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PUG 2013 Presentation: Training Your Staff
- 1. Chris Culp Alachua County Library District cculp@aclib.us
- 2. Three parts to getting your staff ready for ILS migration ◦ Initial buy-in through collaborative process ◦ Communicate, communicate, communicate ◦ Structured, timely training Why do we need to change? What’s all the fuss about? Do we know what we’re getting? Staff needs to have hands-on experiences before patrons
- 3. Old system was running on dated platform Not able to make changes Too many workarounds Support weak
- 4. Workflow efficiencies Website & online catalog—Single sign- on & one interface Ability to migrate serials module Strong training & system support Robust Acquisitions module Stable business model Flexible report module Compatibility with 3rd party vendors Seamless movement from one module to another
- 6. Showed stability of company versus the rest of the market Specializes in public libraries From the start, Polaris stood out in its transparency and solid organization References were uniformly positive Polaris migrated over 90 library systems from products in the SirsiDynix family Has desirable features Offers modules wanted in ILS system
- 7. Intelligently designed Windows-based Plays well with others Fairly intuitive Not a steep learning curve
- 8. Acquisition & Serials Cataloguing Circulation Public Access Catalog Fusion Children’s Catalog
- 9. Streamlining purchase orders Direct transmittal of purchase orders electronically Ease of tracking orders Seamless accounting system from tracking funding sources to sending invoices to Finance
- 10. Able to update catalog records quickly Able to make changes in “bulk” or record sets in seconds Standard forms of names—“authority control” is automatic
- 11. At checkout, can easily inform patrons of their holds Holds/Reserves can be processed with one click Staff can quickly view different parts of the patron’s record
- 12. Online Catalog Circulation Cataloguing Serials Acquisitions Reports Fusion [Digital Photos] And they all work together…
- 14. Customize and save your favorites ◦ Saved searches that automatically update you with new titles ◦ Maintain wish lists of titles you want Activate your reading history Access read-alikes and series within the catalog Reader ratings and reviews Find available copies at your branch with ease Text messaging
- 16. Core competencies of Windows 7 Staff received Windows checklist (provided by Polaris) and Access to corresponding Windows tutorials All staff members and their supervisors signed off on Windows checklist
- 17. Library Self- Evaluation: Windows Operating System Reference Sheet Desktop •Know what the Start menu is and how to open it •Know what a shortcut icon is •Know what a program icon is •Know what the taskbar is •Know how to open minimized programs
- 18. Train the Trainer Training Schedule for all staff Early Adopter Training ◦ Early Adopter Homework All Staff Training Track 1 Circulation Desk staff Track 2 Supervisors Track 3 Used internal blog to get feedback from staff and issue weekly updates Train the Trainer, Early Adopter & Training Track 1 Notes provided as Training Track One Notes
- 20. Part B - Track # 1 - 30 Minutes Ref Desk / 30 Minutes Circulation Desk Date Time Location Trainers Monday, April 16 8:30a - 10:30a HQ - Foundation Room Chris Culp; Suzi Blaze Monday, April 16 1p - 3p HQ - Foundation Room Chris Culp; Suzi Blaze Tuesday, April 17 8:30a - 10:30a HQ - Foundation Room Eric Starling; John Jack Tuesday, April 17 8:30a - 10:30a Millhopper Emily Young; Renee Patterson Wednesday, April 18 8:30a - 10:30a HQ - Foundation Room Meredith Ann Pierce; John Jack Wednesday, April 18 8:30a - 10:30a Alachua Chip Halvorsen; Miki Wolfe Wednesday, April 18 3p - 5p Tower Joyce West; Nathan Urban Thursday, April 19 8:30a - 10:30a Millhopper Emily Young; Jen Long Thursday, April 19 8:30a - 10:30a Tower Joyce West; Chris Culp Friday, April 20 1p - 3p HQ - Foundation Room Suzi Blaze; Eric Starling Friday, April 20 8:30a - 10:30a Millhopper Suzi Blaze; Emily Young Friday, April 20 8:30a - 10:30a Tower Meredith Ann Pierce; Richard Roberts
- 21. Step by step instructions with screenshots
- 23. Basic Patron Services and Circulation (everyone who attended Track 1 Polaris training) Know how to check in an item Know how to check out an item Know how to use the Find Tool (in general) Know how to use the Find Tool (to locate patron records) Know how to use the Find Tool (power search) Know how to access the patron status record Know how to register a patron Know how to place a hold for a patron
