Strategic Goal: We will be a learning organization in which staff acquire new skills at an increased pace to keep current with technological change.

In 2007-2008, the Staff Development Committee:

• surveyed library staff on training needs to identify and prioritize our year's business skills training; Library Administration identified three top training needs: (1) setting priorities/goals; (2) customer service skills; and (3) service assessment. Library staff identified communication skills, customer service skills, setting priorities/goals, time management and teamwork as needs.
  
• reviewed our use of ElementK online training and determined that we would make better use of our funds with in-person training; Usage data also suggested that top technology skill needs among staff to be Dreamweaver training; Library Administration also identified Outlook training as a priority.
  
• organized project management training for 30 supervisors and for library staff serving on committees and teams; Project management templates were posted to the Staffnews Training and Development pages. This training addressed the need identified in strategic planning.
  
• organized a brown bag, front line training for 58 library staff and an open house for the DiscoverLibrary roll out;
  
• organized basic and advanced Dreamweaver training for 63 library staff; This training addressed technology skills identified in the ElementK assessment.
  
• organized Outlook training for 46 library staff and created a web page of resources for users;This training supported the library's migration to Outlook and addressed a need identified by library administration.
  
• organized fire extinguisher training for library staff; This need was identified by the Disaster Preparedness Project Team.
  
• organized the Spring Staff Picnic for all library staff; Approximately 200 staff and family members attended the event.
  
• created guidelines for the Staff Development Fund and worked with LITS to provide an online application form and resource.

In 2008-2009, our goals include

• reaching out to Committees to identify training and staff development needs to help them reach their goals
  
• creating a submission form on the training pages for staff to suggest training ideas
  
• exploring ways to offer customer service training
  
• offering MS Office 2007 training
  
• offering Novell migration training
  
• offering Dreamweaver training to those who missed it this year
  
• offering more time management with Outlook training
  
• exploring the option of holding a system-wide discussion program based on a book
  
• creating a structure for sharing conference knowledge
  
• exploring a Walk-A-Mile program
  
• offering a brown bag in GIS and on the LibQUAL+2006 results
  
• encouraging publication in the library by exploring a means to preserve and share library-generated content
  
• finding ways to offer CEU classes
  
• re-examining the spring staff event
  
• review and reassess the skills & interests survey.