one, we are all to busy" what will that mean for the future of workforce development? Will we as a profession just wait for the standards to come out and then complain that they are not what we want?
Today I gave a presentation about SINTO to students at the Department of Information Studies, University of Sheffield. Hello to any of you who followed up my invitation to look at the SINTO blog and wiki.
As students you are very welcome to read my postings and to comment on any of the issues I raise. And if you want to start of a new topic let me know.
Students sometimes feel that they are remote from the "real" world of working librarians and this site might give you a better understanding of the practical issues we face. On the other hand students sometimes fear that when they leave library school with fresh ideas and enthusiasm these will be resisted by the established professionals. In return, librarians sometimes accuse library schools of sending them new professional who are not prepared for the realities of working in libraries. Do you have any views on this?
To follow up my last postings - I have received an e-mail from LLUK about two focus groups to discuss national Occupational Standards for our sector. These are in London on the 15th & 21st March. The e-mail is addressed to those responsible for the strategic direction and development of your libraries, archives or information services workforce? This does raise the question of who has this strategic responsibility. In many libraries training and development is delegated to a senior member of staff but do they have a strategic role? If the Head of Service has delegated responsibility will they be aware of these developments? And in many organisations overall strategic responsibility for workforce development will lie outside the library - but do these people know enough about the needs of the LAIS workforce? Who in your organisation will attend these meetings? And if the answer is "no one, we are all to busy" what will that mean for the future of workforce development? Will we as a profession just wait for the standards to come out and then complain that they are not what we want?
Wednesday, 28 February 2007
Vocational Qualifications
I will carry on with my report of the Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK) meeting that I began yesterday. Today I will extend my "idiots guide" to the new framework of vocational qualifications for the libraries, archives and information services (LAIS) workforce.
What are vocational qualifications?
Qualifications can be divided into three types: academic qualifications which we gain by study at university and college, professional qualifications which are awarded by professional bodies such as CILIP and vocational qualifications which are awarded for the skills we learn at or for work. There is a great deal of overlap between these types, for example you can only get the professional qualification of MCLIP if you have an academic degree. And many university degrees are vocational. Also qualifications come at different levels. In the past the skills you learnt in you job were often not recognised or accredited so that someone with a 10-year old BA was regarded as more qualified than someone with GCSEs but who had worked for 10 years.
What is LLUK's role?
Create new National Occupational Standards for the LAIS workforce
Design new sector frameworks of vocational qualifications for the LAIS workforce
Improve progression opportunities
Represent employer views
And what are National Occupational Standards?
National Occupational Standards (NOS) define areas of competence (or skill-sets) required in an occupation or job role i.e. the combination of skills, knowledge and understanding that an individual needs to perform effectively in a job. They describe the key activities undertaken in a range of tasks e.g. "Solve problems for customers" or "Issue and recover loan material". If you want more information go to the UK Standards website.
Standards are developed with sector participation, apply across the whole of the UK and provide the benchmarks for vocational qualifications.
How exactly are these being developed?
LLUK has contracted Angela Abell, Liz MacLachlan and Sara Ward of SAL Associates to work with staff at LLUK on the development of new National Occupational Standards for the LAIS workforce. The plan is to combine the three existing and separate sets of NOS inherited from the former Information Services National Training Organisation (isNTO) into one integrated standards framework. The drafting of the new standards has begun and there will be a programme of nine consultation events throughout the UK during April - May 2007 followed by electronic consultation via the LLUK website during June. It is anticipated that the work will be completed over the summer.
So how do NOS relate to vocational qualifications?
NOS provide the benchmark for developing vocational qualifications. Qualifications will be built from units which will cover the elements identified by the NOS.
What will these Vocational Qualifications look like?
Individuals will gain a qualification by amassing credits accumulated from core, optional and elective units. They will be able to gain credits in a variety of different ways including the accreditation of workplace CPD. They should have a strong emphasis on developing skills, knowledge and understanding and not just on auditing existing skills.
Aren't we talking about NVQs?
