Lisa Mages, Jennifer Manning & Rita Tehan — all Information Research Specialists from the Congressional Research Service (CRS) at the Library of Congress presented their peer training program at the Computers in Libraries Conference this past week.
There are 170 employees at CRS with a variety of skills and abilities. Some are incredibly technically proficient, while others are limited in what technology they use or feel comfortable using. Who can train staff on things that others take for granted?
Peer training began four years inspired by a similar program at National Geographic. In 2 years the program has grown to, 62 classes with an average attendance of 15. Over 40 employees have participated as speakers or instructors.
Types of sessions:
- •Tips and tricks for existing resources
- •Introduction to research tools
- •Introduction to tech concepts
- •Conference and trip highlights
Managing the program:
- •Core group – They meet quarterly to plan the next three months – topics and speakers. Use discussion boards in SharePoint to help with planning and reduce email traffic. They recruit new hires to help. New employees can get better known by doing these.
- •SharePoint – It is a repository of documents, discussions, etc. They use the free version. One benefit is that handouts are available for reuse.
- •Standard operating procedures help to lessen administrative burden
- •SurveyMonkey is also used for participant feedback
Benefits:
- •Increase digital literacy
- •No financial costs
- •Minimal administrative burden
- •Accessible documentation
- •Share conference knowledge
While there are a number of challenges, they recommend that others try it.
Challenges:
- •Finding time in addition to daily work
- •Cancellations
- •Recruiting new presenters
- •Not integrated with staff development plans
- •Pressure to expand
