EIFL photo: A moment from the Performance and Outcome Evaluation training workshop in Kenya (2018)

In 2018-2020, EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries – www.eifl.net) developed and implemented in four African countries a new continuous professional development (CPD) strategy that is sustainable, country-wide, and affordable with the use of skilled local trainers. In a previous blog post, we discussed the importance of assessment of training needs to this strategy. In this post, EIFL details the programme that helped develop the training skills of the local librarians.

The question on the mind of the EIFL’s Public Library Innovation Programme (EIFL-PLIP) team before starting the pilot programme in Kenya was: how do we work with public librarians to develop their skills as trainers so they can help their colleagues develop innovative library services for their communities? The team extensively discussed the building blocks of running the new project in partnership with Kenya National Library Service (KNLS). While some of the elements were obvious, it took careful deliberation and discussion to identify other important components.

EIFL photo: Trainees at the EIFL and KNLS mobile information literacy workshop in Kenya (2018)

Identifying relevant content was easy to do with the help of the KNLS team, and through in-depth needs assessment. Our focus was on introducing practical skills and knowledge that librarians could then easily use in their library. While some of the content was developed by the EIFL team, to save time and resources we invited several trusted international partners to join the project and bring in relevant material that they had created for other countries. While we included a train-the-trainer (ToT) component, we also covered a number of subject modules core to development of library services such as mobile information literacy, leadership, library spaces, design thinking, project management, performance and outcome evaluation, and communication and advocacy. The training took place over 18 months, with different modules offered every 2 – 3 month. Between modules, trainees prepared and facilitated workshops, cascading their subject knowledge to other librarians.

Less obvious to the project partners was how to handle the librarians’ concerns, and perhaps, lack-of-confidence in their training skills. We did a lot of brainstorming and experimenting to get this aspect tackled. We knew that practicing their training skills, and peer support were critical. So we formed training teams for each subject module. Each team comprised up to four trainers who would together prepare and conduct cascade training, and support each other. We also piloted individual coaching sessions. The coaching turned out to be incredibly successful and important to the librarians on the path of becoming trainers. They wanted to talk, in a safe environment, about their new roles and concerns. Coaching then became part of CPD projects in Namibia, Zambia, and Uganda.

We also wanted a safety net for all the training teams. KNLS and EIFL project coordinators attended all first cascade training sessions, mainly in a mentoring role.  We had a very important rule about our participation: the KNLS and EIFL staff would only intervene if they were invited in by the training team. Our role was to support and assist when needed, and keep quiet the rest of the time (which was most of the time). We also did a debrief after each training with each team, and individually with each trainer. We asked two questions: What went well and why?  What would you change if you ran this training tomorrow?

The combination of quality training sessions, coupled with coaching and mentoring, was extremely effective (read Blog 3 for more details about the results).  Richard Atuti, the (now former) Director of KNLS, paid tribute to the programme: “The continuous professional development/training of trainers programme has introduced a unique perspective for improving knowledge and skills of library staff. Developing a pool of internal trainers in critical areas of library operations enabled KNLS to conduct regular training at different levels. This partnership transformed our human resources and the quality of service delivery.”

Our experience showed that equipped with relevant skills and supported through mentoring and coaching of professionals, local librarians can become effective trainers for their peers. With lessons learned from Kenya (see the project impact report), EIFL applied the same CPD/ToT strategy in Namibia, and a modified CPD/ToT strategy, taking into account contextual differences, in Zambia and Uganda.

Watch for our next blog, which will look into the results and lessons learned!

To find out more about EIFL’s public librarians’ capacity building initiative in Africa, please visit: https://www.eifl.net/eifl-in-action/capacity-building-public-librarians-africa

Authors:

SUSAN SCHNUER, EIFL’s Public Library Innovation Programme, Capacity Building Manager

For over 27 years Susan Schnuer has trained librarians, in developing and transition economy countries, to be agents of change in their communities. Her passion is to identify and coach talented librarians, helping them to explore their potential as leaders and trainers in their communities. Her philosophy is to ‘tread lightly’ by co-developing training programmes that are tailored to meet the unique needs of librarians in different countries or regions.