There is a consensus of opinion in the profession that NVQs have not been a success. There has been a low level of take-up for LAIS NVQs for a number of reasons: availability was limited; progression opportunities were limited (LIS NVQs were only available to level 3); there was a lack of awareness and enthusiasm by both staff and employers; they were perceived as expensive, too narrow and too process-oriented. These new Vocational Qualifications are intended to remedy these faults.
You mention the problem of NVQs being limited to level 3. Will the new structure deal with this?
As part of government strategy to increase participation in higher education a new vocational qualification has been introduced at level 4/5 called a Foundation Degree. LLUK is holding discussions with providers and the professional bodies to agree a model of what foundation degrees in our sector should look like, how they should relate to the National Occupational Standards and the body of professional knowledge and how employers can be involved in their development. For more information go to the Foundation Degree Forward website
So will this new framework for vocational qualifications work?
A good question! There has not been a good take up of NVQs for a variety of reasons. LLUK has looked at those reasons and is trying to deal with the problems in the new framework. However it comes down to whether individuals and employers embrace this new structure. How enthusiastic are library staff, especially at the library assistant levels, about gaining vocational qualifications? It comes down to a basic change of attitude. Most people accept that they need a certain qualification in order to get a job but then think that the job is theirs for life or until they change jobs. But as things are changing rapidly we need to be constantly learning new things and to gain qualifications to show this. If you don't get new vocational qualifications then you are no longer qualified for the job. Employers need to be prepared to invest in staff development and encourage staff to gain vocational qualifications. I feel that many employer have managed to demotivate staff and turn them against self development by showing a complete lack of interest. Yes they may "send people on courses" but do they show any interest in the outcome or enable staff to put new ideas into practice?
Employers also need to engage with the consultation process to ensure that the framework does provide what they need. It is not unknown for organisations to sack professional librarians because the skills of librarians are not what they need. (This has happened in commercial companies but is also known in academic institutions and even local authorities). It is important therefore that the organisation as a whole - not just the librarians within this organisation - gets involved in this process. They need to tell LLUK what skills they want from their staff and hopefully they will also learn what librarians can contribute to their organisation.
Further information about LLUK can be found on their website.
Tuesday, 27 February 2007
Skills for the workforce
Yesterday I attended a meeting held by Lifelong Learning UK (LLUK) at the Royal Armouries Museum, Leeds on the strategic direction and development of the libraries, archives and information service workforce. The meeting looked at the development of a Sector Skills Agreement (SSA) for the Libraries, Archives and Information Services (LAIS) workforce and the project to develop National Occupational Standards and a framework of vocational qualifications for this sector.
It's a topic that most of us would regard as important - it deals with fundamental questions for both individuals and organisations such as what skills do people need? How do we get those skills? How are those skills recognised?
At the same time it is a complex issue and we are faced with organisations, projects and qualifications that seem to change constantly. It's no wonder that we get confused!
Here is my stab at an idiots guide.
What is Lifelong Learning UK?
LLUK is one of 25 Sector Skills Councils under the Skills for Business programme. The aim of LLUK is to ensure that lifelong learning employers can recruit, retain and develop highly skilled and effective staff.
Sorry - what do you mean by "lifelong learning employers"?
This term covers all organisations working in community learning & development, further education, higher education, work-based learning and libraries, archives & information services. Its a broad and diverse group which you could say has just lumped together several different sectors but there is a common purpose that links them together. LLUK replaces the old Information Services National Training Organisation (isNTO)
So what does LLUK do?
Well the first thing it is doing is to develop a Sector Skills Agreement (SSA)
A what?
An SSA is an agreement between employers and government that will ensure that the workforce has the right skills in the right places at the right time. It identifies current and future skills gaps and works with partners to fill these gaps. Our SSA will ensure that the UK's lifelong learning sector has the skilled workforce it needs to increase productivity and improve service delivery.
And what does that mean for libraries, archives and information services?
