Building Digital Proficiency in Staff with Analog Skills

Abstract

After staff finish their formal education and move into the workplace, their computing skills become outdated and/or not transferable to the library’s new digital environment. Supervisors are challenged to provide training to their staff yet may not have curriculum development and instructional experience. Through two case studies, supervisors will gain methodologies to assess staff computing skills and provide individual development plans to meet the employee at his or her level and sequentially develop the competencies to meet the new digital requirements. In the first case staff in the Library of Congress Nairobi Office learn how to process serials through synchronous online learning sessions with the instructor in Washington, D.C. In the second case, the supervisor and employee join in the process of compiling an individual development plan to guide the acquisition of computing skills in systematic way with the goal of full participation in the library’s digital initiatives.