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ISR Training Committee
Meeting Minutes
October 14, 2010
1:30 - 3:00 p.m.
Davis Conference Room

Present

Annie Belanger, Margaret Yuen (chair), Connie Kovac-Hill (recorder), Zsuzsanna Lancsak, Kathy MacDonald, Judy McTaggart, Carol Steele

1) Approval of minutes of September 10, 2010

The minutes were approved with a minor correction.

2) Additional agenda

None

3) Business arising

None

4) Terms of Reference

Membership:

The Terms of Reference were partially reviewed at the previous meeting. Discussion resumed with a focus on membership. The following decisions were made:

the committee will consist of a total of 5 members
the ideal composition of the committee should be 2 reps from Porter ISR, 2 reps from Davis ISR, and 1 non-ISR rep who serves on an information desk
the Chair will be 1 of the above 5 members and should be an ISR Librarian
in the event that either Porter or Davis has only 1 rep, a non-ISR member who serves on the ISR information desk for the Dept. lacking representation can substitute (e.g. if Davis has only 1 rep, a non-ISR member who serves on the Davis Information Desk could substitute)
it will be noted that there is an ongoing administrative support position whose duties include such things as recording minutes, scheduling training sessions, etc.

The changes to the Terms of Reference and the Committee’s change of focus will be presented to ISR staff at the next joint meeting (possibly Oct. 29th) for their input.

5) Staff Survey

The results of the ISR staff training survey were reviewed. The responses indicated that staff have a significant level of interest in receiving training for the following: a) Government Publications; b) Statistics (part 2); and, c) Patents and Standards. Based on these results, the Committee decided that - if possible - one of these sessions should be offered as a Spotlight in November. A decision on what future sessions would be offered was deferred. Actions: Kathy will contact Sandra Keys and Agnes Zientarska-Kayko about the possibility of offering a session in either Statistics or Government Publications. Susan will contact Doug Morton about a session on Patents.

The survey also contained questions about the perceived value of the annual Retreat and the preferred format (full day or 2 half days). The results indicated:

most respondents felt the Retreat was valuable
some ambivalence about what format the Retreat should have. There was a fairly even split between preferring a full day session and showing no preference.

6. Training New Staff Members

Upcoming Training: Two co-op students will be hired for the winter term (1 for ISR (to be shared between Porter and Davis); and, 1 for Cataloguing (Colin). Training schedules will need to be developed before Christmas.

Revision of Training Practices: The Committee is looking at ways to both streamline the training program for new staff and make it more effective. Currently, it takes approximately 6 weeks to train an individual for the desk due to the number of sessions scheduled. The group discussed possibilities for reducing sessions and shortening the time. Training practices were also discussed. Kathy offered the following suggestions:

rather than using a “show and tell” approach, the trainer could provide questions for the trainee to work on first before meeting with the trainer.
combine sessions as much as possible in order to reduce overlap and improve efficiency. For example, an Engineering session might consist of 1 question from each of the Engineering areas (Civil, Mechanical, etc.). The session with the trainer could focus on databases and resources that are commonly used in all areas of Engineering.

7) Web 2.0 – Part 2 - Zsuzsanna

Laura Howell has almost completed the Web 2.0 modules (part 2). The sessions will be offered in mid-November. Advertising will be done the first week of November.

8) Next Meeting

October 28th; Porter 428; 1:30 p.m.

9) Around the table

Due to time constraints, this item was deferred.

March 4, 2011

Information Services Delivery Training Committee