Training Course: Certified Specialist in Innovation Management

Abstract

For libraries, innovation needs to focus on recognizing and addressing consumer requirements and future services combined with implementing and embracing new technologies. To accomplish this they have to implement strategic innovation management. The objectives of innovation management are to develop and implement innovation strategies, to recognize and take up market trends, to develop new business ideas for present and new service / product fields, and to support departments and customers in their value-added process. In libraries, however, systematic innovation (management) is less developed and usually not part of professional education and / or further training. Although librarians need the specific expertise of strategic innovation management, they cannot build up this expertise by self-learning because of the complexity and numerous issues involved. One solution is the development of a certificate course in innovation management for librarians that includes a high proportion of e-learning and practice. Such a certificate course could qualify librarians to master the challenges posed by innovation management better and on a more long-term basis. The course could be designed as a blended learning course with several attendance and online phases. The course consists of eight modules. At each stage of the innovation process the themes, methods, techniques and tools that are useful in practice will be introduced and taught. Such a course has a strong practical orientation because it is structured completely along the lines and stages of an ideal innovation process, so that participants could apply theory directly to practice. This type of extremely practical module, oriented to one’s own library, also has the benefit that further education and training workloads can be integrated into normal working hours and so considerably reduces study time during the student’s leisure time.