MLA Minutes – September 2007

Weslink Presentation MLA September Minutes 

The minutes of the MLA training & development group September meeting is attahed.  There was a presentation from John Rule, one of the group members, on Weslink.  Weslink are a group of higher education libraries within in the West Midlands, including the Open University, which organise events/training for HE library staff.  Previous training sessions have included information literacy and changes in libraries (aimed at library assistants).  The presentation is attached which includes points of contact.

There was also some discussion around the LLUK draft occupational standards and qualifications.  A number of local authorities don’t ask for qualified status for librarian posts as they have had problems in recruitment, others still do though or ask for a degree with the expectation that people will qualify.  From the discussion it seemed that public libraries have real problems attracting suitable candiates to posts.  There was also some discussion on the group setting up a blog to aid group communication, but this will be discussed at the next meeting.

Library Shadowing Scheme Launched

Library Shadowing Scheme Application Pack 

The Library Unit is re-launching the library shadowing scheme.  The scheme involves a member of library staff spending one day shadowing staff from another library. The scheme is open to all levels of staff. 

Key features of the scheme are:

The scheme will run throughout the year and is open to all NHS West Midlands library staff.
Libraries able to act as host libraries have been asked to complete an application; their details have been added to the application pack.
Potential shadows will contact a host library to arrange a visit.

Attached is the library shadowing scheme information pack which includes an application form.

If anyone has any comments or questions about the scheme, please leave a comment.  All feedback is welcome. 

Library Unit awarded CILIP Seal of Recognition

The Library Unit has been awarded the CILIP Seal of Recognition. The assessment report commended the Unit on the programmes being developed for healthcare staff in the West Midlands and noted that several elements of CILIP’s Body of Professional Knowledge are addressed.  We can now include the seal of recognition on our certificates for APPLE, Knowledge Discovery and the 3CsT2&3.  For more information about CILIP’s Seal of Recognition award go to http://www.cilip.org.uk/qualificationschartership/seal/

3Cs Take Three

After piloting 3Cs and 3CsT2, 3Cs is due to start again between 3rd Sept and 14th Dec, but in a slightly different format.

3Cs Take Three aims to be an introductory course for the emerging technologies. The course has proved to be relevant to both qualified and unqualified staff; the key is personal interest in technology, not qualifications or job titles/responsibilities. Meanwhile the course has also proved to be about hard work, as well as good fun!

3Cs Take Three will be the last run of 3Cs in 2007/8 and there is no plan to repeat it in the foreseeable future.

If you are interested in 3Cs Take Three, contact Bertha by 31st August, 2007 (Friday).

MLA TDG Group Minutes – June

ICT Diploma MLA Minutes June07

 Attached are the latest minutes from the MLA Training & Development group. There was a presentation from the SQA (Scottish Qualifications Agency) about their Diploma in Applications of ICT in Libraries qualifications, which I have also included. The Diploma is aimed at those in public libraries, but many of the units are relevant to those outside of public libraries as well. Below is a link to their site and also their website for the diploma which has the diploma handbook and descriptions of units, as well as wiki books for each unit. The wiki books are open access and contain resources for each unit. I’ve had a quick look and they look as if they could be a really useful resource. There is a wiki book for ‘Carrying out the Educator Role’, which I think might be useful to include as a resource for unit 4 of APPLE. It includes resources on learning styles,TNA’s, motivating learners and feedback form design.
SQA Site
http://www.sqa.org.uk/sqa/1.html

Diploma in Applications of ICT in Libraries Resource page
http://www.ictl.org.uk/page_05.htm

I’ll also add previous minutes of the group and the terms of reference of the group, to give an idea of the function of the group.

Professional Blog Directory for WMHLN

Susan Smith, one of the 3Cs graduates, has created a page on Knowledge Workers’ Wiki titled “Professional Blog Directory” http://wish.wikispaces.com/Professional+Blog+Directory as the directory of Weblogs of information workers in the West Midlands.  If you maintain a personal blog on professional issues, do join in!

Customer-focused, Collaboration and Communities: the New Model of Library Services … Take Two (3CsT2)

For the past 9 weeks, 11 colleagues have been working on the virtual learning course, “Customer-focused, Collaboration and Communities: the New Model of Library Services … Take Two (3CsT2), and have completed all the course assignments.  You may find details of the course together with all the participants’ blogs representing their journeys of learning on http://3cst2.wordpress.com.

The very first 3Cs course which took place last winter can be found on http://threecs.wordpress.com

LLUK National Occupational Standards

LLUK Interim Report 

LLUK have just launched the web consultation for libraries & archives on the occupational standards.  Attached is the interim report on the development of the standards.  The deadline for the comments is 10th August.   The link for the web consultation is below.

http://www.lluk.org/currentactivity/libraries/lais_nos_questionnaire.html

Learning & Development Group Minutes – June

juneldgmin07.doc

Attached are the minutes for the Learning & Development group minutes. 

Training Needs Analysis

Training Needs Analysis 

During the summer the Library Unit is going to conduct a training needs analysis for all library staff in the NHS across the West Midlands.  Two pilots have already taken place, and attached is the final version of the training needs analysis.  The tna is based on the KSF, with a table of training needs related to each of the core dimensions and the optional dimensions related to KSF relevant to library staff. The information that we gather from the TNA will be used to inform and develop the library unit’s learning and development programme for library staff.   

Any comments or questions welcomed.  Sharon