- 24. 1. Practice, Practice, Practice 2. Staff Polaris Competency Checklists 3. Continue posting on blog; feedback 4. Signs for service desks have been sent 5. Master Schedule sent for branch support 6. Test permission setting—all staff 7. May 13-14—pull green cards (purchase requests) as we won’t be able to place purchase requests starting May 15. Please send them to Technical Services. 8. May 15—no holds can be placed 9. May 15—no online purchase requests can be place 10. May 17—Polaris Countdown Roundtable 11. May 18—Deadline for Competency Checklists & Permissions check 12. May 24-29 MUST present library card for checkout 13. May 30th----------- 14. May 30th-June 1 Acquisitions module initiated; Online Purchase Requests & Green cards resume 15. Sometime in June—ILL changes; updates and Polaris ILL module initiated
- 25. 1) Go slow these first couple of weeks. Relearn the functions. Read those pop-ups. Taking an extra minute or so to be sure the checkout is done properly will prevent many problems from ever occurring. 2) Do single item checkouts at first. 3) Be deliberate as you do each function in your workflow. Share experiences with co-workers. 4) Use the TIPS folder. Chances are, if you need to perform a function in Polaris, there is a TIPs sheet for it. And, if not, feel free to email eBranch and they can customize one. The TIPS folder also has all instructions from the last few days. You’ll find the TIPS folder at H:Polaris Training. [Please don’t move this folder…we’ve had some phantom movement on this folder which has caused some issues] 5) The Find Tool is a powerful thing! Play around with the “Limit By” options and other settings. But it’s okay if you don’t ever use Power Search! 6) Take a deep breath.
- 26. ALA ARC CPK HAW HIS LPSF MIC MHP NEW TOW WAL Early Adopter(S) Ross / Joann Deborah Heather Lucinda /Guylen e Alice Anita Beth Emily / Bryan Renee/ Jackie Al / Mary Bruce 9:30a - 10:30a Chris / Harold Bill V/ Eric/ Richard/ /Tom Suzi/ Joyce/ 10:30a - 11:30a JT/Jen Cecilia Mossy Jen Jenny on call @ HQ Mike Kathi 11:30a - 12:30p John Jack on call @ HQ 12:30p - 1:30p Meredith/ John Jack on call @ HQ 1:30p - 2:30p Karen 2:30p- 3:30p 3:30p - 4:30p 4:30p - 5:00p
- 27. All branches will upload their offline files and process the error reports. The District cannot go live until all branches have done this. Branch managers are in charge of this and have been asked to start at 8:30a.m. Time we go live will not be determined until we get there. Please wait until you get an email/phone call to tell you it’s ON! It will be sometime mid-morning. HQ staff members are assigned to branches; please see attached schedule. These “Polaris Warriors” are your resource for Polaris questions. ………
Editor's Notes
- As a Florida library, we used NASA’s Polaris missions as our metaphor so with a launch date of May 31, we started early educating and preparing our staffInitial presentation—will share our presentation because it was crucial in staff buy-in which then made staff more approachable about training Tell them why Tell them process and timetable How’s it going to affect them Allay Fears of ChangeAdjust presentation to other audiences: boards, Friends, volunteers
- Planning began two years before implementation.a committee was put together to assess if we needed a new ILS system.Gathered needs assessment from staffResearched what was on the marketInvited vendors to demo
- Admitted mistakes of past. Never should have put Aquabrowser’s brain into this monster.And getting something that will be easier for the staff and the patrons.
- Had staff in these areas talk about what they had seen in Polaris that they liked
- First time Acquisitions has been automatedSaving Trees…brought a month’s work of po packets
- What we’re bringing to patrons
- Polaris doesn’t change our basics jobs and functions. We’ll still perform the same tasks, we’ll just do them with a tremendously improved set of tools. We’ve been driving a clunker that chugs around, belching smoke and noise, the tailpipe dragging and making sparks, held together with baling wire and gum. And paying a mechanic an outrageous fee to keep it running! Now we get a sleek new hybrid to glide around in, with all the manuals and training so that we can take care of it ourselves.
