Handbook of Library Training Practice and Development, Volume 3

Citation

Moore Sievers‐Hill, A. (2010), "Handbook of Library Training Practice and Development, Volume 3", New Library World, Vol. 111 No. 11/12, pp. 533-534. https://doi.org/10.1108/03074801011094912

The Volume 3 subtitle refers to two previous works on this subject edited by Alan Brine. This edition is the most current and is an entirely new book with content from new authors. The introduction asserts that the concept of staff development is now central to most libraries and library staff. Organizations such as Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (CILIP) are cited, as are conferences such as Standing Conference on University Libraries (SCONUL) for being excellent, newer sources of ongoing library training. It is averred that these, as well as in house training, provide a good foundation for ongoing education.

This book is a survey of current practice and the state of the art of library training as well as a practical textbook full of examples for many training areas. It appears to be aimed at library directors or other administrators, such as heads of human resources, who would organize and see through this kind of training for their staff. It may also be intended for those who teach library science to be used for their own updating and for teaching those who will be administrators and library directors. It provides benchmarks for performance in these areas.

Some of the material in individual chapters consists of specific training materials, used as examples of current practice with forms and teaching materials to use. Other material is theoretical and informational. Another method of exposition used is simply a review of the literature. There is a mix of all these approaches in the chapters, which makes the focus of the book difficult to pinpoint. It seems to be mostly about training the trainer, and the philosophy behind it.

The book is divided into chapters written by different authors on themes relating to the central topic of library training. Many chapters emphasize how the role of librarians has changed and is changing and how this greatly impacts the kinds of training needed. There is one chapter entitled “Management of electronic resources” which is very relevant to the importance of this aspect of library change and growth, and which affects all library employees. There are chapters by leading authors, such as Graham Matthews on the topic of preservation training. Individual chapters on mentoring, customer service training and training for library instruction seem spot on for the purpose of the volume to inculcate new and current library staff with ongoing improvement in the most important areas of library service.

The blending in the book of theory and practice covers some, but not all facets of library training. Description of materials, or cataloging, and the radical changes it is undergoing, which requires a lot of ongoing training of cataloging staff, is not mentioned at all. The rise of metadata and the retraining of staff for that function could have been an expected topic, but is simply not there. The flattening of organization hierarchies and the impact of this on retraining and cross training is not covered.

The final chapter on library training in the USA is somewhat misleading in that it focuses solely on professional library education as it is referred to in the USA, not mentioning the training that goes on in libraries and continuing education of library staff who are not considered professional librarians, even though they are vital to the functioning of the library.

Taken as a whole, the book stands the test of being a solid contribution to the field of library training practice and development, as a good addition to any collection on this subject.