Texas Library Association Webinar Building a Learning Organization: Creating and Implementing a Training Program for the University of Houston Libraries Annie Wu, Chair of the UH Libraries Training Committee Damon Camille, Training, Assessment & Statistics Coordinator Texas Library Association Webinar 10/08/2010

University of Houston Libraries Main library with 3 branches About 125 staff members 2.2 million volumes 400,000 E-titles

What We Found at the Outset Training offered vary by departments Librarians got more than staff Barriers: People didn’t know how to request training Technology/equipment barriers Staffing/scheduling problems Unaware of training resources Red tape – forms, signatures, budgets

Making the Changes The Training Committee appointed in June Committee Charges: Skills/training needs assessment Develop annual training plan Develop orientation program

Building a Learning Organization Systems Thinking Personal Mastery Shared Vision Team Learning

Training Project Plan 06/15 – 07/30 08/01 – 09/15 Fiscal Year 2010 Phase I: Preparation + Needs Assessment Explore other libraries programs Needs assessment activities Analyze data 06/15 – 07/30 Phase II: Program Development Locate training resource Identify training methods Build annual training & orientation plan Training Committee report 08/01 – 09/15 Phase III: Program Implementation Identify and invite trainers Coordinate training sessions Build training Intranet site Create Orientation Ref Guide Fiscal Year 2010

Needs Assessment Methodology Survey Department Heads/ Supervisors Interview Focus Groups Needed Skills ?

Survey Used SurveyMonkey for our survey questions Responses to Survey Questions asked

Department Heads/Supervisor Interviews Why we interviewed supervisors How we conducted the interviews Questions asked

Focus Groups Make-up of the various groups Librarians New employees Staff Facilitation and note taking Questions asked

Tools for Data Collection and Analysis SurveyMonkey MS Excel MS Access Basecamp

Data Analysis SurveyMonkey – downloaded into Excel for analysis Supervisor interviews – summarized report by interviewers for analysis Focus Groups - summarized report by note takers for analysis Consolidate all the needs assessment data using Excel Categorize, sort and prioritize data.

What Did We Find Out? Library Services Skills Professional/Interpersonal Skills Computer Skills

Library Services Skills Library systems skills Collection management skills Assessment skills Marketing and outreach Digital and metadata

Professional and Interpersonal Skills Leadership/Management Customer services Time management Interpersonal/People skills Project management Business meeting facilitation

Computer Skills Drupal Microsoft Office 2007 PeopleSoft Outlook (email & calendar) Excel; PowerPoint; Word PeopleSoft Windows & file management Programming languages Media technology

Orientation Needs A very structured first day A set itinerary for the first few days Branch tours Promotion process Library maps, acronyms and terms Travel process Departmental orientation

Training Plans for Needed Skills Library-wide Training Departmental Training Cross Training

Orientation Plan New Employees Orientation Reference Guide New Employees Check List Departmental Orientation Module

Training Committee Intranet Site Schedules Training Events News and Events Forms Training Resources Orientation Materials Docs and Links Feedback

Assessment of Success Training Sessions Evaluation (Evaluation Form) Training Statistics (Sign-in Sheet & Access Database) Sustainability

Training Statistics - 2010 Sessions Attendance Individual Training 15 Group Training 73 659 Dept. Orientation 5 164 Total 93 838

Learning Organization Training Plan - 2011 Learning Organization In-house Workshops & Sessions Online Training Topical Training Series Orientation Program

Damon Camille dcamille@uh.edu University of Houston Libraries Annie Wu awu@uh.edu Damon Camille dcamille@uh.edu University of Houston Libraries Sources for Images: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/clipart/default.aspx?lc=en-us http://sxc.hu/ http://images.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi