The Mortenson Center for International Library Programs (MC) at the University of Illinois Library at Urbana-Champaign has been working with librarians from around the world for 25 years. During this long period of engagement, MC has offered professional development opportunities to librarians in more than 90 countries, strengthening “international ties among libraries and librarians worldwide for the promotion of international education, understanding, and peace,” as its mission reads.
However, staff have noted through their work a lack of attention to public libraries and a dearth of leadership training materials needed to transform local libraries from “book-centered” to “user-centered” models. As such, with financial support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, MC launched a three-year initiative in 2014, the Strengthening Innovative Library Leaders (SILL) project.
The project, managed by MC Associate Director Susan Schnuer, is aimed at creating easy-to-use and freely available leadership training materials aligning with the needs of librarians in developing countries, including skills and strategies that extend beyond merely acquiring books and other media. The materials are created to be delivered by trainers with different skill levels, and are meant for everyone who works in a public or community library.
“The purpose is not to create a comprehensive and elite library leadership training module but instead to create foundational materials that change librarians’ perception of themselves from “followers” to “initiators,” Schnuer said. “Its goal is to build self-confidence and expose the participants to strategies that will allow librarians to successfully exert their leadership skills and also give them the permission and the confidence to ‘make that change in your library.’”
The SILL program focuses on three vastly different countries: Namibia, Myanmar, and Armenia. The first pilot-test site was conducted in the southern Africa nation of over two million people. There, MC staff trained a small group of Namibian trainers from the Namibia Library and Archives Services, who modified the materials to fit local context. These individuals then have delivered SILL training to more than 100 librarians to date from Namibia.
The ultimate goal, according to MC Instructional Technology Specialist Rebecca McGuire, is to ensure that every participant in the training “walks away with a tangible action plan” for a new program or service they want to initiate in their individual library.
And the results of this first stage indicate that participants took the lessons they learned to heart. Follow-up surveys suggest that nearly 80 percent of responding librarians, who had created such a plan, had begun implementing their action plans within two months of the training sessions. In addition, more than half had completed at least one portion of their plan, which ranged from identifying children without basic computer skills to formulating needs assessment programs.
Participants lauded the training, while suggesting improvements. One such adjustment is a reduction in lecture and passive learning time, and more engaged activities. For example, participants worked in teams to compete over which group could build the largest balloon tower as a lesson in communication and collaboration.
“It showed me that working in a group was very important,” said one participant in Oshana. “You have to learn to listen to each other.”
Another trainee said that learning about leadership styles and the importance of communication can be of great benefit to their libraries. “I realized that some of our supervisors, they need training also, to learn what kind of leadership style is needed,” said the participant. “And we need to be innovators in the workplace.”
The trainers in Myanmar are currently working on translating training materials into Burmese. SILL training sessions will begin in Armenia in September. The goal is to encourage librarians around the world to translate materials into other languages moving forward, Schnuer said. A promotional video for the training materials will eventually be produced.
“We need to add more materials, and to look at other topics,” Schnuer said. “But the main takeaway from this project is that it can be done.”
For more information on MC, visit: http://www.library.illinois.edu/mortenson/index.html
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