Supervisory Skills for Library Staff with Cheryl Stenström

EI Program Calendar On-line Course March 31 - May 9, 2008 Six weeks. Member: $149.00 Non-Member: $194.00 For first-time supervisors and staff new to the library workplace, supervising and leading can be a daunting task. In addition to working with customers, supervisors need to deal with administration, staff motivation and performance management. Based on the hugely popular Supervisory Skills for Library Staff course in BC's Ministry of Education's Community Library Training Program, this six week on-line course is a mix of practical exercises and management theory and will give anyone new to libraries or those needing a refresher a chance to strengthen their skills as a team leader. The Benefits Participants will gain an understanding of skills and techniques needed for effective supervision on a day-to-day basis. They will learn about models of human resource management from other sectors and how they can apply these to work more effectively with library staff. Throughout the course, participants will learn though active discussion, assess their own strengths and areas for development, practice skills through short exercises and discover relevant articles. Who Should Participate This course is designed for both paraprofessionals and professional librarians who are first-time supervisors, or who are looking to move into a supervisory position, especially in rural or small libraries. It is suitable for librarians who are called upon to be 'in charge', new departmental and program managers, circulation supervisors and senior circulation assistants, etc. Also anyone who would like to learn more about human resource management in a library setting is encouraged to register. Key Topics You Will Explore Role of the supervisor and organizational design Communication skills Recruitment and hiring Performance management and discipline Motivation and change Team building Method of Instruction Each week, you'll receive an e-mail with the lesson for that week, plus practice exercises that will help you work through the week's sources and reinforce your learning. A Web-based bulletin board will enable you and other participants to ask questions of the instructor and to provide on-line feedback about problems incurred. This course is the right one for you if you enjoy interacting on-line with other participants and the instructors to share knowledge and experiences as participants will be asked to contribute actively to the bulletin board discussion by sharing questions and comments. The course will include a teleconference call with you and your fellow participants, hosted by the instructor, to give advice and clarify the learning experience. Cheryl Stenström Cheryl Stenström is the CEO of the South Shore Regional Library in Nova Scotia. During the past seven years, she's developed and delivered on-line and face-to-face sessions in BC and Nova Scotia on such diverse topics as on-line safety and identity theft, Web development, legal information searching, services for patrons with print disabilities, and public library management. As a consultant, has provided advice and support to public libraries on management, board and technology issues, reference database training, and services to persons with disabilities. She also teaches in BC's Community Library Training Program and San Jose's State University's MLIS program. She is currently a member of the Canadian Library Association's Executive Council. Developed for the Education Institute by Darlene Fichter’s Northern Lights Internet Solutions, Inc. in Saskatchewan