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This paper aims to analyze the effectiveness of the subject librarian literacy training and put forward suggestions for the improvement of the subject librarian literacy training based on the satisfaction degree survey for the CALIS III Subject Librarian Literacy Training.

On the basis of the satisfaction degree survey for the CALIS III Subject Librarian Literacy Training, this paper elaborates on the design of the survey, analyzes effectiveness of the training according to the survey results, and further advances suggestions for the enhancement of the subject librarian literacy training.

As an essential part of the library user service, subject services are highly demanding of subject librarians' literacy and capabilities. The subject librarians should thus own great abilities to be qualified for the innovative subject service work. Although the CALIS III Librarian Literacy Training and Qualification Certification Program, a vital executive program, has made great achievements, the training still needs to be further improved concerning the schedules, teaching atmosphere, training forms, training content, etc., to enhance the subject librarians' ability, raise the service standards and promote the fast and sound development of librarianship in China.

This paper offers detailed information on how to design a satisfaction degree survey for the subject librarian literacy training, analyzes the effectiveness of the librarian literacy training, and finally makes suggestions for the enhancement of the subject librarian literacy training.

Examines the training needs of practising professional librarians in the Kenyan public university libraries. There is a general, but false assumption, in this sector that professional librarians who have attained the minimum professional qualifications need no further training on the job. Many changes have taken place and many more are likely to occur, which are likely to affect the working environment of librarians. Librarians must be trained in preparation for managing such changes. Suggestions for sources of funding are given. The specific training needs of practising librarians are described.

Training improves workers’ competencies by eliminating or reducing mismatch between the levels of acquired and required skills. However, the question of who needs the training can be pertinently managed by training needs analysis (TNA). Thus, the purpose of this paper was to explore the training needs of Pakistani university librarians on collection management skills.

The study was conducted on a randomly selected sample of Pakistani university librarians. Using survey questionnaire method, a five-point Likert scale was utilized to measure the acquired and required levels of collection management skills (CMS). A paired sample t-test was used to ascertain the significance of difference between the acquired and required skills. Further, descriptive statistics were used to perform TNA.

Results of the paired sample t-test showed a significant difference among all indicators of CMS. Further, findings of TNA specified more than 50 per cent of deficit (over-utilization), less than 50 per cent of surplus (under-utilization) and 20 per cent of job best-fit in terms of CMS. Based on these results, training and top-down allocation of tasks are suggested to the higher authorities to manage over and under-utilization of CMS and to produce more job best-fits.

These findings are significant to design training programs on CMS, to revise courses on collection management, to evaluate performance of collection managers and understand the causes of under and over utilization of CMS. Moreover, findings inform librarians to eliminate mismatch in the levels of acquired and required CMS through training programs that may further enhance job best-fits.

This article reports on a study designed to identify the authors of academic library home pages and to investigate the nature of their training and their use of newly‐acquired Web design skills. The major finding of the study is that librarians more often than non‐librarians are assuming the responsibility for writing home pages for academic libraries in very large public colleges and universities. In addition to professional identity, factors such as length of service to an institution, current job title, and prior education play a role in determining the likelihood that an individual will write the home page for his or her employing library. Learning the skills needed to write a home page requires time for training. Institutional support for training is considered vital and well worth the investment because training is very often disseminated beyond the home page authors. Teaching others Web construction skills is one of the ways library home page authors most frequently apply their newly acquired abilities.

This article aims to explore the attitudes of academic reference librarians toward generalist and subject specialist reference service, and to present an examination of the ways that these librarians obtain training to handle a range of research queries that fall outside their areas of expertise.

A literature search was conducted to explore the current best practices for ongoing professional training. A follow up survey was conducted among reference librarians to gain insights into their attitudes toward generalist and subject specialist reference activities, and their participation in, and attitudes toward, related professional education and training.

The results suggest that the reference librarians who responded have a high comfort level for answering queries in a range of subject areas, and that while some librarians may defer to a readily available subject expert this is not a reflection of their confidence in their own ability to have assisted the patron.

Based on the insights garnered from this survey, the authors did an additional review of the literature and incorporated the additional research for their conclusions and recommendations as to how reference librarians, regardless of whether they regard themselves as generalists or specialists, can best expand their knowledge of reference sources in additional fields and answer queries outside their areas of expertise.

Other libraries and reference librarians can use the results of the paper to develop their own training/professional development programs and activities.

The purpose of this paper is to describe an assessment design for the Developing Librarian training program. The Developing Librarian training program created by and for librarians and professional staff in the Humanities and History division is a two-year training program to acquire new skills and methodologies to support the digital humanities. The program is based on the assumption that learning must happen in context; therefore the training is project based with all participants engaged in building a digital humanities research site as a team. This approach enables participants to learn about new tools in a sustained manner that parallels the way humanities researchers are likely to use them.

In order to measure the success of achieving this goal, program designers defined three objectives: learn tools and methods that support the emerging research needs and trends in the humanities; create a more interesting and engaging work environment for librarians and professional staff; and engage effectively with the humanities research community across the University. Three methods/instruments were: Explicit Self-Reflections to assess what participants learned in each training unit; the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale to measure how participants feel about their work before and after the training program; and the Skill Set, Knowledge and Attitude Assessment to be administered at completion to measure the effectiveness of the training program as a whole.

