Organizations & Tech Training

Sharing the slot with Bob and I was Angela Ballard, Information Technology Training Librarian at NCSU.

Her talk was titled “Ahead of the Curve: Insuring Success of a Technology Training Program for Library Staff” and it really hit home some very important points.

To insure a successful Technology/IT Training program:

The library must take responsibility and devote time and resources
The library must provide a training reesponse to every library-wide technology implementation
The library must provide tools for on the job tech training
The library must distribute training responsibilities.

They do about 50 classes a year at NCSU.

AND adminstrators must do this:

Believe in organizational impact of a programmatic approach to training
Budget for technology training
Support continuing education for trainer(s)
Understand the nature of training work
Project-oriented approach to technology implementation
(From her PowerPoint at http://www.infotoday.com/cil2004/presentations/Ballard.pps)

Right ON! I may be preaching to the choir here but there can never be enough PLANNING for tech implementation in the library – especially where some training should occur. From rolling out new Zip drives at all locations on public stations (OMG, what is that thing??) to launching a new OS upgrade system-wide, it behooves those of us in project managemnt to make sure staff are informed. It’s simple communication!

Thanks Angela! It was great to present with you.