To train or not to train?

When contemplating training or instruction, the first question to ask is, ‘Is training necessary in this case?’ Is the issue, topic or problem you’re trying to address best solved by a memo, a new written policy or maybe a web-based FAQ site? Perhaps a low-tech document will sufficiently and effectively address the issue at hand. But that isn’t always the case; there are many situations for which training is definitely in order.

Once you’ve decided that training is the way to go, the second question to ask is if the training can be outsourced or needs to be conducted in-house. There may be times when another library, library consortium or professional organization will offer a training session that will be effective, and might even encapsulate a content specialty (i.e. grant writing or HTML coding) that is best addressed by someone with specific expertise in that area. Other professional training opportunities can be acquired at conferences and even through online webinars. More and more training sessions are being offered online, which can provide savings in time, travel and expense.

Attending training or instruction sessions, workshops or conferences outside your organization isn’t always possible and may not be the best solution for your situation or staff/coworkers. In-house training is cost effective, provides an opportunity to showcase individual talents, facilitates peer learning and collective intelligence, provides a platform for organizational growth and change, and allows a personal touch that can’t be achieved by attending training elsewhere. Once you’ve decided that your issue or goal is best served by in-house training and instruction, you’re ready to begin the analysis and planning processes.

As many types of libraries and library constituency groups exist, there are as many types of potential audiences and training needs. Even within same-type libraries, and even within the same library, there will be multiple and diverse information and training needs. Academic libraries are different from public libraries; small libraries are different from large libraries; urban libraries are different from rural libraries; a board of trustees is different from a friends group; and the needs of library staff will be very different from the needs of patrons. So consider who, specifically, will this training target and benefit (Martin, 1976)? Simply identifying library staff or patrons is too broad and will result in having too much, and possibly irrelevant, information to cover.

Before the actual training process can begin, you must succinctly and specifically identify and define your audience (Yeats and Kozlowski, 2003: 262). What part of the staff requires the training? Do the librarians in technical services need to learn the new module in the library automation system? Do the circulation staff need a refresher on customer services skills? Do the student pages need instruction on shelving books? Do your seniors’ club members need instruction on how to compose an e-mail?

The more specific the definition of your audience is, the more targeted and customized your training can be. One size does not fit all when it comes to training, and training shouldn’t be ‘random in – random out’ (Nelson et al., 1995: 27). ‘To serve your audience well, you must understand who they are and exactly what they do … There is a wide variation of knowledge, experience, and skills associated with each audience group’ (Yeats and Kozlowski, 2003: 262). We will discuss this topic more in Chapter 2.

Once you’ve identified and specifically defined your target audience, a needs assessment should be conducted. Before you can plan a training session, you need to know precisely what needs are to be addressed; this will shape your entire program and ‘set the stage for effective training’ (Nelson et al., 1995: 27). Certainly you’re aware of some of your audience’s need, but you may not know the full extent of their information and training requirements; their needs could be ‘both intellectual and geographic’ in scope (Govan, 1976: 544), and could be wide and varied, or alternatively very narrow and specialized. The key is to utilize the information you already have and build upon that knowledge base. For example, you know that the young adults in your school library need instruction on how best to utilize the databases pertaining to history; however, on further examination you discover that they specifically need information about the Harlem Renaissance and its impact on the development of New York City in the 1920s. Drilling down to uncover such information will focus your training, allowing you to select just the right resources to demonstrate and tailor your training to the specific needs of your audience.

There are various ways of conducting a needs assessment, some informal and other more formal methods of gathering information. Butler and Howell (1980) offer many ways of ascertaining information and conducting a needs assessment of your audience. You could observe your target group to get a sense of their habits and see what pieces of information they are missing. (For example, have you noticed that your patrons do not use the new self-checkout machine? Maybe it’s because they don’t know how to work with the equipment. A short training session might be in order.) Other indirect forms of observation included examining desk logs or statistics sheets at public service points. For example, if you notice a high occurrence of the same question being asked (i.e. how do I look for an article the library doesn’t have?), then you may decide to offer a training session, prepare a quick point-of-need script to deliver to patrons one-on-one, or do a screencast detailing how to fill out the form that can be housed on the library’s website.

There will also be instances when the most efficient way to conduct a needs assessment is to query your target audience directly. Surveys (whether in paper or online format) are one way to assess your constituents directly, or focus groups, interviews or town-hall-style forums can be employed to gather opinions, suggestions and specific questions that need to be addressed through training (ibid.). Finally, your organization might consider forming a small advisory group (made up of library staff and/or patrons) that can continually assess and scan for information and training needs.

When compiling the needs of your target training audience, keep in mind the needs of your constituents, and how they mesh with the overall needs and mission of your organization; your activities should not only benefit your audience, but your library (the content-levels framework described in Nelson et al., 1995: 27). Your training endeavors should merge the needs of your community with the professional and technological trends you identify as worthy of passing on and implementing in your library. Finally, when you have successfully identified the needs of your audience, be mindful that all of the needs and requests for information may not be able to be addressed in one session. At that point you will need to consider how many training sessions will be required, and how much time these sessions will take. Training sessions should be fun, accessible and effective, which means that information will be sequenced and packaged in such a way that your audience members will not become overwhelmed, overloaded or frustrated (more on this in Chapter 4).