Developing Skills for Ourselves, Team and End Users
Jinfo Blog

By Sarah Huibregtse, Val Skelton

Abstract

As we reach the mid-way point of our Topic Series "Best Practices in Information Skills Development", series co-producers Sarah Huibregtse and Val Skelton reflect on how content is addressing the way training can plug business-critical skills gaps, guidance for information professionals who are training service teams and end-users, and how information leaders can grasp training opportunities for their own continuing professional development.

Item

Identifying Business-Critical Skills Gaps

Identifying and addressing skills gaps is an ongoing concern for information professionals. One commonly-used strategy for identifying skills gaps is the survey. 

Surveys are a simple yet effective tool for gathering data that can provide a real insight into the current competence levels of your users and can help you discover skills gaps and identify key areas for development and attention. As part of the Topic Series "Best Practices in Information Skills Development", data is being collected in our own survey on skills development strategy.  

The data being shared here is already providing insights into current state of information skills training in organisations. In her blog "Initial View on Information Skills Development Survey", Robin Neidorf shares some insights from her early analysis of the data. 

The early findings suggest that information professionals still have some work to do in convincing corporate leaders of the value of monitoring, measuring and enhancing information skills. The survey explores information skills training and development for the information professionals - and for the wider workforce.

Even though the initial views are in, it's not too late to participate in the research. You can find out more here. 

And the survey results will undoubtedly prompt you to get information skills development higher up the strategic agenda in your own organisation. Join our Community of Practice teleconference on 9th or 25th June to find out more about developing effective information skills and plugging the information skills gap

The Information Professional as an Organisational Trainer

Once skills gaps have been identified and relevant training content devised and developed, how does the information professional maximise the impact of skills training? 

So far this series has provided some excellent guidance for the information professional acting as an internal trainer.  

Phil Bradley encourages us to think about how we present our own information when it comes to delivering training. Using alternative presentation tools can avoid PowerPoint fatigue, a potential barrier to learning. In his article "Create Engaging and Memorable Presentations by Going Beyond PowerPoint", Phil focuses on free-to-use tools that could well improve delegate engagement with your material.

Join FreePint's Learning Events

There are upcoming FreePint learning events which also focus on helping information professionals develop themselves as trainers. The Community of Practice teleconference event "Turning Content into Curricula" on 4th June will discuss establishing measurable learning outcomes, the development of learning modules, creating activity-based experiences, and choosing the appropriate format based on the identified outcomes. 

Also on 4th June, the FreePint Webinar "Getting Started with Effective Distance Learning" will help you start your distance learning programme on the right foot or turn an existing programme into something more successful.

Then in an SLA 2015 pre-Conference workshop on 13th June, Robin Neidorf will share strategies for developing effective distance learning options for supporting the training of information skills. This workshop will present usable strategies for understanding your audience, setting and measuring objectives, and developing content that aligns with the identified objectives. 

Let's Not Forget Ourselves!

If we are to retain our position as information mentors and leaders we must continue to nurture our team members and colleagues - as well as ourselves.   

This is a theme explored by Jan Sykes in "Incorporating Resources from Industry Partners". Jan explores a number of options open to information leaders when it comes to developing and delivering skills programmes to their information teams. By working with external experts - whether it be product expertise training provided by vendors, or off-the-shelf or customised training provided by professional bodies or expert consultants, we can demonstrate our commitment to keeping our information skills leading edge.

This theme is also examined by Andrew Clark in his article "Driving Professional Development through Associations" about how being an active member of a professional association can help to enhance your career and keep your professional development continuous in order to meet the changing requirements that affect the information industry today.

This Blog Item is part of the FreePint Topic Series "Best Practices in Information Skills Development".

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