Everybody's Reading Toolkit
WIRRAL
Staff Training
Aims
To find out what experience staff had of working with the 16-25 year age group, identify barriers and introduce the general concepts of reader development.
Target Group
The training was planned for all the staff working at Wallasey Central Library, where the promotional work was to be focussed.
What took place
A questionnaire was sent to all staff to identify their training needs.
Three training sessions took place, which are detailed below.
A post training evaluation form was then completed.
Tips, strengths and weaknesses
Weaknesses
- Some staff were reluctant to become involved eg the Reference staff didn't initially see how it was of use to them in their work. A lot of chasing was needed to get both the pre and post questionnaires back.
- Our Outreach worker ran sessions 1, 3 and 4. She did not have a library background, and this caused some sceptism among staff who wondered what she could tell them that they didn't already know - lots as it turned out, but it was a situation that I didn't realise had occurred until it was almost too late to rectify. It was very difficult to find the time for this training. The library opens at 10am, so sessions were originally planned between 9 and 10. Fortuitously, the library closed for 2 weeks to allow a lift to be installed, so staff were available for longer training sessions.
- The original plan was to roll out this training for all staff, but the time problems mentioned above curtailed this.
Time To Read currently has a full time paid co-ordinator, supported by Arts Coucil of England and Museums, Libraries and Archives, North West.