IN DEPTH
Connections and Community: A team training programme for Academic Librarians at Leeds Beckett University
Catherine Parkin, Academic Librarian Librarians at Leeds Beckett University Library, describes how the library set up an internal team training programme, and considers the successes and challenges encountered, especially during the Covid pandemic.
THE Academic Support Team at Leeds Beckett University consists of 25 staff members, with a variety of roles, includ- ing Academic and Information Service Librarians, Academic Skills Tutors and Research Services Advisors. Although we are involved in lots of different tasks (e.g. relationship management with Schools, online learning and research support), teaching information literacy is a role shared by many of us. Our team set up several mini groups to take forward our cross-team work and bring together all staff. One of these groups is the Professional Development mini group, and our role includes assessing training needs amongst team members, making team members aware of upcoming training and development opportunities, and encourag- ing all team members to engage in profes- sional development opportunities.
Sustainable framework Our team training programme was first set up in 2018 as we wanted to improve our team members’ access to training, whether that be in promoting free online courses, or providing our own in-house training. Although CPD is important for library staff, it can be challenging (e.g., a lack of time and reduced training budgets). We adopted a peer learning model similar to that used by Venturella and Breland, (2019, pp. 288) where Librarians and Skills Tutors were
32 INFORMATION PROFESSIONAL
Catherine Parkin MSc, PGCHE, FHEA, MCLIP (
c.m.parkin@
leedsbeckett.ac.uk) Academic Librarian, Library and Student Services, Sheila Silver Library, Leeds Beckett University.
invited to present a slot on a topic thought to be useful to their team members. We are keen to exploit knowledge within the team, although we do occasionally invite staff from other parts of the library as guest trainers. We include a variety of topics to expose librarians to different ideas and facilitate knowledge exchange.
Tips for success Decker and Townes, (2016) set out some helpful considerations when implementing
June 2022
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