Recently, my Facebook feed has been flooded with back to school pictures. Even during a global pandemic, many of my friends are celebrating the return to classes (mostly remote) with photos of their children working on laptops or standing next to their school signs, masked up and ready to learn. It makes me nostalgic for the days when I was packing up new pencils and picking out my first day of school outfit.
The desire to learn didn’t stop when I became an adult. In fact, as I entered the library industry, it became clear to me that being a lifelong learner was vitally important. Professional development opportunities build morale and expand the range of skills library staff can provide to their community. Training also helps library staff adapt to changing trends. If your library is going to stay competitive and creative, your staff must be committed to continuous learning.
NoveList understands the importance of staff training. We’ve been working to help librarians connect books to readers for more than 20 years. Our experts have extensive library experience, so they know and understand the challenges your staff face. We can help build the confidence and capacity they need to represent your library more effectively to readers, whether it’s at the desk, in the stacks, or through book displays, newsletters, and social media. Our training can be delivered remotely, so staff can keep learning, even during a global pandemic. Here are some of my favorite options.
NoveList webinars give library staff the basics on how to provide readers’ advisory for a variety of genres including horror and science fiction. Staff can also learn about how to set up and promote a readers’ advisory service and build a readers’ advisory culture. NoveList microtrainings last about 15 to 30 minutes each and teach staff to find books in a series, stay in the know about new and popular books, and do a live stream video on social media plus much more.
Subscribers to LibraryAware can also spend professional development time sharpening their skills on the basics of creating promotions and using NextReads to provide readers’ advisory through email. A full list of LibraryAware tutorials in text and video form is available here. And EBSCO offers online live and recorded training sessions for libraries around the world.
Interested in more in-depth training? You can hire a NoveList expert to work directly with your staff to guide them in developing effective strategies and exciting ideas for inspiring your community of readers. We’ve designed interactive curriculums to help your library staff with readers’ advisory and marketing. We're happy to discuss your library’s needs and put together a plan that is right for you.
And LibraryAware subscribers can let staff know about available training by sending an internal newsletter with one of our templates. Just type “internal” into the LibraryAware homepage search bar to find a variety of design options.
Angela Hursh is Senior Engagement Consultant for NoveList. She is currently reading Craigslist Confessionals: A Collection of Secrets from Anonymous Strangers by Helena Dea Bala and listening to The Truths We Hold by Kamala Harris.