UGNE LIPEIKAITE, EIFL’s Public Library Innovation Programme, Impact Manager

Ugne Lipeikaite’s expertise in developing impact evaluation methodologies and tools for measuring the outcomes of public library services has grown over a period of 15 years. Ugne has contributed to the design and implementation of major international research projects to measure the impact of public internet access in libraries and the role of libraries in providing connectivity and digital skills in communities. Ugne has developed training courses and trained public and community librarians in several countries in Africa on how to assess the needs of communities and the impact of library services.

EIFL photo: EIFL and National Library Authorities of Ghana, Kenya, and Uganda meeting to review continuous professional development of public librarians (2016)

From 2014 to 2017 EIFL (Electronic Information for Libraries – www.eifl.net) implemented extensive capacity building programmes in Kenya, Ghana and Uganda, aimed at development of technology-based library services in public libraries that had computers and internet access for public use. While working with local library authorities and training librarians, we observed that library systems, mainly for financial reasons, struggle to offer continued professional development (CPD) to assist librarians in providing modern and technology-oriented services to their communities. This lack of professional development support led EIFL to engage in the development of a new CPD strategy that is sustainable, country-wide, and affordable, by using skilled local trainers. From 2018 to 2020 we tested this strategy through capacity building initiatives in Kenya, Namibia, Zambia and Uganda and in a series of three blogs, EIFL will share key attributes and outcomes of this CPD approach.

In our experience, the key to the strategy, and to the success of CPD programmes based on this strategy, is assessment at the outset, of existing CPD systems, and of training needs of both libraries and librarians. To transform existing CDP practices into sustainable systems, with training provided by local trainers, EIFL worked with national library authorities. We started by meeting potential partners – Kenya National Library Services (KNLS), National Library of Uganda (NLU) and Ghana Library Authority (GhLA) – to review the CPD situation and particular needs in each country and to discuss next steps. At that moment KNLS was the most ready to take a commitment for a multi-year effort, so we started by planning a more specific intervention within the KNLS network. This was done collaboratively during a three-day meeting between the EIFL Public Library Innovation Programme (EIFL-PLIP) team and representatives of different departments of KNLS. Together, we came up with a vision of a CPD system for public libraries in Kenya as well as initial criteria for selection of librarians to become trainers.

The next step was a skills audit of librarians who were selected to become trainers. We examined candidates’ skills and confidence in 4 key areas, that were foreseen to become the backbone of the training of trainers (ToT) programme: 1) Training Abilities (principles of adult training, building training programmes and materials, running training events, evaluating training results); 2) Technology (using Microsoft office applications, internet searching, open and subscribed e-resources and strategies of digital skills training to community); 3) Development of New Library Services (community needs assessment, project management, fundraising and stakeholder management, monitoring and evaluation); 4) Communications and Advocacy (building messages, developing advocacy plans, conducting effective presentations, working with media). The information on competences of trainers was collected via a Google-based online survey and was used to shape the  ToT programme as well as to assess the effectiveness of the programme, as we compared their skills before and after the training. Quantitative data was complemented by personal interviews with the trainers-to-be, where we talked to them about their background education, training experience, subject skills and professional interests and, finally, their personal traits and motivation to become trainers.

Lastly, and maybe most importantly, we wanted to find a way to assess the needs of public libraries for professional development and service provision. Through in-depth discussions with staff from different KNLS departments, the KNLS and EIFL-PLIP team identified gaps and challenges of existing training needs assessment practices, which comprised a bi-annual Training Needs Assessment survey through which librarians would indicate what they would like to learn. The weakness of this approach was that it generated information about librarians’ personal needs and interests, which were not necessarily aligned with the organizational goals of KNLS or the service improvement needs of a particular library. Also it was not always possible to respond to the training needs expressed by librarians, as most CPD happened through external opportunities offered by development organizations, which – though welcome – were not necessarily related to librarians’ needs.

