Develop a library staff training program that really works! To stay on top of the lightning-fast changes in the library field and provide your patrons with the best service possible, you need to establish and sustain an effective program for training your staff. The Practical Library Trainer examines the concept of the library as a learning place for patrons and staff, offering a comprehensive view of training from an administrator's perspective. Bruce E. Massis, author of The Practical Library Manager (Haworth), addresses the essential issues of how to develop a strong program of continuous instruction, including customer service, reporting, recruitment, and retention of staff. The book focuses on the integration of staff training as a blended activity instead of an intervention, quelling the notion of training as an add-on to existing staff duties. The current information-rich environment provides your patrons with an abundance of resources to choose from for their research needs. But they can't do it alone-they need direction from a knowledgeable librarian who can recognize the pedigree, currency, and validity of licensed resources, particularly those available through electronic means. The Practical Library Trainer uses the goal of long-range customer service as a starting point, emphasizing the return on investment possibilities from blended training methods as a key to meeting your patrons' high expectations of service. The book also provides examples from outside the library community to demonstrate the importance of training on a non-library setting and looks at future training issues. The Practical Library Trainer examines: types of staff training (formal, informal, employer-provided, qualifying, skill improvement) strategies for recruiting and retaining a staff blended learning e-training in-house training how to use professional conferences as continuing education opportunities how to evaluate your training program a sample of an anywhere, anytime education and training program and much more! The Practical Library Trainer is an important resource for making sure your patrons get the most from your libraryand your staff.

Written in a warm and personal style, Working in the Virtual Stacks presents an exciting future for librarians, already upon us today!

Provides vision for strong school library programs, including identification of the skills and knowledge essential for students to be information literate. Includes recommended baseline staffing, access, and resources for school library services at each grade level.

Developing Library Staff for the 21st Century presents a variety of insightful perspectives on how proper human resources management strategies can provide library staff members at all levels with the skills needed for libraries of the future. The shift of the concept of management from control to development means that library administrators must adapt to a more inclusive definition of the human resources field. In addition to such administration activities as recruitment, wage and payroll management, and benefits, human resources management now encompasses all activities that promote greater job satisfaction and support the development of individuals within the context of the workplace. This valuable book examines some of the procedures that can help library managers identify the human resources in their organizations; design and implement programs, policies, and procedures to address these issues; and commit the necessary resources to support the full development of all library staff. These perceptive chapters present discussions of the general issues in human resource management and development. They suggest a variety of practical ideas for developing academic library staff at all levels in preparation for the twenty-first century. Academic libraries must be prepared to face unique challenges in the recruitment of talented, qualified individuals to the library profession, the provision of adequate pay for the level of knowledge and skill required by library work, and the very nature of library education. Developing Library Staff for the 21st Century presents a wealth of innovative ideas for reshaping library staff at both the organizational and staff level including: technological training for staff members a model of leadership development based on the library's organizational culture and level of maturity a "green movement" for librarianship that presents an action agenda for the creation of librarianship as a learning and self-renewing profession research findings about the role of the academic library director and some specific areas that need development the changing role of library assistants and the steps libraries need to take to attract, retain, and develop support staff practical experiences with the implementation of innovative human resource programs at Yale University and the University of California, San Diego Administrators, managers, librarians, and staff members will become better prepared for the future with a broad understanding of the various models, approaches, and specific actions described in this book. By making important human resources management changes now, academic libraries will successfully adapt to meet the administrative challenges of the 21st century.