Monthly Archives: November 2020

Webinar Recording: Going from disaster to wonder – Managing successful teams

Missed this webinar? Find the recording below!

in collaboration with IFLA’s Management and Marketing Section (M&M) and the American Library Association (ALA), this webinar focused on how to create and keep successful teams, covering issues such as dealing with conflicts, managing staff you haven’t inherited, helping the teams work toward a goal, etc.

Recording

Speakers:

Dr Dilara Begum, Associate Professor and Chairperson, Department of Information Studies, East West University, Bangladesh

Harish Maringanti, Associate Dean for IT & Digital Library Services, Marriott Library, University of Utah (USA)

Moon Kim, Acquisitions Librarian, Ohio State University, USA (tentative)

Anya Feltreuter, Library Director, Mjölby Public Library, Sweden

Moderator:

Catharina Isberg, Library Director, Helsingborg City Libraries, Sweden.

A new study into the skills required by public library staff in Victoria, Australia

In Australia, the report on a major workforce planning study has been published by the project partners, State Library Victoria (SLV) and Public Libraries Victoria (PLV), the peak body for the state’s 47 public library services. Public library services in Victoria are guided by the strategic framework, Victorian Public Libraries 2030, which includes the visions of the Creative Library and the Community Library.

It was recognised that the achievement of the strategic objectives for the sector would depend on a workforce of well trained, experienced and valued public library staff’.  The need to have a clear understanding of the range of skills required for the two scenarios of the Creative Libary and the Community Library was the stimulus for an initial research study undertaken in 2013. Public library staff were surveyed to determine the perceived value of specific skillsets, the anticipated importance of the skills five years’ hence, and the respondents’ confidence levels in applying the skills in their work.

Managers were invited to consider the competencies required across the whole library service in order to identify potential skills gaps. The research findings, presented in the report Victorian Public Libraries: Our Future, Our Skills (SLV, 2014), subsequently guided a program of workforce and leadership development activities coordinated by SLV and PLV.

A stakeholder review of the framework undertaken in 2019 confirmed the continued relevance of the strategic directions for the sector: digital developments drive opportunities for creativity, innovation and collaborative processes in ‘creative libraries’, while technological, social, demographic, economic and environmental trends underpin the concept of ‘community libraries’. A fresh investigation was proposed to comprehensively review the skills, knowledge and confidence levels of public library staff.

The replication of the 2013 skills audit not only sought to update the skills data, but also to facilitate the comparison of datasets to measure the extent of skills improvements made over the six years and to identify any skill areas requiring further development.

The new report, Skills Audit of Victorian Public Library Sector 2019, reviews the research data provided by 1,388 Individual respondents and 34 Management respondents. The questions covered three categories of skills: Foundation skills, Professional skills and Behavioural skills.  The analysis of the quantitative data focuses on the participants’ responses to the five-point Likert scale questions and considers their views of the most important skills, now and in five years’ time, as well as the least important skills.

The qualitative data provide insights into the participants’ views about the value of the different skillsets in the context of public library services, as well as the most valued areas of professional development. The priority skills for the future are viewed through several different lenses: the current strengths of library staff, the skills required for the technology environment and the skills to underpin programs and services in the Creative Library and in the Community Library. Improvements in staff confidence levels are contextualised within the training and development activities coordinated by SLV and PLV in recent years and strategies for future learning programs are considered.

The analysis of the areas where confidence levels were high painted an encouraging picture: public library staff demonstrated their commitment to the core values of the profession and had a mature understanding of the mission and purpose of public libraries in society. There was no room
for complacency, however: library staff were very conscious of the changing world around them. The theme of change was woven through the many comments provided in the 2019 skills audit, revealing that respondents’ thoughts were aligned with the sector’s insights into societal trends, characterised by the rapidly changing technological, social and economic landscape.

Undoubtedly, public library staff represent the sector’s most valuable resource. In a rapidly changing world, community dynamics are pressing library staff to reflect on their current professional responsibilities and challenging them to redefine their future. In Victoria, the approach has been to think broadly about what changes might take place in society so that public libraries might not only stay relevant but also play a transformative role within the community.

State Library of Victoria (2013). Victorian Public Libraries 2030: Strategic framework.

State Libary of Victoria (2014). Victorian Public Libraries: Our Future, Our Skills.

State Library Victoria (2020).  Skills Audit of Victorian Public Library Sector 2019.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow! What Did I Do in Athens? Reflections on my first year as SC Member in CPDWL during IFLA WLIC 2019

Contributed by

Rajen Munoo, rajen@smu.edu.sg, Head, Learning and Information Services, SMU Libraries

‘Tis the season of thanksgiving, of reflection, of baubles, tinsels, good tidings, and gifting! With travel plans up in the air and the next opportunity for a face-to-face IFLA WLIC distant, my blogpost gifts to CPDWL a celebration of my last gathering at the IFLA WLIC 2019 in Athens and showcases the opportunities afforded to me by CPDWL as new SC member.