The research and consultation with the LAIS sector is underway but certain skills issues have been identified for the sector. These include:
The identification of specific LAIS technical skills such as cataloguing, collections management, information retrieval, conservation & preservation.
The identification of specific ICT skills such as digitisation, management of metadata, ICT systems development.
The need for customer engagement skills in order to establish user needs and provide support and guidance.
The need to develop a new generation of library leaders through management skills, strategic leadership, advocacy and project management.
In the discussions yesterday a number of themes emerged. It was felt that the existing structure for delivering LAIS technical skills (i.e. through library school trained staff) worked well but there was a need for consistent updating. ICT developments impacted on almost all areas and there was a pressing need for more people with the appropriate skills in the workforce. There was a pressing need for inter-personal skills/customer engagement skills and also for leadership skills at all levels e.g. all staff should be able to promote the library service to users and management. One feature of the LAIS workforce is the age profile which means that a high proportion of experienced staff will be retiring in the next 10 years. It may also mean that staff are not keen on training and CPD as they are approaching retirement. It was argued that all staff in the lifelong learning sector should have a personal commitment to lifelong learning. One way of helping to achieve this is to make sure that all learning and skills development is recognised by the gaining of vocational qualifications. This would help all staff gain promotion or a new job and would ensure that they are still qualified to continue in their current post.
In my next post on this meeting I will look at the development of a new framework of vocational qualifications.
It's a topic that most of us would regard as important - it deals with fundamental questions for both individuals and organisations such as what skills do people need? How do we get those skills? How are those skills recognised?
At the same time it is a complex issue and we are faced with organisations, projects and qualifications that seem to change constantly. It's no wonder that we get confused!
Here is my stab at an idiots guide.
What is Lifelong Learning UK?
LLUK is one of 25 Sector Skills Councils under the Skills for Business programme. The aim of LLUK is to ensure that lifelong learning employers can recruit, retain and develop highly skilled and effective staff.
Sorry - what do you mean by "lifelong learning employers"?
This term covers all organisations working in community learning & development, further education, higher education, work-based learning and libraries, archives & information services. Its a broad and diverse group which you could say has just lumped together several different sectors but there is a common purpose that links them together. LLUK replaces the old Information Services National Training Organisation (isNTO)
So what does LLUK do?
Well the first thing it is doing is to develop a Sector Skills Agreement (SSA)
A what?
An SSA is an agreement between employers and government that will ensure that the workforce has the right skills in the right places at the right time. It identifies current and future skills gaps and works with partners to fill these gaps. Our SSA will ensure that the UK's lifelong learning sector has the skilled workforce it needs to increase productivity and improve service delivery.
And what does that mean for libraries, archives and information services?
The research and consultation with the LAIS sector is underway but certain skills issues have been identified for the sector. These include:
The identification of specific LAIS technical skills such as cataloguing, collections management, information retrieval, conservation & preservation.
The identification of specific ICT skills such as digitisation, management of metadata, ICT systems development.
The need for customer engagement skills in order to establish user needs and provide support and guidance.
The need to develop a new generation of library leaders through management skills, strategic leadership, advocacy and project management.
In the discussions yesterday a number of themes emerged. It was felt that the existing structure for delivering LAIS technical skills (i.e. through library school trained staff) worked well but there was a need for consistent updating. ICT developments impacted on almost all areas and there was a pressing need for more people with the appropriate skills in the workforce. There was a pressing need for inter-personal skills/customer engagement skills and also for leadership skills at all levels e.g. all staff should be able to promote the library service to users and management. One feature of the LAIS workforce is the age profile which means that a high proportion of experienced staff will be retiring in the next 10 years. It may also mean that staff are not keen on training and CPD as they are approaching retirement. It was argued that all staff in the lifelong learning sector should have a personal commitment to lifelong learning. One way of helping to achieve this is to make sure that all learning and skills development is recognised by the gaining of vocational qualifications. This would help all staff gain promotion or a new job and would ensure that they are still qualified to continue in their current post.
In my next post on this meeting I will look at the development of a new framework of vocational qualifications.
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