 5 branches in Melbourne’s Inner-West  51 permanent and 20 casual staff  55,500 members  ‘Gulliver Core’ + 20 subscriptions to databases, eBooks, tutorials.  Top 10% for public usage of databases

 Induction Training (all staff)  Quarterly “Forums” on various topics  Occasional database vendor training – for Librarians/Library techs.  Problems:  Fitting in training around rosters.  Informing all staff about new or updated databases.  Keeping up with changing technology.

 “23 things” program: a State-wide program to introduce ‘Web 2.0” concepts to public library staff in 2007/08.  Inspired by Helene Blowers (Charlotte- Mecklenburg Library, USA)  Managed locally by Yarra Plenty Library (  Approx 30 MVLS staff completed course.

 Libraries can:  revitalize their web presence  keep up with user needs and changing user groups  become more familiar and confident with emerging technologies  Staff and users can participate in “next generation library services” with social networking and web innovations. 

 Accessible from anywhere  No registrations, no passwords  Easy – for us, for staff  Free!

 No pilots!  No costings!  6-8 weeks in preparation  Wiki still being completed when staff started the programme.  2-3 hours per week preparing questions.  mins working on the Wiki.

 10 week course of databases to review  Reviewing databases per week.  30 minutes of work, per week.  October 13th - January 30 th  Alone or in pairs  Help and support as needed  Nor compulsory but “expected”  All levels of staff involved, Library Officers to the Library Manager, full/part/casuals.

 Each week was loosely themed  Back in Time: genealogy (Ancestry), archived newspapers (Times Digital Archive), Picture Australia & Picture Victoria  Back to School: subject DBs aimed at students (Science Resource Center, Opposing Viewpoints), Encyclopaedia Britannica, web-chat tutoring (Your Tutor)  Who Are You?: biographies (Biography Resource Center, Australian Dictionary of Biography Online)

 Included Library Link Victoria & Libraries Australia  Included reference and readers advisory resources  Included paid and free resources  e.g. Victorian government’s Better Health Channel website  Description of each D’Base & 1-2 questions for each

 Visiting branch team meetings  A4 Handout  reminders - at the start & periodically  Monthly staff bulletin

 “Cautious optimism”  Reservations centred around:  Idea of ‘homework’  Perception of having ‘spare time’  ‘I’m too busy’  Rostered time off the circulation desk alleviated a lot of this initial tension.

 Questions ed/hard copy  Excel spreadsheet maintained by the ref staff  Gentle reminders/encouragement to anyone falling behind  Helped the ref staff to pinpoint particular issues with databases/our questions

 Importance of really clear wording  Making sure questions were not variable or time- dependent (where possible)  Problems with concurrent sessions (e.g. Safari : 50 e-books computer training manuals)  Staff really appreciated feedback; and being able to work in pairs.

 76% completion rate  32 out of 42 staff completed all 10 weeks.  Most others completed at least 7 weeks  Recognition from Council  No measurable increase in usage stats yet.

 Increased familiarity with the online collection  “I didn’t know we had that”  Improved understanding of the depth and coverage of resources  Improved confidence in demonstrating the databases  Happier to “market” to patrons

 Getting to know/ more contact with staff from distant branches.  Identifying areas of need for further training  Confidence in using web-based training  Great resource for training new staff  Looking at the databases in greater depth

 Library 2.0 laid the groundwork  Self paced participative training works well (for our staff)  Library Officers appreciated the opportunity for training (casuals doing the course in their own time!)  Technical Services staff appreciated being ‘included’

 Too brief  Often only looking 1 or 2 features  Missed as much as we exposed.  Senior staff  All staff can “squeeze in”30 mins a week for training! esp. If they’re keen and well supported.  People love prizes!