To address this gap, EIFL-PLIP and KNLS co-developed a Capacity Building Framework, a self-assessment tool to be filled in by the heads of libraries in the KNLS network. The Framework looks at 7 areas of library operations, identified by KNLS as the key, such as Community Needs Assessment, ICT, Customer Service, Services and Programs, Collections, Library Facilities and Assets and Library Management. It enables the heads of libraries to assess their library in relation to an ‘ideal library’ situation through a system of indicators and evidence, used to assign a library to a Group A, B or C, where A meant good, B – medium and C – not very good. The application of the Framework includes three steps:

• The head of each KNLS branch library assesses the present situation / operations of the library and submits the information to KNLS headquarters.
• KNLS Staff Training and Advisory Committee (STAC) reviews and analyses the assessments provided by heads of libraries, to understand what capacity building is required in relation to library service development targets, and to set staff capacity building priorities for each library.
• KNLS STAC builds a plan for staff capacity building, and implements the plan, drawing on internal resources and external opportunities.

This Framework was piloted in 17 libraries and later applied to 45 KNLS branch libraries and provided valuable and deep insights on the current state of library operations and needs for capacity building. However, the complexity of the tool showed that it requires a significant amount of effort to apply and skills to analyze the data, so for the post training evaluation instead of open questions, we developed a more structured questionnaire with Likert scale response options for most of the questions.

To summarize our learnings from this process, we can say a comprehensive pre-assessment strategy is essential for the success and sustainability of CPD programmes. This strategy must consider capacity building at both the library level, where the need for service improvement should be evaluated, and at the individual level of trainers and local librarians, which leads to tailored training content adapted to the local context.

Watch out for our next blog, which will look at how we helped public librarians to become skilled Trainers!

To find out about other activities of EIFL’s Public Library Innovation Programme, please visit: www.eifl.net/plip

Authors:

SUSAN SCHNUER, EIFL’s Public Library Innovation Programme, Capacity Building Manager

For over 27 years Susan Schnuer has trained librarians, in developing and transition economy countries, to be agents of change in their communities. Her passion is to identify and coach talented librarians, helping them to explore their potential as leaders and trainers in their communities. Her philosophy is to ‘tread lightly’ by co-developing training programmes that are tailored to meet the unique needs of librarians in different countries or regions.

UGNE LIPEIKAITE, EIFL’s Public Library Innovation Programme, Impact Manager

Ugne Lipeikaite’s expertise in developing impact evaluation methodologies and tools for measuring the outcomes of public library services has grown over a period of 15 years. Ugne has contributed to the design and implementation of major international research projects to measure the impact of public internet access in libraries and the role of libraries in providing connectivity and digital skills in communities. Ugne has developed training courses and trained public and community librarians in several countries in Africa on how to assess the needs of communities and the impact of library services.

By Chinwe V. Anunobi

AFLIA, the voice of African library sector has focused on deepening the professional competencies of African librarians and awakening them to be in the forefront of driving literacy, information equity and openness in the continent.  The organization has also been building the capabilities of librarians which will enable them to search out and implement innovative solutions that will drive development in their various communities. The pandemic period with its associated work-from-home provided a window for the very mobile professionals to participate in some of the competency’s enhancement webinars organised by AFLIA for librarians in African. One of these continuing professional development efforts which is yielding dividend for community of information users, librarians and the general public is Misinformation on COVID 19: Call to Action.

AfLIA believes that as managers of information, African librarians cannot afford to stay on the side lines and act unconcerned while fakenews about COVID19 continues to spread. This is the time for librarians to play their part by disseminating correct, reliable, relevant information that will make Africans concerned without instigating panic and bursting myths and disinformation that can help the pandemic wax strong in the continent. Hence Misinformation on COVID-19 : Call to Action was put  forward.  Consequently, AFLIA took a bold step to organize a 5day training for African librarians with a view to centrally position African Librarians to address the menace of misinformation.

During the 2020 Global Media and Literacy Week (24th – 31st October) which has the  theme – “Resisting Disinfodemic: Media and Information Literacy for everyone and, by everyone” AFLIA organised a 5day training – 2020 Media and Information Literacy Week: Call to Action which was focused on exploring the main strands of disinfodemic and provide  the opportunity for African librarians to propound ideas and pathways for dealing with it in different African communities. The short training aimed to:

• Create awareness about the 2020 Global and Media Literacy Week;
• Expose librarians to the realities of the 21st-century information provision environment especially infodemic, disinformation and disinfodemic; and
• Lead African Librarians into drawing up implementable Action Plans for dealing with disinfodemic.

The training exposed the Librarians to the concepts of Media and Information Literacy, Infodemic, Misinformation, Disinformation or Weaponized Misinformation  and Disinfodemic.                                                                                                  

Media and Information Literacy (MIL)

This has been acknowledged as a means for achieving development. Realities of the 21^st century make it imperative that everyone is empowered with MIL skills in order to holistically engage with information and opportunities fully offline and online safely and gainfully. The Global Media and Literacy Week was iinitiated in 2012 by UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) in cooperation with; GAPMIL (Global Alliance for Partnerships on Media and Information Literacy), UNAOC (United Nations Alliance for Civilizations)MILID (MIL and Intercultural Dialogue) University Network ; the Week is an avenue for uniting the different organizations that promote Media and Information Literacy(MIL) all over the world so that everyone will join hands to uphold MIL as a veritable pathway for engendering social inclusion and intercultural dialogue.

Media and information literacy skills are intersecting competencies that are necessary for searching, accessing, evaluating and verifying information as well as for safely using and creating information for offline and online platforms. The MIL suite of skills enables one to ask pertinent questions and answers about the information and/or media one wants to engage with including :

• Who created this? Is it obvious, is it as stated or is it hidden? Can you tell if the website is authentic?
• Why was it created? To state facts? To share news? Or an opinion? Or fiction? Speculative reporting? Advertisements and/or sponsored write-up? For malevolent reasons? Is it satire or comedy? Is it biased? What is informing your decision?
• Are the headlines different from the body of the information? Or the headlines slightly represent what is in the body of the information? Is the media doctored in any way? Is the labeling right?
• Who do you think the information was meant for? Is it clear? Why do you think so?
• What makes you think the information is true? Cross-checkable statistics and links?   Authoritative information? Why do you think so?
• Are there holes in the information, details that you feel should be there? How do you know?
• Does it sound too good to be true? Why?
• Is it safe to share?
• Is it safe to share personal details on the site?

As teaching, learning and most engagements migrate to online spaces due to the COVID-19 crisis, these skills have become more important than ever to enable people function effectively as they interact with information in online spaces.                                     Media & Information Literacy (MIL) provides answers to the questions that we all ask ourselves at some point. How can we access, search, critically assess, use and contribute content wisely, both online and offline? What are our rights online and offline? What are the ethical issues surrounding the access and use of information? How can we engage with media and ICTs to promote equality, intercultural and interreligious dialogue, peace, freedom of expression and access to information?

Media and Information Literacy (MIL) brings together the three distinct dimensions of Information Literacy, Media Literacy, and ICT or Digital Literacy .  it is “a new literacy construct that helps empower people, communities and nations to participate in and contribute to global knowledge societies”                                                                                    

Even though different terminologies are used in MIL, such as digital media literacy, information literacy, visual literacy, Internet literacy or news literacy, in general, the definitions refer to “competencies that emphasize the development of enquiry-based skills and the ability to engage meaningfully with media and information channels in whatever form and technologies they are using”

MIL encompasses “the full range of cognitive, emotional, and social competencies that include the use of text, tools and technologies; the skills of critical thinking and analysis; the practice of messaging composition and creativity; the ability to engage in reflection and ethical thinking; as well as active participation through teamwork and collaboration” (Hobbs, 2010). It “relates to the ability to access the media, to understand and critically evaluate different aspects of the media and media content and to create communications in a variety of contexts” It is essentially “a matter of education, of citizenship education, of the necessary ‘literacy’ that allows individuals to truly participate in society. We need strong education policies that include at its core MIL education” (Torrent, 2014), since all citizens, with no exception, “should have access to multi-literacy skills education – including media and information literacy – which is effective, up-to-date and free of charge or affordable for the most financially disadvantaged members of society.  It is a way of guiding people against misinformation.       MIL aims to enable individuals to think critically about the media and the information they consume by engaging in a process of inquiry. The aim, according to UNESCO’s definition of media and information literacy, is to allow individuals to become engaged citizens and responsible decision-makers.

