I have been appointed to the temporary post of Library Staff Development 
Adviser at the University of Cambridge.

The aim of this three-month post is to take practical steps to improve the 
profile and content of library career development and training in
Cambridge, as well as to ensure that existing opportunities can be 
exploited to the best advantage.

I was looking for evidence of best practice on several issues affecting 
training and development across the academic library sector. I asked via 
lis-link and lis-cilip-reg if employees of other universities could 
consider and answer the following questions for me. I said I would 
summarize the responses for the list, so here it is! I received responses 
from 13 people in a variety of librarian or library staff development roles 
in FE and HE institutions. Many thanks to all of those who responded, the 
information will be really helpful. No. of people given in 1 unless 
otherwise specified.

Clair Castle

CHARTERED MEMBERSHIP OF CILIP

-Are you permitted time off to study for / write up your submission to the 
Chartership Board, or to visit other relevant libraries as part of your
Route A or B training?

No: 3 people
Yes: 6 people

If so, how much and under what circumstances?

3 days study leave
Time off to visit libraries / attend courses: 5 people
2 days off to write up submission: 4 people
Half a day per month

-Does your institution or library fund your submission fees for application 
to the Chartership Board?

No: 8 people

-Does your institution or library pay for your subscription fees for 
membership of CILIP?

No:10 people
Comments: Tax complicates things; Have institutional CILIP membership

-Does your salary increase upon your admission to the Register?

No: 6 people
Yes: 3 people

Comments: But was employed on expectation would charter; Got a couple of 
increments on my salary upon chartering

-Where does the money given for any of the above actually come from?

N/A: 4 people
Salary increase
Training budget

-Does your institution offer any other benefits relating to Chartership or 
CILIP, or other professional organizations?

No:6 people
Yes:1 person

DISTANCE LEARNING, AND PART-TIME PROFESSIONAL LIBRARY QUALIFICATIONS

-Are you permitted time off from work to attend courses in part-time 
Library / Information Science qualifications at postgraduate level, or to
attend study / summer schools for distance learning courses at postgraduate 
level?

No:1 person
Yes:7 people

-Do you have to meet the fees for such courses yourself, or does your 
institution (part or totally) fund it? If so, how, and in what circumstances?

No:2 people
Yes:4 people

Circumstances: Fund myself; half my fees paid for me (4 people); Receive 
£350 towards fees; one assistant funded per year to attend university's own 
LIS course; library staff development fund pays

-How is any time away from work in the library managed in terms of covering 
issue desks in particular, or in terms of your work in general?

Work extra hours to pay back time off to study
Rota other staff to cover:4 people
Limit no. of people allowed to attend LIS course at any one time

-Which courses as above are you attending or have you attended?

Bristol University MSC Information and Library Management: 3 people
Aberystwyth University MSc Information and Library Management: 3 people
Aberystwyth University Distance Learning MSC
Part-time postgraduate course at the University of North London
MSc Information and Library Management course, part-time (institution not 
given)

-Why did you choose to attend a course part-time or by distance learning, 
as opposed to a full-time taught course?

Financial reasons: 5 people
Wanted to be practising what studying
Couldn't afford to stop working for a whole year
Can't afford full-time course, and part-time one was inaccessible

TRAINING AND DEVELOPMENT

-Does your institution have a department or post dedicated to organizing 
and developing library staff training and development?

No:3 people
Yes:6 people
N/A:2 people

-If yes, are they part-time or full-time, for example, and how are they funded?

Part of a library post's duties, therefore funded through salary
6 Library staff belong to Library Staff Development Committee and identify 
need for / arrange and run courses, share costs with Staff Development 
Office where relevant to wider staff groups
Full-time member of staff: 2 people
Part-time post funded by University
Library's overall budget pays
One member of staff is staff development coordinator as part of their job, 
one other responsible for training assistants

-What are the benefits of such a department or post? Do they cover user 
education too?

N/A: 2 people

In-house training saves money and allows more people to attend
User Education is the responsibility of subject teams: 3 people
User Education not covered: 5 people
User Education part of another post

-How does your institution or library cover the work of staff released to 
attend courses etc.?

Staff Development Officer based in the Library so can help with enquiries 
if busy
Colleagues cover: 2 people
Make sure not too many people are away at same time
Swop desk duties / shifts
Ask evening staff if can cover during day

-How is funding for attendance at external courses met?

Library training budget: 5 people
University funds
Staff Development Budget
I pay for myself, if can't get money elsewhere

-Does your institution or library meet any travel or subsistence costs 
incurred while attending external courses?

Yes: 9 people (travel and subsistence, but one person has only travel costs 
met)

-Do external course providers come to visit your library or institution?

Rarely: 2 people
Yes: 4 people
Occasionally: one person

Who arranges this?

Staff Development arranges
Arranged by library training team if more economical
In conjunction with Quality Enhancement and Development Department
NVQ assessors come to us

Other comments: Staff training linked closely with annual appraisal which 
highlights training and development needs; Training hour each week for 
staff available on the day and post training materials on VLE for those not 
available on the day; Updated staff manual posted on VLE as easy to keep up 
to date - one version for all sites encourages uniform practice

*****************************************************
Ms Clair M. Castle MCLIP
Library Staff Development Adviser (Temporary)
University of Cambridge
c/o Faculty of Law
10 West Road
Cambridge CB3 9DZ
Tel. (01223) (3)30075 (direct + answerphone)
Fax. (01223) (3)30055
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