- After presentation we used Polaris’ recommendation of making sure staff knew how to navigate in a Windows environment. All staff had to take Polaris’ Windows Self Evaluation quiz. Don’t assume all of your staff who have been working in a Windows environment knows the shortcuts and nuances. Our staff linked training modules to each section This quiz had to signed off by both employee and supervisor. We provided Windows tutorials for a number of staff members. ShowGoogle Doc pagehttps://docs.google.com/document/d/1f8JxMxWkORmazKVyZWdUaLCTm9MPwnC-NMRFXHF3Gks/edit?pli=1 Polaris spawned other projects: An inventory hadn’t been done in 10 years We had over 25 individual catalog projects Technical Services, Automated Services and Circulation were working on for monthsTest/Development was crucial
- From our PIT team those of us who had been playing with it, I asked them to send me 5 things that must be learned. From that the training modules were created. We not only have to re-train staff, we have to re-train patrons as well. Just as with staff, some patrons will be less than enthusiastic. So I think it’s important for staff to be really comfortable with PAC searching, and especially so with the really cool new features such as the reading lists(s). If staff is fumbly when doing PAC demos for patrons, it could make it seem harder. But if staff is relaxed and obviously competent, then that will help the patron’s attitude as well. So basic PAC searching was stressedWhen in doubt: right click; go to Links; Help really does helpDifference between notes, blocking notes and messagesLearn what left side icons meanPut training content together—hands on incorporated into training both at sessions and taking back to their deskTraining model of Train the Trainers; Early Adopters at each location/dept; entire staff in sectionsExplain Schedules that were set up—examples on thumbdrive (hold up examplesTrain the Trainers first (which was basically our PIT team other than 3 of us that put the original training togetherTraining notes are on thumbdriveAlso asked our early adopters to write one WOW factor that we then shared with other staff. Examples: I love having REQUIRED fields in the patron registration form! No more accidentally registering people with only one line of information filled in… now every card will be COMPLETE, every time!The fact that Polaris is Windows based and behaves like other Windows programs wowed me. The right click feature will help staff and hopefully reduce steps needed to perform certain tasks.And Concerns: permissions; That I will totally forget everything we learned, and when staff come to me for help I’ll look like a complete and utter dweeb. Talk about snagit; snipping tool
- https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDZZMHBhNkFmYVFpc19yS0t3bGlsS3c6MQ&pli=1
- Training Schedule Have schedule [electronic copies of each track] Each session 2 hours; group of 12; hands-on; each had laptop Part A Early Adopters—Overview of Polaris including Reference/Circulation Functions (2 hours) Track 1 Entire staff—PAC (Ref desk)/ Circulation Desk Training Exercises homework packet Track 2 Full Circulation Track 3 Permissions (supervisors only)
- Examples on thumbdrive
- Used ACLD Think Tank for weekly updates and for staff to play around and make comments. They did extensively. Over 250 comments from a public service staff of 180http://acldthinktank.blogspot.com/
- On thumbdriveThis is a list detailing the basic functions of Polaris. Please be sure you are comfortable performing the following job functions. Certain parts of the list are job-specific. If you did not attend Track Two of Polaris Training, then do not worry about completing those parts. Once you are done with the checklist, please print it out, sign it and give it to your supervisor by Wednesday, May 16. Supervisors will collect these and submit them by Friday, May 18 to Suzi Blaze to be placed in your personnel file. If you do not know how to perform a particular function in Polaris, there are helpful documents that explain each function. (PAC tips are not yet available but will be coming soon.) All these tips can be found in the Polaris Tips folder on the Share drive.
- OnthumbdriveMake it as easy for staff as possibleState the obvious
- Roll out day and expectations—HQ Public Services staff will support branches the first three days of Polaris (May 30-June 1). Automated Services have a similar distribution of staff. Managers will be urged to schedule the early adopters within their staff during that week so that the weekend is covered (June 3&4) as HQ staff availability will be sparse.
- Communicate, communicate, communicateOn thumbdriveAlso had cheat sheet at every desk and patron education signs Please babysit our books New Catalog System Countdown Transition to a better online catalog