Infodemic

When an excessively overwhelming amount or overabundance of information is generated online and offline about a particular concept enough to cause confusion it is termed an infodemic. The enormous amount of information online and offline on COVID-19 has great potential of creating confusion and disempowering people instead of equipping them to make the right decisions. The COVID-19 generated infodemic has led to wrong choices and hazardous use of drugs in preventing and attempting to cure the virus.

Misinformation

This applies when wrong information is unintentionally created and spread. This includes but is not limited to wrong translations, satire or parody wrongly understood as real stories/news, mislabelling of pictures and quoting wrong dates in a write up.

Disinformation                                                                                                                                 

This is the deliberate spread of false information knowingly or weaponized misinformation camouflaged as facts such as the intentional hyping of a drug as cure for COVID-19, manipulation of audio-visual content and Artificial Intelligence generated synthetic texts among others.

Disinfodemic                                                                                                                                     

A more dangerous scenario which involves steady and heavy deluge of misinformation and disinformation spread deliberately to mask/obstruct the truth, to cause harm to individuals, entities or to push out alternative fact(s) in order to uphold or support harmful agenda.   Disinfodemic especially as pertains to COVID-19 seeks to invalidate science, escalate polarization by all means and works by tapping into or appealing to:

• what we believe in rather than scientific reasoning for example anti-vaccination campaigns;
• our feelings instead of critical and deductive reasoning; and
• biases/prejudices.

Four main formats employed in spreading disinfodemic are –

1. Mixing lies, personal opinions and incomplete information in strong emotional language. factcheck.org, hoax-slayer.com, snopes.com etc are used to crosscheck texts to ascertain if true or not. However, this site is an amalgamation of different websites that check fake news (fact checkers) about COVID-19 – https://www.poynter.org/coronavirusfactsalliance/
2. False websites and identities used to circulate seemingly true news
3. Fraudulently manipulating media in order to plant fear, polarization and other negative agenda for example – https://tellmamauk.org/no-the-muslims-praying-in-this-video-arent-ignoring-the-coronavirus-lockdown-its-far-right-fake-news/ Many librarians who understand the importance of checking media, especially images use https://images.google.com
4. Intentional efficiently organized campaigns meant to sow confusion and discord, spuriously collect personal data and/or get money from false claims of quack cures.

Many pathways for responses to disinfodemic have been outlined by UNESCO.

These are grouped under four groups –

• “Monitoring, fact-checking, and investigative responses aimed at identifying, debunking, and exposing COVID-19 disinformation
• Governance-based responses, which include law and policy, and state-based counter-disinfodemic responses
• Curation, technological, and economic responses, which pertain to the policies and practices of institutions mediating content
• Normative and ethical; educational; empowerment and credibility labelling responses – all of which are aimed at the audiences targeted by disinformation agents, with citizens and journalists being a particular focus.” (UNESCO, 2020).

Participants at the training were required to:

1. Provide examples of how as an African librarian using their professional skills,  plans to support this UN resolution on infodemic, misinformation and disinformation:

• In their  workplace;
• Generally, in their  country; and
• In online spaces.

2. Prepare and present action plan to address menace of disinfodemic from which the best ten were chosen for implementation .

At the end of the training , participants were fully empowered to use social media , print and other electronic media collaboratively to address the menace of misinformation, disinformation, infodemic and disinfodemic .

September 15, 16 @ 10am ET.

Dear Colleagues: Join us! This event might be of interest to you.

“Libraries Raise to the Challenge: Meeting the UN Sustainable Development Goals in the Times of a Global Pandemic.”

Join us US-Russia Library Dialogue September15 and16 at 5pm Moscow / 10am New York time.

Follow event on https://www.facebook.com/LIBFL/

#2030Agenda #SDGActionWeek #librariansunited

The IFLA/ALA webinar on Mindfulness to Manage Workplace Stress and Microaggressions (with support from IFLA New Professionals Special Interest Group and the Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning Section) is now ready to be viewed.

The recording is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9HczX_tK-o (closed captions will be added shortly).

Slides are here: https://aurora.auburn.edu//handle/11200/49913