At the time of writing, the Developing Librarian Project is mid-way to completion, and implementation of the assessment plan is ongoing. Based on these self-reports, there is evidence that the training program has been effective, and participants have been successful in meeting most of the learning objectives identified in the units completed. While self-assessment of knowledge and skills may have its limitations, this technique is proving adequate and efficient for achieving the program’s goals. This method encourages experimentation and establishes failure as an important aspect of the learning process.

An assessment approach such as this does not measure the impact of training and development on digital humanities research, but initiates a valuable process, highlighting skills gaps at the individual, and organizational levels. These data are important for identifying and implementing appropriate training opportunities for librarians supporting emergent research activities and for understanding what skills and professional preparation are needed for new staff recruited into the organization.

A successful training program should be benchmarked, evaluated in a substantive and systematic way, and improved continuously. A formal assessment plan, directly tied to clearly articulated objectives, helps assure that such a program is effectively evaluated, iteratively developed, and successfully implemented. The Developing Librarian Project provides a useful model of how an academic library can leverage assessment and evaluation processes to identify skills gaps and training needs and generate actionable data for improving staff learning.

The problems of One‐Man‐Bands (OMBs) began to be taken seriously in the early 1980s when the Aslib OMB group was formed. The group received considerable attention in the professional press, and became the object of a study by Judith Collins and Janet Shuter who identified them as “information professionals working in isolation”. Many of the problems identified in the Collins/Shuter study remain — not least of these being the further education and training needs of OMBs. These needs are studied in this report. The author has firstly done an extensive survey of the literature to find what has been written about this branch of the profession. Then by means of a questionnaire sent to the Aslib OMB group and the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (INVOG), training and education needs have been pinpointed. Some of these needs have then been explored in greater detail by means of case studies. The author found that the most common deterrents to continuing education and training were time, cost, location, finding suitable courses to cover the large variety of skills needed and lastly, lack of encouragement from employers. The author has concluded by recommending areas where further research is needed, and suggesting some solutions to the problems discussed.

With the aim of discovering the important factors in training staff to use newly installed automated circulation systems, the appropriate libraries in New Zealand were sent a questionnaire in 1988. This asked how libraries had trained their staff, and the outcome of the training in terms of satisfaction with their decisions, sparseness of mistakes after implementation and time taken for staff to attain efficiency after implementation. The most important factors in training were that the vendor should be heavily involved in organizing and carrying out training; training should be given before the system went live; staff should be given detailed training in the whole system; and a number of different training methods should be used. These factors were especially important for libraries installing their first automated system, those installing integrated systems, those with few staff, and those installing their systems in the earlier years of automation; that is, those libraries whose staff have the least background in the system being installed, have the greatest need for excellent training.

This paper aims to describe both the development of a peer research consultant program – using student assistants to staff the reference desk with minimal supervision while providing high-quality research assistance to their undergraduate peers, and the steps taken to create buy-in for the program from campus and librarians.

The authors provide a description of peer reference services and describe how a remodel of the library building facilitated a redesign of services. The paper covers the process of developing program guidelines, securing funding, expectations of peer research consultants, the training process and lessons learned from a medium-sized academic library.

The findings after the first year demonstrate that undergraduates are highly skilled at providing high-quality reference services when provided with quality training and support. In addition, undergraduate students are now seeking out peer researchers for assistance with research items such as topic formation, keyword development in databases and proper citations.

No formal research or assessment of the program has been completed as of this time.

Well-trained Peer Research Consultants (PRCs) provide valued assistance to librarians in freshman composition classes, at the Ask Us reference desk, and to their peers. The program has allowed librarians to provide more outreach to their subject areas.

Students prefer going to their peers for research assistance rather than a professional librarian when given the choice. The training the PRCs are provided by librarians provides credibility and trust, which encourages undergraduate students to approach PRCs for assistance.

This paper draws on multiple iterations of peer reference models to create an original program, involving training student employees to provide reference services at a paraprofessional level, as well as providing the methodology for other academic libraries to develop and launch a similar program.

“… in most fields the issue of the professional competence and qualification of individuals is viewed as an integral part of the quality assurance of organisations and the services that they provide.” This view has long been embraced within the librarianship profession. Librarians and information professionals have a strong culture of responding to new opportunities in professional development to ensure that their skills meet the continually changing environments in which they work. This is illustrated by initiatives such as the Library Associations programme of Continuing Professional Development (CPD), Masters programmes for librarians entering management positions, increased availability of qualifications and training for paraprofessional staff and the adoption of the government instituted system of National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs) and Scottish Vocational Qualifications (SNVQs). Two further initiatives have been undertaken as a response to concern about the pace of change and the importance of sustaining an adequately skilled professional workforce. Firstly, the Library and Information Studies Training and Education Network (LISTEN), is working with employers, the profession and educational institutions to identify, CPD and post‐qualification competencies required when staff have been in post for several or more years. Secondly, the Electronic Libraries Programme (eLib) which aims to accelerate the development and uptake of the ‘electronic library’ has recognised the need for CPD and has funded a number of training and awareness projects including EduLib. This paper will examine the role, education and training of information professionals from two distinct points of view. First the paper will concentrate on initial undergraduate training which students receive at an established Department of Library and Information Studies — with particular regard to the training and education of business information in order to prepare students for the global business world. The second part of the paper will deal with an aspect of continuing professional development for which there is an increasing demand in academic libraries — teaching skills for librarians. The paper will focus on EduLib — a development project which aims to provide a nationally recognised and accredited network of trainers in academic libraries.