Creating effective staff development committees: a case study

Abstract

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to explore the role of Staff Development Committees (SDC) in the motivation, morale and education of library staff by relying on previous research and by using Utah State University's (USU), Merrill-Cazier Library SDC as a case study. Design/methodology/approach-Discussion and analysis emerge from the documented formation of USU's SDC, including its membership, goals, and evaluative practices, especially as it relates to current research in this area. Informal staff comments regarding benefits and limitations of the committee are included. Findings-Staff development has been approached from various perspectives. Most programs form as the results of formal or informal needs assessments. Goals for the program, or for the resulting staff development committee, vary and fluctuate depending on the time-specific needs of the library. Successful elements of USU's SDC include its emphasis on building interdepartmental relationships and its ability to elicit feedback from every level of the library. Challenges include having clearly defined goals and meeting a variety of individual and institutional needs through the creation of related events and activities. Practical implications-This paper provides ideas on forming a staff development committee, including examples for specific events and activities. It details how to structure membership and explores literature relating to designing and implementing institutional goals for staff development. Originality/value-Many studies lack a comprehensive literature review that focuses on the scope and purpose of Staff Development Committees. Our paper combines a literature review with an explanation of how USU's Library created a Staff Development Committee to fill certain library-wide goals, including challenges and benefits that emerged as a result.

How Technology is Bridging the Gap between Sport, Health, and Medicine

“…Real world application of training coaches can take place as a pilot program where coaches work with select athletes in a supervised environment where the coach can employ a variety of coaching strategies while receiving feedback from a mentor-coach who has been deemed qualified by previously completing the training or going through a certifying committee. Committees have been shown effective at improving inter-department communication and gaining valuable feedback [9]. This is exactly what coaches need when establishing their coaching identity.…”

Prospects and constraints of staff development in the University of Malawi Libraries

“…While these advances are appropriate, libraries are facing budget constraints (Davis and Lundstrom, 2011). Such constraints have forced library managers to face practical and strategic difficulties in the designing of staff development programs (Westbrook, 2005).…”

Encouraging continuous learning for librarians and library staff

“…Complicating this is the reality that training programs must take into account the particular culture of the organization and be customized to fit the environment at hand (Chawner and Oliver, 2013). In addition to taking the particular organizational and service needs of the specific library into consideration, it is also important to encourage staff to acquire skills that are becoming necessary to their evolving roles (Davis and Lundstrom, 2011). Establishing a training program is only part of the equation, however, as a great deal of its success will rely on each individual staff member's willingness to adopt the learning culture (Yu and Chao-chen, 2015).…”