Reports

The Staff Development Task Force is submitting this final report to the Management Council of the Boston Library Consortium for consideration. Members of the Task Force are: Mark Alpert (Brandeis), Lyn Condron (Tufts), Margaret Manion (UMass Lowell), Joan Omoruyi (Northeastern), and Pamela A. Perry (Boston College). Our director liaison is Ben Franckowiak (UMass Lowell).

As we don't yet know the structure of any future Programming Committee, we will refer to it as the "Programming Group."

• The Task Force surveyed member institution directors about the particular staff development needs for their staffs. We received 7 out of 16 surveys back, a 43.74% of the membership, not counting Williams College, who joined BLC after the survey was distributed. Although there was some diversity in the responses, there were several common themes. Supporting the work of the task forces in achieving the BLC goals was a priority among the directors, as were management training and sharing "best practices." The majority favored aiming programs at both professional and support staff. Preferences for the format of the programs depended on their topics. Most institutions were willing to host programs, but would need adequate notice. Although not all of the institutions have videoconferencing facilities, there are enough in various areas to make videoconferencing feasible. Email was the preferred method for notification.
  
  
• The Task Force developed and coordinated a program by Christine Kittle (Tufts) on May 7 entitled, "Introduction to Project Management Basics." All 18 spaces of the workshop were filled.
  
  
• The Task Force has identified a number of suggestions for future programs. The list is appended to this report.
  
  
• The Task Force explored the use of a web site for disseminating information about staff development opportunities. See the recommendation in Section II.
  
  
• The Task Force has identified a contact person at each BLC member library to help with information gathering and distribution. The list is appended to this report.
  
  
• The Task Force has developed a Facilities Information Form to gather information on meeting facilities and technological capabilities at each member institution. The form is appended to this report.
  
  

• The Programming Group should be support for other groups in planning programming.
  
  
• Programs must be planned to serve the expanding and geographically diverse BLC membership. Select programs should be planned concurrently for multiple locations.
  
  
• The Programming Group should establish a staff development and training website for all members of the BLC community. Tufts Libraries have developed a site that could be used as model. Both professional and paraprofessional staff should be targeted as the audience. Tufts' site can be found at: http://www.library.tufts.edu/stafftrain/html/index.html
  
  
• Checklists, including time frames, should be adopted as policy by BLC and should be posted on the website.
  
  
• The Programming Group should compile a directory of facilities to use in planning programs in diverse geographic locations. The Task Force has developed a form for the gathering of pertinent information.
  
  
• Evaluation of programs is vital. We cannot rely on anecdotal evidence to evaluate the program itself or the work of the group. One suggestion for programs with registration is to use an anonymous web-based form. This would mean an announcement at the meeting and a reminder sent to participants by the Programming Group member(s) responsible for programming.
  
  
• Evaluation/statistics on program should be provided to BLC office by responsible committee member and should be held/filed for indefinite period of time for purposes of program analysis.
  
  
• Programming should include a series on best practices; there should be a set number per year.
  
  
• Programming needs to be done 6 months at a time. It is imperative that several programs are being planned at once and the group needs to be large enough to assign 2-3 to each program.
  
  
• Programming Group needs to be aware of the annual programming budget (or budget constraints) in order to see the "big picture" of programming for the year and to plan ahead. Programming for the BLC is usually mix of large and small events, and the group needs to know how many of each it can afford.
  
  
• BLC/Programming Group need to discuss the issue of honoraria and establish guidelines if necessary.
  
  
• There needs to be a clearly defined relationship among the BLC Administration, the BLC office and the Programming Group so that the group knows what tasks will be done by the office and what tasks must be done by the group. This is especially important for speaker arrangements (travel planning, fees, etc.) and general arrangements for programs (photocopying, publicity, etc.).
  
  

• The main purpose of this group should be the development and execution of programs, not only the development of ideas for programs. The group would be the main resource for programming as well as the support group for other group/committee programming activities.

• The Programming Group needs a clear charge to guide its activities.

• The Programming Group must be large enough to handle ongoing program planning and the administration of the group. Our recommendation is that the membership of the Programming Group needs to be at least one half the number of members in the consortium. This is imperative to meet the programming goals of the organization. It is also necessary to provide the contacts and knowledge essential to program planning. Member institutions that do not have a person in the group that meets should have a staff person designated as the contact to the group in order to provide and disseminate information.
• Each institution and member of Programming Group must make a firm commitment to be fully active in the group, with ample time allowed by institution for staff member to be fully involved (meetings, program planning, research, general administration of group, individual tasks, etc.). This is a very time-consuming activity and must be supported by all member institutions in order for programming to be successful.
• Committee must be appointed ASAP in order for there to be programming in the fall.

