Background

One of the outcomes from the Consortial Training Needs Assessment (2023-2024) is to revise the training coordination and communication sections of the Alliance website based on consultant recommendations, training needs assessment responses, and Alliance Central Staff feedback. The current organization of the Alliance website serves dual roles of sharing documentation for ongoing work and supporting training needs for member staff to participate in such work. The assessment and recommendations indicate opportunities to improve awareness and discovery of training resources.

Work to improve discovery will begin by emphasizing the learning needs of library workers who are new to Alliance work and activities, either as (1) new employees at member libraries or (2) member staff who are responsible for new/additional roles. This approach means leading with library workers’ voices and experiences and incorporating perspectives across all Alliance programs.

Charge

The Alliance Training Project Group will develop curated lists of Alliance training resources to support the learning needs of library workers who are new to Alliance work and activities. These curated resource lists will be organized to guide both point-of-need and sequential learning. The group may also determine potential gaps between available Alliance training resources and identified learning needs.

Between February and December 2025, the group will:

• Define representative learning needs of library workers who are new to Alliance work and activities (either new to an Alliance member library or new to functional roles).
• Curate resource lists by identifying and selecting existing Alliance training resources that support the representative learning needs.
• Organize the curated resource lists into recommended learning pathways that guide both point-of-need and sequential learning.
• Determine potential gaps between the training resource lists and representative learning needs.

Estimated Timeline

• January: group recruitment
• February: group formation and onboarding
• March: define representative learning needs of library workers who are new to Alliance work and activities (either new to an Alliance member library or new to functional roles)
• April: curate resource lists by identifying and selecting existing Alliance training resources that support the representative learning needs
• May: review the curated resource lists; determine potential gaps between resource lists and representative learning needs; verify available Alliance training resources to fill the gaps (future follow-up work will address remaining gaps)
• June: organize the final curated resource lists into recommended learning pathways that guide both (1) point-of-need and (2) sequential learning
• July-September: break from group work (Amy C. will convert the final curated resource lists into draft Alliance webpages)
• October: review the draft Alliance webpages; test for both (1) point-of-need and (2) sequential learning paths
• November: edit the learning pathways (Alliance webpages) based on testing results
• December: finalize the learning pathways (publish the Alliance webpages) and share with the Alliance community; recommend next steps (may include follow-up work to address any remaining gaps between the resource lists and representative learning needs)