My story is around 5Is.

Involvement

Session 101: Active and Interactive Learning and Development Strategy – Continuing Professional Development and Workplace Learning and Evidence for Global and Disaster Health SIG. This was joint session with CPDWL and IFLA Special Interest Group E4GDH (Evidence for Global and Disaster Health):

The remit of this session was around the need to equip a skilled, flexible and agile library and information workforce for the future and to demonstrate a range of strategies and methods that improve learning and knowledge transfer – and build on the experiences of the participants. With interactivity being key, various options were put forth such as practical exercises, group work, or other innovative methods, e.g.  Fishbowl Technique / Speed Networking / Pyramid Discussion / Gallery Method /Appreciative Inquiry / Opinionator Triangle / Knowledge Café / Flipped Classroom

Initiating

And so the team was formed co-led by Dr Gillian Hallam, Co-Chair CPDWL, Dr Anne Brice, Head of Knowledge Management, Public Health England and Feili Tu-Keefner as facilitator, Assoc Professor School of Library & Information Science, University of South Carolina. Included was Emma Farrow, Public Health England together with Blessing Mawire, Librarian & Knowledge Management Specialist, Pretoria, South Africa and Mercy Moyo, Senior programme Officer, ITOCA (Information Training & Outreach Centre for Africa) Pretoria, South Africa. With different time zones and countries, we had numerous virtual meetings and curated a successful programme down to the minute!

Ingredients

I gave a presentation entitled, “Engaging Students using a webinar to deliver and information literacy class as part of Emergency Preparedness Teaching and Learning at the SMU Library: Learning from Our Experience”

In 35 minutes, What do I cover? How do I structure my presentation? How do I fulfil the learning outcomes? My presentation plan, outline and transferrable learning strategies included:

Part A: Singapore in a VUCA World

  1. Scene setting [2 mins] > outline questions
  2. Video [5 mins]
  3. Reflection [5 mins]: Pairs / Table Talk
  4. Who are the different stakeholders? [Discuss at tables]
  5. Is anyone missing? [Discuss at tables]

iii. What opportunities for libraries and librarians (as first responders)?  [Feedback via Mentimeter]

Part B: Case Study [15 mins]

Part C: Fireside chat [5 mins]

Blessing Mawire and Mercy Moyo used the fish bowl method for discussion, including a silent fishbowl member. This session was highly interactive and popular.

Interventions, strategies and methods that improve learning and knowledge transfer

  • Self-Reflecting Questions: Posing a few scene setting questions before the start of your presentation piques the curiosity of your participants especially if it’s a provocative one!
  • Video: This is good to grab the attention of your participants and also brings a sense of realism especially if the video is produced in-house as the one created by Blessing and Mercy.
  • Fireside Chats: Creates and informal conversational setting personalising the experience where the facilitator and presenter share using a set of guided questions
  • Mentimeter: Visual word cloud presentation of ideas for participants to share especially for introverted and extroverted participants.
  • Fishbowl: Provides opportunities for proactive sharing of ideas and experiences by ‘taking the chair’ and facilitates discussion around a topic. A silent Fishbowl member plays the role of scribe, and resource person
  • Social Learning: Tweets and postings using social media tools on social networking sites highlights the Aha! Moments and key learning points to a wider audience

Upon reflection, little did I realise the foresight of my presentation on our current COVID-19 pandemic.

In my current role, I have oversight of the SMU Libraries staff learning and development portfolio and I am excited about being involved in the taskforce to develop the CPDWL Toolkit – Transferring learning back to the workplace which I hope to use myself.

Integration

CPDWL made me feel welcome and I actively contributed in the following ways:

  • Attended both the business meetings where I got to meet other members and understood the pulse of this awarding winning section.
  • I also co-facilitated Session 184 Knowledge Café 2019 – Knowledge Management with CPDWL and Library and Research Service for Parliaments with Crehalet Marie-Estelle where we harvested ideas around the topic, “Focus on what the library does versus what it has”
  • Session 251 Coaching Drop in Session – CPDWL with Management and Marketing was also enriching were I am still Facebook friends with my coachee who was from Athens!

In closing, being a CPDWL SC member provides opportunities for all! It’s how you seize them to be actively involved. I look forward contributing further during my term.

CPDWL & NPSIG’s Library Meme Contest on Dec 4-6!

Not Now, I'm trying to Read!

Save the date and celebrate #InternationalVolunteersDay in December 4-6 with us & New Professionals Special Interest Group!

We are excited for our first library meme contest! Be sure to tag us & #WeAreIFLA and #InternationalVolunteersDay! 

Read here for more info: http://tinyurl.com/libmeme

We like to thank SkillType for their amazing prizes to meme creator winners!

Reach out to us if you have any questions at cpdwl.ifla@gmail.com !