Following are program topics the BLC Staff Development Task Force has collated from various current and past BLC committees and members. The BLC community has expressed interest in having programs in these subject areas. The Task Force has indicated topics we feel are of timely interest in bold, underlined print. Otherwise, topics are not in any particular order.

1. LibQUAL
2. Copyright, fair use, plagiarism
3. Current developments, trends, and best practices in specific areas (e.g., cataloging, reference, etc.)
4. Cross-training in libraries
5. Technology/computer training in library-related work (e.g., OCLC, Medline), and in general areas (e.g., Powerpoint, web, Internet 2, ergonomics)
6. Updating skills in an academic setting
7. Library web sites (usability, terminology, etc.)
8. Faculty telling librarians how they use libraries
9. Telecommuting
10. Grant writing skills and contract negotiations
11. Writing RFPs and choosing vendors
12. Process and workflow evaluation; determining if outsourcing is appropriate
13. 24/7 reference
14. Digitization, metadata, digital libraries, web portals
15. Distance learning

1. Project management and project planning, time management, and success criteria(did program 5/7/02; may be interest in a repeat in the fall?)
2. Leadership development and executive development (middle management opportunities), vision, self-motivation
3. Team training and leading meetings; meeting effectiveness
4. Interpersonal skills (listening and communicating); negotiating with co-workers and supervisors
5. Interviewing and hiring; supervising and managing
6. Teaching/training; train the trainer; mentoring
7. Stress management; change management
8. Customer service skills
9. Written communications skills
10. Strategic planning
11. Marketing and fund-raising
12. Needs and learning assessments (skill gaps); quality assurance
13. How to involve more staff in projects (such as those defined by the BLC task forces)
14. Alternative rewards

• Presentation skills
• How to plan and organize a program
• Teleconferencing (video, web, etc.)
• Public speaking and poise

__ Auditorium/hall					Capacity ____
__ Room: Conference room (one table with surrounding chairs) 	Capacity ____
__ Room: Theater style (rows of chairs, no table)  		Capacity ____
__ Room: Round tables (6-8 persons per table) 		Capacity ____

Overhead projector?
Flipchart/markers?
VCR/TV/projector?

IBM____
Apple___
Floppy disk?
Zip disk?
CD-ROM?
Powerpoint?
Netscape?
MS Internet Explorer?

The Staff Development Task Force is submitting this interim report to the Management Council of the Boston Library Consortium for consideration. Members of the Task Force are: Mark Alpert (Brandeis), Lyn Condron (Tufts), Margaret Manion (UMass Lowell), Joan Omoruyi (Northeastern), and Pamela A. Perry (Boston College). Our director liaison is Ben Franckowiak (UMass Lowell).

• The Task Force is presenting a program on May 7 entitled, "Introduction to Project Management Basics." Christine Kittle (Tufts) is the presenter, and the workshop will be held at Tufts University Tisch Library. Flyers have been distributed electronically and in hard copy. Registrations are coming in from member libraries.
  
  
• The Task Force has identified a contact person at a number of member libraries to help with the information gathering and distribution. For the final report in June, the Task Force will append a list of the contact person at each BLC institution. This information can then be used by all of the Task Forces when they need to distribute information to the membership.
  
  
• Copies of the directors' survey results have been distributed to Staff Development Task Force members.

• A prototype for the BLC staff development web page.
  
  
• A directory (with contact information) of conference facilities and technologies at member institutions.
  
  
• Identification of future programs. A list of suggested topics will be included in the final report.

The Staff Development Task Force is submitting this preliminary report to the Management Council of the Boston Library Consortium for consideration. Members of the Task Force are: Mark Alpert (Brandeis), Lyn Condran (Tufts), Margaret Manion (UMass Lowell), Joan Omoruyi (Northeastern), and Pamela A. Perry (Boston College).

The Task Force has clarified its understanding of the charge with the help of Barbara Preece, the Management Council and Ben Franckowiak, our director liaison.

The Task Force will attempt to identify, select and communicate to the BLC members program, training, and workshop information.

The Task Force will put on at least one program before the final report date in June. We consider programming to include live meetings, teleconferencing, Web events and sites, and document production.

The Task Force will be exploring opportunities for cooperative learning opportunities with BLC Task Forces and Communities of Interest, other appropriate consortia, agencies, and institutions (i.e. Nelinet, ACRL/NEC, NELA, Boston Consortium, library schools).

The Task Force needs and will attempt to tap individuals from BLC institutions who show interest in coordinating and presenting the program(s). Learning needs will be culled from other Task Forces, Communities of Interest, colleagues, etc.