Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff: (PTLIP Practical Tips for Library and Information Professionals)

This book offers innovative tips and tried-and-tested best practice to enable library and knowledge workers to take control of professional development regardless of the budget and time available to them. Continuing professional development (CPD) is a key component of a successful and satisfying career. Part of the Practical Tips for Library and Information Professionals series, this book offer a wide range of ideas and methods for all library and information professionals to manage the development of those who work for and with them. You will find flexible tips and implementation advice on topics including: • enabling others to plan, reflect on and evaluate their personal development • appraisals and goal setting: linking personal objectives to organizational objectives • performance management • sourcing funding to attend and run events • planning formal development activities such as courses and conferences • accessing informal activities • using social media as a development tool • role of professional bodies and networks • mentoring, buddying and coaching • networking. Readership: All library and information professionals who have responsibility for managing, mentoring and training staff and individuals wishing to manage their own CPD.

Table of Contents:
Series Editor’s introduction Introduction SECTION 1: THEORIES 1. Understanding how People Behave, Learn and Develop 2. KOLB Learning Cycle and Styles 3. Honey and Mumford – Learning Styles 4 . VAK Learning Styles 5. MBTI® – Myers Briggs® Type Indicator 6. Jigsaw Discovery Tool© 7. The DiSC® Model 8. Benziger Thinking Styles Assessment (BTSA) 9. SDI – Strength Deployment Inventory® 10. Kirkpatrick’s four levels of evaluation model SECTION 2: INFRASTRUCTURE 11. Why Develop Staff? 12. Workforce Planning 13. Job Descriptions 14. Person Specifications 15. Advertisements 16. Shortlisting 17. Interviews 18. Interviews – Presentations and Tests 19. Interviews – Feedback 20. Inductions 21. Managing Performance 22. Team Development Plans 23. Appraisals – Preparing 24. Appraisals – Conducting 25. Setting Objectives 26. One-to-ones 27. Feedback – General 28. Team Building 29. Team Meetings 30. Sharing Learning with the Team 31. Writing References 32. Exit Interviews 33. Effective Handover SECTION 3: ACTIVITIES AND TOOLS 34. Action Learning Sets 35. Apprentices, Graduate Trainees and Placements 36. Awards 37. Buddying 38. CILIP Qualifications 39. CILIP Qualifications – Re-validation 40. Coaching 41. Collaborative Working 42. Communities of Practice – Internal 43. Communities of Practice – External 44. Conferences – Attending 45. Conferences – Organizing 46. Conferences – Posters 47. Conferences – Presenting 48. Conferences – Sharing the Learning (using blogs, Twitter, articles, presentations to others etc.) 49. Conferences – Volunteering 50. Conferences – Workshops 51. Conferences – Writing Proposals for Papers 52. CVs 53. Exchange of Experience Events, TeachMeets and Unconferences 54. Formal Qualifications 55. Funding for CPD 56. Group Conversations 57. Job Rotation 58. Learning Logs and Journals 59. Meetings – Attending 60. Meetings – Chairing 61. Meetings – Note Taking 62. Mentoring – External 63. Mentoring – Peer 64. Minutes of Madness 65. MOOCS 66. Networks 67. Networks – Setting up 68. Networks – Running 69. Personal Development Plans 70. Presentations – General Tips 71. Professional Membership 72. Projects 73. Project Management Tools 74. Reflection – Facilitating 75. Reflective Practice 76. Reflective Writing 77. Research Activities 78. Secondments 79. Shadowing 80. Social Media 81. SWOT Analysis 82. Time Management 83. Time Management Tools 84. Training Courses – Attending 85. Training Courses – Commissioning 86. Training Courses – Planning, Delivering and Evaluating 87. Twitter 88. Twitter Chats 89. VLEs 90. Visits 91. Volunteering 92. Webinars 93. Writing Blog Posts 94. Writing Business Cases 95. Writing Case Studies 96. Writing Emails 97. Writing Journal Articles 98. Writing Newsletter Articles 99. Writing Procedures 100. Writing Project Plans 101. Writing Reports Index

About the Author :
Tracey Pratchett has a flexible and innovative approach to developing both herself and others within her team. She has worked in the health sector for 9 years as a Clinical Librarian, and for the past year as the Knowledge and Library Services Manager at Lancashire Teaching Hospitals. Prior to this Tracey worked in both further education and public libraries. Many of the tips in this book have been used by Tracey to develop her current role and to benefit her team. As the joint project lead for the MAP (Making Alignment a Priority) toolkit (https://maptoolkit.wordpress.com/), and a member of the Knowledge for Healthcare Metrics Working Group, Tracey enjoys sharing learning and developing staff through both informal and formal networks. Gil Young has worked in the academic, health and public library sectors. She is currently employed as the NHS LKS Workforce Development Manager for the Health Care Libraries Unit North. She is a CILIP Fellow and an associate member of the CIPD. She is also a CILIP mentor and was the first winner of the CILIP mentor of the year award.

Review :
Practical Tips for Developing Your Staff is a methodical guide written by information professionals, for information professionals and librarians. Chapters offer a wide array of activities and tools to help professionals in the field tap the full potential of their staff ... Highly recommended. I’d highly recommend this book both for first time or seasoned library managers. There is something in there that managers may not have thought of or tips and takeaways that managers could certainly benefit from. I’d equally recommend this book to solo librarians who are interested in career planning and may not have the means or resources to fund CPD. Every library manager should find a spot on their reference shelf for this book. Sound advice that will appeal to new managers and mentors of information professionals. This resource will be useful to librarians wishing to try something new in developing their own careers or their employees’ skills and abilities. The book is likely to be most beneficial for middle managers and those who work in human resources or organizational development. This volume’s organizational structure lends itself to use as a reference book or on an a-la-carte basis. This volume may be helpful to librarians who are very new to the profession, or to potential LIS students who might want to know more about what it’s like to work in a library and how library professionals can develop their skills before choosing the profession.